Reverend Debby stands before the gathering, and the bride and groom are in front of her.

Reverend Debby:    groom and bride, we join with you on this day to witness your vow & commitment before God and humanity that from this point forward you shall live as one.    

(Optional) To honor relatives or memorable others who have passed on;

  Reverend Debby:  Please join with me now as we bow our heads to observe a moment of silence to honor the memory of those who are not with us today in body, but are here in Spirit.  Amen.

Reverend Debby’s Opening Remarks

Please be seated. Welcome, everyone!  This beautiful day, surrounded with love, is a moment to be treasured and cherished forever.  You were invited here to participate fully with intention, thoughts and prayers, asking God to bless this couple and their married life. They have chosen to proclaim their promise and pledge before God, and all of you, to be united in the mystical, spiritual and holy bond of matrimony.

Together we all thank God who brought them together, and we ask Him to always guide their way. May a great and glorious light sanctify this joining.

Reverend Debby calls on the Four Directions 

Reverend Debby:

In many religious and spiritual traditions, both ancient and current, it is customary to begin a celebration by calling on the four directions.  This is a symbolic way of inviting all of creation to be present and to take part in the festivities.  Today, we wish to invite the whole of creation to be with us here and now in a sacred circle of commitment.

Great Spirit of the East, I call to the spirits of air, breath of life and growth.  Let there be light, and may all in this sacred circle know the power of your blessings.  I bid you hail and welcome.

Great Spirit of the South, I call to the spirits of fire, energy of passion.  We welcome your warmth and abundance, and may all in this sacred circle know the power of your blessings.  I bid you hail and welcome.

Great Spirit of the West, I call to the spirits of water, of the ebb and flow of emotion.  Keep us open to life’s changes, and may all in this sacred circle know the power of your blessings. I bid you hail and welcome.

Great Spirit of the North, I call to the spirits of the earth.  We ask for the strength and power to bear the cold and uncertain.  We welcome your nurturing warmth, and may all in this sacred circle know the power of your blessings.  I bid you hail and welcome.

Declaration of Consent to Marriage

Reverend Debby:

And now, in the presence of your families and closest friends, I ask you:

groom, will you have this woman, bride, to be your wife, to live together in the sacred union of marriage? Will you love her, comfort her, honor and keep her, in sickness and in health,
in sorrow and in joy, and pledge to be faithful to her for as long as you both shall live?

“I Will”.

bride, will you have this man, groom,  to be your husband, to live together in the sacred union of marriage? Will you love him, comfort him, honor and keep him, in sickness and in health, in sorrow and in joy, and pledge to be faithful to him for as long as you both shall live?

“I Will”.

Reverend Debby’s Marriage Charge to the Couple

Reverend Debby:  groom and bride, nothing is easier than saying words and nothing harder than living them day after day. What you promise today must be reviewed and renewed for every tomorrow. At the end of this ceremony legally you will be man and wife, but you still must decide each day that stretches out before you, that you want to be married.

Real love is something beyond the warmth and glow, the excitement and romance of being deeply in love. It is caring as much about the welfare and happiness of your marriage partner as about your own. But real love is not total absorption in each other; it is looking outward in the same direction --together. Love makes burdens lighter, because you divide them. It make joys more intense because you share them. It makes you stronger so you can reach out and become involved with life in ways you dared not risk alone.

bride, groom is God’s gift to you, but he is not a gift for you alone.  It is God’s will that in your love, this man might find within himself a greater sense of who he is meant to be.  You are asked to see the good in this man, to accept him for whom he is and whom he shall be, that thus he might be healed and made strong.  In this way God’s purpose shall be accomplished in this relationship.  May this man find, literally, the kingdom of heaven through the love you share.

And so it is with you also groom, that although bride is God’s gift to you, she is not a gift intended for you alone.  You are asked to so love this woman, that in your love she might find herself as God has created her, so beautiful and strong and brave and true, that the entire world might be blessed by the presence of a woman who shines so.  May she relax in your arms as she has never relaxed before.  May she know, from now on, that there is one on whose love she can depend forever.

From this point forward, your beloved’s needs carry the same priority as your own.  May you find in your love profound acceptance and complete release.  You shall not be as two conflicting or competing forces, but rather the energies of your lives shall blend into harmony and oneness through the grace of God.  The angels shall dance between you, and they will rejoice in the dance of life you do together.

 (Optional: Readings/Blessings/Music/Poetry by family or friends)

(Optional for your own vows to each other)  

Reverend Debby:  At this time, _______&________ have some personal promises that they would like  to give to each other.

Would you please face each other and make your declarations....

Reverend Debby will ask the Groom to speak first.
(He speaks his promise).  

Reverend Debby now asks the Bride to speak her promise.
(She speaks her promise)

Presentation of the rings

Reverend Debby: Is it your intention to symbolize this marriage with rings?

Bride and Groom:  "Yes."

Reverend Debby: May we have the rings. 

The wedding ring is a symbol of eternity as it has no beginning and no end. It is an outward sign of the inward and spiritual bond uniting two hearts in endless love.  In the sacred tradition of marriage, rings have come to symbolize eternal love and the endless union of body, mind and spirit.  May the presence of these rings always remind you of the promise, hope and joyful love you have pledged today.

Vows of Matrimony

(Reverend Debby hands the bride’s ring to groom )

“ groom,  please repeat after me”:

bride, with this ring,
I give you my promise that from this day forward you shall not walk alone. May my heart be your shelter, and my arms be your home. I will love you through the good and the bad, through the joy and the sorrow. I will try to be understanding, and to trust in you completely.   I accept you not only for who you are, but also for whom you are yet to become.  With all my heart, all my joy and all my honor, I take you to be my wife.

He places the ring on her finger.

(Reverend Debby hands the groom’s ring to bride)

bride,  please repeat after me”:

groom, with this ring,
I give you my promise that from this day forward you shall not walk alone. May my heart be your shelter, and my arms be your home. I will love you through the good and the bad, through the joy and the sorrow. I will try to be understanding, and to trust in you completely.  I accept you not only for who you are, but also for whom you are yet to become.  With all my heart, all my joy and all my honor, I take you to be my husband.

She places the ring on his finger.

(At this time, an optional unity ceremony may be done )

Reverend Debby:

Now you will feel no rain, for each of you will be the shelter for the other.  Now you will feel no cold, for each of you will be the warmth to the other.  Now you are two persons, but there is only one life before you.  Go now to your dwelling, to enter into the days of your life together, and may your days be good and long upon the earth.
Treat yourselves and each other with respect, and remind yourselves often of what brought you together.  Give the highest priority to the tenderness, gentleness and kindness that your connection deserves.  When frustration, difficulty and fear assail your relationship--as they threaten all relationships at one time or another--remember to focus on what is right between you, not only the part which seems wrong.   In this way, you can ride out the storms when clouds hide the face of the sun in your lives--remembering that even if you lose sight of it for a moment, the sun is still there.  And if each of you takes responsibility for the quality of your life together, it will be marked by abundance and delight. (Apache Marriage Blessing)  

Reverend Debby releases the four directions, thus closing the circle

To the Spirit of the East, I thank and release the spirits of air and mind. Hail and farewell.

To the Spirit of the South, I thank and release the spirits of fire and the soul.  Hail and farewell.

To the Spirit of the West, I thank and release the spirits of water and the heart.  Hail and farewell.

To the Spirit of the North, I thank and release the spirits of the earth and the body.  Hail and farewell.

  Final Prayer and Pronouncement of Marriage

Reverend Debby: I’d now like to ask you all to bow your heads and pray with me:

Gracious God,

Spirit of life and love, we ask all blessings upon groom and bride in their life together.  May they be blessed with patience, to see them through times of tensions or conflict.  May they be blessed with kindness, to enable them to nurture and care for one another in times of pain or sorrow.  May they be blessed with a spirit of play and joyfulness, that they may participate fully in the beauties and pleasures of creation.  May they be blessed, finally, with a knowledge of the ever flowing presence of love in the world, that they may be channels of this love to one another and to all whom they meet in their life’s journey.  And so it is. Amen.

And now, groom and bride in as much as you have spoken the vows and performed the rites which will unite your lives, with the authority vested in me by the State of Michigan,  it is my honor and delight to now pronounce you, henceforth from this moment, husband and wife.

You may now seal your promises with a kiss!

    Ladies and Gentlemen: may I present Mr. & Mrs.  newlywed !

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