Once Reverend Debby has taken her place before the gathering, the groom takes his place along with his best man and the ushers.  When the bride appears, and is ready to walk down the aisle……..

Reverend Debby:  Will the guests please rise.

Reverend Debby: groom and bride, it is with joy and reverence that I welcome you here today.  To our assembled guests, welcome to this moment in their lives and to the place they have come to in their hearts.  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.

Reverend Debby:  Please be seated.    

Silent Blessing (Optional)

Reverend Debby: 

Please bow your heads to honor and observe a moment of silence in the memory of those who could not be here with us today in body, but are most assuredly here in Spirit.

Amen.

Reverend Debby’s Opening Remarks

Welcome, and blessings to all!  This beautiful day, surrounded with love, is a moment to be treasured and cherished forever.  You were invited here for a holy purpose.  Not only to witness, but to participate fully with intention, thoughts and prayers, asking God to bless this couple and their married life.  It was important to this couple that they asked you to join them today in this dedication of sacred purpose.  You represent all the woven threads of the tapestry of their lives.  Each one of you is an important piece in the story it tells.  You are the fabric that they wrap around themselves and take comfort in, both individually and as a couple representing all the glorious colors and textures that your diversity adds.  They have chosen this act of marriage and this public, holy ceremony in which 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.

Declaration of Consent to Marriage

Reverend Debby:

Now, in the presence of your families and closest friends, I ask you to declare your consent:

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: 

Marriage is the beginning of a new life, a chance at fulfilling long-held dreams, and an opportunity for great personal and spiritual growth.  Marriage endures through the ages of trends and fads.  Marriage thrives, and continues to live as the promise of beautiful dreams coming true. 

Each of you brings gifts to the other today.  Gifts of hope and laughter, sensitivity and recognition of the beautiful and the profound.   Since childhood, you have searched for and dreamed about that special someone who would embody and express the gifts you now stand ready to give and to receive.  But these gifts are not to be yours alone.  A strong and resilient marriage is not an escape from the world but rather a contribution to it.  groom and bride, may you now combine your gifts, for the world is in need of the beautiful, the good and the holy and nothing is better suited to evoke that than a good marriage.

I offer a reading from the book, “The Prophet”, by Kahlil Gibran.

“And what of Marriage, master?
And he answered saying:
You were born together, and together you shall be forevermore. You shall be together when the white wings of death scatter your days.

Ay, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God.
But let there be spaces in your togetherness,
And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.

Love one another, but make not a bond of love:
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.
Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup.
Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf.
Sing and Dance together and be joyous, but each one of you be alone.
Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.
Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping.
For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.
And stand together yet not too near together:
For the pillars of the temple stand apart, And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow.”

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 rings are handed to the Reverend.)

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 ring to groom )

“groom,  please repeat after me”:

bride, I am proud to marry you on this day. I promise to wipe away your tears with my laughter and your pain with my caring and compassion.  We will wipe clean the old canvases of our lives and let God, with His amazing artistic talent, fill them with new colors, harmony and beauty.  I give myself to you completely, and I promise to love you always, from this day forth.

He places the ring on her finger.

(Reverend Debby hands the grooms ring to bride)

“bride, please repeat after me”:

groom, I am proud to marry you on this day. I promise to wipe away your tears with my laughter and your pain with my caring and compassion.  We will wipe clean the old canvases of our lives and let God, with His amazing artistic talent, fill them with new colors, harmony and beauty.  I give myself to you completely, and I promise to love you always, from this day forth.

She places the ring on his finger.

(At this time an optional Unity Ceremony can be done as soft music is played)

Reverend Debby:

1 Corinthians 13 (New International Version)
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor, and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Final Prayer and Pronouncement of Marriage

Reverend Debby: I’d now like to ask you all to pray with me:

Dear God,

Please bless this joyful couple.  May their love for each other be nurtured by You, always and forever.

May their marriage be held in Your hands and ministered unto by Your angels.

And we all pray:

And now, groom and bride, inasmuch as you have spoken the vows and performed the rites uniting yourselves in marriage, with the authority vested in me through the State of Michigan,  it is my honor, delight and profound joy to now pronounce you, henceforth from this moment, husband and wife.

groom, you may kiss your bride! 

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