Share your ceremony script!

[ktmparker]

I love this thread!! Hoq long is the average ceremony?

[KarenM]

I think ours took about 25-30 minutes. We had 2 readings and a sand ceremony (with its own reading).

[affiwin]

So grateful for this thread! I am a week away from our wedding and we haven't gotten to this yet. Thanks so much ladies, your scripts are very inspiring.

[loua4]

this is great! thank you so much for posting your scripts. It has helped me figure out what to do with ours. Thanks again!

[Erica&Rohan2011]

Such a beautiful thread! I love all the ideas!

[bediva33]

Thanks for sharing!

[AshleyL]

Thanks for sharing ladies. Probably shouldn't be reading these at work as they had me tearing up. Lol

[frizzy64]

There are some beautiful ideas here. My eyes are sore from all the crying! There are quite a few that I would really love to use.

[theend903]

Thank you so much to everyone that posted their scripts. I think I used a bit from everyone's.

 

Opening:

On behalf of Groom and Bride, I welcome you and thank you all for gathering here on this beautiful day to witness their marriage ceremony. The fact that you all have travelled such a great distance to be here today is a testament to the amazing amount of love and support they have. You have given them much happiness, warmth, and guidance through the various stages of their lives. They would like to sincerely thank you all for being here to celebrate their big day.

 

I have also been asked by Groom and Bride to thank their parents for the wonderful lives they have given them, for the hard work and guidance they have provided, for their everlasting love, support, and encouragement. It is from them that they have learned the true meaning of love, friendship and family.

 

Today Groom and Bride, you are choosing to walk through life together hand in hand in marriage. The choice was not made by any one moment in time, but by being together over the years you grew to realize that you belong together and you thrive upon each other’s presence, loyalty, wisdom, friendship, and love. Marriage has been described as living in love with your best friend; an adventure in the most intimate of human relationships. It is the mutual commitment of two people sincerely in love who share the same dreams about life, their futures, and their desire of family. The vow of marriage is a pledge of their everlasting love, uniting them in holy matrimony, whereby, they commit to share all life has to offer.

 

Officiate asks Aunt to come do Reading

As God guides Groom and Bride journey
toward marriage and we witness it, let us
wish their relationship will exhibit the same
qualities. Please join me in a responsive reading
of I Corinthians chapter 13 verse 4 - 8 found in
your program on page 2.

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 in the truth
it always protects, always trusts
always hopes, always perseveres
Love never fails

Love, Joy, Understanding, Friendship, Courage...
In joining your lives may God grant you both...
Love... to afford each other a special quality of time together.
Joy...in the accomplishments of one another.
Understanding...that your interests and desires will not always be the same.
Friendship...based on mutual trust.
Courage...to speak of a misunderstanding and to work on a solution before the setting of the sun.
Compassion...to comfort each other in pain and sorrow.
Foresight...to realize rainbows follow rainy days.
Imagination...to keep with you part of the child you used to be.
Mirth...from your sense of humor.
Awareness...to live each day with the knowledge that there is no promise of tomorrow.
May God bless you and keep you in the Palm of His hand.

For Groom and Bride, this day does not mark the beginning of a new relationship; rather, it is an acknowledgement and celebration, of a relationship that has been flourishing since the moment they met.

Love is one of the few constants in the universe. It is reality, affinity, and communication. Only love is capable of joining living beings by their deepest essence. It makes burdens lighter because you divide them. It makes joys more intense because you share them. Love makes you stronger so you can reach out and become involved with life in ways you dared not risk alone.

 

Officiate asks Sister to come do Reading Below

Reading#2

Love by Roy Croft
I love you,
Not only for what you are,
But for what I am
When I am with you.

I love you,
Not only for what
You have made of yourself,
But for what
You are making of me.

I love you
For the part of me
That you bring out;
I love you
For putting your hand
Into my heaped-up heart
And passing over
All the foolish, weak things
That you can't help
Dimly seeing there,
And for drawing out
Into the light
All the beautiful belongings
That no one else had looked
Quite far enough to find.

I love you because you
Are helping me to make
Of the lumber of my life
Not a tavern
But a temple;
Out of the works
Of my every day
Not a reproach
But a song.

I love you
Because you have done
More than any creed
Could have done
To make me good,
And more than any fate
To make me happy.

You have done it
Without a touch,
Without a word,
Without a sign.
You have done it
By being yourself.
 

 

You have chosen to walk through life together. There is no truer statement of love. Before this moment you have been many things to one another- best friend, companion, lover, partner, and even teacher, for you have learned much from one another in these last few years. Soon you shall say a few words that take you across a threshold of life, and things will never quite be the same between you. For after these vows, you shall say to the world, this- is my husband, this- is my wife.

Groom, do you come here freely to take Bride as your wife?
 

Please repeat after me:

 

Bride, I love you. You are my best friend. Today I give myself to you in marriage. I promise to encourage and inspire you, to laugh with you and to comfort you in times of sorrow and struggle. I promise to love you in good times and in bad, when life seems easy and when it is difficult. I promise to cherish you and to always hold you in high regard. I promise to support you and to be there for you no matter what. These things I give to you today, and for all the days of my life.

Bride, do you come here freely to take Groom as your husband?
 

Please repeat after me:

 

Groom, I love you. You are my best friend. Today I give myself to you in marriage. I promise to encourage and inspire you, to laugh with you and to comfort you in times of sorrow and struggle. I promise to love you in good times and in bad, when life seems easy and when it is difficult. I promise to cherish you and to always hold you in high regard. I promise to support you and to be there for you no matter what. These things I give to you today, and for all the days of my life.

 

As an expression that you are joined together in love, will you please hold each others’ hands in your own, so you may feel the gift that you are about to receive on this day.

These are the hands of your best friend, young and strong and vibrant with love.

 

These are the hands that will work alongside yours as together you build your future.
 

These are the hands that will passionately love you and cherish you through the years, and with the slightest touch, will comfort you like no other.
 

These are the hands that will countless times wipe the tears from your eyes; tears of sorrow and tears of joy

 

These are the hands that will comfort you in illness, and hold you when fear or grief engulfs your heart and give you strength when you need it.
 

These are the hands that will help you to hold your family as one.
 

And lastly, these are the hands that even when wrinkled and aged will still be reaching for yours, giving you the same unspoken tenderness with just a touch.

 

Our wish for you today is that both of you will use these hands to build a marriage where all your dreams come true.

May I have the rings? Notice that these rings are a perfect circle, with no beginning and no end. They represent the unconditional love that you have for one another. Let these rings serve as a bond between you and wear them with honor and pride, as they are a visible reminder of the vows and promises that you will make here today.

Groom, take this ring, and as you place it on bride finger, repeat after me:

I, Groom, take you Bride, to be my wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to honor as long as we both shall live.

Bride, take this ring, and as you place it on Grooms finger, repeat after me:

I, Bride, take you groom, to be my husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to honor as long as we both shall live.

The engagement ring is a symbol of promise and intention. Now the intention is realized and the promise fulfilled. Groom, place the engagement ring on Brides finger over her wedding band to symbolize that the love that brought you together will always protect and sustain your marriage.

 

 

SAND CEREMONY
You have just sealed your relationship by giving and receiving of rings. But although you will be sharing one life, never forget that you are two separate people. Cherish and affirm your differences. Love each other. Keep your commitment primary. Together you will laugh and cry, be sick and well, be happy and angry, share and grow. Grow sometimes together, sometimes separately.

To symbolize this union and the importance of the individuals within the marriage, two separate colors of sand will be combined. Each one holds its own unique beauty, strength, and character. They can stand on their own and be whole, without need of anything else. However when these two are blended together, they create and entirely new and extraordinarily more intricate entity. Each grain of sand brings to the mixture a lasting beauty that forever enriches the combination. Please pour the sand into this common container to symbolize the union of your two lives.

(Begin pouring sand)

Bride and Groom, just as these grains of sand can never be separated and poured again into the individual container, so will your marriage be a molding of two individual personalities, bonded together forming one heart, one life, and one family. May you remain as inseparable as these grains of sand all the days of your life.

 

 

CLOSING
Groom and Bride, now you will feel no rain, for each of you will be shelter for the other. Now you will feel no cold, for each of you will be warmth to the other. Now there will be no loneliness, for each of you will be companion to the other. Now you are two persons, but there is only one life before you. May beauty surround you both in the journey ahead and through all your years. Give to one another new experiences of joy. Challenge one another so that you may grow. May the love you hold for each other, now sealed in marriage, continue to mature with the passing years. May you never take each other for granted, but always experience the wonder of your union. May the people you touch in your lifetime know how much you love and care for one another and may you love one another forever.

With friends and family, along with the sun, the sand, and the sea, it gives me great pleasure to present to you for the very first time as husband and wife

 

Mr. and Mrs…  

 

 You may kiss your bride!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Jen1407]

theend903 - what a beautiful ceremony.  Thanks for sharing.