Wedding Ceremony

Let us invite the Great Spirit and open our hearts to this joyous 
occasion. We are joyfully assembled today to witness and celebrate the 
joining of two lives in marriage. ___ and ___ have asked us to be with 
them and to rejoice with them in the making of this important 
commitment. The essence of this commitment is the taking of another 
person in his or her entirety as lover, companion and friend. It is 
therefore a decision which is not entered into lightly but rather 
undertaken with great consideration and respect.

____ and ____have come together in the hope that the love which brought 
them to this union may go out beyond itself into the lives of others. 
Yet, they know it is not easy to build a deep, personal relationship, 
even in marriage. Thus we ask that the promise and hopes of this union 
be realized. Grant these two the patience to listen, the capacity to 
understand, the compassion to give comfort, and the joy to laugh and to 
be. Let their marriage make a home where neither person is a stranger. 
Let it offer illumination and growth. Let it bask in the joy of giving 
and the excitement of shared discoveries. Let it be large enough to 
endure the darkness of things. May silence and despair never separate 
them; may they always return to each other.

We read in "The Prophet":

"True love gives nothing but itself 
And takes nothing but from itself
Love does not possess, nor would it be possessed
For love is sufficient unto love.
Love has no other desire but to fulfill itself,
To awake at dawn with a winged heart and
Give thanks for another day of loving.
To rest at noon and meditate love's ecstasy;
To return home at eventide with gratitude,
And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in
your heart
And a song of praise upon your lips."



WHO GIVES TRE BRIDE ? ____, do you take ____ to be your wife and equal, 
will you share your life openly with her and strive to love, honor 
and stand beside her always, in times of celebration and times of 
sadness, in times of health and times of sickness, in times of joy 
and times of conflict? 

Response. I do. 

_____, do you take ____ to be your husband and equal, will you share 
your 1ife openly with him and strive to love, honor and s and beside him 
always, in times of celebration and times of sadness, in times of health 
and times of sickness, in times of joy and times of conflict?

Response: I do.

____ and ___ invite us to share with them in a silent meditation to Ava 
Maria.

A circle is the symbol of the sun, the earth, the universe; of 
wholeness, perfection, peace and of unity. Like circles, your rings have 
no beginning and no ending, They are tokens of the growing relationship 
you have come here to celebrate and confirm. ____ and ____ will now 
exchange rings. Each will offer the ring by placing it on the other's 
finger. Each will accept by putting it in place. Will the ring bearer 
come forward! 

____, will you receive this ring from ____ as a token of his affection, 
sincerity and fidelity toward you, and will you wear it as a symbol of 
your own affection, sincerity and fidelity toward him?
____: I will.

____: This ring I give thee, in token and pledge of our constant faith 
and abiding love; with this ring I thee wed, and with all my earthly 
goods I thee endow.
____, will you receive this ring from ____ as a token of her affection, 
sincerity and fidelity toward you and will you wear it as a symbol of 
your own affection, sincerity and fidelity toward her?
___: I will.

____:This ring I give thee, in token and pledge of our constant faith 
and abiding love with this ring I thee wed, and with all my earthly 
goods I thee endow.

You have joined together and together you shall go forth. 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 each not from the same loaf. Sing and dance together and be joyous, 
but let 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. 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.

___and ____, you are now married. (KISS!)