WEDDING TEMPLATE

 

Prelude –music

 

Welcome  by Rev. Toni

 

Processional – opening song (Marti?)

Hayden & parents

Akee

Joli

Danielle

Gina & Hayden with Zalika

 

Change music for bride to African Drumming

 

Ask her dad & mom: Who gives this woman in marriage?
response:  We do

 

Rev. Toni:   Hayden & Toni  have asked those of you who are most important to witness and to celebrate this marriage ceremony with them. They are taking the first step of their new beginning; their new life together.  Gathered with you in the presence of God, they have come to make public their love and commitment to live and grow together as husband and wife.  . It is their wish that by being here today, we will all come to feel a real and intimate part of their declaration, and thus make it even more significant and powerful.

 

The ability and desire for one human being to love another is perhaps the most precious and fulfilling gift that has been entrusted to us. It is an all-consuming task, a lifelong endeavor.

Loving someone is a reason to stretch beyond our limits, to become more for the sake of the other. It is to look into the soul of your beloved and accept what you see. Loving is the ultimate commitment which challenges humans to become all that we are meant to be. As they join in marriage today, Hayden & Toni  are announcing to the world that they are welcoming that challenge.

 

Are you all willing  to show your support of the commitment they are making today?

Please say YES!

 

CONVOCATION –:

We are gathered here today to joyfully celebrate and to add our support as two separate lives with their individual memories, desires, and hopes merge into one. We rejoice with them on this special day.  As a result of their marriage, WE are all becoming one Family.  This, then , is not on Wedding day, but a day to celebrate the coming together to create Family.

 

As a symbol of this joining – Candle lighting – fathers light candles – mothers speak about their child and wish for marriage

The candle you are about to light is a candle of Marriage.  It is magical because it represents the light of two people in love.  This candle before you is truly a candle of commitment because it takes two people working together to keep it aflame.

 

We invite your fathers to light the candles—symbolizing that each of you come from separate and distinct pasts but are willing to now come together giving spark of themselves to create the new light.  As they light this candle which symbolizing two whole lives joined together, we all pray that the brightness represented by  this flame shine throughout your lives.

 

May it give you courage and reassurance in darkness, warmth and safety in the cold, and strength and joy in your bodies, minds and spirit.  May your union be forever blessed.

 

As the fathers are LIGHTING  THE CANDLES –

We invite the mothers to say a few words

 

Invocation – Rev. Toni does prayer

Let us pray:

Divine light that illumines our hearts and gives life to each cell of our being, we give thanks for the love that has gathered us together in this place

and especially for the beautiful, heartwarming love that Hayden & Toni share which led them to choose to be united in marriage.

We know and accept that the Power and the Love that is God is with them and with all of us who share in this lovely and sacred moment of their marriage.  We declare today that the Word we speak here today will bring forth in them all the strength and beauty and love they will need to make every word that they say here a living truth in their lives.  And so it is.  Amen.

 

 

• Music: All I Ask of You from Phantom????? — suggestion

 

 

Reading – Danielle or Jimmy

This is just a SAMPLE idea – you can use any reading – perhaps one from the Bible?

Marriage has certain qualities of contract, in which two people take on the housekeeping tasks of

living, together, to enhance life’s joy.

 

However, marriage is more than a contract. Marriage is commitment to take that joy deep,

deeper than happiness, deep into the discovery of who you most truly are. It is a commitment to a

spiritual journey, to a life of becoming-in which joy can comprehend despair, running through

rivers of pain into joy again.

 

And thus marriage is even deeper than commitment. It is a covenant — a covenant that says:

 

I love you.

 

I trust you.

 

I will be here for you when you are hurting, and when I am hurting, I will not leave.

 

It is a covenant intended not to provide haven from pain or from anger and sorrow. Life offers no

such haven. Instead, marriage is intended to provide a sanctuary safe enough to risk loving, to risk

living and sharing from the center of oneself. This is worth everything.

 

Margaret A. Keip

 

 

Song —  The PRAYER — Marti

 

Giving consent

SAMPLE –

The Consent

Hayden ,  do you come here today, in the presence of these witnesses, with love in your heart and with the conscious desire to be united in marriage with Toni? Do you promise to share the responsibility for growth and enrichment of your life together and to give to Toni all the loving support she needs to become the person she is destined to be?

Hayden :”I do”

 

Toni, do you come here today, in the presence of these witnesses, with love in your heart and with the conscious desire to be united in marriage with Toni ? Do you promise to share the responsibility for growth and enrichment of your life together and to give to Hayden all the loving support he needs to become the person he is destined to be?

Toni: “I do”

 

This commitment is truly a Sacred union – it brings with it opportunities for growth, for full self-expression, for lifting your lives to their highest potential, for healing any small idea you ever had about yourself and ultimately for true communion with God.

 

Vows

–I invite you to offer your vows to each other-

 

Let us pause now to listen to MUSIC as we reflect on the commitments each of us has made in our lives.

Marti sings….

 

 

Vows

 

Ring ceremony

Toni:  May I have the rings please.

The act of giving and receiving rings reminds us that love itself is an act of giving and receiving the most that life has to offer. Traditionally, the marking of the passage to the status of husband and wife is marked by the exchange of rings.  These rings are a symbol of the unbroken circle of love.  Love freely given has no beginning and no end, no giver and no receiver for each is the giver and each is the receiver.  May these rings always remind you the vows you have taken today.

 

Hayden, as you place the ring on Toni’s hand,  please repeat after me:

 

Toni, I love you as no other. // All that I am, I will share with you. //  This ring I give you, //as a sign of my love and commitment to you. // Receive and wear this ring,// as a symbol of my faith and trust in you. // Before this community of  our family and friends,// I take you to be my wife.//

 

Toni, as you place the ring on Hayden’s hand, please repeat after me:

 

Hayden,  I love you as no other. // All that I am, I will share with you. //  This ring I give you, //as a sign of my love and commitment to you. // Receive and wear this ring,//

as a symbol of my faith and trust in you. // Before this community of our family and friends,// I take you to be my husband.//

 

 

Baby blessing

Who presents this child for Christening?

We do.

 

Toni:

“This christening is a recognition of the infinite power of the Spirit in each child. The seed of perfection is implanted in every child and awaits only its recognition for its outpouring of Truth, and the complete expression of good in each one.

 

This consecration   service welcomes This child, Zalika into our family.    It is an outward expression which reveals that Unity of Spirit within. We recognize that this child came forth from God-a Divine Being.  That perfection exists within this child and that this child’s purity of being is God incarnated in, through, and as this child.   Our blessing service symbolizes our conscious immersion in the Life Stream of God.  Our Oneness with God.  That we can never be separated from God.  That this soul on its new adventure of Life shall live and move and have his being  in God.  He shall always be in that all  embracing circle of Divine Love.”

Gina & Robert In presenting  Zalika for blessing, do you acknowledge  the unity of  God and man?

 

Gina & Robert-    We do.

 

Do you acknowledge that the Spirit of God and the Spirit of  Man  is united as one being and that we, as spiritual beings, manifest the creative power of God and that keeping the mind set on the positive Good brings joy and happiness to life?

 

Gina & Robert-   We do.

 

:   Will you teach This child the Truth of its Being, that from childhood it may realize its unity with God?

 

Gina & Robert-  We will.

 

Will you do this not only by word, but by example so that your child may learn to live joyously, creatively and harmoniously?   Will you do this to the best of your ability?

 

– We will.

 

Toni Dr. dip rose in water and says:

” I bless you Zalika in the name of the God within you, and of the moving, Creative Principle of all life.”

 

I dedicate this child to the care and keeping and to the way that perfect intelligence may guide and direct him and  unfailing Love may draw her into the ways of eternal happiness.  I dedicate this child to God’s perfect care and keeping.  God’s strength upholds him.  God’s presence fills her.  May he be guided by perfect intelligence and directed by unfailing love into the ways of day by day happiness.

AND SO IT IS.

 

Song:  God’s Masterpiece

 

 

The Rose

 

It is now my special privilege to present you with a special gift as husband and wife.  In the language of flowers, a red rose is the symbol of love and my gift to you is the gift of Love.  It would be our hope that wherever you may make your home, there be an especially appointed place in it for red roses.  And that on each succeeding anniversary of your wedding day, you celebrate it, at least in part, by each of you bringing to the appointed place a red rose, as a re-statement of love, and a re-commitment of the vows you made to one another and before all here present.  Also, in every marriage, it is occasionally difficult to find words to resolve certain issues which may arise, and if and when such issues might come to your marriage, if either one of you will remember and bring to the special place a red rose, the other will see it, accept it and understand it as a statement of love.

 

JOIN us now in Prayer:

 

Aware that there is one presence and power, and that we are each part of this unity, we now join in blessing Hayden & Toni in the continuing of their lives together.  We recognize that the presence of God’s grace within them enables them to fulfill the promise of God’s true partnership in life.  We know and affirm that they live in joy and love.

And now – I  recognize with full awareness that only a couple can administer the sacrament of marriage to each other, and only a couple can sanctify it. Neither my church, nor any power vested in me by the State, can grant me the authority to declare what only two hearts can declare, and what only two souls can make real.

 

And so now, inasmuch as you, Toni, and you, Hayden  have announced the truths that are already written in your hearts, and have witnessed the same in the presence of these, your family, friends, and the One Living Spirit, –we observe joyfully that you have declared yourselves to be husband and wife.

 

You may now kiss one another.

Actual wedding pronouncements

 

Indian prayer – butterfly release

 

Butterfly Ceremony

 

Jimmy  is passing out a small package – one per family.  Inside is a beautiful butterfly.  In a moment, we will all release them together as a closing blessing to the new family.  You need only open the package wide enough for the wings to flap.

 

As the Indian Legend goes:
If anyone desires a wish to come true, they must first capture a butterfly and whisper that wish to it.  Since a butterfly can make no sound, the butterfly can not reveal the wish to anyone but the Great Spirit who hears and sees all.

In gratitude for giving the beautiful butterfly its freedom, the Great Spirit always grants the wish.  So, according to the legend, by making a wish and giving the butterfly its freedom, the wish will be taken to the heavens and be granted.

 

Today we have gathered to grand this couple all our best wishes and as we set these butterflies free, I invite you to hold this new family in your highest blessing in the trust that all these wishes will be granted.

 

As I present to you for the first time, Mr. & Mrs. ??  and their beautiful daughter, Zalika, I invite you to RELEASE THE BUTTERFLIES!

 

MUSIC

 

 

May I now present to you

Mr. & Mrs.

 

 

African Drums – recessional

 

MARGIE AND BOB’S WEDDING

October 26, 2002  Sarasota, Fl

 

WEDDING MARCH – Jeff Lance

Margie and Bob have invited you, their family and special friends to witness and to celebrate this marriage ceremony with them. Gathered with you in the presence of God, they have come to make public their love and commitment to live and grow together.  It is their wish that by being here today, we will all come to feel a real and intimate part of their declaration, and thus make it even more significant and powerful.

The ability and desire for one human being to love another is perhaps the most precious and fulfilling gift that has been entrusted to us. It is an all-consuming task, a lifelong endeavor.

Loving someone is a reason to stretch beyond our limits, to become more for the sake of the other. It is to look into the soul of your beloved and accept what you see. Loving is the ultimate commitment which challenges humans to become all that we are meant to be. As they join in marriage today, Margie and Bob are announcing to the world that they are welcoming that challenge.

Let us join now in prayer to show our support of the commitment they are making today.

INVOCATION –:

We acknowledge the Presence of Love and in that presence, we recognize the love that Margie and Bob share. In this moment, each of us here joyfully celebrate and add our support as these two separate lives with their individual memories, desires, and hopes merge into one. We know and accept for them happiness and contentment as they join their lives and explore the depths of their love for one another. We call upon a blessing for their families and friends and the relationships which have supported, strengthened and sustained them throughout their lives.

Today and always, we acknowledge God, the Good, and know that the love that brought them here today will sustain them for the rest of their days.  AMEN          

READING

Marriage is the joining of two lives. It is the merging of two distinct personalities and two life stories. Two individuals, each of whom has a unique and life shaping past, willingly choose to set aside the solitary exploration of themselves to discover who they are in the presence of one another.

 

Margie and Bob, I have confidence in your love for and friendship with one another and I know that it will enable you to continue to grow individually and together. I support you – as I know we all do with our own deep and basic confidence.

You have chosen each other as partners in life’s journey.  Are you ready to be married?  If so, please say,  “We are”

 

The Consent

Bob, do you come here today, in the presence of these witnesses, with love in your heart and with the conscious desire to be united in marriage with Margie? Do you promise to share the responsibility for growth and enrichment of your life together and to give to Margie all the loving support she needs to become the person she is destined to be?

BOB:”I do”

 

Margie, do you come here today, in the presence of these witnesses, with love in your heart and with the conscious desire to be united in marriage with Bob? Do you promise to share the responsibility for growth and enrichment of your life together and to give to Bob all the loving support he needs to become the person he is destined to be?

Margie: “I do”

 

I invite you then to offer each other your VOWS.

Bob first, then Margie

 

VOWS

 

 

To the congregation:

Will all of you, family and special friends, do everything you can to honor, uphold and care for Bob and Margie as they walk the sacred path of marriage?

 

RESPONSE:  We will.

This commitment is truly a Sacred union – it brings with it opportunities for growth, for full self-expression, for lifting your lives to their highest potential, for healing any small idea you ever had about yourself and ultimately for true communion with God.

 

RINGS

What symbols do you bring as a reminder of the promised given and received today.

(Bob gives the rings to Toni)

 

A circle is a symbol of the Sun, and the Earth, and the universe.  It is a symbol of holiness, and of perfection and peace.  It is also the symbol of the eternality of spiritual truth, love and life…that which has no beginning and no end.  And in this moment, Bob and Margie choose for it to also be a symbol of unity, of joining, and of encirclement. These rings represent an inward belief and trust in togetherness. They express an outward sign of spirit and commitment, signifying to all who see them, the bonds of marriage the two of you share. 

Now, Bob and Margie, take these rings you wish to give one to the other.

 

Bob & Margie together– please repeat after me.

Bob/ Margie, //I offer you this ring// as a symbol of our marriage vows.// As you wear it,// know that I will love and cherish you always.

 

 

CLOSING PRAYER

At this moment as you begin your life together as husband and wife, I know each one of us gathered here gives thanks for the opportunity to bless you Margie and Bob. 

 

We know our faith-filled prayers carry great power.  So, in our mind’s eye we now see you, Margie and Bob,  as God knows you to be, — happy, peaceful, whole, free, fulfilled, prosperous and ever radiating the Love you both are.

 

This prayer is our gift to you, not just now, but as we think of you in the days, months and years to come, we will thank God in our hearts that a greater Love is assured in this world because of the commitment you have made here today. 

We are grateful in seeing this vision for you, for in seeing it, we claim it for ourselves as well.  Truly we celebrate in the Mirror of your Love. And so we say… THANK YOU  Margie and Bob..  Thank you God.   AMEN.

 

 

 

 

 

RECOGNITION of MARRIAGE

And now – I  recognize with full awareness that only a couple can administer the sacrament of marriage to each other, and only a couple can sanctify it. Neither my church, nor any power vested in me by the State, can grant me the authority to declare what only two hearts can declare, and what only two souls can make real.

       And so now, inasmuch as you, Bob, and you, Margie have announced what is already written in your hearts, and have witnessed the same in the presence of these, your family, friends, and the One Living Spirit, –we observe joyfully that you have declared yourselves to be husband and wife.

 

YOU MAY NOW KISS ONE ANOTHER

 

Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present to you

The Happy Couple –    Margie & Bob