Sample Wedding Ceremony Vows

Repeat after me, Man First, then Woman:

“Today as I become your wife/husband I make these promises to you: I promise that from this day until my last I will love you, care for you, and celebrate you. You are my closest friend, my other half, and the one that I will treasure forever. I dedicate my energy to bringing you days filled with laughter, joy, tenderness and unwavering love.”

Exchange of Rings

Since the beginning of time the ring has been an emblem of the sincerity and permanence of a couple’s love for one another and regard for their marriage. The ring is a symbol of the unbroken circle of love. May these rings always remind you of the vows you have taken.

____, Repeat after me, ____, I give you this ring that you may wear it as a reminder of my love for you. As I place it on your finger I commit my heart and soul to you.

____ Repeat after me, ____, I give you this ring that you may wear it as a reminder of my love for you. As I place it on your finger I commit my heart and soul to you.

____ please hold ____ hands palms up where you may see the gift they are to you.

These are the hands of your best friend, smooth, young and carefree, that are holding yours on your wedding day, as she pledges her love and commitment to you all the days of her life. These are the hands that will hold each child in tender love, soothing them through illness and hurt, supporting and encouraging them along the way, and knowing when it is time to let go. These are the hands that will massage tension from your neck, and back in the evenings after you’ve both had a long hard day. They will hold you tight as you struggle through difficult times. They will comfort you when you are sick and console you when you are grieving. These hands will passionately love and cherish you through the years, for a lifetime of happiness. These are the hands that will give you support as she encourages you to chase down your dreams. Together as a team everything you wish for can be realized. Now hold each other’s hands. God bless these hands that you see this day before you. May they always be held one another. Give them the strength to hold on during the storms of stress and the dark of disillusionment. Keep them tender and gentle as they nurture each other in their wondrous love. Help these hands to continue to build a relationship founded on grace, rich in caring, and devoted in reaching for perfection. May ____ and ____ always see their four hands as healer, protector, shelter and guide.

Amen.

May I please have the rings?

These rings by their shape symbolize eternity without beginning or end. A true symbol of the love existing between you. The profound simplicity of these circles will be reflected in your relationship as honesty, openness and the willingness to love and grow together forever. Let these rings also be a sign that love has substance as well as soul, a present as well as a past and that, despite its occasional sorrows, love is a circle of happiness, wonder and delight.

_____, will you take _____ ring and place it on the third finger of her left hand. Please look into her eyes and repeat your vows: With this ring, I promise to love you, respect and cherish you, be faithful to you and to always nurture, the love between us, as long as we both shall live.

_____ will you take _____ ring and place it on the third finger of his left hand. Please look into his eyes and repeat your vows: With this ring, I promise to love you, respect and cherish you, be faithful to you and to always nurture, the love between us, as long as we both shall live.

May the sacred commitments you have made this day sustain you throughout your lives. May the love that bind’s you be strong and lasting, and may your hearts be filled with patience and understanding for one another. May you be blessed with good health, courage and good fortune as your love and friendship deepens through the months and years ahead. We realize that marriage symbolizes the love and harmony that transcends everything in the universe. May we all be encouraged to find these spiritual qualities that bring us closer to one another.

____ please hold ____ hands palms up where you may see the gift they are to you.

These are the hands of your best friend, smooth, young and carefree, that are holding yours on your wedding day, as she pledges her love and commitment to you all the days of her life. These are the hands that will hold each child in tender love, soothing them through illness and hurt, supporting and encouraging them along the way, and knowing when it is time to let go. These are the hands that will massage tension from your neck, and back in the evenings after you’ve both had a long hard day. They will hold you tight as you struggle through difficult times. They will comfort you when you are sick and console you when you are gToday, ____ and ____ , we are giving outer acknowledgment to the true bond that already exists beyond time and space within your souls. Marriage in its deepest and truest sense is a spiritual union. It is also two persons working together toward a goal – two souls manifesting as one in hope, desire, and aspiration. And it is especially a sharing of the deepest friendship for the purpose of enjoying this wonderful life together. The state of wedlock is a holy one, not to be entered onto lightly but only under the guidance of infinite wisdom and divine love. In the days and years ahead, you will choose again and again whether or not to keep your love as the most important part of your lives together.

I’d like to share a Poem with you entitled “Blessing for a Marriage” by James Dillet Freeman. May your marriage bring you all the exquisite excitements a marriage should bring, and may life grant you also patience, tolerance, generosity and understanding. May you always need one another – not so much to fill your emptiness as to help you to know your fullness. A mountain needs a valley to be complete; the valley does not make the mountain less but more; and the valley is more a valley because it has a mountain towering over it. So let it be with you. May you need one another, but not out of weakness.

May you want one another, but not out of lack.
May you entice one another, but not compel one another.
May you succeed in all important ways with one another, and not fail in the little graces.

May you look for things to praise, often say, “I love you!” and take no notice of small faults. If you have quarrels that push you apart, may both of you have good sense enough to take the first step back.

May you enter into the mystery, which is the awareness of one another’s presence. No more physical than spiritual, warm and near when you are side-by-side, and warm and near when you are in separate rooms or even distant cities.

May you have happiness, and may you find it making one another happy.

May you have love, and may you find it loving one another. Thank you, God, for your presence here with us and your blessing on this marriage. Amen.

____ and ____ please face each other, hold hands and look into each other’s eyes for the affirmation of your vows. Man’s vows first, then Women’s vows

The couple will now give one rose and a hug to the bride’s and groom’s mom, acknowledging the parents for the love that brought them into this day.

The rose has always been considered a symbol of love and of the words I love you, a symbol of the light and love that has been passed down through their families.
(Suggest music plays during this time.)

_____ and _____, will you please join hands. Under the authority of the law of our land and because of the commitment you have made this day to each other before your family and friends, I now pronounce you husband and wife.

You may now kiss the bride!

Please turn and face your guests. Family and friends, it is my wonderful pleasure to introduce for the first time as husband and wife, Mr. and Mrs. _____ and _____.