Our Wedding Ceremony

Opening

We have been invited here in the presence of God to join Bob and Lynda in celebrating the commitment they are making to each other.

"There is nothing more lovely in life than the union of two people whose love for one another has grown through the years from the small acorn of passion to a great rooted tree, surviving all vicissitudes, and rich with its manifold branches, every leaf holding its own significance."

Lynda and Bob have asked you to join them today because the love they have found in each other has been supported by the love they have been given by their families and friends. Their thoughts are also with those who are not here today, those whose love has added to the richness of their lives.

Each of you holds a pebble, symbolic of our humble origins on earth and of the strength we are capable of if we join together. Please take this opportunity to invest your pebble with your wish for these two. As you leave after the ceremony, please place your pebble in the basket for them, so that they can take your good wishes with them for their lives together.

Bob and Lynda, you are here today with your family and friends to declare openly your love for each other and to be joined in marriage, a declaration of your hearts built upon your separate lives and enriched by your experiences with each other in the past six years.

For each of you, your history and your family are part of your unique selves. You may make personal choices, but your partnership will be enriched by the community you are a part of.

Doreen Fawcett, as Lynda's mother, do you give your blessing to this marriage?

[I welcome Bob into our family with love.]

Marg Daniel, as Robert's mother, do you give your blessing to this marriage?

[I welcome Lynda into our family with love.]

Question

Lynda, do you take Bob to be your husband, to live with him as his loving wife and partner, with honour, tenderness and respect as you share your lives in marriage?

[I do.]

Bob, do you take Lynda to be your wife, to live with her as her loving husband and partner, with honour, tenderness and respect as you share your lives in marriage?

[I do.]

Vows

[I, Bob, take you, Lynda, to be my wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better and for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, in joy and in sorrow, to love and to cherish and to be faithful to you alone, as long as we both shall live.]

[I, Lynda, take you, Bob, to be my husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better and for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, in joy and in sorrow, to love and to cherish and to be faithful to you alone, as long as we both shall live.]

Rings

The unbroken circle of the ring suggests unending love; it declares the unity and oneness of your lives. Let this, then, serve as a sign of your love for each other.

[Lynda, with this ring I marry you and promise to share my life with you. Please wear it as a symbol of my love.]

[Bob, with this ring I marry you and promise to share my life with you. Please wear it as a symbol of my love.]

Pronouncement

We have heard with their words and we have seen with these symbols that Lynda and Bob wish to be joined in marriage, so at this time I, and all those present, recognize you as husband and wife, and we honour your marriage.

Will you seal your vows with a kiss?

May the love that has brought you together continue to grow and enrich your lives. May your home be a place of happiness for all who enter it, a place for beauty and for music, a place for laughter and for trust. May you meet with strength all troubles that may beset you and may your marriage be one of ever-growing depth and understanding through your lifetime together.

Signing the register

Introduction of Couple

We pray that the sacred commitment of this day inspire these two always. May they continue to delight in the wonder of life. May they share their dreams and offer each other help in realizing them. May Lynda and Bob, trusting each other, trust life itself and with God's grace may their love endure.

Closing

"Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come:
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved."

May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face shine upon you, and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up his countenance to you, and give you peace.