Civil Wedding Ceremony
(We played a tape of a French Renaissance dance to get folks quiet and ready
to go.)
Presiding person: We have come together today to witness the marriage of
___ and ____. They've asked ____ to read a section from __________.
(Skip got up and read an excerpt from a Stevenson
essay.)
Presiding person: The legal requirements of this state having been fulfilled,
and the license for their marriage being present, I must ask of each party
if they come of their own free will and accord.
(to the groom) ____, do you come to this union of your free will, and with
the intention of being faithful in marriage to ____ as long as you live?
(Groom: "I do.")
(to the bride) ____, do you come to this union of your free will, and with
the intention of being faithful in marriage to ____ as long as you live?
(Bride: "I do.")
(to the groom) Please repeat the following after me. I, ____, take you ____
to be my lawfully wedded wife. I promise from this day forward to be your
faithful husband, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness
and in health, to love and to cherish, as long as I shall live.
(to the bride) Please repeat the following after me. I, ____, take you ____
to be my lawfully wedded husband. I promise from this day forward to be
your faithful wife, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness
and in health, to love and to cherish, as long as I shall live.
The wedding ring seals the vows of marriage as a signature bears witness
to a written covenant. As the ring is placed upon the finger, will you repeat
these words: In pledge of the vow of marriage made between us, I offer you
this ring.
(Groom and bride exchange rings.)
We who have come together in this place have heard the willingness of ____
and ____ to be joined in marriage. They have come of their own free will
and in our hearing have made a covenant of faithfulness. They have given
and received a ring as the seal of their promises. Therefore, by the power
vested in me by this state, I pronounce that they are husband and wife.
(Back to Matt and Kate's wedding page!)