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SAMPLE WEDDING CEREMONY
[This sample ceremony shows you how the ceremony format flows - all items that are in red bold are required to stay because of legal requirements in Australia. All items not in red bold can be changed to your own selections]
[Location]
South Molle Island ~ Great Barrier Reef ~ Australia
[Date & Time]
Wednesday 30th August 2000 – 3.30pm
We come together today for the Wedding of Bride and Groom.
Love
[an opening poem or prayer]
There is no difficulty that enough love will not conquer,
No disease that enough love will not heal,
No door that enough love will not open,
No gulf that enough love will not bridge,
No wall that enough love will not throw down,
No sin that enough love will not redeem.
It makes no difference how deeply seated may be the trouble,
How hopeless the outlook,
How muddled the tangle,
How great the mistake.
A sufficient realization of love will dissolve it all.
If only you could love enough,
you would be the happiest and
Most powerful being in the world.
Marriage is for the companionship, help, consideration and love which husband and wife have for each other. Within it’s framework of unconditional love, commitment and loyalty, marriage enables the establishment of a home where, through tolerance, patience and courage, the love and affection of a man and a woman may develop into a deep and lasting relationship of the Body, Mind and Soul.
What Bride and Groom mean to each other is obvious to us all today.
Their commitment to each other has been made for some time. They are adults. They have chosen to live together. Their choice is responsible, free, independent and happy.
Of all the men and women they know they have chosen each other, to journey through life.
Lord, Grant us the serenity
To accept the things that we cannot change
The courage to change the things we can
And the wisdom to know the difference.
Now I, Reverend Ann Williams-Fitzgerald, do solemnize this, your marriage according to the laws of this country and the laws of God.
Before you Groom and you Bride
Are joined together in my presence
And in the presence of these witnesses
I am bound, as you know to remind you publicly
Of the solemn, the serious, and,
The binding nature
Of the relationship into which you
Are now about to enter.
Marriage, as most of us understand it
Is the voluntary and full commitment
Of a man to a woman
And a woman to a man.
It is made in the deepest sense
To the exclusion of all others
And is entered into with the desire
The hope and the firm intention
That it will last for a lifetime.
[your selected wedding vows]
“Groom, do you take Bride in marriage to be your wedded wife, to share your life as your friend, your lover, your companion to grow together in spirit and in truth and forsaking all others?”
Groom – “I DO”
“Bride, do you take Groom in marriage to be your wedded husband, to share your life as your friend, your lover, your companion to grow together in spirit and in truth and forsaking all others?”
Bride – “I DO”
[Selected Vows]
Groom, would you please repeat after me:
Today, I give myself
To be your husband
And take you to be my wife
All that I am, I give to you
And all that I have, I share with you
I will love, respect and honour you
As long as we both shall live
This is my solemn vow.
Bride, would you please repeat after me:
Today, I give myself
To be your wife
And take you to be my husband
All that I am, I give to you
And all that I have, I share with you
I will love, respect and honour you
As long as we both shall live
This is my solemn vow.
“Do we have the rings ready?”
Groom and Bride - “We do”
Groom, as you place the ring on Bride’s finger, would you please repeat after me:
Bride, with this ring I wed thee
Take and wear it
As a pledge of my unconditional love
And as a symbol of all we share
I vow that I shall rejoice with you
Through all the seasons of our life
That our lives may be one together
This ring is a symbol of my promise
To love and care for you always
And in remembrance of the vows
We have made this day
Bride, as you place the ring on Groom’s finger, would you please repeat after me:
Groom, with this ring I wed thee
Take and wear it
As a pledge of my unconditional love
And as a symbol of all we share
I vow that I shall rejoice with you
Through all the seasons of our life
That our lives may be one together
This ring is a symbol of my promise
To love and care for you always
And in remembrance of the vows
We have made this day
(Move to table/altar to Sign registry and marraige certificates)
Bride and Groom have declared before us that they will live together in marriage. They have made special promises to each other. They have symbolised it by joining hands, taking vows and exchanging rings. So therefore on your behalf and on behalf of the community, I now declare them to be husband and wife.
“Groom, you may kiss your bride”
I now have great pleasure in presenting to you:
Mr and Mrs…………………….
(Present certificate & bound parchment ceremony)
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