Sample Vows & Readings

Your Wedding Vows

Your vows are the foundation for the entire wedding day. For those who do not want to write their own vows we have many others to choose from. However, if you wish to write your own vows the following samples will help you formulate and create your own. Others have used these vows and we share them with their permission. Feel free to borrow and fit into you own words. They are secular in content but all are romantic, unique and meaningful. If you decide to write your own vows it is best that you keep them brief and to the point. Vows spoken from the heart are very special and powerful. Lengthy vows often loose their romantic meaning. Your vows can either be memorized or you can bring a copy with you and repeat them after your Officiant. Finally, if you write your own vows you may want to keep a copy to frame or store with your other memorabilia.

VOW 1

(Bride's Name), I am proud to take you as my wife for all of the time we

have been together

There has always been the kind of love and understanding which is

only shared when there is true love.

You have helped me triumph over challenges presented

Encouraged my personal growth and boosted my self esteem

You have helped me become the person I am today

and with your help I will be a better man, tomorrow than I was yesterday.

I love the way you love and care for me.

I love the way you trust and totally believe in me.

I love the way you always look your very best for me.

I love you now and I love my life with you.

Today as we begin our lives as husband and wife.

I totally commit myself to you.

(Groom's Name), I take you as my husband. To say I love you is not

enough,

to try to condense the depth of my feelings into a few words is impossible.

It doesn't tell of the respect I have for you as an individual,

nor how I appreciate how tender and caring you really are

nor the joy I find in your warm laughter,

nor the tears I hold back for your pain,

nor the strength you give when I need it the most,

nor the pleasure I feel in your gentle touch.

But if to say, "I love you" means all these things.

Then let me say "I love you more each day".

______________________________________________________________________

VOW 2

I call upon these people here present to witness that I (Groom's Name)

take you (Bride's Name), as my lawfully wedded wife, to share with you

a relationship of love and of tenderness and laughter. I will stand by you

through all our tomorrows, respecting you as a person, your individuality,

your needs, your changes, and enjoy your love throughout our lives.

I call upon these people here present to witness that I (Bride's Name) take

you (Groom's Name), as my lawfully wedded husband, to share with you

a relationship of love and of tenderness and laughter. I will stand by you

through all our tomorrows, respecting you as a person, your individuality,

your needs, your changes, and enjoy your love throughout our lives.

_____________________________________________________________________

VOW 3

Groom: Today we cross an invisible line.

Bride: We leave behind our yesterdays and start our lives anew.

Groom: The past is over. We will concern ourselves only with the future.

Bride: It is a new day, a new commitment, a new life.

Groom: The vows we take today will change us forever.

Bride: I take them gladly.

Groom: I take them gladly, too.

Bride: (Groom's Name), I promise to love you, to protect you, and to be

faithful to you for all the days of my life. I will soothe your hurts and

share your delights. I will do all in my power to make you as happy as I

am today.

Groom: (Bride's Name), I promise to love you and honor you and to

always be honest with you. I will be faithful to you for all the days of my

life. I will believe only the best about you and look always for your good

qualities. I will do all in my power to make you as happy as I am today.

Bride: Today is the beginning of the rest of my life. I choose to spend

today, and all of my tomorrows, with you.

Groom: Today is the beginning of the rest of my life. I choose to spend it,

and all of my tomorrows, with you.

Groom: I love you, (Bride's Name).

Bride: I love you, (Groom's Name).

Groom: I want you for my wife, that we may share our lives with each other.

Bride: I want you for my husband, that our love may be sanctified by

this ceremony.

Groom: I promise to put you first in my life, knowing that our love is my

most precious possession.

Bride: I promise to put you first in my life, believing that all other

achievements pale beside a happy marriage.

Groom: I will share with you my joys, my sorrows, my hopes and my

dreams.

Bride: I will bring to you my accomplishments and my failures.

Groom: I will be faithful to you always.

Bride: And I will be faithful to you.

Groom: From this day forward, I will walk beside you.

When we are apart, my thoughts will be with you.

Bride: From this day forward, we stand together.

Whatever happens to either of us will be confronted by both.

Groom: I gladly make these promises. I am proud to be your husband.

Bride: I gladly make these promises. I am proud to be your wife.

Groom: Our vows are ended; our marriage has begun.

Bride: Let us go with joy into our new life together.

Groom: This is a day of rejoicing.

Bride: We rejoice in the goodness of love.

Groom: Because I love you, I promise to respect your wishes and opinions.

Bride: Because I love you, I promise to put our marriage above all else.

Groom: I will share with you my material goods, my thoughts, and my feelings.

Bride: I will share with you my material goods, my thoughts, and my feelings.

Groom: I promise to do all that I can to keep our relationship special to both of us.

Bride: I will cherish our time together. I will try to keep our home peaceful and

harmonious.

Groom: I will encourage you to grow and to become all that you are

capable of becoming.

Bride: I will urge you to meet whatever challenges you may face.

Groom: I promise to be faithful to you in thought, word, and act.

Bride: I promise to be faithful to you in thought, word, and act.

This is a day of rejoicing.

Groom: We rejoice in the goodness of love.

___________________________________________________________

VOW 4

Officiant: Marriage is not a legal document. No pastor or priest or justice

of the peace can create a marriage because a marriage, truly, is nothing

except the promises made and kept by two individuals. Today (Groom's

Name) and (Bride's Name) stand before us to publicly declare their love

and to share with us their marriage promises. (Groom's Name), what

promises do you make?

Groom: I promise to love (Bride's Name) with all my heart and mind and

strength. I promise to be faithful to her in thought, word and act for all the

days of my life. I promise to consider her welfare and happiness before I

make any decisions and I promise to offer her comfort, encouragement

and companionship.

Officiant: ( Bride's Name), what promises do you make?

Bride: I promise to love (Groom's Name) with all my heart and mind and

strength. I promise to be faithful to him in thought, word and act for all

the days of my life. I promise to consider his welfare and happiness

before I make any decisions and I promise to offer him comfort,

encouragement and companionship.

Officiant: Do you both, before these witnesses, pledge to do all in your

power to make this a happy and enduring union?

Together the Bride and Groom say: We do.

____________________________________________________________-

VOW 5 (Rose vow)

NOTE: The Groom will need to have a rose and the Bride will need a

vase with water in it. Before the ceremony, the vase and rose should be

placed in an easily accessible spot generally behind a lectern, for example.

The best man, the Maid of Honor, or the Minister should get the rose and

the vase just prior to this part of the service.

Minister: This is a day steeped in tradition, a time when we are surrounded

by symbols: something old, something new, something borrowed,

something blue.

Today, (Bride's Name) and (Groom's Name) begin a new tradition, a

custom which now becomes uniquely their own.

Groom: (Bride Name) I give you this rose. Because it grew from a tiny

seed, becoming stronger and larger until it burst into flower, it symbolizes

the way my love for you has grown. (He gives her the rose.) Each year on

our wedding anniversary, I will give you another rose. In so doing, I'll

remember this day and renew the vows we've made.

Bride: (Groom's name), I give to you this vase of water. (He takes and

holds it.) Because water is the one element without which we would

perish, it symbolizes the importance of your love in my life. Each year on

our anniversary, I will refill this vase, offering it to you as a symbol of my

ever renewing love. (She puts the rose in the vase and they hold the vase

together.)

Groom: Without water, the rose would die.

Bride: Without the rose, the vase of water would not be beautiful.

Groom: My gift is enhanced by yours, just as my life is enhanced by ours.

Bride: My gift is lovely because of yours, just as my life is better because

of you. ( They hand the rose and vase to the Minister.)

Minister: On each anniversary, as you give and receive the rose and the

water, remember with joy this day when you pledged your love and your

lives to each other. May this be only the first of many cherished traditions

in a home filled with happiness.

________________________________________________________________________

VOW 5

Groom: Today is a new beginning. It is the start of a new way of life.

Bride: We don't know what challenges lie ahead. We know only that we

will face them together.

Groom: Because of you, I am a better person than I once was.

Bride: I promise always to see the good in you.

Groom: I will try to be worthy of your love and trust.

Bride: Because of you, I am a better person than I once was.

Groom: I promise always to see the good in you.

Bride: I will try to be worthy of your love and trust.

Groom: Before God and these witnesses, I vow to be loyal to you in every

way, to comfort you, to cherish you, and always to love you.

Bride: Before God and these witnesses, I vow to be loyal to you in every

way, to comfort you, to cherish you, and always to love you.

Groom: Today is a new beginning.

Bride: Our new life together has begun.

Groom: Love is more than an emotion. It is a way of life.

Bride: Love is more than a feeling. It is a channel through which all

feelings flow.

Groom: When I offer you my love, I offer all that is important in my life.

Bride: When I offer you my love, I let all of my deepest feelings flow

toward you.

Groom: Marriage is more than a ceremony. This service lasts less than an

hour but marriage is a lifetime of living together.

Bride: Marriage is more than a promise.

It is a promise kept; it is words translated into action.

Groom: As we begin living our promises, I pledge to you my love and

loyalty. I will share with you all that is important to me. I will encourage

peace and happiness between us.

Bride: As we begin living our promises, I pledge to you my love and

loyalty. I will share with you all that is important to me. I will encourage

peace and happiness between us.

_____________________________________________________________________

VOW 6

Bride: I, (Bride's Name), take you, (Groom's Name), to be my husband.

I promise to be true to you always, in sickness and in health, in poverty or

wealth, in my thoughts and in my speaking. I will be your dearest friend,

your lover, and the mother of your children. With these vows, I commit

myself to you.

Groom: I, (Groom's Name), take you, (Bride's Name), to be my wife. I

promise to be true to you always, in sickness and in health, in poverty or

wealth, in my thoughts and in my speaking. I will be your dearest friend,

your lover, and the father of your children. With these vows, I

commit myself to you.

________________________________________________________________________

VOW 7

Minister: Marriage is an act of faith. It requires great trust to pledge ones

self to a lifetime with another person. Today (Groom's Name) and

(Bride's Name) demonstrate their faith and trust by pledging their love to

each other.

(Groom's Name), what promises do you make to (Bride's Name)?

Groom: (Bride's Name), I affirm you now as my life partner. I promise to

stay with you in times of celebration and in times of mourning. I promise

to love you, honor you, and be faithful to you. I accept you, without

reservation, as my wife.

Minister: (Bride's Name), what promises do you make to

(Groom's Name)?

Bride: (Groom's Name), I affirm you now as my life partner. I promise to

stay with you in times of celebration and in times of mourning. I promise

to love you, honor you, and be faithful to you. I accept you, without

reservation, as my husband.

Minister: By the promises they've made, (Groom's Name) and (Bride's

Name) have demonstrated their belief in love, in marriage, and in each

other. They ask now for the blessing of all who have witnessed their

vows. If you believe in their love and approve their marriage, please

applaud.

_______________________________________________________________________

VOW 8

Groom: I promise to live in such a way that I will never bring dishonor

or heartache into our marriage.

Bride: I promise to keep our home a sanctuary of love, contentment

and compassionate understanding.

Groom: I pledge to you my patience, my honesty, and my faith in the

rightness of our love.

Bride: I pledge to you my patience, my honesty, and my faith in the

rightness of our love.

Groom: To the best of my ability, I will be your friend, your helpmate,

your counselor and your sweetheart.

Bride: To the best of my ability, I will be your friend, your helpmate,

your counselor and your sweetheart.

Groom: I love you and I want to be your husband.

Bride: I love you and I want to be your wife.

Vow 1

Name, I fell in love with you for the person you are. I soon realized that I also love you for the person I now see inside of me. Now I understand that the people we are, are the people we are when we are together. Today I choose you to be my wife. Our future is only ours to live. And living it with you makes me truly believe we can overcome anything in our path. I will love you till the end of time.

Vow 9

There was darkness for a long time and then there was light, and that light was you. Your love has given me wings, and our journey begins today. I pledge before our family and friends to be your husband/wife from this day forward. I join my life with yours. I want you for today, tomorrow, and forever.

Vow 10

I have dreamed my whole life of having someone as wonderful as you to love me the way you have have. I give myself to you as your wife/husband, and I promise here to cherish for all of my days the love we celebrate today. I freely offer you my total devotion and love. Let us bring together our lives and find ourselves anew each day.

Vow 11

In the presence of our family and friends I choose you be my wife/husband; to be no other than yourself, in all the ways life may find us, tending you in sickness and rejoicing with you in health, as long as we both shall live to love.

Vow 12

I choose you to be my wife/husband.

I promise to always believe in you;

To dream with you; to laugh with you

I promise to hold you up with respect;

To listen to you, and at the same time hear you.

Be faithful to you; and to embrace your family.

Through the best & the worst of what is to come

As long as I live I will keep these words close to my heart.

This is my solemn vow.

Vow 13

I will base my life with you on love and caring. I will be considerate of your wishes and desires, and respect your integrity and intentions. I will support your dreams and goals, and strive to keep our lives well acquainted with laughter and joy. Where there are troubles, I will stand with you; where there are storms, we will weather them together I (name), bring to you, (name), the very best person I can be, now and forever.

Vow 14

I wished for a companion who could understand me and accept me for who I was; I wished for a best friend with whom I could share both laughter and tears; I wished for a confidante who would always be ready to share hopes, dreams, and secrets. My wish came true with you. Finding and loving you has become the central event of my life.

Vow 15

I come here today, (name), secure in the knowledge that you are my partner, the one with whom I will live and grow forever. I, (name), offer myself to you and you alone as your wedded mate in the name of grateful, pure, and lasting love.

Vow 16

I take you Bride/Groom, to be my wife/husband, knowing in my heart that you will be a faithful friend, my confidant, and the mother/father of my children. I will be with you in good times and in bad for the rest of my life.

Vow17

I vow to cherish our union and love you more each day than I did the day before. Both freed and bound by our love, I give you my hand, my heart, my soul, From this day forward as long as we both shall live. The is my solemn vow.

Vow 18

Vow 19

Vow 20

Vow 21

Vow 22

I choose you to be my wife/husband.

I promise to always believe in you;

To dream with you; to laugh with you

I promise to hold you up with respect;

To listen to you, and at the same time hear you.

Be faithful to you; and to embrace your family.

Through the best & the worst of what is to come

As long as I live I will keep these words close to my heart.

This is my solemn vow.

Vow 23

Vow 24

Vow 25

Vow 26

Vow 27

_______________________________________________________________________

Readings

Readings are also another way of personalizing your ceremony. Often readings convey in words what your heart is attempting to say to each other. But they also nudge the hearts of everyone gathered. Many in attendance once ‘stood’ and made their commitment just as you do on your very special day. Everyone will feel connected to the circle of love you are attempting to create.

READINGS 1 Everyday you live

Everyday you live, learn how to receive love with as much understanding

as you give it.

Find things within yourself, then you can share them with each other.

Do not fear this love.

Have an open heart and a sincere mind.

Be sincerely interested in each other's happiness.

Be constant and consistent in your love.

From this comes security and strength.

All that we love deeply becomes a part of us on this day of your marriage.

Try to commit yourselves fully and freely to each other.

Walter Pinder

READING 2 1 Corinthians 13 (Shortened version)

Love is always patient and kind. It is never jealous.

Love is never boastful or conceited, it is never rude or selfish, it does not

take offense and is not resentful.

Love takes no pleasure in other people's faults, but delights in the truth.

It is always ready to excuse, to trust, to hope. It is always ready to endure

whatever comes. True love does not come to an end.

READING 3 Remember the word of Kahlil Gibran:

Love one another, but make not a bond of love.

Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of our souls.

Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone,

even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same

music. Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping, for only the

hand of life can contain your hearts.

Stand together but not too near together. For the pillars of the temple

stand apart and the oak and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow.

READING 4 Marriage is love

If two are caring as they are sharing life's hopes and fears.

If the music of laughter outweighs sadness and tears.

Marriage is togetherness.

If both derive pleasure from the mere presence of each other,

yet when parted no jealousies restrict, worry or smother.

Marriage is freedom.

If achievements mean more when they benefit two

and consideration is shown with each point of view.

Marriage is respect.

And if togetherness, freedom and respect are combined

with a joy that words can never fully define, then

Marriage is love.

Gloria Matthew

READING 5 Love is the reason

Love is the reason why this day was chosen by you both to begin your

lives together and love is the reason why you both will give with all hearts

for the good of each other.

Love is the reason that together you will become one; one in hope; one in

believing in life; one in sharing the coming years.

READING 6 Two Lives

Two lives, two people, so very different, yet so similar.

Together we stand as one, sharing our future as it comes.

The past is that -- past.

Buds are yet to blossom, with care and trust, the best is yet to be revealed.

Honesty and kindness, are the fruits of love.

Lord bless this day and always to enrich us so our love will never end.

READING 7 1 Corinthians 13

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not

charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.

And though I have the gift of prophecy, and all knowledge; and though I

have all faith so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am

nothing.

And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my

body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.

Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth

not itself, is not puffed up,

Doth not behave itself unseemly; seeketh not her own, is not easily

provoked, thinketh no evil;

Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;

Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all

things.

Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail;

whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it

shall vanish away.

For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.

But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be

done away.

When I was a child I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as

a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

For now we see through a glass darkly; but then face to face: now I know

in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

And now abideth, faith, hope, charity, and the greatest of these is charity.

READING 8 Colossians 3:12-14

Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and loved, compassion, kindness,

lowliness, meekness, and patience, fore bearing one another, and, if one

has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has

forgiven you, so you must also forgive. And bore all, put on love, which

binds everything together in perfect harmony.

READING 9 Sonnet 116

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.

Oh no! It is an ever-fixed mark.

That looks on tempests and is never shaken.

It is the star to every wand'ring 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 its 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.

William Shakespeare

READING 10 There we are one

When I go to the place in me that is Love

And you go into that place in you that is Love

There we are ONE.

READING 11 In Love Made Visible

In love are we made visible

As in a magic bath

are unpeeled

to the sharp pit

so long concealed

With love's alertness

we recognize the soundless whimper

of the soul behind the eyes

A shaft opens, and the timid thing

at last leaps to surface with full-spread wing

The fingertips of love discover more than the body's smoothness

They uncover a hidden conduit

for the transfusion

of empathy's that circumvent

the mind's intrusion

In love are we set free

Objective bone

and flesh no longer insulate us

to ourselves alone

We are released

and flow into each other's cup

Our two frail vials pierced

drink each other up

May Swenson

READING 12 A Vision

Two angels among the throng of angels

paused in the upward abyss, facing angel to angel.

Blue and green glowed the wing feathers

of one angel, from red to gold the sheen

of the other's.

These two, so far as angels may dispute, were poised

on the brink of dispute, brink of fall from angelic stature,

for these tall ones, angels whose wingspan encompasses entire

earthly villages, whose heads if their feet touched earth

would top pines or redwoods, live by their vision's harmony

which sees at one glance the dark and light of the moon.

These two hovered dazed before one another,

for one saw the sea feathered, peacock breakered

crests of the other angel's magnificence, different from his own,

and the other's eyes flickered with vision of

flame petallings, cream-gold grainfeather glitterings,

the wings of his fellow, and both in immortal danger of dwindling,

of dropping into the remote forms of a lesser being.

But as these angels, the only halted ones

among the many who passed and repassed,

trod air as swimmers tread water, each gazing on the angelic wings of

the other, the intelligence proper to great angels flew into their wings,

the intelligence called intellectual love, which,

understanding the perfection's of scarlet,

leapt up among blues and greens strong shafted,

and among amber down illumined the sapphire bloom,

so that each angel was iridescent with the strange newly-seen

hues he watched; and their discovering pause

and the speech their silent interchange of perfection was

never became a shrinking to opposites,

and they remained free in the heavenly chasm,

remained angels, but dreaming angels,

each imbued with the mysteries of the other.

Denise Levertov

READING 13 The Passionate Shepherd to His Love

Come live with me and be my love, And we will all the pleasures prove

That valleys, groves, hills, and fields, woods, or steepy mountain yields.

And we will sit upon the rocks, Seeing the shepherds feed their flocks,

By shallow rivers to whose falls Melodious birds sing madrigals.

And I will make thee beds of roses And a thousand fragrant posies,

A cap of flowers, and a kirtle Embroidered all with leaves of myrtle;

A gown made of the finest wool Which from our pretty lambs we pull;

Fair lined slippers for the cold, With buckles of the purest gold;

A belt of straw and ivy buds, With coral clasps and amber studs:

And if these pleasures may thee move, Come live with me,

and be my love.

The shepherds' swains shall dance and sing For thy delight each

May morning: If these delights thy mind may move, Then live with me

and be my love.

Christopher Marlowe

READING 14 From Sonnets from the Portuguese

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

I love thee to the depth and breadth and height My soul can reach,

when feeling out of sight

For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.

I love thee to the level of every day's Most quiet need, by sun and

candle-light. I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;

I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.

I love thee with the passion put to use

In my old grief's, and with my childhood's faith.

I love thee with a love I seemed to lose

With my lost saints I love thee with the breath, Smiles, tears, of all my

life!-and, if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

READING 15 The Ivy Crown

The whole process is a lie, unless, crowned by excess,

it break forcefully, one way or another, from its confinement-

or find a deeper well

Anthony and Cleopatra were right;

they have shown the way. I love you or I do not live at all.

Daffodil time is past. This is summer, summer!

the heart says, and not even the full of it. No doubts are permitted-

though they will come and may before our time overwhelm us.

We are only mortal but being mortal can defy our fate.

We may by an outside chance even win!

We do not look to see jonquils and violets come again

but there are, still, the roses!

Romance has no part in it. The business of love is

cruelty which, by our wills, we transform

to live together. It has its seasons, for and against,

whatever the heart fumbles in the dark to assert toward the end of May.

Just as the nature of briars is to tear flesh, I have proceeded.

Keep the briars out, they say. You cannot live and keep free of briars.

Children pick flowers.

Let them.

Though having them in hand they have no further use for them

but leave them crumpled it the curb's edge.

At our age the imagination across the sorry facts

lifts us to make roses stand before thorns.

Sure love is cruel and selfish and totally obtuse-

at least, blinded by the light, young love is.

But we are older, I to love and you to be loved,

we have, no matter how,

by our wills survived to keep the jeweled prize

always at our finger tips. We will it so and so it is

past, all accident.

William Carlos Williams

READING 16 The Lord's Prayer: Traditional Version

Our Father which art in Heaven,

Hallowed be thy name,

Thy kingdom come,

Thy will be done on earth

As it is in Heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread

And forgive us our trespasses

As we forgive those who trespass against us.

Lead us not into temptation

But deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory,

For ever and ever.

Amen.

READING 17 The Lords Prayer Modern Version

Our Father in heaven,

Holy be your name.

Your kingdom come,

Your will be done on earth as in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

Forgive our sins

As we forgive those who sin against us.

Save us at the time of trial

And deliver us from evil.

For the kingdom, the power and the glory

Are yours now and ever more.

Amen.

READING 18 The Desiderata

Go placidly amid the noise and haste

And remember what peace there may be in silence.

Be yourself, especially do not feign affection.

Neither be cynical about love, for in the face of all aridity

and disenchantment it is perennial as the grass.

Be gentle with yourselves.

You are the children of the universe

No less than the trees and stars.

Be at peace with God

Whatever you conceive Him to be

And whatever your labors and aspirations.

In the noisy confusion of life

Keep peace with your souls.

READING 19 Blessing

All praise and blessing to you, God of love,

Creator of the universe,

Maker of man and woman in your likeness,

Source of blessing for married life.

All praise to you, for you have created

Courtship and marriage,

Joy and gladness,

Feasting and laughter,

Pleasure and delight.

May your blessing come in full upon

(Groom's Name) and (Bride's Name)

May they know your presence in their joys and sorrows.

May they reach old age in the company of friends

And come at last to your eternal kingdom.

Amen.

READING 20 A Reading from the New Testament

1 Corinthians 13:4-8 and 13, J.B. Philips translation

Love is slow to lose patience... It looks for a way of being constructive.

It is not possessive... It is neither anxious to impress, nor does it cherish

inflated ideas of its own importance.

Love has good manners, and does not pursue selfish advantage. It is not

touchy... It does not keep account of evil, or gloat over the wickedness of

other people.

On the contrary, it is glad when truth prevails.

Love knows no limits to its endurance, no end to its trust, no fading of its

hope.

It can outlast anything. It is in fact the one thing that still stands when all

else is fallen.

In this life we have three great lasting qualities: faith, hope and love...

But the greatest is love.

READING 21 Where There is Love

Where there is love-the heart is light, Where there is love the day is bright,

Where there is love there is a song.

To help when things are going wrong, Where there is love there is a smile-

To make all things seem more worthwhile,

Where there is love there is quiet peace,

A tranquil place where turmoils cease-

Love changes darkness into light And makes the heart take wingless flight,

Oh, blest are they who walk in love, They also walk with God above--

And when you walk with God each day

And kneel together when you pray,

Your marriage will be truly blest, And God will guide your daily quest

And love-that once seemed yours alone

God gently blends into His own.

Helen Steiner Rice

READING 22 In Love Forever

How can I stay in love with you forever?

How can we make our relationship into a lifetime of sharing and joy?

In order to stay in love Forever

I must first find the right person to love and I have, in you

In order to stay in love Forever

we both must understand each other

and ourselves vary well

and we must be completely honest

with each other at all times

We both must have our own goals and interests and actively pursue them

We both must have complete freedom of thought and we must

encourage each other to follow our dreams

We muse always be Fair, kind and supportive of each other

We must dedicate ourselves to being equal partners in all that we feel

and in all that we do.

We must promise each other that we will always create time

to just appreciate each other and our love and that we will never be lazy

and take our love For granted

In order for me to stay in love with you

Forever and have a relationship that is a lifetime of sharing and loving

I must really pledge myself to this wonderful commitment;

and I must really want to stay in love with you forever and I do

--Susan Polis Schutz

READING 23 Love

Love is friendship that has caught fire.

It is quiet understanding, mutual confidence, sharing and forgiving.

It is loyalty through good and bad times.

It settles for less than perfection and makes allowances for

human weaknesses.

Love is content with the present, it hopes for the future,

and it doesn't brood over the past.

It's the day-in and day-out chronicle of irritations,

problems, compromises,

small disappointments, big victories and working toward common goals.

If you have love in your life, it can make up,

for a great many things that are missing.

If you don't have love in your life, no matter what else there is,

It's not enough.

READING 24 Love is always

Love is an ocean of discovery

A multitude of experiences to treasure

It is the alliance of two lives for always

Not to become one life, but to be two hearts beating in time

Love will hold you near to one another

So that you never feel alone

It will keep you warm within

So that there never be frost around your hearts

Love will grow, will ripen and be ever strong

So that there never be emptiness in your souls

Love is the most precious gift to bestow

A resplendent gift to receive

And MARRIAGE is the promise to cherish your love

To guide its path and never let its glory pass unnoticed

Love is the rapture of this day that will be with you always

Fulfilling you, shining through you ALWAYS

Melissa Jaggard

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