Our Wedding Ceremony Script

I explained why I wrote our wedding ceremony and now I want to share the final product. It helped me a ton to look at other brides ceremony scripts when I was crafting ours with our minister’s help so I hope this helps another bride out there doing the same thing!

Our Wedding Ceremony

Dearly beloved… We are gathered together in the sight of GOD, and the face of this company, to join together this man, and this woman, in the Holy estate of matrimony. If any man knows reason why Mary & Kepa  should NOT be joined together, let him speak now, or forever hold his peace.

Who blesses this union? (Moms: I do)

(start ring pass through bridal party)

Now as Mary & Kepa come from their community of family and friends, and ask our support as they begin their journey together…. They also ask for your blessing upon their marriage. Later in the ceremony Mary & Kepa will exchange rings as a symbol of their love and commitment to one another. As the ceremony proceeds they would like to invite family and friends to take part in The Warming of the Rings. As the rings make their way through the group please take a quick moment to hold them, warm them with your love, and silently make a wish or ask a blessing for this couple and their future together. When these rings return they will contain your love and support for their union to keep it strong throughout the years.

Let us Pray… (prayer by minister)

A reading from I Corinthians:

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

And now, a reading from Captain Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres:

Love is a temporary madness,
it erupts like volcanoes and then subsides.

And when it subsides you have to make a decision.
You have to work out whether your roots have so entwined together
that it is inconceivable that you should ever part.

Because this is what love is.
Love is not breathlessness,
it is not excitement,
it is not the promulgation of eternal passion.
That is just being “in love” which any fool can do.

Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away,
and this is both an art and a fortunate accident.

Those that truly love, have roots that grow towards each other underground,
and when all the pretty blossom have fallen from their branches,
they find that they are one tree and not two.

Perhaps equally important as the LOVE which has brought you together, is the FRIENDSHIP and RESPECT that you share for each other; for with these three things I submit to you that: “A successful marriage is a never ending journey that two people take… hand in hand…With the love of GOD to shine as a beacon in the difficult times…And as a golden sunrise in the happy times.”

Reading from the wedding singer (surprise song) Grow Old With You:

I wanna make you smile whenever you’re sad
Carry you around when your arthritis is bad
All I wanna do is grow old with you

Ill get your medicine when your tummy aches
Build you a fire if the furnace breaks
Oh it could be so nice, growing old with you

Ill miss you
Ill kiss you
Give you my coat when you are cold

Ill need you
Ill feed you
Even let ya hold the remote control

So let me do the dishes in our kitchen sink
Put you to bed if you’ve had too much to drink
I could be the man who grows old with you
I wanna grow old with you

Do you Kepa take this woman to be your wife: to live together in the Holy estate of matrimony; and do you promise to love her, comfort her, honor and keep her in sickness and health; and forsaking all others, keep yourself only unto her… so long as you both shall live? I DO

Do you Mary take this man to be your husband: to live together in the Holy estate of matrimony; and do you promise to love him, comfort him, honor and keep him in sickness and health; and forsaking all others, keep yourself only unto him… so long as you both shall live? I DO

Exchange of vows:

Kepa: Thinking about the way things have happened between us makes me both giddy and incredulous. To discover that the person who I love most in the world lives 10,000 miles away in another country was a definite surprise, but it’s the truth.

Today I choose you to be my wife, the mother of my future children, my partner for life.
I choose you for the good and sweet and sarcastic person you are.
I choose you because you make me so happy, and you know me better than anyone.
I choose you for the love and joy you bring to my life.

Everyday, since the moment I met you till eternity, these promises will remain true.

I promise to love you fiercely and forever
I promise to be ready for an adventure with you, even when they’re unplanned
I promise to stay beside you, to lift you up, and support you in achieving your dreams
I promise to share my life and aspirations with you
I promise that you are always the best thing for me

Mary: Kepa. I love you. You are my best friend and my favorite person ever. 

Today I choose you to be my husband, the father of my future babies, my partner for life. I choose you to embark on this journey of marriage and on all my future adventures. I choose you because you are the one I want by my side whether I’m getting lost in a new city or just at home on the couch with a book. I choose you because you bring joy, happiness, comfort, and love to my life. I choose you because we make an awesome team.

I promise to be your best teammate and your biggest cheerleader. I promise to be there for you to encourage you, to comfort you, to stand by you in every situation. I promise to love you and support you in good times and bad, when we are together and when we are apart, when life is easy and when life is hard, when I’m happy and when I’m mad.

I promise to always hold you in the highest regard. I promise to cherish you, our love, and our relationship. I promise to put in the work to make these things always hold true.  These things I give to you today and all the days of our life.

(Minister asks for the rings from the crowd or best man.)

(Groom is instructed by Minister to place the wedding ring on the bride’s finger…and to repeat the following, followed by the bride doing the same):

Groom: Mary I give you this ring/ as a token of my love / and with all that I am / and all that I have /  I honor you 

Bride: Kepa I give you this ring/ as a token of my love / and with all that I am / and all that I have /  I honor you

Let us pray (prayer by minister)…

For as much as  Mary & Kepa have come together in front of you… their family and friends, and by their promises to one another…..I as a Minister of the word of GOD, and according to the state of Tennessee; am proud to pronounce you “Husband and Wife”. You may kiss your bride… Ladies and Gentlemen, May I introduce to you Mr. & Mrs. Tairua!

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I hope you enjoyed our ceremony!

I included the directions that were part of it so you can visualize the ring warming. I didn’t have a great idea of how to pull that off but it ended up working out perfectly and being very beautiful. :)

As you can see there were several areas without exact words where the minister just did his thing and there were some spots where he didn’t exactly follow it. Kepa added some to his vows the day of the wedding. It changed the actual ceremony and all but this was the basis for it. :)