Wedding Ceremony
Statement of Purpose
We have gathered here today at the invitation of Bride and Groom to share in the joy of their wedding. This celebration is a statement of the love and devotion they have for each other in their hearts.
Jesus Christ reminds us that at the beginning the Creator made us male and female,
Genesis 1:27-28 God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and said, “For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother and shall cleave to his wife; and the two shall become one flesh.”
God loved us, and created us to love each other. Our lives find completion only as we love and are loved in return. Together, we can become what we could never be separately. Marriage is of God.
Bride and Groom come today desiring to be united in marriage.
The Giving of the Bride
Who gives this woman to be married to this man?
(The wedding party moves to the platform at this point)
Exhortation to the Bride and Groom
The ceremony of marriage in which you come to be united is the first and oldest in all the world, celebrated in the beginning in the presence of God Himself. Marriage is a gift of God, given to comfort the sorrows of life and also to magnify all of the joys it brings.
Bride & Groom, because God places such a high value upon marriage, it must not be entered into lightly or without thought; but with careful consideration, knowing that God is the ordainer of marriage.
Marriage is the clasping of hands, the blending of our hearts, the union of two lives as one. Your marriage must stand, not by the authority of the State or by the seal on your wedding certificate, but by the strength of your love and by the power of your faith in each other and in God.
You can have this kind of home if you recognize God as the center of your marriage and the source of romance and love and affection, because these are His gifts. So build your home on a spiritual foundation.
With God, you will have everything; without Him, you will have nothing.
*******Prayer*******
Now, will you please join hands and, to each other, express your vows of love and devotion.
The Marriage Vows
Groom , will you repeat this vow to Bride?
I, Groom, take you, Bride to be my wedded wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward; for better, for worse; for richer, for poorer; in sickness and in health; to love and to cherish until we are separated by death; as God as my witness, I give you my promise.
Bride, will you repeat this vow to Groom.
I, Bride, take you, Groom, to be my wedded husband, to have and to hold, from this day forward; for better, for worse; for richer, for poorer; in sickness and in health; to love and to cherish until we are separated by death; as God as my witness, I give you my promise.
Reading of Scripture
The Word of God tells us what love is like and what love does: “Love is patient, love is kind, and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.”
The New Testament tells us that happiness comes from putting the other first, rather than oneself:
“Be subject to one another in the fear of the Christ. “Wives be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord . . . Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her. . . let each individual among you also love his own wife even as himself; and let the wife see to it that she respect her husband.”
Marriage is not 50/50 but 110/110
Having this kind of love in your hearts, you have chosen to exchange rings as the sign and seal of the vows you are making today. May I have the rings?
The Exchange of Rings
Although these rings are small in size, they are very large in significance. Made of precious metal, they remind us that love is neither cheap nor common; indeed, love may cost us dearly.
Made in a circle, their design tells us that love must never come to an end; we must keep it continuous.
Many people think that marriage is a decision, but it’s more than that. It’s a committment.
As you wear these rings, whether together or apart for a moment, they should be constant reminders of these promises you are making today.
Groom, will you take your ring and place it on Bride’s finger, and repeat after me this promise:
“With this ring, I seal my promise, to be your faithful and loving husband, in the name of F/S/HS.”
Bride will you take your ring and place it on Groom’s finger, and repeat after me this promise:
“With this ring, I seal my promise, to be your faithful and loving wife, in the name of the F/S/HS.”
Lighting the Unity Candle
Your mother’s have lit candles to represent your lives.
The two outside candles have been lighted to represent your lives up to this moment. They are two distinct lights, each of them are capable of going its own separate way. To bring true joy in your home, there needs to be the merging of these two flames into one.
As you each take a candle and together light the center one, you will put out your own candles. The center candle then represents the union of your two lives into one flesh. As this center light cannot be divided, don’t let your lives be divided either. But instead be the united testimony of a Christian home, as Christ gives you light.
Song**
Pronouncement of Marriage
You have come before us and before God today making vows and promises to each other and have sealed these promises.
Therefore I pronounce you husband and wife.
What God has joined together, let no man separate.
The Kiss
You may kiss your bride.
Presentation of the Newlyweds
Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to introduce to you for the first time:
Mr. & Mrs. __________
