MaureenDavisCTJustice

We have come together here in celebration of the joining together of ___________ and ________.  There are many things to say about marriage.  Much wisdom concerning the joining together of two souls has come our way through all paths of belief, and from many cultures.  With each union, more knowledge is gained and more wisdom gathered.  Though I am unable to give all this knowledge to both of you standing here, I can hope to leave with you the knowledge of love and its strengths and the anticipation of the wisdom that comes with time.  The law of life is love unto all beings.  Without love, life is nothing, without love, death has no redemption.  Love is anterior to Life, posterior to Death, initial of Creation and the exponent of Earth.  If we learn no more in life, let it be this.

Marriage is a bond to be entered into only after considerable thought and reflection.  As with any aspect of life, it has its cycles, its ups and its downs, its trials and its triumphs.  With full understanding of this, you have come here today to be joined as one in marriage.

Please join hands with your partner and listen to that which I am about to say…

Above you are the stars, below you are the stones, as time doth pass, remember…

Like a stone should your love be firm; like a star should your love be constant.  Let the powers of the mind and of the intellect guide you in your marriage, let the  strength of your wills bind you together, let the power of love and desire make you happy, and the strength of your dedication make you inseparable.  Be close, but not too close.  Possess one another, yet be understanding.  Have patience with one another, for storms will come, but they will pass quickly.  Be free in giving affection and warmth.  Have no fear and let not the ways of the unenlightened give you unease, let peace be with you always.

Stand fast in your hope and confidence, and believe in your shared future just as strongly as you believe in yourselves and in each other today.  Only in this spirit can you create a partnership that will sustain all the days of your lives.

VOWS

_____ and ______, we are here to rejoice and to recount with one another that it is love that guides us on our path, and to celebrate as you begin this journey together.  It is in this spirit that you have come here today to exchange these vows…

____, repeat after me:

          I,______ take you ________ to be my partner for life/

          I promise above all else to live in truth with you/

          And to communicate fully and fearlessly/  I give you my hand and my heart/

          As a sanctuary of warmth and peace/

          And pledge my love, devotion, faith and honor as I join my life to yours.

            (Repeat)     (special ceremony if desired)

 RINGS

Wedding rings are made precious by our wearing of them.  Your rings say that even in your uniqueness, you have chosen to be bound together.  Let these rings also be a sign that love has substance as well as soul, a present as well as a past, and that despite its occasional sorrows, love is a circle of happiness, wonder, and delight.

______take ______’s ring and put in on her/his finger, and repeat after me:

Just as this circle is without end/my love for you is limitless/just as it is made of indestructible substance/ my commitment to you will never fail / with this ring, I take you to be my best friend, lover, and partner for life.

          (Repeat)

  PRONOUNCEMENT

____ and _____, Your lives and spirits are joined in a union of love and trust.  Above you are the stars and below you the earth.  Like the stars your love should be a constant source of light, and like the earth, a firm foundation from which to grow.  If you would have the foundation of your marriage be the devotion you have for one another, not just at this moment, but for all the days to come, then treasure the hopes and dreams that you bring here today.  Stand fast in that hope and confidence, having faith in your shared destiny just as strongly as you have faith in yourselves and in one another today.  Only with this spirit can you forge a union that will strengthen and endure all the days of your lives.

As you have consented in this ceremony to be partners for life, and in accordance with the law of CT and by the virtue of the authority vested in me by the state of CT, I now pronounce you partners in marriage.  Congratulations!

 

UNITY CANDLE LIGHTING CEREMONY

Within each human being burns the spark of the Divine.  When two people love one another with devotion and freedom, they kindle the awareness of that spark in each other as nothing else quite can do.  The lighted candle is symbolic of the cosmic creation and the light and truth in the human heart, mind and soul.  File also symbolizes both purity and passion. 

Take into your hearts the warmth, radiance and light that the flame represents.  Let I light your way on the journey of life that you are about to embark on.

If at this time you wish to affirm your free choice to unite as partners in marriage, please light the unlit candle together now.  (They light candle together)  As you bring your individual flames together to symbolically form the new and greater flame of your marriage, never forget that the light of your union is made up of your unique, individual expressions of light and is continually sustained and renewed by your connection to each other.  May the light of your marriage be a beacon in the night, a safe harbor from the storms of life.  May your future be made infinitely brighter by the light and the love that you share.

THE ROSE CEREMONY

(Give each a rose)  Your gift to each other for your wedding today has been your wedding rings – which shall always be an outward demonstration of your vows of love and respect; and a public showing of your commitment to each other.  For your first gift as a couple, that gift will be a single rose.

The rose has always been considered a symbol of love and a single rose always meant only one thing – it meant the words “I Love You”.  So it is appropriate that for your first gift as a couple – that gift would be a single rose.  Please exchange your first gift.

In some ways it seems like you have not done anything at all.  Just a moment ago you were holding one small rose – and now you are holding one small rose.  In some ways, a marriage ceremony is like this.  In some ways, tomorrow is going to seem no different than yesterday.  But in fact today, you both have given and received one of the most valuable and precious gifts of life – the gift of true and abiding love within the devotion of marriage.

I would ask that wherever you make your home in the future – that you pick one very special location for roses; so that on each anniversary you both may take a rose to that spot as a recommitment to your marriage.

 _____ and _____, you have just sealed your relationship by the giving and receiving of rings and the exchange of a kiss.  This pledge is a relationship promise between two people who agree that they will commit themselves to one another throughout their lives.  The most beautiful example of this partnership is the marriage relationship.  You have committed here today to share the rest of your lives with each other.

 Today, this relationship is symbolized through the pouring of these two individual containers of sand.  One, representing you, ____, and all that you were, all that you are, and all that you will ever be; and the other representing you, _____, and all that you were, and all that you are, and all that you will ever be.

 As these two containers of sand are poured into the third container, the two individual containers of sand will no longer exist, but will be joined together as one.  Just as these grains of sand can never be separated and poured again into the individual containers, so will your marriage be as you as a couple are joined together.

Gift of Hands Ceremony

 _____, please face _____, and hold his hands, palms up, so you may see the gift that they are to you.

 These are the hands of your best friend, young and strong and vibrant with love, that are holding yours on your wedding day, as he promises to love you all the days of his life.

 These are the hands that will work along side of yours, as together you build your future, as you laugh and cry, as you share your innermost secrets and dreams.

 These are the hands you will place with expectant joy against your stomach, until he too, feels his child stir within you.

 These are the hands that look so large and strong, yet will be so gentle as he holds your baby for the first time. 

 These are the hands that will work long hours for you and your new family.

 These are the hands that will passionately love you and cherish you through the years for a lifetime of happiness.

 ____, please hold _____ hands, palms up, where you may see the gift that they are to you.

 These are the hands of your best friend, smooth, young and carefree, that are holding yours on your wedding day, as she pledges her love and commitment to you all the days of her life.

 These are the hands that will hold each child in tender love, soothing them through illness and hurt, supporting and encouraging them along the way, and knowing when it is time to let go.

 These are the hands that will massage tension from your neck and back in the evenings after you’ve both had a long hard day.

 These are the hands that will hold you tight as you struggle through difficult times.

 These as the hands that will comfort you when you are sick, or console you when you are grieving.

 They are the hands that will passionately love you and cherish you through the years, for a lifetime of happiness.

 Bless these hands that you see before you this day.  May they always be held by one another.  Give them the strength to hold on during the storms of stress and the dark of disappointment.  Keep them tender and gentle as they nurture each other in their wondrous love.  Help these hands to continue building a relationship founded in grace, rich in caring and devoted in reaching for perfection.

 May ____ and ____ see their four hands as healer, protector, shelter and guide.

 Blessing Stones

When a wedding is outside and near water, Blessing or Wishing stones are either gathered at the site or provided by the couple not only for themselves but for the wedding part and guests as well.  After the ceremony, all follow the bride and groom to the water, make a wish or blessing for them and cast the stone into the water.

 The ripples that are made by the casting of these stones represent the love and good wishes for not only ______ and ______ joined together today, but for all the world.  As our ripples cross and re-cross one another’s, so do our love and good wishes touch and retouch all around us.

 ****

If there is no water near the ceremony, the stones can be handed out to all present.  The wishes can then be handed back to the couple at the reception and placed in a special container to be set in a place of honor in the home.

 Before you met, your lives were on different paths with different destinations.  But love has brought you together and joined these separate paths into one.  Each one of your friends and family here today has been given a small stone that represents their unique individuality and their presence at your wedding today.  You also each have a stone of your own that symbolizes your previous separate lives, separate sets of friends, separate families and the different life’s journeys you once traveled.

 I will now ask that everyone please take out the stone you have been given and pause to make a wish or blessing for happiness and good will for the couple for the future of their marriage.

 Now, we will collect the stones and ____ and ____ will then add their individual stones to the container as well.

 With the combining of these stones, you have now symbolically joined your once separate lives.  As the stones have been combined with love into one container, so now are your friends, and family, joined through you, into one.  Your once solitary life’s paths are also now one.  All that was once separate is now shared, and in this sharing you both will find new strength and joy as together you forge a new life’s path and destination.

  HANDFASTING CEREMONY

Place your right hands together and then your left hands together to form an infinity symbol.

This cord is a symbol of the lives you have chosen to lead together. It has been woven to symbolize the intertwining of your lives. Up until this moment you have been separate in thought, word and action. As these cords are tied together, your lives become intertwined.

As the right hand is to the left hand, may you be forever one, sharing in all things, at home and abroad, in love and loyalty for all time to come.

Woven into this cord, imbued into its very fibers, are all the hopes of your friends and family, and of yourselves, for your new life together. With the fashioning of this knot do I tie all the desires, dreams, love, and happiness wished here in this place to your lives for as long as love shall last.

Wreath Ceremony

An ivy wreath is being used as the base (introduced by a friend who will relate it to ivy's traditional meanings, including the marital connection). Various friends and family members will add sprigs of various plants/flowers with traditional meanings related to marriage...

PERSON #1 (placing wreath on altar): This wreath symbolizes the marriage that _________ and _________ are celebrating here today. We, their friends and their family, will create a visual symbol of their vows... A wreath that will decorate their home, as love decorates their lives. This wreath will let them remember the love shared by all of us here today.

PERSON #2: The wreath has been created from ivy, a traditional symbol of Matrimony and Friendship. The circular shape of the wreath mirrors the rings that _________ and _________ have exchanged and symbolizes the never ending devotion that they pledge each other on this day. Ivy does not "feed upon" the tree or stone it clings to, and this is important to its symbolism. Nothing can separate ivy from a tree it has once embraced, and if the tree falls the ivy stays around it. But the ivy is held to the soil by its own roots. It gets nothing from the substance of the companion, and though it dies on the same spot, it dies in its own time, making its own independent gesture. Today _________and _________ have cemented the bond that they share but they have not ceased to grow as individuals.

PERSON #3: These are branches of larkspur, a traditional symbol of humor and levity, and dock, a symbol of patience. These are added with a wish that _________ and _________ never lose the patience and humor which help to sustain their relationship through even the roughest times and which enrich their daily life.

PERSON #4: This rosemary symbolizes remembrance. I add this to the wreath with the wish that _________and _________ never allow each other to forget the way that they feel today, and that they will always recall the romance and passion that they felt on the day of their meeting. This tarragon symbolizes the unselfish regard with which they should treat one another, today and always.

PERSON #5: I add violets and snowdrops which symbolize faithfulness and hope. _________ and _________ will need these traits throughout their lives together. Their faith and trust in one another will be strengthened as time goes on. Without hope, there is no chance of success. With hope they will realize that they can achieve every goal.

PERSON #6: These roses symbolize the passion (hold up red roses before adding to wreath), the beauty (hold up burgundy roses) and unity (hold up red & white roses) that _________ and _________ feel today. May they always take the time to find the beauty around them, the passion within them, and to feel strength that their unity provides them. May they always recall and honor their vows made this day.

   Jumping the Broom Ceremony

 The jumping of the broom is of Welsh and Celtic origin. In the Celtic ritual, it is a symbol of fertility. Several couples interested in history or pagan ritual also are now adopting this custom in their weddings done as an act of remembrance and to honor the ancestors of the past.  A broom itself represents cleanliness, the hearth and family. It can also represent fertility. The jumping of the broom is a leap of faith into marriage.
The straws of the broom represent family; the handle represents the Almighty; the ribbon represents the tie that binds the couple together. Using your own broom can be a great bonding activity for the bridesmaids, perhaps the night, or week before the wedding.

Another idea is to have a basket full of colorful ribbon pieces at the wedding and allow guests to tie ribbons around the broom before the ceremony begins. This allows the audience to participate, which is in keeping with the Celtic tradition of community involvement. Choose a time before the ceremony when each guest can write their name or initials on a ribbon and tie their ribbon on the wedding broom. When you jump the broom you'll be jumping with the good wishes and prayers of all of your guests. It also allows you to have a wonderful keepsake after your special day, remembering those that were there to witness it.

Officiant: We end this ceremony with the Celtic tradition of jumping of the broom. It is traditional that the elders of the family conduct the ritual. We therefore call up [grandmother's name] and [grandmother's name].

The Officiant  then hands the broom to the elder of one family, who makes sweeping gestures to eliminate any negative energies. That individual then hands the broom to the other elder representative, who places it on the ground in the path of the bride and groom.

Officiant: As our bride and groom jump the broom, they physically and spiritually cross the threshold into the land of matrimony. Today marks the beginning of making a home together. It symbolizes the sweeping away of the old and the welcoming of the new; the sweeping away all negative energy, making way for all things that are good to come into your lives. It is also a call of support for the marriage from the entire community of family and friends. The bride and groom will now begin their new life together with a clean sweep!

Officiant: Everyone count 1, 2, 3... Jump! Together! 1, 2, 3... Jump!

The bride and groom jump over the broom, then kiss. Immediately, the music begins and the couple recesses down the aisle to the cheers of family and friends!