A Ceremony with quotes from the Bible and from Edmund O'Neill

MINISTER: Welcome everyone and welcome Groom and Bride.

We have gathered here today in the name of God, to witness and bless the joining together of Groom and Bride in the commitment of marriage.
God created us male and female for each other and established the covenant of marriage

The Bible gives us in 1st Corinthians 13 a wonderful model of love for you to pursue in your marriage. 4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8Love never fails.

We accept that Jesus was a great example of this love, the ideal of the love between husband and wife.
(to Groom and Bride) I ask you now to declare your intention to enter into the union of marriage with one another.

Bride will you have Groom to be your husband, to live together in the holy estate of matrimony? Will you love him, comfort him, honor and keep him, and forsaking all others, always be faithful to him?
BRIDE: I Will

MINISTER: Groom will you have Bride to be your wife, to live together in the holy estate of matrimony? Will you love her, comfort her, honor and keep her, and forsaking all others, always be faithful to her?
GROOM: I Will

MINISTER: The following by Edmund O’Neill expresses what marriage is:
Marriage Joins Two People in the Circle of Its Love
Marriage is a commitment to life -
to the best that two people can find and bring out in each other.
It offers opportunities for sharing and growth
that no other human relationship can equal,
a joining that is promised for a lifetime.
Within the circle of its love,
marriage encompasses all of life's most important relationships.
A wife and a husband are each other's best friend,
confidant, lover, teacher, listener, and critic.
There may come times when one partner is heartbroken or ailing, and the love of the other
may resemble the tender caring of a parent for a child.
Marriage deepens and enriches every facet of life.
Happiness is fuller; memories are fresher; commitment is stronger; even anger is felt more strongly, and passes away more quickly.
Marriage understands and forgives the mistakes life is unable to avoid.
It encourages and nurtures new life, new experiences,
and new ways of expressing love through the seasons of life.
When two people pledge to love and care for each other in marriage they create a spirit unique to themselves,
which binds them closer than any spoken or written words. Marriage is a promise, a potential,
made in the hearts of two people who love, which takes a lifetime to fulfill.

As Bride and Groom face each other and hold hands, they will repeat their vows of commitment to one another. Groom, please repeat after me.
GROOM: (to Bride) I Groom, take you Bride, to be my 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, for as long as we both shall live.

MINISTER: Bride, please repeat after me.
BRIDE: (to Groom) I Bride, take you Groom, to be my 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, for as long as we both shall live.

MINISTER: Please hand me the rings. The wedding ring is an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace signifying the bond between and man and a woman. We ask God to bless the act of giving these rings, that they who wear them may live in God’s peace and continue in God’s favor all the days of their life.

GROOM: Bride, I give you this ring as a sign of my vow, and with all that I am, and all that I have, I honor you. With this ring, I thee wed.
BRIDE: Groom, I give you this ring as a sign of my vow, and with all that I am, and all that I have, I honor you. With this ring, I thee wed.

MINISTER: Now, we ask God for a special blessing for Groom and Bride as they come before God pledging their hearts and their lives to one another. May they keep the vows they have made to one other and may their home be a place of love and harmony, where God’s Spirit is always present.

(to Groom and Bride) Please look into each other’s eyes. Now, that you have given yourselves to each other by repeating solemn vows, with the joining of hands, and the giving and receiving of rings, I announce to all, in the name of God, and by the authority invested in me by the state of Nevada, that you are husband and wife together. You may kiss.. Ladies and Gentlemen: Mr. And Mrs. Last Name.