Guy & Helen
Today, you are embarking on your own time of change and growth. Your combined energies and love will provide the needed conditions for your maturation. This growth will not always be even or predictable, but the final result will be two people who intimately understand and care for each other.
In speaking with Guy & Helen about their relationship I was impressed with the obvious unconditional way in which they accept one another, and how deliciously right it feels for them to love one another. There is the wonderful physical attraction, as well as a blessed ability to openly communicate; “always willing and able to talk it out.” Guy appreciates Helen’s emotional strength. Helen enjoys Guy’s romanticism. As they were speaking about how they bring out the best in one another I was reminded of a poem that begins like this: I love you, not only for what you are, but for what I am when I am with you. And as their words “soft and gentle” were floating across my mind I opened to another beautifully written piece that I believe conveys the essence of what they were saying. Oh, the comfort, the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person, having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but pouring them all right out, just as they are, chaff and grain together; certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and then with the breath of kindness blow the rest away.
Helen and Guy have chosen to use candle light in this ceremony today to symbolize the illumination that is possible in union. [Guy & Helen light large candle with the two small ones] This is done by lighting a single large candle together, and keeping their smaller individual candles burning as a representation of their individuality retained in marriage, while at the same time offering their energy to the creation of a larger union.
As you know, no minister, no priest, no rabbi, no public official, can marry you. Only you can marry yourselves. By a mutual commitment to love each other, to work continually toward creating and maintaining an atmosphere of care and consideration and respect, by a willingness to face the tensions and anxieties that underlie human life, you will live a full life together. We are here today, then, to celebrate the love which Helen & Guy have for each other, and to give social recognition to their decision to accept each other totally and permanently. Into this state of marriage these two persons come now to be united.
Samira & Dan
Welcome family and friends. Today we are here to witness and celebrate the gift of love; the gift of love which Samira and Don have found and nurtured in each other. This morning, in this garden setting, is a celebration for all of us, for it is a pleasure to see love in bloom, and to participate in the wedding of two people so well-suited to one another.
Let us now come fully present and take a moment for reflection…Samira and Don would like to thank you, their family and friends for sharing in the celebration of their marriage You are all a very special part of their lives. They would also like to acknowledge their parents, Vibha & Rohit Parekh and Rod & Barbara Jones, for all the love, support and wisdom they have given for so many years. For that love has helped shape them into who they are today. (Samira and Don to give roses to mothers)
In this beautiful countryside of vineyards, it is now the season of harvest. The days of summer have now passed, and the grapes have ripened on the vine. It is a time of change: a time to harvest the grapes, crush them and pour them into the barrels for maturing. The final result will be wine that is delightful and a complement to whatever meal it accompanies.
Alicia & Blair
Greetings. I’d like to begin this ceremony by acknowledging the miraculous gift of love. We are here today to celebrate the magic of love in life, especially the love that found Alicia & Blair and wove them together into this great web of life. We are also here to give social recognition to their decision to accept each other totally and permanently. They have chosen you, their family & friends, to bear witness to their commitment of love and want you to know how much it means to them that each of you are here with them in this celebration, many from hundreds of miles away.
And now we ask you, the friends and family they have chosen to bear high witness to their commitment of love, to make your own vows to this marriage if you choose. We would ask you to watch over them, to listen carefully to them, and remain aware of their well being; to nourish and care for their union in times of need and adversity; to protect and defend their marriage from those who might consciously or unconsciously erode its strength; and remember to honor & celebrate their union as an essential part of the richness of our community.
For your self-reliance, courage and love, you deserve respect, and it is these attributes which make this a serious but not solemn occasion. We joyfully acknowledge and honor both of you for the decision you have made to share one another’s lives on this committed level of matrimony. We wish for you the continued richness of sharing life with your families and growing circle of friends. And as your parents have given you the foundation for this flourishing extended family, I invite you to take this opportunity to acknowledge them as you have chosen.
