What readings are you having at your ceremony? repost from BHB

Please post what readings you are having at your ceremony. I am trying to pick one or two and need some suggestions. Thanks ladies

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Posted by neeniebean86

are you getting married at the hall, or a church?

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At the hall, why?

I'm having difiiculty finding readings as well Diana. My FH and I are also getting married at the hall. I wanted one sort of spiritual and maybe one poem. Suggestions would be greatly appreciated

Future Mrs B,

Here is one that I am having my sister read. We are getting married at WM.

WHY MARRIAGE?
~ By: Mari Nichols-Haining ~

Because to the depths of me, I long to love one person,
With all my heart, my soul, my mind, my body...

Because I need a forever friend to trust with the intimacies of me,
Who won't hold them against me,
Who loves me when I'm unlikable,
Who sees the small child in me, and
Who looks for the divine potential of me...

Because I need to cuddle in the warmth of the night
With someone who thanks God for me,
With someone I feel blessed to hold...

Because marriage means opportunity
To grow in love in friendship...

Because marriage is a discipline
To be added to a list of achievements...

Because marriages do not fail, people fail
When they enter into marriage
Expecting another to make them whole...

Because, knowing this,
I promise myself to take full responsibility
For my spiritual, mental and physical wholeness
I create me,
I take half of the responsibility for my marriage
Together we create our marriage...

Because with this understanding
The possibilities are limitless.

We are using this as a reading:

Love does not consist in gazing at each other. But in looking outward together in the same direction. For in fact, man and woman are not only looking outward in the same direction, they are working outward. Here one forms ties, roots, a firm base....Here one makes oneself part of the community of men, of human society. Here the bonds of marriage are formed. For marriage, which is always spoken of as a bond, becomes actually, in this stage, many bonds, many strands, of different texture and strength, making up a web that is taut and firm. The web is fashioned of love. Yes, but many kinds of love: romantic love first, then a slow-growing devotion and, playing through these, a constantly rippling companionship. It is made of loyalties, and interdependencies, and shared experiences. It is woven of memories of meetings and conflicts; of triumphs and disappointments. It is a web of communication, a common language, and the acceptance of lack of language too, a knowledge of likes and dislikes, of habits and reactions, both physical and mental. It is a web of instincts and intuitions, and known and unknown exchanges. The web of marriage is made in the day to day living side by side, looking outward and working outward in the same direction. It is woven in space and in time of the substance of life itself.

(from Gift From the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh)

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Posted by Future_Mrs_B

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Posted by neeniebean86
are you getting married at the hall, or a church?

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At the hall, why?

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my readings were religious, so they probably wouldnt make as much sense at a hall as they did at the church-- so i igured, before i broke out the bible, i'd ask which one

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Posted by neeniebean86

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Posted by Future_Mrs_B

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Posted by neeniebean86
are you getting married at the hall, or a church?

---

At the hall, why?

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my readings were religious, so they probably wouldnt make as much sense at a hall as they did at the church-- so i igured, before i broke out the bible, i'd ask which one

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It's at the hall but our ceremony and the readings are not going to be any less religious than than they would be for a church ceremony so don't see a difference. In fact, our 'pre marital counseling' spanned over the course of 7 months which consisted of once a month 2 hour sessions with the Pastor that is marrying us. My reasons for getting married in a hall have nothing to do with my spirituality and I plan on having a 'religious' ceremony, even if it's not going to be in a church. Feel free to post away your readings

ohhh ok.. i wasnt sure if it was non-religious or ot, so i didnt know if mine would be inappropriate to suggest

we had:
-Allow us to live together to a happy old age
-The god of peace will be with you
-That they may be brought to perfection as one (the Gospel)
-Prayer of the faithful

We are doing three readings..first one is this at the beginning:

I Will Be Here
Steven Curtis Chapman
If in the morning when you wake,
If the sun does not appear,
I will be here.
If in the dark we lose sight of love,
Hold my hand and have no fear,
I will be here.
I will be here,
When you feel like being quiet,
When you need to speak your mind I will listen.
Through the winning, losing, and trying we'll be together,
And I will be here.
If in the morning when you wake,
If the future is unclear,
I will be here.
As sure as seasons were made for change,
Our lifetimes were made for years,
I will be here.
I will be here,
And you can cry on my shoulder,
When the mirror tells us we're older.
I will hold you, to watch you grow in beauty,
And tell you all the things you are to me.
We'll be together and I will be here.
I will be true to the promises I've made,
To you and to the one who gave you to me.
I will be here.

Then this in the middle:

Stacey and Gary will you please face each other and hold hands, so you may feel the gift that you are to one another.

These are the hands of your best friend, young and strong and full of love for you, that are holding yours today as you promise to love each other today, tomorrow, and forever. These are the hands that will work alongside yours as together you build your Future. These are the hands that will love you and cherish you through
the years, and with the slightest touch will comfort you like no other. These are the hands that will hold you when fear or grief wracks your mind. These are the hands that will countless times wipe the tears from your eyes, tears of sorrow and tears of joy. These are the hands that will tenderly hold your children. These are the hands that will help you to hold your family as one. These are the hands that will give you strength when you need it. These are the hands that even when wrinkled and aged will still be reaching for yours, still giving you the same unspoken tenderness with just a touch. These four hands will give you support as you build your life and future. Reaching first out to each other, then united towards the world, these hands will be your strength, your shield, your shelter, and your guide.

Then this right before the pronoucement:

May the road rise to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face.
And rains fall soft upon your fields.
May you live as long as you want,
And never want as long as you live.
Always remember to forget
The things that made you sad.
But never forget to remember
The things that made you glad.
May you always have work for your hands to do.
May your pockets hold always a coin or two.
May the sun shine bright on your windowpane.
May the rainbow be certain to follow each rain.
May the hand of a friend always be near you.
And may God fill your heart with gladness


We are getting married at the hall..

omg, I love that more than ANYTHING.

I searched the web for vows and readings and came across quite a few. NOt sure yet which ones we're going with but here they are:
CXVI

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O, no! it is an ever-fixed mark,
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day?
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?Thou art more lovely and more temperate:Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,And summer's lease hath all too short a date;Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,And often is his gold complexion dimmed;And every fair from fair sometime declines,By chance or nature's changing course untrimmed:But thy eternal summer shall not fadeNor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st;Nor shall Death brag thou wanderest in his shade,When in eternal lines to time thou growest;So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,So lives this, and this gives life to thee.
Here I Love You
~ Pablo Neruda
Here I love you.
In the dark pines the wind disentangles itself.
The moon glows like phosphorous on the vagrant waters.
Days, all one kind, go chasing each other.

The snow unfurls in dancing figures.
A silver gull slips down from the west.
Sometimes a sail. High, high stars.

Oh the black cross of a ship.
Alone.
Sometimes I get up early and even my soul is wet.
Far away the sea sounds and resounds.
This is a port.
Here I love you.
Here I love you and the horizon hides you in vain.
I love you still among these cold things.
Sometimes my kisses go on those heavy vessels
that cross the sea towards no arrival.
I see myself forgotten like those old anchors.
The piers sadden when the afternoon moors there.
My life grows tired, hungry to no purpose.
I love what I do not have. You are so far.
My loathing wrestles with the slow twilights.
But night comes and starts to sing to me.

The moon turns its clockwork dream.
The biggest stars look at me with your eyes.
And as I love you, the pines in the wind
want to sing your name with their leaves of wire.
Sonnets From The Portuguese 43:
How Do I Love Thee?
~ Elizabeth Barrett Browning

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.I love thee to the depth and breadth and heightMy soul can reach, when feeling out of sight. For the ends of Being and ideal Grace. I love thee to the level of everyday'sMost quiet need, by sun and candlelight.I love thee freely, as men strive for Right; I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.I love thee with the passionput to use In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.I love thee with a love I seemed to lose With my lost saints,--I love thee with the breath, Smiles, tears, of all my life!--and, if God choose,I shall but love thee better after death.
ON LOVE
~ By Thomas Kempis ~


Love is a mighty power,
a great and complete good.
Love alone lightens every burden, and makes rough places smooth.
It bears every hardship as though it were nothing, and renders
all bitterness sweet and acceptable.

Nothing is sweeter than love,
Nothing stronger,
Nothing higher,
Nothing wider,
Nothing more pleasant,
Nothing fuller or better in heaven or earth; for love is born of God.

Love flies, runs and leaps for joy.
It is free and unrestrained.
Love knows no limits, but ardently transcends all bounds.
Love feels no burden, takes no account of toil,
attempts things beyond its strength.

Love sees nothing as impossible,
for it feels able to achieve all things.
It is strange and effective,
while those who lack love faint and fail.

Love is not fickle and sentimental,
nor is it intent on vanities.
Like a living flame and a burning torch,
it surges upward and surely surmounts every obstacle.

Love Sonnet IX~ Pablo Neruda


There where the waves shatter on the restless rocksthe clear light bursts and enacts its rose,and the sea-circle shrinks to a cluster of buds,to one drop of blue salt, falling.O bright magnolia bursting in the foam,magnetic transient whose death bloomsand vanishes--being, nothingness--forever:broken salt, dazzling lurch of the sea.You & I, Love, together we ratify the silence,while the sea destroys its perpetual statues,collapses its towers of wild speed and whiteness:because in the weavings of those invisible fabrics,galloping water, incessant sand,we make the only permanent tenderness.

Sonnet XCV
From: ‘Cien sonetos de amor’
‘Who ever desired each other as we do?’
~ Pablo Neruda
Who ever desired each other as we do? Let us look
for the ancient ashes of hearts that burned,
and let our kisses touch there, one by one,
till the flower, disembodied, rises again.

Let us love that Desire that consumed its own fruit
and went down, aspect and power, into the earth:
We are its continuing light,
its indestructible, fragile seed.
Sonnet XVII
~ Pablo Neruda

I do not love you as if you were the salt-rose, or topaz,
or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off.
I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,
in secret, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that never blooms
but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers;
thanks to your love a certain solid fragrance,
risen from the earth, lives darkly in my body.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.
I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride;
so I love you because I know no other way

than this: where I does not exist, nor you,
so close that your hand on my chest is my hand,
so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep.
Sonnet LXXIX
From: ‘Cien sonetos de amor’
‘Tie your heart at night to mine, love’
~ Pablo Neruda
Tie your heart at night to mine, love,
and both will defeat the darkness
like twin drums beating in the forest
against the heavy wall of wet leaves.

Night crossing: black coal of dream
that cuts the thread of earthly orbs
with the punctuality of a headlong train
that pulls cold stone and shadow endlessly.

Love, because of it, tie me to a purer movement,
to the grip on life that beats in your breast,
with the wings of a submerged swan,

So that our dream might reply
to the sky’s questioning stars
with one key, one door closed to shadow.
‘It’s good to feel you are close to me in the night, love,’
LXXXIII From: ‘Cien sonetos de amor’
~ Pablo Neruda
It’s good to feel you are close to me in the night, love,
invisible in your sleep, intently nocturnal,
while I untangle my worries
as if they were twisted nets.

Withdrawn, your heart sails through dream,
but your body, relinquished so, breathes
seeking me without seeing me perfecting my dream
like a plant that seeds itself in the dark.

Rising, you will be that other, alive in the dawn,
but from the frontiers lost in the night,
from the presence and the absence where we meet ourselves,

something remains, drawing us into the light of life
as if the sign of the shadows had sealed
its secret creatures with flame.
Your Hands
~ Pablo Neruda
When your hands go out,
love, toward mine,
what do they bring me flying?
Why did they stop
at my mouth, suddenly,
why do I recognize them
as if then, before,
I had touched them,
as if before they existed
they had passed over
my forehead, my waist?

Their softness came
flying over time,
over the sea, over the smoke,
over the spring,
and when you placed
your hands on my chest,
I recognized those golden
dove wings,
I recognized that clay
and that color of wheat.

All the years of my life
I walked around looking for them.
I went up the stairs,
I crossed the roads,
trains carried me,
waters brought me,
and in the skin of the grapes
I thought I touched you.
The wood suddenly
brought me your touch,
the almond announced to me
your secret softness,
until your hands
closed on my chest
and there like two wings
they ended their journey.
Your Laughter
~ Pablo Neruda
Take breath away from me, if you wish,
take air away, but
do not take from me your laughter.

Do not take away the rose,
the lanceflower that you pluck,
the water that suddenly
bursts forth in your joy,
the sudden wave
of silver born in you.

My struggle is harsh and I come back
with eyes tired
at times from having seen
the unchanging earth,
but when your laughter enters
it rises to the sky seeking me
and it opens for me all
the doors of life.

My love, in the darkest
hour your laughter
opens, and if suddenly
you see my blood staining
the stones of the street,
laugh, because your laughter
will be for my hands
like a fresh sword.

Next to the sea in the autumn,
your laughter must raise
its foamy cascade,
and in the spring, love,
I want your laughter like
the flower I was waiting for,
the blue flower, the rose
of my echoing country.

Laugh at the night,
at the day, at the moon,
laugh at the twisted
streets of the island,
laugh at this clumsy
boy who loves you,
but when I open
my eyes and close them,
when my steps go,
when my steps return,
deny me bread, air,
light, spring,
but never your laughter
for I would die.



You are not the air that I breathe,
you are the sweet scent that drifts upon it

You are not the sounds that I hear,
you are the music of my life

You are not the food that I need,
you are the nourishment of my soul

You are not my will to survive,
you are my reason for living

It is with you that I experience
the wonders of the world

It is with you that I triumph
over the challenges in my path

It is your partnership that will lead me
to the fulfillment of my dreams

It is your friendship that guides me
as I grow and learn

It is your patience and wisdom
that calms my restless nature

It is through you that I know my true self

I do not take you for granted,
I cherish you

I do not need you
I choose you

I choose you today in witness
of all the people who love us

I choose you tomorrow
in the privacy of our hearts

I choose you in strength and weakness

I choose you in health and sickness

I choose you in joy and sorrow

I will choose you, over all others, every day
for all the days of my life


Today With My Whole Heart

Today with my whole heart
I pledge to thee
my love and faith
for eternity
to fill your life
with laughter and fun
to stay true to you
my only one
I'll be your friend
in good times and in bad
comfort you
when you're feeling sad
I'll be your star
shining bright
in time of darkness
I'll be your light
I pledge this oath
till the very end
I'll stay with you forever
my love, my friend

Wedding Poem - Yesterday, Today And Tomorrow
by Kit McCallum
Cherished are the memories thatBrought us to this day,For yesterday, was just a dream ...A wish to contemplate.A fantasy where in my mind,A fleeting glimpse I'd see ...A vision of the true desiresI longed for endlessly.And when I dreamed, I did not knowThe love I'd feel today;The height of my true feelings,And the depths they would portray.And if I had one wish today,A simple wish t'would be ...Is that the love we feel this moment,Lasts eternally.Reality has merged nowAs you stand here by my side;And as I join your hand in mine,My heart does fill with pride.For as I pledge my love to you,I see in many ways,Reflections of my love for youAre mirrored in your gaze.And by our presence here today,And for the love we share,I thank you for our yesterdaysThat brought us to be here.But more than this, I vow to you,My wishes yet to come ...Tomorrow's dreams and fantasies,This day that we are one.Tomorrow's an adventureThat we'll share together now;Our future's intertwined forever,Through this holy vow.I promise to rememberIn the future years and days,The love I feel for you this moment ...... Dreams fulfilled today.For in the coming years as weMove on, and reminisce,Back to the day I stood with youAnd promised with a kiss ...That blessed are the days that I have looked into your eyes,And felt the warmth and love reflect,The essence of our lives.***** Yesterday we dreamed of what might be;Today we validate our love;And tomorrow we will cherish the life we have shared as one.

Today is the day I vow a forever love.A love I have been so blessed to share with you.Knowing this is a love that begins with trust.Understanding that a love as this has no end.When the sun refuses to shine in your day.I will be your sunshine.If the rain continues, refusing to stop.I will be your umbrella.This love I promise you is a sacred love.A love allowed only once in a lifetime.Being so blessed we have the other to share this love.Knowing this love is shared equally as love has to be.Should you ever become lost and confused.I will guide you back to our path of happiness.When the nights become darker than ever known.I will walk with you to the light.There is no vow taken which means as much.And I take these vows free and openly.For love would have no meaning without you.This is my promise not only on our wedding day.But for each day that follows.
T4
As we stand beside the ocean tide,
may our love always be as
constant and unchanging as these
never-ending waves that pour
beneath our feet, flowing endlessly
from the depths of the sea;
your love
came softly upon my heart,
just as the foam comes
softly upon the sand, and just as
there will never be a morning
without the ocean's flow,
so there will never be a day
without my love for you.
I pledge myself to you this day.
Our love will be as unchanging
and dependable as the tide;
as these waters nourish the earth
and sustain life, may my constant
devotion nourish and sustain you
until the end of time.
D1
I love you. You are my best friend.
Today I give myself to you in marriage.
I promise to encourage and inspire you, to laugh with you,
and to comfort you in times of sorrow and struggle.
I promise to love you in good times and in bad,
when life seems easy and when it seems hard,
when our love is simple, and when it is an effort.
I promise to cherish you, and to always hold you in highest regard
These things I give to you today, and all the days of our life.
_______________________________________________________
D2
We pledge to each other to be loving friends and partners in marriage.
To talk and to listen, to trust and appreciate one another; to respect
and cherish each other's uniqueness; and to support, comfort
and strengthen each other through life's joys and sorrows.
We promise to share hopes, thoughts and dreams
as we build our lives together.
May our lives be ever intertwined, our love keeping us together.
We will build a home that is compassionate to all, full of respect
and honor for others and each other.
May our home be forever filled with peace, happiness and love.
_______________________________________________________
D3
Today I will marry my friend,
the one I will live with, dream with and love.
I take you to be my husband/wife.
From this day forward I will cherish you,
I will look with joy down the path of our tomorrow's
knowing we will walk it together side by side, hand in hand and
heart to heart.
_______________________________________________________
D4
I promise to love you above all others and to value
your friendship as a precious gift.
I look forward to raising our family and building
our relationship under the care and guidance of God.
I promise to stand beside you in sickness or health, in times of
prosper and decline, in peace and in turmoil, as long as we both
shall live.
_______________________________________________________
D5
Let us be grateful
for the capacity to see, feel, hear, and understand.
Let us be grateful for this incredible gift of life.
Let us be especially grateful for the ties of love which bind us together,
giving dignity, meaning, worth and joy to all our days.
This is indeed a day which the Lord has made.
Let us rejoice in it and be glad, and let us count our many blessings.
_______________________________________________________
D6
I take you to be my partner.
To have and to hold from this day forward.
I give to you my unending love and devotion.
I promise to be true to you, to cherish you, and to share my thoughts,
hopes and dreams with you. I look forward to spending the rest of my life
with you, my best friend. I will love you forever.
_______________________________________________________
D7
I promise to love you above all others and to value your friendship
as a precious gift. I look forward to raising our family and building
our relationship under the care and guidance of God.
I promise to stand beside you, in sickness or health,
in times of prosper and decline, in peace and in turmoil,
as long as we both shall live.
_______________________________________________________
D8
With these rings we unite our hearts in tenderness and devotion.
We will honor each others cultures as we join customs
to form a trusting relationship.
We will protect, support, and encourage each other
through life's joys and sorrows
as we create a loving future.
We promise to establish a home for ourselves and our children
shaped by our respective heritage's;
a loving environment dedicated to peace, hope, and respect for all people.
From this day forward our lives will be intertwined forever,
blessed in faith, filled with compassion, understanding and love.
_______________________________________________________
D9
Before God our Father who has given us the gift of love,
I name, join with you, name, in the covenant of marriage.
I promise to give my faithful, life-giving love to you,
and to share my life with you as long as we shall live.
May this community of faith witness our love for each other
for the rest of our lives.
_______________________________________________________
D10
I take you to be my partner.
To have and to hold from this day forward.
I give to you my unending love and devotion.
I promise to be true to you, to cherish you, and to share
my thoughts, hopes, and dreams with you.
I look forward to spending the rest of my life with you
my best friend. I will love you forever.
D17
I love you. Today is a very special day.
Long ago you were just a dream and a prayer.
Thank you for being what you are to me.
With our future as bright as the promises of God,
I will care for you, honor and protect you.
I lay down my life for you my friend and my love.
_______________________________________________________
D18
I love you and I know that this love is from God.
Through all of the uncertainties and trials of the present and future,
I promise to be faithful to you and love you.
I promise to guide and protect you as Christ does his church,
as long as we both shall live.
_______________________________________________________
D19
I give you this ring, wear it with love and joy.
I choose you to be my partner,
to have and to hold from this day forward for better or for worse,
for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health,
to love and to cherish as long as we both shall live.
_______________________________________________________
D20
I, ______, take you ______, to be my wedded husband/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, till death do us part, or the
Lord comes for His own,
and hereto I pledge you my faithfulness.
_______________________________________________________
D21
I will be a strong spiritual leader for us in our life,
for better, for worse, in sickness and in health, in joys and in
sorrows,
until death do we part. I give you all that I have myself and my love.
All these things I pledge to thee in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
With this ring I seal my vow of love to you and pray I may fulfill God's place in our home,
in the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
_______________________________________________________
D22
I love you, and I thank the Lord for the love that has bound
our hearts and lives together in spiritual fellowship of marriage.
I will love, honor and cherish you always.
As we enter upon the privileges and joys of life's most holy relationship,
and begin together the great adventure of life.
I will love you in sickness as in health, in poverty as in wealth,
in sorrow as in joy,
and will be true to you by so long as we both shall live.
_______________________________________________________
D23
I take you to be my lifetime partner,
secure in the knowledge that you will be
my constant friend, and my one true love.
_______________________________________________________
D24
On this special day,
I give to you in the presence of God and all these witnesses
my promise to stay by your side,
in sickness and in health,
in joy and in sorrow, as well as
through the good times and the bad.
I promise to love you without reservation,
comfort you in times of distress,
encourage you to achieve all of your goals,
laugh with you and cry with you,
grow with you in mind and spirit,
always be open and honest with you,
and cherish you for as long as we both shall live.
_______________________________________________________
D25
I, (Groom's Name), take (you/thee), (Bride's Name),
to be my (husband/wife),
knowing in my heart that you will be
my constant friend,
my faithful partner in life,
and my one true love.
_______________________________________________________
D26
I, _____, ask you, _____, to be my husband/wife as my friend and my love.
On this day I affirm the relationship we have enjoyed, looking to the future
to deepen and strengthen it.
I will be yours in plenty and in want, in sickness and in health, in failure and in triumph.
Together we will dream, will stumble but restore each other, we will share all things,
serving each other and our fellow humanity.
I will cherish and respect you, comfort and encourage you, be open with you,
and stay with you as long as we shall live, freed and bound by our Love.
_______________________________________________________
D27
_____, I offer you my Love
I offer you my strength
I offer you my weaknesses
I offer you my support
I offer you my loyalty
I offer you my faith
For as long as we both shall Live.
_______________________________________________________
D28
_____, I take you to be my wife/husband from this time onward,
to join with you and to share all that is to come, to be your faithful husband/wife,
to give and to receive, to speak and to listen, to inspire and to respond;
a commitment made in love, kept in faith, and eternally made new.
_______________________________________________________
D29
You are my best friend for life.
I pledge to honor, encourage, and support you through our walk together.
When our way becomes difficult, I promise to stand by you and uplift you,
so that through our union we can accomplish more than we could alone.
I promise to work at our love and always make you a priority in my life.
With every beat of my heart, I will love you. This is my solemn vow.
D31
All that I am and all that I have, I offer to you in love and in joy.
From this day forward I will love and comfort you, hold you close,
prize you above all others,
and remain faithful to you all the days of our lives.
_______________________________________________________
D32
I, ____, take you, ____ to be my partner in marriage and in life.
I will love and honor you and take your side, walk with you
through life wherever it may lead, whatever may come.
I promise to be faithful and true from this day forward.
_______________________________________________________
D33
I promise to be a patient, always honest and compassionate.
I will be your best friend, your sweetheart, your helpmate throughout life,
always putting you first above my own needs.
I promise to live a life that will honor the vows we have spoken and
make you glad to have married me this day.
_______________________________________________________
D34
You are my once-in-a-lifetime, my miracle.
May our lives intermingle and our love grow as we become one.
You are all I could ever need in my life, my friend, my lover, my everything.
I promise to be faithful to you, to love you, honor you, live with you and cherish you,
according to the commandments of God, in the holy bond of marriage.
_______________________________________________________
D35
You are God's precious gift to me, my springtime, my hope and my joy.
You are everything that's good and pure and true and I worship
you with my mind, body and soul.
How blessed I am to be able to say that you are mine,
to be able to love and cherish you for
the rest of my days.
I vow to always put you first in my life, always be there to comfort
you in your sorrow and rejoice with you in your victories.
May our hearts and very breath become one as we unite this day as
husband and wife.
I promise to be your true love from this day forward and forevermore.
_______________________________________________________
D36
I bring myself to you this day to share my life with you; you can trust
my love, for it's real. I promise to be a faithful mate and to unfailingly
share and support your hopes, dreams and goals. I vow to be there for
you always; when you fall, I will catch you; when you cry, I will comfort
you; when you laugh, I will share your joy.
Everything I am and everything I have is yours,
from this moment forth and for eternity.
_______________________________________________________
D37
The sun smiles on us today, our wedding day, and how can it not, for
our love is stronger than forever and our hearts beat together as one.
I promise to be a true and faithful partner from this day forward, in
all life's circumstances, as we face them together. In the joys and
sorrows, the good times and bad, in sickness or in health, I will always
be there for you, to comfort you, love you, honor and cherish you, now
and forevermore.
_______________________________________________________
D38
I acknowledge my love for you and invite you to share my life as I hope
to share yours. I promise to walk by your side, to love, help and
encourage you. I vow to take time to share with you, to listen and to
care. I will share your laughter and your tears as your partner, lover and
friend. I promise always to respect you and honor you as an individual
and to be conscious of your needs. I shall seek through kindness and
compassion to achieve with you the life we have planned together.
_______________________________________________________
D39
I commit my love to you this day for as long as we both shall live;
this love is the very flame of God and may no man dare
to quench it. I promise to be faithful to you, to nurture you, to cherish
you and encourage you, with the same care and concern that I give
myself. I promise to help you become the person our Lord has
intended you to be, and throughout our lifetime together, you will
always be my beloved and my best friend.
_______________________________________________________
D40
I promise to love you with an unselfish devotion.
I will care for you with tenderness and I will always seek to
strengthen you, comfort you, encourage you and hold you up daily in
prayer before our Heavenly Father. I pledge you my faithfulness and
eternal love from this day forward.
_______________________________________________________
D41
It is the greatest desire of my heart to be faithful to you and to love you always,
seeking to meet your every need, desiring to help in every way, listening to you,
encouraging you, comforting you and standing by your side in whatever
circumstances may face us in the years ahead. I will respect you,
honor you and strive for harmony in our marriage with a quiet and gentle spirit.
_______________________________________________________
D 42
I hereby pledge myself to be faithful.
I give myself wholly to you this hour and I promise to guard, cherish
and protect you all the days of my life.
_______________________________________________________
D43
From this day forward I promise you these things.
I will laugh with you in times of joy and comfort you in times of sorrow.
I will share in your dreams, and support you as you strive to achieve your goals.
I will listen to you with compassion and understanding,
and speak to you with encouragement.
I will help you when you need it, and step aside when you don't.
I will remain faithful to you for better or worse, in times of sickness and health.
You are my best friend and I will love and respect you always.

_______________________________________________________
D44
I _________, take you ___________, to be my husband/wife,
knowing in my heart that you will be my constant friend,
my faithful partner,
and my one true love.
_______________________________________________________
D45
I have finally discovered the meaning of real love.
For as long as I live I will love, respect and honor you.
I will be committed to self-growth and to the growth of our relationship.
I promise to be honest and to communicate my needs and feelings,
just as I promise to listen to yours. I will be faithful to you in mind, body, and spirit.
I will be your fiend and life partner no matter what life brings to us.
Today I pledge my commitment to you.
______________________________________________
D48
I promise to give you the best of myself and to ask of you no more than you can give.
I promise to accept you the way you are.
I fell in love with you for the qualities, abilities, and outlook on life that you have,
and won't try to reshape you in a different image.
I promise to respect you as a person with your own interests, desires, and needs,
and to realize that those are sometimes different, but no less important than my own.
I promise to keep myself open to you, to let you see through the window of my personal
world into my innermost fears and feelings, secrets and dreams.
I promise to grow along with you, to be willing to face change as we both change
in order to keep our relationship alive and exciting.
And finally, I promise to love you in good times and in bad, with all I have to give
and all I feel inside in the only way I know how... completely and forever.
______________________________________________
D49
On this special day, I give to you in the presence of God,
my promise to stand by your side, in sickness and health,
in joy and in sorrow, as well as through the good times and the bad.
I promise to love you without reservation, to honor and respect you,
to comfort and support you each and every day, to laugh with you and cry with you,
to grow with you in mind and spirit, to always be open and honest with you,
and to cherish you for as long as we both shall live.
______________________________________________
D50
I take you to be my lifetime partner,
secure in the knowledge that you will be
my constant friend, and my one true love.
______________________________________________
D 51
On this special day,
I give to you in the presence of God and all these witnesses
my promise to stay by your side,
in sickness and in health,
in joy and in sorrow, as well as
through the good times and the bad.
I promise to love you without reservation,
comfort you in times of distress,
encourage you to achieve all of your goals,
laugh with you and cry with you,
grow with you in mind and spirit,
always be open and honest with you,
and cherish you for as long as we both shall live.
______________________________________________
Vows for Second Marriages
D52
We take our vows today, we will be changed forever,
and I take them gladly, and without reservation.
I promise to honor you, believe in you, protect you and do
everything in my power to make your life happy and fulfilled.
This is my promise.
Take my hand as we go with joy into our new life together.
______________________________________________
D53
I am proud to marry you this day.
I promise to wipe away your tears with my laughter,
and your pain with my caring and my compassion.
We will wipe out the old canvases of our lives and let God,
with His amazing artistic talent, fill them with new color, harmony and beauty.
I give myself to you completely, and I promise to love you always,
from this day forth.
______________________________________________
D54
God has given us a second chance at happiness.
I come today to give you my love, to give you my heart and my
hope for our future together. I promise to bring you joy, to be at home
with your spirit and to learn to love you more each day, through all the days of our lives.
My love for you endless and eternal.
______________________________________________
D55
Because of you, I laugh, I smile, I dare to dream again.
I look forward with great joy to spending the rest of my
life with you, caring for you, nurturing you, being there for you in all life
has for us, and I vow to be true and faithful for as long
as we both shall live.
______________________________________________
D56
As we stand beside the ocean tide, may our love always be as
constant and unchanging as these never-ending waves that pour
beneath our feet, flowing endlessly from the depths of the sea; your love
came softly upon my heart, just as the foam comes softly upon the
sand, and just as there will never be a morning without the ocean's flow,
so there will never be a day without my love for you. I pledge myself to
you this day Our love will be as unchanging and dependable as the tide;
as these waters nourish the earth and sustain life, may my constant devotion
nourish and sustain you until the end of time.
______________________________________________
D57
Today, as I give myself to you my mind is clear and my commitment
is strong and without reservation. I take you to be my life's partner.
I will never leave you nor forsake you;
I will spend all my days at your side.
We will share a lifetime of eternal, immeasurable love.
______________________________________________
D58
I commit myself to years of growth and sharing as
I encourage you to move in new direction.
I will strive to achieve my potential as God's creature
and will celebrate your progress toward the same goal.
I give myself as I am and as I will be, and I do it for all of life.
______________________________________________
D59
Respecting each other, we commit to live our lives
together for all the days to come.
I ask you to share this world with me, for good and ill.
Be my partner, and I will be yours.
H3
Blessing for a Marriage
~ James Dillet Freeman ~
May your marriage bring you all the exquisite
excitement marriage should bring,
and may life grant you also patience,
tolerance, and understanding.

May you always need one another -
not so much to fill your emptiness
as to help you to know your fullness.
A mountain needs a valley to be complete;
the valley does not make
the mountain less, but more;
and the valley is more a valley because
it has a mountain towering over it.

May you need one another, but not out of weakness.
May you want one another, but not out of lack.
May you entice one another, but not compel one another.
May you embrace one another, but not out encircle one another.
May you succeed in all important ways with one another,
and not fail in the little graces.
May you look for things to praise, often say, 'I love you!'
and take no notice of small faults.

If you have quarrels that push you apart,
may both of you hope to have
good sense enough to take the first step back.

May you enter into the mystery which is
the awareness of one another's
presence - no more physical than spiritual,
warm and near when you are
side by side, and warm and near when
you are in separate rooms
or even distant cities.
May you have happiness,
and may you find it making one another happy.
May you have love, and may you find it loving one another.

H7
This Day I Married My Best Friend
Author Unknown
This day I married my best friend
...the one I laugh with as we share life's wondrous zest,
as we find new enjoyments and experience all that's best.
...the one I live for because the world seems brighter
as our happy times are better and our burdens feel much lighter.
...the one I love with every fiber of my soul.
We used to feel vaguely incomplete, now together we are whole.

H8
Today I Married My Best Friend
Rachel Elizabeth Cooper (b. 1977)
Today I married my best friend,
Our bond complete, it hath no end,
We share one soul, we share one heart,
A perfect time - a perfect start.

With these rings we share together,
Love so close to last forever,
This special day - two special hearts,
Let nothing keep this love apart.

H9
I Promise
Dorothy R. Colgan
I promise to give you the best of myself
and to ask of you no more than you can give.

I promise to respect you as your own person
and to realize that your interests, desires and needs
are no less important than my own.

I promise to share with you my time and my attention
and to bring joy, strength and imagination to our relationship.

I promise to keep myself open to you,
to let you see through the window of my world
into my innermost fears and feelings, secrets and dreams.

I promise to grow along with you,
to be willing to face changes in order to keep
our relationship alive and exciting.

I promise to love you in good times and bad,
with all I have to give and all I feel inside
in the only way I know how,
completely and forever.

H10
Marriage Advice
Jane Wells (1886)
Let your love be stronger than your hate and anger.
Learn the wisdom of compromise,
for it is better to bend a little than to break.
Believe the best rather than the worst.
People have a way of living up or down
to your opinion of them.
Remember that true friendship
is the basis for any lasting relationship.
The person you choose to marry
is deserving of the courtesies
and kindnesses you bestow on your friends.
Please hand this down to your children and
your children's children.

H11
Never Marry But For Love
William Penn (1644-1718)
Never marry but for love;
but see that thou lovest what is lovely.
He that minds a body and not a soul
has not the better part of that relationship,
and will consequently lack
the noblest comfort of a married life.

Between a man and his wife nothing ought rule but love.
As love ought to bring them together, so it is the best way
to keep them well together.

A husband and wife that love one another
show their children that they should do so too.
Others visibly lose their authority in their families by
their contempt of one another, and teach their children to be
unnatural by their own examples.

Let not enjoyment lessen, but augment, affection;
it being the basest of passions to like
when we have not, what we slight when we possess.

Here it is we ought to search out our pleasure,
where the field is large and full of variety,
and of an enduring nature; sickness,
poverty or disgrace being not able to
shake it because it is not under
the moving influences of worldly contingencies.

Nothing can be more entire and without reserve;
nothing more zealous, affectionate and sincere;
nothing more contented than such a couple,
nor greater temporal felicity
than to be one of them.

H12
The Art Of A Good Marriage

Happiness in marriage is not something that just happens.
A good marriage must be created.
In marriage the little things are the big things.
It is never being too old to hold hands.
It is remembering to say 'I love you' at least once a day.
It is never going to sleep angry.
It is at no time taking the other for granted;
the courtship should not end
with the honeymoon, it should continue through the years.
It is having a mutual sense of values and common objectives.
It is standing together facing the world.
It is forming a circle of love that gathers the whole family.
It is doing things for each other, not in the attitude of duty or sacrifice,
but in the spirit of joy. It is speaking words of appreciation
and demonstrating gratitude in thoughtful ways.
It is not looking for perfection in each other.
It is cultivating flexibility, patience,
understanding and a sense of humour.
It is having the capacity to forgive and forget.
It is giving each other an atmosphere in which each can grow old.
It is a common search for the good and the beautiful.
It is establishing a relationship in which the independence is equal,
dependence is mutual and the obligation is reciprocal.
It is not only marrying the right partner, it is being the right partner.
~Wilferd A. Peterson
Apache Blessing
Author Unknown
May the sun bring you new energy by day,
May the moon softly restore you by night,
May the rain wash away your worries
And the breeze blow new strength into your being,
And all the days of your life may you walk
Gently through the world and know its beauty.
H14
Eskimo Love Song
Author Unknown
You are my husband (wife)
My feet shall run because of you
My feet shall dance because of you
My heart shall beat because of you
My eyes see because of you
My mind thinks because of you
And I shall love because of you.
H15
Marriage Joins Two People
In The Circle Of It's Love
Edmund O'Neill (b. 1929)
Marriage is a commitment to life,
the best that two people can find and bring out in each other.
It offers opportunities for sharing and growth
that no other relationship can equal.
It is a physical and an emotional 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.
And 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 or 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, new ways of expressing
a love that is deeper than life.

When two people pledge their love and care for each other in marriage,
they create a spirit unique unto 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 each other and takes a lifetime to fulfill.
H16
Why Marriage?
Mari Nichols
From the Author:
'This poem originally appeared on my website,
when I wrote it for my fiancé in 1995.'

Because to the depths of me, I long to love one person,
With all my heart, my soul, my mind, my body...

Because I need a forever friend to trust with the intimacies of me,
Who won't hold them against me,
Who loves me when I'm unlikable,
Who sees the small child in me, and
Who looks for the divine potential of me...

Because I need to cuddle in the warmth of the night
With someone who thanks God for me,
With someone I feel blessed to hold...

Because marriage means opportunity
To grow in love in friendship...

Because marriage is a discipline
To be added to a list of achievements...

Because marriages do not fail, people fail
When they enter into marriage
Expecting another to make them whole...

Because, knowing this,
I promise myself to take full responsibility
For my spiritual, mental and physical wholeness
I create me, I take half of the responsibility for my marriage
Together we create our marriage...

Because of this understanding
The possibilities are limitless.
H17
To Be One With Each Other
George Eliot (1819-1880)
What greater thing is there for two human souls
than to feel that they are joined together to strengthen
each other in all labor, to minister to each other in all sorrow,
to share with each other in all gladness,
to be one with each other in the
silent unspoken memories?
H18
Love
Love is a friendship that has caught fire.
It is quiet understanding, mutual confidence, sharing and forgiving.
It is loyalty through good and bad.
It settles for less than perfection,
and makes allowances for human weakness.
Love is content with the present.
It hopes for the future and it doesn't brood over the past.
It's the day-in and day-out chronicle of irritations, problems,
compromises, small disappointments, big victories,
and working toward common goals.
If you have love in your life,
it can make up for a great many things you lack.
If you don't have it, no matter what else there is,
it is not enough, so search for it, ask God for it, and share it!

H19
All my happiness goes out to you:
Nicholas Gordon
All my happiness goes out to you:
Pride and pleasure, joy, sweet tears, and love!
Reason, hope, and faith together move
In harmony to bless all that you do.
Let this beginning be the golden dawn
At which all dew-drenched nature sings its glory!
Nor should the darkness shrouding every story
Dim the blue-eyed beauty of this morn.
More of life will come than you can hold:
A flood no mortal witness can withstand.
Rest, then, within a quiet, gentle hand,
Knowing where love is as you grow old.
H20
Marriage is the union of
Nicholas Gordon
Marriage is the union of
A greater sum than two in love.
Relatives are made by vows,
Relating endless fields and plows.
In bringing families together,
A million lives are changed forever.
Go then in joy, yourselves to please:
Each love shapes many destinies.

H21
On your wedding day, as you trade vows
Nicholas Gordon
On your wedding day, as you trade vows,
No ordinary moment hurries by.
You partake, as far as time allows,
Of something more than time and Earth and sky:
Unknowable, invisible, yet there;
Resplendent to the heart if not the face;
More than both of you, yet less than air;
A transcendental act conferring grace.
Reason might say, How can this be true?
Return then to the heart, for this is love.
In making vows, you make one out of two,
A mystery beyond what words can prove.
Go then as one flesh, one home, one heart:
Each still a whole, yet also now a part.

H22
The vows I take will be forever
Nicholas Gordon
The vows I take will be forever:
I'll love you all my life.
There's no part way, no holding back
Once we are man and wife.

The choice is made, and now I swim
In a far different sea,
The shores of which are bright green hills
Raised up for you and me.

Our love is like a mountainside
Awash in lovely flowers:
It is our home, our solid rock,
Where all bright things are ours.

And though of need we often must
Spend our days apart,
Our love will always be with us,
Held within the heart.

I feel it now, so strong and free,
So part of every breath
That it must live--I swear it will!--
Even after death.

H23
The vows you have just taken, pledging love
Nicholas Gordon
The vows you have just taken, pledging love,
Mean far more than words can ever mean.
May their gentle spirit in you move.

May your years fulfill the beauty of
The feelings whose expression we've just seen,
The vows that you have taken, pledging love.

And may you always put these vows above
The things that make life smaller and more mean.
May their gentle spirit in you move.

May your children know the power of
These words to shape a world that's sane and clean,
These vows that you have taken, pledging love.


H24
Thank you for your friendship and your love.
Nicholas Gordon
Thank you for your friendship and your love.
However life may turn, this gift will be
A mountain that has made my river bend,
Nor will it flow the same way to the sea.
Knowing you is something I'm made of.

Years will not this part of me remove.
One lives for just a brief eternity,
Understanding truths that never end.

Blessing For A Marriage
~ James Dillet Freeman ~
May your marriage bring you all the exquisite excitements a marriage
should bring, and may life grant you also patience, tolerance,
and understanding.
May you always need one another - not so much to fill your
emptiness as to help you to know your fullness.
A mountain needs a valley to be complete;
the valley does not make the mountain less,
but more; and the valley is more a valley because it has a mountain
towering over it. So let it be with you and you.

May you need one another, but not out of weakness.
May you want one another, but not out of lack.
May you entice one another, but not compel one another.
May you embrace one another, but not out encircle one another.
May you succeed in all important ways with one another,
and not fail in the little graces.
May you look for things to praise, often say,
'I love you!' and take no notice of small faults.
If you have quarrels that push you apart, may both of you hope
to have good sense enough to take the first step back.
May you enter into the mystery which is the awareness
of one another's presence - no more physical than spiritual,
warm and near when you are side by side, and warm and near
when you are in separate rooms or even distant cities.
May you have happiness, and may you find it making one another happy.
May you have love, and may you find it loving one another.
I Promise
Dorothy R. Colgan
I promise to give you the best of myself
and to ask of you no more than you can give.

I promise to respect you as your own person
and to realize that your interests, desires and needs
are no less important than my own.

I promise to share with you my time and my attention
and to bring joy, strength and imagination to our relationship.

I promise to keep myself open to you,
to let you see through the window of my world into my innermost
fears and feelings, secrets and dreams.

I promise to grow along with you,
to be willing to face changes in order to keep our relationship
alive and exciting.

I promise to love you in good times and bad,
with all I have to give and all I feel inside in the only way I know how.
Completely and forever.
Love Is

Love is
being happy for the other person
when they are happy
being sad for the other person when they are sad
being together in good times
and being together in bad times
Love is the source of strength

Love is
being honest with yourself at all times
being honest with the other person at all times
telling, listening, respecting the truth
and never pretending
Love is the source of reality

Love is
an understanding that is so complete that
you feel as if you are a part of the other person
accepting the other person just the way they are
and not trying to change them to be something else
Love is the source of unity

Love is
the freedom to pursue your own desires
while sharing your experiences with the other person
the growth of one individual alongside of
and together with the growth of another individual
Love is the source of success

Love is
the excitement of planning things together
the excitement of doing things together
Love is the source of the future

Love is
the fury of the storm
the calm of the rainbow
Love is the source of passion

Love is
giving and taking in a daily situation
being patient with each other's needs and desires
Love is the source of sharing

Love is
knowing that the other person
will always be with you regardless of what happens
missing the other person when they are away
but remaining near in heart at all times
Love is the source of security
Love is the
source of life

-Susan Polis Schutz-

I asked a good friend of mine (and fellow Shakespeare nut) to choose a reading by Shakespeare - I'm not sure which one she's going to choose. I'll know a few weeks before the wedding.

I do love this sonnet though (number 29)

When , in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes
I all alone beweep my outcast state,
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,
And look upon myself and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,
Desiring this man's art and that man's scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least;
Yet in these thoughts almost despising,
Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven's gate;
For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings
that then I scorn to change my state with kings.