Wedding Ceremony for Kimberly and Richard

Black Hills Receptions, Pennington County

Rapid City, South Dakota

Greeting

By entering into this marriage, Richard and Kimberly are stating publicly the feelings and commitments they have held privately between them. They are proclaiming their love for and their trust in and their loyalty to the one they cherish above all others.

Marriage is the most intimate of all relationships.  It is the ultimate commitment to love, share, trust, and grow with another person.  It is the beginning of a whole new life.

Marriage has been described as living in love with your best friend. Love is one of the few constants in the universe.  It is reality, affinity and communication.  Only love is capable of joining living beings by their deepest essence, uniting, completing and fulfilling them.

Marriage is a symbol of the commitment to create a lifelong partnership based on love.

Presentation of the Bride

Who gives this woman to be married to this man? “We do”

Opening Prayer/Blessing

Let us pray.  We do not seek your presence but rather we acknowledge it, God.  You have declared in Jesus that you are present when we gather together.  We affirm that you are among us. Help us to be conscious of your activity as we worship. Let your special blessing be upon Richard and Kimberly as they renew their covenant with you and declare their covenant with one another.  We seek to be blessed in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Charge to Couple or Officiant Address

Richard and Kimberly life is given to each of us as individuals, and yet we must learn to live together.  Love is given to us by our family and friends.  We learn to love by being loved. Learning to love and living together is one of life’s greatest challenges and is the shared goal of a married life.

As you travel through life together, I caution you to remember that the true measure of success, the true avenue to joy and peace, is to be found within the love you hold in your hearts.  I would ask that you hold the key to your heart very tightly.

Remember, anything beautiful that you have, came from God.  In the beginning, God gave us our free will and our identity to walk this earth.  Don’t ever try to change each other, because if you do, you will lose exactly what you fell in love with.  So, each day try to find one more thing that is beautiful in your mate and each day know that the next day will be more beautiful than the one before.  As long as you are doing this, you are seeking beauty, joy, and love in each other.

Consent/Intent

Richard and Kimberly stand before us today to declare their promises openly and gladly.

Richard will you take Kimberly to be your wedded wife? Will you give yourself to her? Will you share completely with her in your life together? Will you promise to be open and honest in your relationship? Will you give her all comfort and support and strength? If so respond, “I Will.”

Kimberly will you take Richard to be your wedded husband? Will you give yourself to him? Will you share completely with him in your life together? Will you promise to be open and honest in your relationship? Will you give him all comfort and support and strength? If so respond, “I Will.”

Vows

Richard and Kimberly please join hands and exchange your vows.

Richard to Kimberly: Kimberly, you are a kind and gentle woman and it is with great joy that I take you as my wife; may our love grow deeper every day of our marriage, and as the days grow to weeks, and the weeks to months, and the months to years, may we never forget this joyous day and the vows of commitment we are pledging to each other. I will cherish you and be faithful to you for all eternity.

Kimberly to Richard: In the name of God, I, Kimberly, take you, Richard, to be my beloved husband. To stand with you in the grand love that binds us, to honor you, to change with you, to behold the highest meanings of our being, to learn compassion with you, to suffer with you, to rejoice, to be kind. I promise you this from my heart, with my soul, till death do us part.

Readings

1 Corinthians 13:4-8a

The Word of God describes the kind of love we are to have, each for the other in 1st Corinthians 13:4-8a: “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.”

Having this love in your hearts, you have chosen to seal your vows by the giving and receiving of rings.

Blessing and Exchange of Rings

I hold in my hand two beautiful rings, symbolic of a binding contract, to be given and received as bonds of never-ending love and devoted friendship, circles of life and circles of love.

Richard please repeat after me: Kimberly, I give you this ring in token and pledge, as a symbol of all that we share, with my constant faith and abiding love.

Kimberly please repeat after me: Richard, I give you this ring in token and pledge, as a symbol of all that we share, with my constant faith and abiding love.

Prayer

Father, we thank you for this beautiful day and thank you for Richard and Kimberly.  We thank you Lord that you have brought them safely thus far on their journey. We pray that as you joined their hands and hearts together to become husband and wife that you will bless them. We pray that you will give them strength and courage as they face all the tasks and decisions that lie before them. We also pray Lord that you bless these rings, that he and she wear, and may they ever bide in your peace, living together in unity, love, and happiness, with good purpose to do your will. This we pray in your name. Amen.

Unity Candle

This candle you are about to light is a candle of marriage. Its fire is magical because it represents the light of two people in love.

This candle before you is a candle of commitment because it takes two people working together to keep it aflame.

This candle is also a candle of unity because both must come together, giving a spark of themselves to create the new light.

As you light this candle today, may the brightness of the flame shine throughout your lives. May it give you courage and reassurance in darkness; warmth and safety in the cold; and strength and joy in your bodies, minds and spirits.

May your union be forever blessed.

(special music)

Pronouncement of Marriage

Now that Richard and Kimberly have given themselves to each other by solemn vows, before us and before God as witness, and have shown their affection and trust by the giving and receiving of a ring and by joining hands, I pronounce that they are husband and wife, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, what God has joined together, let man not separate. Amen.  Richard, you may kiss your bride.

Benediction

May your love be one based on freedom. For though our hands may touch, it’s our hearts that hold.

When you hold love within your heart, you radiate a light, which shall brighten all the days of your life and beyond.

Everything we truly love, becomes a part of us forever. So take your time with each other. Let your love’s seed grow and mature with the seasons, to provide you with warmth, serenity, joy and acceptance throughout all the years of your marriage.

Love is not a wall; it is a bridge. Love does not confine; it sets you free. It leads, as a pathway, winding, to places unknown and mysterious. With love to light the way, you can meet any challenge together.

Presentation of the Couple

And now, to all the friends and family who have come to celebrate this marriage, I would like to present, for the first time anywhere, Mr. and Mrs. Richard and Kimberly.