Dear
family and friends, we have
gathered here today to witness and celebrate the commitment of Partner
1 and Partner
2. Surrounded as we are by those we most
love, let us turn our hearts and minds to the two before us who wish to
bind
their lives together, in peace, and in love, thus celebrating the
beauty and
joy of life.
It
has been said that no man is an
island entire to himself. We are
involved in all humanity and each time two people come together to
blend their
lives as one, it is a reaffirmation of human courage, hope and love. It is the joyous uniting of a couple whose
comradeship and mutual understanding have flowered into romance. Today, Partner 1 and Partner 2 proclaim their
love to the world and we who are gathered here rejoice with them and
for them
in the new life they now undertake together.
A
committed relationship is the
promise of hope between two people who love each other sincerely, who
honor
each other as individuals, and who wish to unite their lives and share
the
future together. In this ceremony, they dedicate themselves to the
happiness
and well-being of each other, in a union of mutual caring and
responsibility. We rejoice with them that
out of all the
world they have found each other; and that they will henceforth find
the deeper
meaning and richness of human life in sharing it with each other.
Your relationship
requires
“love.” When we love, we see things
other people do not see. To see with
loving eyes is to know inner beauty and to be loved is to be seen and
known as
we are known to no other. When you give
yourself, heart and mind, into the hands of the one you love, you
receive that
most precious of gifts - the life and love of another.
We are loved when another human being wants
us, wishes to share their life with us, accepts us, without
qualification or
reservation, not as perfect, but as human, with strengths and
weaknesses.
Love
endures only when the lovers
love many things together and not merely each other.
When they share the same values, hold the
same interests. You will need to be able
to trust one another and learn, as well, to depend on one another. Do not forget the love that you share today,
continue to show your appreciation and admiration on a daily basis
throughout
the rest of your lives.
A
successful relationship is based on
love, equality, respect, and commitment on the part of both, in which
each must
adjust to the other's temperaments and moods.
In this union two persons turn to each other in search of
greater
fulfillment than either can achieve alone.
A committed relationship should be a growing and dynamic
relationship, a
dream of tomorrow in which we grow and fulfill our possibilities. It is wondrous when someone believes in the
dream of ourselves and wants to live with us and help make these dreams
and
aspirations come true.
Your
committed relationship is a
dedication. You give yourself, your life
and love, into the hands of the one you love.
You do so trustingly and generously.
Yet, each of you also receives a gift – the life and love of the
other. You receive this gift not only
from the one you love, but also from their family and friends. We are here to share your joy and to witness
your first steps along the path that you are now to tread together. May it be a path of deepening and widening
love that you shall travel together until the end of your days.
Two
among us who have stood apart,
come now in our presence to declare their love, and to be united,
facing the
world strong, with the courage of two.
May they learn to share life’s trials, and grow in understanding
and
devotion to each other. May love and
companionship abide in the home they establish.
May they grow old together, in health and contentment, ever
grateful for
the union of their lives so that they will say “Grow old along with me,
the
best is yet to be.” May they wake up
each morning glorying in the joy that they awake once again next to
their
chosen one, their beloved. May they always need one another, not to
fill an emptiness,
but to help each other know fullness.
May they embrace one another, but not encircle one another. May they have happiness, and may they find it
in making one another happy. May they
have love, and may they find it in loving one another.
Now
we have Partner 2 and Partner 1
before us, who wish to take their place among those who have said yes
to
living, yes to the hard task of loving, and yes to the best that
humanity
stands for. This celebration is the
outward token of an inner union of hearts.
It is a union created by their loving purpose and kept by their
abiding
will. It is in this spirit and for this
purpose that they have come here to be joined together.
Sample
vows if prefer not to write own:
We
are especially grateful for the
values that have been instilled in Partner 2 and Partner 1 from those
who have
loved and nurtured them. The family and
friends each brings to this union will continue to be important in
their lives,
but now will be shared between them, and will be enriched and enlarged. Do you, who are here present, promise and
commit yourselves to support and uphold their union?
(Answer: “We do”)
Our
celebration of the union of Partner
1 and Partner 2 is shared by those who have passed beyond this life. Their roles in the lives of Partner 1 and
Partner
2 are no less remembered and honored as we savor today’s joyous moments. Join with us, then, in fond memory of all
these people, and in particular with (departed relatives names). In their memory, let us be silent together.
Traditionally,
the commitment
ceremony is marked by the exchange of rings.
This ring is a symbol of the unbroken circle of love; a reminder
that
love freely given has no beginning and no end, no giver and no receiver
- for
each is the giver and each is the receiver.
May these rings remind you always of the vows you have taken
here today.
Partner
1, please take Partner 2's
ring, and as you place it on the ring finger of her left hand, repeat
after me
. . . With this ring I commit to thee . . . promising to love and
respect you, . . . sharing good times and bad, . . . in sickness
and in health.
Partner
2, please take Partner 1's
ring, and as you place it on the ring finger of his left hand, repeat
after me
. . . With this ring I commit to thee . . . promising to love and
respect you,
. . . sharing good times and bad, . . . in sickness and in health.
Since
you love each other in your
hearts, and have promised to help each other to live and grow, in
wisdom and
compassion, with these rings you bind your lives together for as long
as you
both shall live.
(Handfasting/Handholding and other
options)
(Optional Unity Candle Ceremony)
The
miracle of love is like the
miracle of a flower. It thrives upon the
sunshine of a smile. It entwines itself
around the heart. Its roots are secured
in the memories of yesterday, and its petals breathe the promise of joy
filled
tomorrows. To be loved is to know
happiness and contentment. To give love
is to know the joy of sharing oneself.
It is through the miracle of love that we discover the fullness
of life.
Partner
2 and Partner 1, now you will
feel no rain, for each of you will be shelter to the other. Now you will feel no cold, for each of you
will be warmth to the other. Now there
is no more loneliness, for each of you will be companion to the other. Now you are one heart in two bodies, and
there is only one life before you. Now
you enter into the days of your togetherness . . . May those days be
good, and
long, upon this earth.
Partner
2 and Partner 1, as you
embark on this wonderful journey ahead of you, hand in hand,
experiencing life
together, may all that is true and beautiful be with you always . . .
May there
be peace in your home, quietness and confidence in your thoughts, and
joy and
celebration in your hearts.
Dear
friends and family, since Partner 1 and Partner 2 have thus pledged
themselves
in the presence of this company and they have spoken the words and
performed
the rites which unite their lives, I do now, by the powers vested in me
by the
laws of the State of Kansas/Missouri, I pronounce that you are husband
and
wife.
Partner
1 and Partner 2, you may now seal
your union with a kiss.
I
present to you Partner 2 & Partner
1.