Weddingbee boards

boulderbride2010    October 23, 2010   Denver, CO

Hi Bees,

DH and I wrote our ceremony for our wedding and I found it pretty hard to do.  There just aren't a lot of secular resources out there.  So, I thought I'd share the text of our ceremony with you all in case you're having trouble writing your own ceremony.  We had a mutual friend officiate and got many compliments on the ceremony.  It was definitely the highlight of our day.  Hope it helps!

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I.            Processional

 

“Bless the Broken Road” ~ Rascal Flatts

“When You Come Back Down” ~ Nickel Creek

 

II.             Gathering Words

 

[Guests will likely stand when bride enters.  If they don’t do so on their own, ask them to be seated.]

Good evening, family and friends! 
We have come here today to celebrate the wedding of BoulderBride and BoulderGroom.

On behalf of BoulderBride and BoulderGroom, thank you for joining us.  They are delighted that you have come to share in their joy. 
During this special day, by your presence, you celebrate with them the love they have discovered in each other and you support their decision to commit themselves to a lifelong relationship.

 

 

III.            Acknowledgement of Family and Friends

 

BoulderBride and BoulderGroom would like to recognize their parents on this occasion,
and offer their profound gratitude for all the love and care their parents showed in raising them and for the wonderful examples of happy marriage they have provided.
Parents, the unconditional gifts of love and support that you have continually offered
have inspired them to become who they are today, and they thank you, from the bottom of their hearts. Without you, this day would not be possible.

BoulderBride and BoulderGroom would also like to thank the friends that have nurtured them into adulthood and that stand by them today with their unconditional love and support.  You have all provided comfort and wisdom in times of trial and endless warmth and laughter over the years.  BoulderBride and BoulderGroom cannot thank you enough for standing by them throughout their lives.

 

IV.            Readings

 

As most of you probably know, BoulderBride and BoulderGroom are both lawyers and much of their early relationship was spent reading and outlining cases side by side.  At this time I’d like to ask Korinna Ghiloni to share with us a reading from the Massachusetts Supreme Court’s decision in Goodridge  v. Department of Public Health.

 

Civil marriage is at once a deeply personal commitment to another human being and a highly public celebration of the ideals of mutuality, companionship, intimacy, fidelity, and family. It is an association that promotes a way of life, not causes; a harmony in living, not political faiths; a bilateral loyalty, not commercial or social projects.

Because it fulfills yearnings for security, safe haven, and connection that express our common humanity, civil marriage is an esteemed institution and the decision whether and whom to marry is among life's momentous acts of self-definition. Tangible as well as intangible benefits flow from marriage. The benefits accessible only by way of a marriage license are enormous, touching nearly every aspect of life and death.

It is undoubtedly for these concrete reasons, as well as for its intimately personal significance, that civil marriage has long been termed a civil right.

Thank you. 

When at their best, BoulderBride and BoulderGroom are children at heart and they bring out childlike joy in each other.  In that spirit I’d like to ask Jane to share with us an excerpt from a childrens book called I Like You by Sandol Stoddard Warburg.

I like you and I know why,

I like you because you are a good person to like.

 

I like you because when I tell you something special you know it's special and you remember it a long long time. You say remember when you told me something special and both of us remember.

 

When I think something is important you think it's important too. We have good ideas.

When I say something funny you laugh. I think I'm funny and you think I'm funny too.

You know how to be silly, that's why I like you. Boy are you ever silly. I never met anybody sillier than me till I met you.

 

If you go away then I go away too or if I stay home you send me a postcard. You don't just say, well see you around sometime, bye. I like you a lot because of that. If I go away I send you a postcard too.

 

And I like you because when I'm feeling sad you don't always cheer me up right away. Sometimes it is better to be sad. You can't stand others being so googly and gaggly every single minute. You want to talk about things. It takes time.

 

I like you because if I am mad at you, you are mad at me too. It's awful when the other person isn't. They're so nice and hoo-hoo you could just about punch them in the nose.

 

I like you because if I think I am going to throw up then you are really sorry. You don't just pretend you are busy looking at the birdies and all that. You say maybe it was something you ate, you say the same thing happened to me one time, and the same thing did.

 

I like you because I don't know why, but everything is nicer when it happens with you. I can't remember when I didn't like you. It must have been lonesome then.

 

If you and I had some drums and some horns and some horses; if we had some hats and some flags and some fire engines; we could be a HOLIDAY, we could be a CELEBRATION, we could be a WHOLE PARADE, see what I mean?

 

Even if it was the nine hundred and ninety-ninth of July; even if it was August; even if it was way down at the bottom of November; even if it was no place in particular in January, I would go on choosing you and you would go on choosing me, over and over again. That's how it would happen every time, I don't know why.  I guess I just like you.

 

 

VI.            Marriage Address

 

Thank you.  As the parents of the bride and groom have provided wonderful examples of happy marriages, we would like to ask them at this time to share their advice for a long and happy marriage with the bride and groom.  First, may I ask the bride’s parents to share their advice.

 [My mom and dad each spoke separately]

Now, I’d like to welcome the groom’s parents to share their advice with the bride and groom.

[His mom and dad spoke separately]

 

VII.            Declaration of Support

 

I’d like to ask BoulderBride and BoulderGroom’s friends and family to stand.

 

As family and friends, you form the community of support that surrounds BoulderBride and BoulderGroom.  Each of you, by your presence here today, is being called upon to uphold them in loving each other.

 

Always stand beside them and never between them.  Offer them your love and support, not your judgment.  Encourage them when encouragement is needed and listen to them when they ask advice.  In these ways you can honor this marriage into which they have come to be joined today. 

 

Please indicate your support by answering the following question, “We will.”

 

As part of the community that surrounds BoulderBride and BoulderGroom will you offer your love and support to strengthen their marriage and nurture the family created by this union?

 

Guests: We will.

 

Thank you.  You may be seated.

 

VIII.            Vows

 

BoulderBride and BoulderGroom, do you, with family and friends as your witnesses, present yourselves willingly and of your own accord to be joined in marriage?

 

[Bride and Groom: WE DO]

 

Will you promise to care for each other in the joys and sorrows of life, come what may and to share the responsibility for growth and enrichment of your life together?

 

[Bride and Groom: WE WILL]

 

Please turn to each other and share the vows you have written.

 

I, BoulderGroom, choose you, BoulderBride, in the presence of our friends and families to be my wife. I promise, from this day forward, to turn to you and not on you in times of trial, to practice honest and thoughtful communication especially when it’s most difficult to do so and to challenge and inspire you to be all that I believe you can. I promise to love you in happiness and in sadness, to never take you for granted, to do my best to put your needs and the needs of our family before my own, and to trust that you are doing your best as well.  I promise to grow old with you in body, but never in spirit, to love you and care for you, to weigh the effects of the words I speak and the things that I do, and to always be thankful for your presence in my life.

 

I, BoulderBride, choose you, BoulderGroom, in the presence of our friends and families to be my husband. I promise, from this day forward, to turn to you and not on you in times of trial, to practice honest and thoughtful communication especially when it’s most difficult to do so and to challenge and inspire you to be all that I believe you can.  I promise to be a comfort and safe haven in your life, to love you and care for you and to share with you all of life’s joys and sorrows, successes and disappointments. I promise to recognize that your interests, desires, and needs are as important as mine, to weigh the effects of the words I speak and the things that I do, and to always be thankful for your presence in my life.

 

VIV.            Ring Exchange

 

Just as we bear witness to a written covenant with our signature, so, too, do we exchange wedding rings to seal the vows of marriage.  Wedding rings are an enduring symbol of the pledges we have made to eachother and of our responsibility to honor each other by honoring our promises.

 

BoulderGroom, please take BoulderBride’s ring, place it on her finger and repeat after me:

 

BoulderBride, I give you this ring as a symbol that I choose you to be my wife, my partner and my best friend today, tomorrow and always.  Wear it, think of me, and know that I love you.

 

BoulderBride, please take BoulderGroom’s ring, place it on his finger and repeat after me:

 

BoulderGroom, I give you this ring as a symbol that I choose you to be my husband, my partner and my best friend today, tomorrow and always.  Wear it, think of me, and know that I love you.

 

 

X.            Pronouncement

 

Now that BoulderBride and BoulderGroom have joined themselves to each other by solemn vows, and by the giving and receiving of rings, they do now, by virtue of the authority vested in them by the state of Colorado, pronounce that they are husband and wife. [Phrased this way b/c of Colorado law -- PM me for more info]

 

XII.  The Kiss

 

BoulderGroom, you may now kiss your bride.

 

XIII.            Recession

“Somebody Like You” ~ Keith Urban