Enter Steve
Welcome relatives and friends.
Marriage is a supreme sharing of experience and an adventure in the most intimate of human relationships.
Today Billy and Rachel 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.
(Sonnet 116, William Shakespeare)
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-fixèd mark,
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wand'ring bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his heighth 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.
Your marriage requires "love," which is a word often used with vagueness and sentimentality. When we love we see things other people do not see. We see beneath the surface and observe qualities which make this one different from and dearer than all others. 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.
With this in mind I would like to read from Paul's first letter to the Corinthians:
Love is patient, Love is kind.
It does not envy, It does not boast,
It is not proud. It is not rude,
It is not self-seeking, It is not easily angered,
It keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects,
Always trusts,
Always hopes,
Always perseveres.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7
This celebration is the outward token of a sacred and inward union of hearts, which the church and temple may bless, and the state make legal, but which neither state nor church can create or annul. It is a union created by your loving purpose and kept by your abiding will. It is in this spirit and for this purpose that you have come here to be joined together.
Please join hands.
"I, Rachel, cherish you, Billy,
For being all that you are,
All that you are not,
And all that you can be.
All I ask is you -- your love -- your trust -- your caring. I humbly open my heart to you, as a refuge of love and strength. From this day forward, I will be proud to be your wife and your best friend. This commitment is made in love, kept in faith, lived in hope, and eternally made new."
"I, Billy take you Rachel, for my wedded wife from this day forward, to have and to hold as equal partner in my life, to whom I give my deepest love and devotion. I will love you enough to risk being hurt and trust you when I don't understand. From this day forward I will be proud to be your husband and your best friend. This commitment is made in love, kept in faith, lived in hope, and eternally made new."
Officiant: (Prelude to Ring Exchange):
(ask for rings)
These rings are a symbol of the unbroken circle of love. Love freely given has no beginning and no end. Love freely given has 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.
Billy take the ring you have selected, place it on Rachel's finger and say these words:
with this ring I thee wed.
Rachel take the ring you have selected, place it on Billy's finger and say these words:
with this ring I thee wed.
May you minimize each other's weaknesses, be swift to praise and magnify each other's strengths, and see each other through a lover's kind and patient eyes.
As you have consented together to be bound to one another in lawful marriage, you have made special promises to each other, which have been symbolized by the joining of hands, taking of vows, and by the giving and receiving of rings.
By the authority of the State of South Carolina, I now pronounce you to be husband and wife.
You may kiss the bride.
I present to you Mr. and Mrs. Billy Anderson