The Wedding
Ceremony of
University
Congregational Church
Rev. Dr. Gary
Blaine, Celebrant
The Prelude
Seating of the
Grandparents
Seating of the
Parents
Processional
Greeting and
Charge of the Minister
Dr.
Blaine: Name and Name, loving
families, and dear friends, we gather here to worship God as the source of
love. We are here to celebrate and
consecrate the living love, joy, and meaning that Name and Name have found with
one another.
Marriage is a great adventure of the
human heart. May it be for you a daily
broadening of your horizons, and a continuing opportunity to learn something
new about life, about human existence, and about the Sacred. Marriage is an act of faith that reflects
God’s love.
The gospel tells us that it is God’s
intent that we have loving, supporting relationships with one another. These relationships exist within society as
well as the community of faith. It is
appropriate in this hour of sacred worship to acknowledge the commitment of
love that Name and Name will make in covenant together. We join with them in a mutual commitment of
God’s blessing for their marriage.
Name and Name, by this covenant of marriage you are
called to a new way of life, created, ordered, and blessed by God. This way of life must not be entered into
carelessly or from selfish motive, but responsibly and prayerfully. If you keep the vows between you made this
day, be well assured that God will bless your marriage with grace and peace.
Declaration of
Intent
Dr. Blaine: Name,
understanding that God has created, ordered, and blessed the covenant of
marriage; do you affirm your desire and intention to enter this covenant of
your own free will?
Groom: I do.
Dr. Blaine: Name, understanding that God has created, ordered,
and blessed the covenant of marriage; do you affirm your desire and intention
to enter this covenant of your own free will?
Bride: I do.
The Bride is
Offered in Marriage
Dr. Blaine: And who offers Name in marriage to Name?
Father or Other: Her mother and I do, We do,
or I do.
Invocation
Reading:
The Sharing of
Vows
Groom: I, Name, take you, Name, to be my wife and I
promise, before God and these witnesses, to be your loving and faithful
husband; in plenty and in want; in joy and in sorrow; in sickness and in
health; as long as we both shall live.
Bride: I, Name, take you, Name, to be my husband and I
promise, before God and these witnesses, to be your loving and faithful wife;
in plenty and in want; in joy and in sorrow; in sickness and in health; as long
as we both shall live.
The Exchange
of Rings
Dr. Blaine: The wedding ring is an outward and visible
sign of an inward and spiritual grace, signifying to all persons the uniting of
Name and Name in holy matrimony, through the Church of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Let us pray: Bless O Lord, the giving of these rings that
they who wear them may abide in thy peace, and continue in thy favor; through
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Groom: In token and pledge of our constant faith and
abiding love, with this ring I thee wed, in the name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Bride: In token and pledge of our
constant faith and abiding love, with this ring I thee wed, in the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Unity Candle
The Blessing
and Lord’s Prayer
Dr. Blaine: O eternal God, creator and preserver of all
humankind, giver of all spiritual grace, the author of everlasting life: Send thy blessings upon Name and Name, who we
bless in thy name; that they may surely perform and keep the vow and covenant
between them made, and may ever remain in perfect love and peace together, and
live according to thy laws.
Look graciously upon them, that they
may love, honor, and cherish each other, and so live together in faithfulness and
patience, in wisdom and true godliness, that their home may be a haven of
blessing and a place of peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who taught us to
pray:
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come,
thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against
us. And lead us not into temptation but
deliver us from evil. For thine is the
kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever.
Amen.
The
Declaration of Marriage
Dr. Blaine: Forasmuch as Name and Name have consented together
in holy wedlock, and have witnessed the same before God and this company, and
thereto have pledged their faith each to the other, and have declared the same
by joining hands and by the giving and receiving of rings, I pronounce that
they are husband and wife together.
Those whom God has joined together let no one put asunder.
Benediction
Dr. Blaine: Name and Name, may God the Father, the Son, and
the Holy Spirit, bless, preserve, and keep you; the Lord graciously with his
favor look upon you, and fill you with all spiritual benediction; and may you
so live together in this life that the rule of God will manifest itself in
grace, justice, and freedom. Amen
The
Presentation
Dr. Blaine: Ladies and gentlemen, it is my privilege to present
to you…
The
Recessional
Witnesses:
_________________________ _________________________
Celebrant’s
Signature:
_________________________
The
Rev. Dr. Gary Blaine