Vow and Ceremony Examples

Not sure what to have your Officiant say?  Don't know what kind of vows you want?  It can be a daunting task putting your ceremony together.  Below are some samples of Ceremonies and Vows to help you choose what works best for your individual style.

The flow:
A ceremony has a typical flow.  You need not follow this at all, however it can be helpful in putting together your ceremony.

A typical flow will happen in this order:

• Opening said by officiant - Whomever you choose to marry you, will usually say something nice to welcome your guests and sometimes explain a ceremony tradition.  This is great for mixed faiths that might not be accustomed to a particular ceremony.
• Consent - Your officiant might ask if you have come to declare your love and desire to marry without reservation to the witnesses of your marriage (your family & friends)
• Vows / Ring exchange - Sometimes these go hand & hand.  Sometimes they are separate (ring exchange coming after the Vows).  In some ceremonies the ring exchange is tied into the vows.
• Your special ceremony - This is the symbol of your unification with each other today.  Sometimes it occurs before the vows and other times after.  An example would be the lighting of the unity candle or the rose ceremony (below).  Be creative here and even come up with your own ceremony!
• Conclusion - Your officiant will pronounce you husband & wife, allow you to kiss and introduce you as newlyweds!   = D

Examples:
Below I have put these examples of Ceremony, Vows and Ring exchanges for you to easily "Build your ceremony".  Modify as you wish.  It's your special day!

Ring Warming Ceremony
The wedding rings are secured together with a ribbon or in a small bag and passed to each guest in turn.  The guest with the rings gets the opportunity to offer a prayer, blessing or wish for the wedding couple, either silently or aloud.  In this manner the rings are "warmed" with good thoughts before being returned to the officiant and either blessed or simply handed to the Bride and Groom to exchange with each other.

Opening said by officiant:
Welcome, Family & Friends.  Shortly Bride & Groom will make their vows to each other, symbolizing their commitment by exchanging wedding rings.
What I now ask you to do is to warm these rings by passing them around.  As you hold them in your hands, pause for a moment, and make your wishes for the couple and for their future before you pass them on to the next person.
The ring bag starts its journey with Brides's mother ______ and is passed from  guest to guest, finished with Groom's mother _________.  They will be retrieved by the Best Man for the ring exchange ceremony.

[Vows go Here]

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The Rose Ceremony

Opening said by Officiant:
Welcome, Family and Friends.We are together today to be witness in the uniting of Bride & Groom in lawful matrimony and to be with them and rejoice with them in the making of this  important commitment to each other.  Their gift to each other today will be their wedding rings, which shall always be an outward demonstration of their vows of love and respect and a public showing of their commitment to each other.  For their first gift to each other as husband and wife, they will be exchanging a single rose.  In the past the rose was considered a symbol of love and a single rose always meant only one thing, it meant "I love you".  So it is appropriate that for your first gift as husband and wife, that gift would be a single rose.

Bride & Groom, I would ask that wherever you make your home in the future, where it be a large home or a small one, that you both pick one very special location for roses.  So that on each anniversary of this truly wonderful occasion you both may take  a roe to that spot both as a recommitment to your marriage and a recommitment that this will be a marriage based upon love.  In every marriage their are times were it is difficult to find the right words.  It is easy to hurt who we lost love. It might be difficult in some time to say "I am sorry" or "I forgive you".  "I need you" or "I am hurting".  If this should happen, if you simply cannot find these words, leave a  rose at that spot which both of you have selected, for that rose then says what matters most of all and should overpower all other things and all other words; That rose says the words "I still love you".  The other should accept this rose for the words which cannot be found,and remember the love and hope that you both share today. 

[Vows go here]

roses are exchanged after pronounced man and wife....

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Sand Ceremony

[Opening Said by Officiant]

[Vows go here]

MOB & MOG go up and pour their respected color sand into their vesselst.  This represents the families that are being brought together today in marriage.

Bride & Groom, you have just sealed your relationship by the giving and receiving of rings and the exchange of vows.  Please alternately pour the sand into the vessel.

Today you join your separate lives together.  The two separate vessels of sand symbolize your separate lives, separate families and separate sets of friends.  They represent all that you have been as an individual.  They also represent your lives before today.  As these two vessels of sand are poured int o the third vessel, the individual vessels of sand will no longer exist, but will be joined together as one.  Just as these grains of sand can never be separated and poured again into the individual vessels, so will your marriage be.


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Candle Ceremony

[Opening said by officiant]
[Vows go here]

The mother's of ___________ & _____________, will each light a side candle of the unity candle, symbolizing the families that are being brought together here today through this marriage.

Bride & Groom will each take a candle that symbolized their individual lives.  Now use these candles to light the central candle as a symbol of the relationship you are beginning today.  Let me remind you that marriage doesn't change your separate identify, but it does enrich all your natural skills and ability by helping you to grow.  If each of you will contribute your very best to your marriage, you will become as one in life's most intimate and fulfilling relationships.

Marriage brings two people into a unique relationship.  In this union you will share many experiences  as if you were one person.  Genuine love allows you to overcome any sense of loneliness and isolation, yet permits uniqueness as individuals.

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Vows 1:
Bride, I promise to give you my love, to accept and cherish your love, to help you when you need me.  I promise to be your faithful husband in joy and in sorrow, in sickness and in health.

Groom, I promise to give you my love, to accept and cherish your love, to help you when you need me.  I promise to be your faithful wife in joy and in sorrow, in sickness and in health.

Vows 2:
I Groom, take you Bride to be my beloved wife, to live together in the lawful estate of matrimony.  I promise from this day forth to nurture our relationship, to listen and respect you in all our life endeavors together.  To share the joys and responsibilities of life with you, love you , respect you and tenderly care for you.  I promise for us to grow together with honesty and acceptance and to cherish you for as long as we both shall live.

I Bride, take you Groom to be my beloved husband, to live together in the lawful estate of matrimony.  I promise from this day forth to nurture our relationship, to listen and respect you in all our life endeavors together.  To share the joys and responsibilities of life with you, love you , respect you and tenderly care for you.  I promise for us to grow together with honesty and acceptance and to cherish you for as long as we both shall live.

Vows 3:
I groom, offer you not the summer of my life, but the autumn brisk and vibrant.  I promise to be a companion, worthy of your precious friendship.  I pledge you compassion in good times and bad, sickness and health.  It is with my intent that our life together include our circle of friends and our loving families.  We'll cherish the memories of our individual pasts; and create our new life as we go along together.

I bride, offer you not the summer of my life, but the autumn brisk and vibrant.  I promise to be a companion, worthy of your precious friendship.  I pledge you compassion in good times and bad, sickness and health.  It is with my intent that our life together include our circle of friends and our loving families.  We'll cherish the memories of our individual pasts; and create our new life as we go along together.


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Rings 1:
A circle is the symbol of the sun, the earth and the universe of wholeness, perfection and peace.  The rings you will give and receive today are a symbol of your love for each other,and a constant reminder of the value of your bond in marriage.  They will also be a sign to others that you have made this commitment to be husband and wife.

Groom, as you place the ring on the brides finger, repeat after me. "Bride, you are my life, my love, my best friend and with this ring I thee wed.  May it be a reminder of my love and sacred commitment that I have made here today."

Bride, as you place the ring on the brides finger, repeat after me. "Groom, you are my life, my love, my best friend and with this ring I thee wed.  May it be a reminder of my love and sacred commitment that I have made here today."

Rings 2:
Bride, this ring I give you, my personal gift and my personal promise , of love and trust and pride that you are my wife.
Groom, this ring I give you, my personal gift and my personal promise , of love and trust and pride that you are my husband.

These rings are a symbol of the unbroken circle of love.  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 always remind you of the vows you have taken here today.

Rings 3:
Come health, happiness & prosperity, I will stand with you, come illness, trouble or poverty, take this ring, as a sign of my love and commitment.