"So as marriage is the covenant, vows are the entrance into that commitment. The first step down the road that they will travel together, for the remainder of their lives." ~ Anonymous

Welcome Minister: Dear family and friends, on behalf of (bride's and groom's names) I welcome you all for this marriage ceremony. We are here today to encourage, celebrate and support the covenant these two people (bride's and groom's names) are going to make and to share in the joy that (bride's and groom's names) experience as they pledge their love and commitment to each other. We rejoice in the manner God has led them to each other and got them to the place where they now stand. Intentions Minister: (To the groom), the woman who stands by your side is going to be your wife. She will look to you for comfort, for support, for love, for understanding, for encouragement, and for protection. You must never take her for granted, and always stand by her for good or ill. Groom: Today in presence of God, family and friends, I pledge to join my life with yours. With God's help I promise to provide, protect, respect and support you through all that life has to offer. I promise to stand by you through both good and bad times, in happiness and sorrow, come riches or poverty. You are God's beautiful gift to me and I will cherish you all my life! Minister: (To the bride), the man who stands by your side is going to be your husband. He will look to you for comfort, support, love, understanding and encouragement. You must never take him for granted and always stand by him for good or ill. Bride: Today in presence of God, family and friends, I pledge to join my life with yours. With God's help I promise to submit, respect, support and encourage you through all that life has to offer. I promise to stand by you through both good and bad times, in happiness and sorrow, come riches or poverty. You are God's beautiful gift to me and I will cherish you all my life! Minister: In the Bible, Paul wrote beautifully about the power of love in his 1st book of letters to the Corinthians, Chapter 13. "If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends; as for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophecy is imperfect; but when the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood. So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love." Minister: (To the groom) Genesis 2: 22 says, "the LORD God made a woman from the rib He had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man." The woman who stands by your side is going to be your wife. She will look to you for unconditional love, support and comfort. You must always hold her very close to your heart. Groom: You are the one God has specially handpicked to be my beloved wife. I promise to nourish you mentally and physically. According to God's instructions, I pledge to leave my father and mother and cleave with you in every aspect of life. After the Lord, you will have the first place in my heart, till I breathe my last. Minister: (To the bride), In Genesis 2:18, The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him." The man who stands by your side is going to be your husband. He will look to you for unconditional love, support and comfort. You must be a true helpmate to him at all times, helping him with every burden of life. Bride: You are the one God has specially handpicked to be my beloved husband. I promise to nourish you mentally and physically. According to God's instructions I pledge to leave my father and mother and cleave with you in every aspect of life. I will not only stand by you through every situation in life, but will also help you with every burden you face. After the Lord, you will have the first place in my heart, till I breathe my last. Marriage Vows Minister: (To the groom) Since it is your intention to marry, join your right hands and declare your consent. Do you take (bride's name) to be your lawful wedded wife to have and behold from this day on, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, as long as you both shall live? Groom: I Do. Minister: (To the bride) Do you take (groom's name) to be your lawful wedded husband, to have and behold from this day on, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, as long as you both shall live? Bride: I Do. Exchange of Rings Minister: The wedding ring symbolizes unity, a circle unbroken, without beginning or end. And today (bride's and groom's names) exchange these rings as confirmation of their vows to join their lives, to work at all times to create a life that is complete and unbroken and to love each other unconditionally. May the Lord bless these rings which you give to each other as the symbol of your love and fidelity. (To the groom), take this ring and place it on your bride's finger, and state your pledge to her, repeating after me: "With this ring I thee wed. I offer you my hand, and my heart as I know they will be safe with you. All that I am I give to you and all that I have I share with you." (To the bride), take this ring and place it on your groom's finger, and state your pledge to him, repeating after me: "With this ring I thee wed. I offer you my hand, and my heart as I know they will be safe with you. All that I am I give to you and all that I have I share with you." Closing Minister: (bride's and groom's names) you have given and pledged your promises to each other, and have declared your everlasting love by exchanging the rings. Your vows may have been spoken in minutes, but your promises to each other will last until your last breath. As they have pledged themselves to meet sorrow and happiness as one family before God and this community of friends, I now pronounce them husband and wife. You may kiss your bride. Minister: Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you Mr. and Mrs. (Last Name).

Welcome Justice of the Peace: Ladies and gentlemen, today we have gathered together to celebrate the marriage of (bride and groom's name). Marriage is the promise between two people who love each other, who trust each other, who honor one another as individuals in that togetherness, and who wish to spend rest of their lives with each other. It enables the two separate souls to share their desires, longings, dreams, joys and sorrows, and to help each other through all uncertainties of life. Justice of the Peace: "Marriage has certain qualities of contract, in which two people take on the housekeeping tasks of living together, to enhance life's joy. However, marriage is more than a contract. Marriage is commitment to take that joy deep, deeper than happiness, deep into the discovery of who you most truly are. It is a commitment to a spiritual journey, to a life of becoming - in which joy can comprehend despair, running through rivers of pain into joy again. And thus marriage is even deeper than commitment. It is a covenant - a covenant that says: I love you. I trust you. I will be here for you when you are hurting, and when I am hurting, I will not leave. It is a covenant intended not to provide haven from pain or from anger and sorrow. Life offers no such haven. Instead, marriage is intended to provide a sanctuary safe enough to risk loving, to risk living and sharing from the center of oneself. This is worth everything." ~ Margaret A. Keip Intentions Justice of the Peace: (Groom's name), will you take (Bride's name), to be your lawful wedded wife? Will you love, comfort, honor and protect her; forsaking all others to be faithful to her until death do you apart? Groom: I Do. Justice of the Peace: (Bride's name), will you take (groom's name), to be your lawful wedded husband? Will you love, comfort, honor and protect him; forsaking all others to be faithful to him until death do you apart? Bride: I Do. Marriage Vows Justice of the Peace: (To the bride and groom), repeat after me: I, (bride name)/(groom name) take you (bride name)/(groom name) to be my (husband/wife), and my better half. I will take care and cherish our relationship and love you today, tomorrow, and forever. I will always be open, honest, and faithful to you. I take you for my (husband/wife), to have and to hold from this day on, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish for all the days of my life and until my last breath. Exchange of Rings Justice of the Peace: (To the bride and groom), repeat after me: This ring, which has no beginning and no end, symbolizes the love and trust between us that will never cease. May its presence on your hand remind you of my love and vow. I place it on your finger as a visible sign of the promises which have made us husband and wife. Justice of the Peace: Until now (bride's name) and (groom's name) have spent each moment of their lives as separate individuals. But from this day on, and every day after this day shall be shared and spent as one. By the power enthroned in me, by the state of (___), I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss your bride. Justice of the Peace: Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you Mr. and Mrs. (Last Name).