The first words spoken by your Officiant are usually a greeting and a description of the reason for this gathering. This is why we are here: to witness the joining of this couple in marriage. In religious ceremonies, it can be preceded or even replaced by a prayer or a reading (certain Psalms are often used, as are other Biblical passages pertaining to marriage or the home, or in praise of God). Sometimes, it is used as a preface to the address, with remarks regarding the meaning of marriage. Other times, it can be used to introduce the bride and groom, with anecdotes on how they came to meet and fall in love.
We are gathered here today to celebrate one of life's greatest moments, to give recognition to the worth and beauty of love, and to (add our best wishes to) or (cherish) the words that shall unite GROOM and BRIDE in marriage.
Welcome. We are here to witness and celebrate the love and marriage (union) of GROOM and BRIDE. We, their family and friends, form a community of love so that we may support them in their lives together.
On behalf of GROOM and BRIDE, I would like to thank each of you for attending this wedding celebration. You are indeed participating in one of the happiest moments of their lives. For GROOM and BRIDE, your very presence here as family and honored guests not only heightens the beauty of this moment for them, it also completes it.
We are gathered here today to celebrate and witness the coming together of two people, GROOM and BRIDE, whose hearts and spirits are entwined as one. They now desire to profess before the entire world their intention to walk the road of life together.
We are gathered here today not to witness the beginning of what will be but rather what already is. We do not create this marriage, because we can not. We can and do, however, celebrate with GROOM and BRIDE and with their families, the wondrous and joyful occurrence that has already taken place in their lives. Marriage is a supreme sharing of experience and an adventure in the most intimate of human relationships. It is the joyous union of two people whose comradeship and mutual understanding have flowered in romance. Today, GROOM and BRIDE proclaim their love and commitment to the world, and we gather here to rejoice with and for them in the new life they now undertake together.
We are gathered here to witness and to celebrate the coming together of two separate lives and to rejoice with GROOM and BRIDE as they make this important commitment to join their lives in marriage. Today is a day of new beginnings as you both take part in the time-honored tradition of one man and one woman promising their fidelity and love to one another.
Your presence here shows your love for GROOM and BRIDE. You join this celebration because you affirm their union and want to bless their new relationship. You are saying to them that you are willing to share yourselves in loving friendship and that you will support them in time of need when they seek your help.
We are here to (celebrate) or (participate in) a wedding. By this act, we unite GROOM and BRIDE as husband and wife. What we do today is done in conformity to the laws of the state of Florida and in the tradition of men and women of all places and times.
Dear friends, the greatest spiritual purpose of marriage is love. True love changes not only the world, but individual lives. We participate in marriage through the avenue of this love. We have come to witness the marriage of GROOM and BRIDE, who have experienced this power of love.
We have come here to celebrate the marriage and the intertwining of destinies of GROOM and BRIDE, who, through being ruthlessly and wonderfully themselves, have fallen in love and chosen to get married.
We have come together to unite GROOM and BRIDE in marriage, which is an institution ordained by the state and made honorable by the faithful keeping of good men and women in all ages, and is not to be entered into lightly or unadvisedly.
Welcome friends, families, and honored guests. We are here to celebrate love. Love organizes our large and sometimes unpredictable world. It is that which enshrines and ennobles our human experience. It is the basis for the peace of family, and the peace of the peoples of the earth. The greatest gift bestowed upon humans is the gift of love freely given between two persons.
We are here on this glorious day to celebrate the love that GROOM and BRIDE have for each other, and to recognize and witness their decision to journey forward together in their lives as marriage partners.
We gather to support them as they embark upon the voyage of discovery as husband and wife. Let us also be there for them throughout their marriage.
Good evening, and welcome to the ceremony that will unite GROOM and BRIDE in marriage. We gather here today to celebrate their union, and to honor their commitment to not just gazing at one another, but to looking outward together in the same direction. Today Bride and Groom proclaim their love to the world, and we rejoice with and for them.
We are here today to celebrate the joining in matrimony of GROOM and BRIDE. They have asked all of you to be present this day and in this beautiful place to witness their vows of union, marriage and love for one another.
Tonight is also about love: the love between the two people before you, the power of love to heal and transform, and the notion that with love, all things are possible.
R We are gathered today to celebrate one of the happiest moments in the lives of GROOM and BRIDE; for on this day, GROOM and BRIDE affirm before witnesses of heaven and earth that they believe God has purposed that hey should share life in the holy bonds of Christian marriage. GROOM and BRIDE desire that God would be honored in their marriage. Will you join me with them in prayer as we seek God's full blessing upon their relationship?
R We are gathered together here in the sight of God and in the presence of these witnesses to join together this man and this woman in holy matrimony. It is an honorable estate that has been instituted of God, and it signifies that mystical union which exists between Christ and his church. That holy estate Jesus Christ himself adorned and beautified by his presence in Cana of Galilee at a marriage feast some two thousand years ago. And because of our Lord’s presence there, weddings ever since have become special. They’re not to be entered into unadvisedly but reverently, discreetly, and in the fear of God. And so, into this holy estate, these two people come now to be joined.
R We are gathered together to celebrate a commitment of love, a commitment that GROOM and BRIDE believe to be the leadership of the Holy Spirit in their lives. Join us as we ask our Heavenly Father to bless this union and this special occasion.
R We are together here at this place and at this time to celebrate with GROOM and BRIDE the completeness of their love. The Book of Faith, by which we as believers in Jesus Christ live, tells us that marriage is an honored event. For the reason of love a man and a woman shall leave the home of their birth to share in love and trust a home of their own. Paul tells us there are many events and different feelings in life. Three are eternal: faith, hope, and love. But love, the love that is of God and from God, is the greatest of them all. Without the love of God, we would be empty people and lack the power to face life and its problems. Nor would we have any real hope for tomorrow.
R We are here today in the presence of our Lord and our family and friends to witness the joining of GROOM and BRIDE as husband and wife. We need all to remember that just as the true foundation of the Christian church is Christ, so the true foundation of a Christian home and marriage is Jesus Christ.
R We come here today to witness the marriage GROOM and BRIDE, in which they not only acknowledge His claim upon them but, as his true servants, they also seek His will in their marriage. Since God himself sanctified marriage when he brought together the first man and the first woman, and since the Word of God speaks often of the honor and correctness of marriage, and because God promises blessings on those who are faithful to Him and to each other - this then is a high and holy time for these children of God and for all who love them and share their hopes, prayers, and aspirations for a Christ-centered home and marriage.
R Dear husband and wife-to-be, parents, family, and friends: we have gathered at this appointed time to be a part of one of the most joyful yet holy moments of this couple's life. Marriage is a mystical union, an holy estate which Christ adorned and beautified with his presence in Cana of Galilee.
R GROOM and BRIDE have come here today to be joined together in marriage. They want their union to be a complete, total union, and it will be complete because both are committed to Jesus Christ as the only Lord of their lives.
(To witnesses) Your presence here shows your love for GROOM and BRIDE. You join this celebration because you affirm their union and want to bless their new relationship. You are saying to them that you are willing to share yourselves in loving friendship and that you will support them in time of need when they seek your help.
R The most important step in a person's life other than his coming to Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord is the decision to link that life to another in marriage. Many people come to marriage with high expectations, but wrong expectations. True love and true marriage is a lifetime of giving, for love is something you do.
R Dear family, friends, and honored guests, God has unusual ways of laying His hands upon His loved ones. He loved us in creation; He prepares a place for us in Heaven that we can share eternity with him; He calls us home in His sovereignty and to Himself in death. In His loving care, He gives us the joy of union with another of His children in the divine institution we call marriage.
R We are gathered here today, believing the God is Present with us as we celebrate the coming together in love of this man and this woman. We remember that marriage is a time when a growing love is made public, when two people share mutual promises before God and before us. We join in our prayerful support of them as they offer themselves to each other. We celebrate their joy, their love, and their expectations. We pray for them the blessed presence of Jesus Christ, that whatever human weaknesses exist will be overcome by his forgiveness and his style of relationships.
R A marriage has always been a joyous occasion. In Cana of Galilee, it was gladdened by the presence and blessing of the Lord Jesus himself. Because God intended marriage to bring blessing and joy to your lives, let us invoke his presence as you make your covenant before him and these guests.
R The Lord God in his goodness created us male and female, and by the gift of marriage founded human community in a joy that begins now and is brought to perfection in the life to come. Because of sin, our age-old rebellion, the gladness of marriage can be overcast and the gift of the family can become a burden. But because God, who established marriage, continues still to bless it with his abundant and ever-present support, we can be sustained in our weariness and have our joy restored.
R We have come together before the face of God to join GROOM and BRIDE in marriage. We seek to honor the will of God for marriage, the concern of the Christian church for its well-being, and the interest of the state in the orderly development of society.
We are gathered here to witness and to celebrate the coming together of two separate lives and to rejoice with GROOM and BRIDE as they make this important commitment to join their lives in marriage. Today is a day of new beginnings as you both partake in the time-enriched tradition of one man and one woman promising their fidelity and love to one another.
You will walk with each other through the rest of your lives, be together through all that lies ahead, side by side, growing richer in compassion, understanding, and creativity. May your successes be sweeter, your obstacles overcome, and your lives fuller, for your love has many names: friend, partner, husband, and wife.
A marriage is truly the promises made and kept by two individuals. Therefore, I ask you both to give yourselves freely into marriage, which is an honorable estate, not to be entered into lightly or unadvisedly, but with sound judgment and mutual respect.
We are gathered here today, not to witness the beginning of what will be but what already is. We do not create this marriage, because we cannot. We can, and do, however, celebrate with GROOM and BRIDE and their families the wondrous occurrence that has already taken place in their lives. Marriage is a supreme sharing of experience and an adventure in the most intimate of human relationships. It is the joyous union of two people whose comradeship and mutual understanding have flowered in romance. Today, GROOM and BRIDE proclaim their love and commitment to their world, and we gather here to rejoice, with and for them, in the new life they now undertake together.
On behalf of GROOM and BRIDE, I would like to thank each of you for attending this wedding celebration. You are indeed participating in one of the happiest moments of their lives. For GROOM and BRIDE, your very presence here as family and honored guests no only heightens the beauty of this moment for them, it also completes it.
We are gathered here today to celebrate the coming together of two people whose hearts and spirits are already entwined as one. In fact, those of you who know GROOM and BRIDE best can also attest to their love for one another and to the blended hopes, dreams, and goals that they share. When such a bond exists, then it is only appropriate that we have an open and public demonstration of their love, such as this wedding ceremony. And so it is that GROOM and BRIDE now profess, before their family and friends, their desire to henceforth walk the road of life together.
The greatest spiritual purpose of marriage is love. True love changes not only individual lives but also the entire world. We participate in marriage through the avenue of this love. We have come to witness the marriage of GROOM and BRIDE who have experienced the power of this love.
R We are gathered here in the presence of God and of this company to join in holy marriage GROOM and BRIDE and to bear witness to the transforming power of love. Love is a quality of spirit and an attitude of the emotions, but a marriage is a life’s work, a spiritual art form. Therefore, this is an occasion of both profound joy and great responsibility, and we who partake in it bind ourselves as witnesses to the labor of love that GROOM and BRIDE are undertaking here.
We have come here to celebrate the marriage and the intertwining destinies of GROOM and BRIDE, who, through being ruthlessly and wonderfully themselves, have fallen in love and chosen to be married.
Love is a miraculous gift, and a wedding is a celebration of that magic, and that’s what we are here to do today. We are gathered together to be overjoyed for and with GROOM and BRIDE, who are so wonderfully suited to one another that it’s a pure delight for the rest of us to see how happy two people can be.
When we think of love, we sometimes talk about people who “deserve” one another. Not only do GROOM and BRIDE deserve one another, but they are a perfect match, a pair, a fit; and their marriage, far from being something they have had to work hard to achieve, was pure inevitability. They were given to one another and fell so deeply in love that they had no choice.
They are the embodiment of true romance which, matured, becomes true love. They are the example of love that in its lightheartedness dissolves the notion of love as hard work. They are the promise of possibility, the expectation of joyful surprise. So we are here to celebrate, to honor, to laugh, to dance, and to be glad because the inevitable has happened. Love is alive and well in the land. GROOM and BRIDE are here to prove it, and we are here to celebrate with them.
From time immemorial, people have been drawn together in times of sorrow and in times of great joy, to share their burdens, to lift high their exultant cry of celebration. So it is that we, today, have come together to witness and commemorate with a man and a woman the creation of their union and for their creation among us of a new home. We gather with them and rejoice; this is a most sacred hour and we are moved to thanksgiving.
- Good morning, and welcome to the ceremony that will unite GROOM and BRIDE in marriage. We are gathered here today to celebrate their union, and to honor their commitment to not just gazing at one another, but to looking outward together in the same direction. Today GROOM and BRIDE proclaim their love to the world, and we rejoice with and for them.
