Our Wedding Ceremony

Performed by Rev. Ron Valenciana

My friends, we are gathered - here on this occasion to share your happiness and to witness and celebrate as you pronounce your marriage vows. The ceremony itself is only the symbol of the real marriage, which is invisible, a scared union of hearts and lives joined by the strongest and tenderest of ties. It is a union created out of friendship, respect and love.

The wedding service is both a solemn and joyful occasion. Solemn because it involves a covenant between two individuals which can survive only in an atmosphere of utmost honesty and trust. Joyful, however, for through marriage love takes a great step toward fulfillment. In genuine love two people look forward together in the same direction and direct their lives together toward common ideals and goals.

We rejoice with you that out of all the world you have found each other, and that you have experienced the deeper meaning and richness of human life in sharing it with each other. Your future, with its hopes and disappointments, its successes and sorrows, is hidden from your eyes today. Love can make it easy, and perfect love can make it a joy. May, then, this love with which you have joined your hands and hearts never fail, but grow deeper and stronger as the years go on.

You may now pronounce your vows to each other.

I ____________, pledge to you ____________, the rest of my life, to share all that is to come as your husband, your lover your friend; a commitment made in love, kept in faith, lived in hope and eternally made anew

I ____________, pledge to you ____________, the rest of my life, to share all that is to come as your wife, your lover your friend; a commitment made in love, kept in faith, lived in hope and eternally made anew

May the Lord bless these rings which you give to each other as a sign of your love and fidelity. Grant that as you wear them you may always have a deep faith in each other. May you always live together in peace, ,goodwill and love. May these rings be a symbol of true faith in each other and always remind you of your love.

____________take this ring as a sign of my love and fidelity.

____________take this ring as a sign of my love and fidelity.

We have heard the vows that you made to each other and now may your love and understanding grow with the years. May you seek each other’s happiness, and recognize each other’s needs. May yours always be a shared adventure, rich with moments of serenity as well as excitement, vital with problems that test as well as successes that lift, marked by a sense of personal freedom as well as mutual responsibility. May you find in each other companionship as well as love, understanding as well as compassion, challenge as well as agreement. May your home be an island where the pressures of a cluttered world can be sorted out and brought into focus, where accumulated tensions can be released and understood, where personal needs do not tower over concern for each others, where the immediate does not blur more distant goals, and where the warmth of humor puts life's trials into perspective. And above all my you find an ever richer meaning and joy in the high adventure of lifelong loving and learning together.

May the Lord bless you with many happy years together and may you enjoy the rewards of a good life together. Amen