Christian Wedding Ceremony Script 1

This Christian ceremony is traditional. It's not very long. You can add different scriptures and a unity ceremony.  We can also add your love story or a homily about love and relationships. 

Christian Wedding Ceremony Script 1

​Marriage is a gift of God in creation through which married couples may know the grace of God. It is given that as a couple grows together in love and trust, they shall be united with one another in heart, body and mind, as Christ is united with the Church. The gift of marriage brings two people together in the delight and tenderness of holy union and joyful commitment to the end of their lives. It is given as the foundation of family life in which each member of the family, in good times and in bad, may find strength, companionship, and comfort and grow to maturity in love. Marriage is a way of life made holy by God and blessed by the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ with those celebrating a wedding at Cana in Galilee. Marriage is a sign of unity and loyalty which all should uphold and honor. It enriches society and strengthens the community. No one should enter into it lightly or selfishly but reverently and responsibly in the sight of almighty God.
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The Declaration of Intent

Name and Name are now to enter this way of life. They will each give their consent to the other and make solemn vows, and in token of this, they will [each] give and receive a ring. We pray with them that the Holy Spirit will guide and strengthen them, that they may fulfill God's purposes for the whole of their earthly life together.

Name and Name, the vows you are about to take are to be made in the presence of God and this company.  


Name, will you take Name to be your wife/husband/partner? Will you love, comfort, honor, and protect her/him/them, and, forsaking all others, be faithful to her/him/them as long as you both shall live?

I will.

Name, will you take Name to be your wife/husband/partner? Will you love, comfort, honor, and protect her/him/them, and, forsaking all others, be faithful to her/him/them as long as you both shall live?

I will.

Declaration of Support

Will you, the families and friends of Name and Name, support and uphold them in their marriage now and in the years to come? If so, please say, “We Will.”

We will.


Let us pray, God our Father, from the beginning you have blessed creation with abundant life. Pour out your blessings upon Name and Name, that they may be joined in mutual love and companionship, in holiness and commitment to each other.  We ask this in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ,  who is alive and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  Amen.

Readings

Isaiah 61: 10-11
10 I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my whole being shall exult in my God; for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. 11 For as the earth brings forth its shoots, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations.

​1 Corinthians: 13 NIV

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.​

 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.  For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 1 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 1 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

The Marriage

The Vows

Name and Name, I now invite you to join hands and make your vows,
in the presence of God and his people.

Name, please repeat after me:

I, Name, take you, Name, to be my wife/husband/spouse, to have and to hold from this day forward; for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part; according to God's holy law. In the presence of God I make this vow.

Name, please repeat after me:

I, Name, take you, Name, to be my wife/husband/spouse, to have and to hold from this day forward; for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part; according to God's holy law. In the presence of God I make this vow.


The Giving of Rings

Heavenly Father, by your blessing let these rings be to Name and Name a symbol of unending love and faithfulness, to remind them of the vow and covenant which they have made this day through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Name, as you place the ring on Name's finger, please repeat after me:

Name, I give you this ring as a sign of our marriage. With my body I honor you, all that I am I give to you, and all that I have I share with you, within the love of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Name, as you place the ring on Name's finger, please repeat after me:

Name, I give you this ring as a sign of our marriage. With my body I honor you, all that I am I give to you, and all that I have I share with you, within the love of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

The Proclamation

In the presence of God, and before this congregation, Name and Name have given their consent and made their marriage vows to each other. They have declared their marriage by the joining of hands and by the giving and receiving of rings. I therefore proclaim that they are married.

Those whom God has joined together let no one put asunder.

The Blessing Of The Marriage

Blessed are you, O Lord our God, for you have created joy and gladness, pleasure and delight, love, peace and fellowship.  Pour out the abundance of your blessing upon Name and Name in their new life together. Let their love for each other be a seal upon their hearts and a crown upon their heads. Bless them in their work and in their companionship, awake and asleep, in joy and in sorrow, in life and in death. Finally, in your mercy, bring them to that banquet where your saints feast for ever in your heavenly home. We ask this through Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Name and Name, may God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, bless, preserve and keep you; the Lord mercifully grant you the riches of his grace, that you may please him both in body and soul, and, living together in faith and love, may receive the blessings of eternal life. Amen.

Presentation of the newly married couple (how the couple choose to be addressed as a married couple)

The Dismissal/Recessional

God the Holy Trinity make you strong in faith and love, defend you on every side, and guide you in truth and peace; and the blessing of God almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
be among you and remain with you always. Amen.