Formal Wedding Ceremony 9 -Christian

I don't perform a lot of Christian ceremonies.  I've always assumed that if you are a Christian you have a church you attend and your own religious leader will be the one that marries you. I figured my role as a professional wedding officiant would be to help couples blend religious elements into a more secular ceremony.   Well, I was wrong.  Turns out, a lot of pastors don't perform wedding ceremonies.  Some big box churches provide marriage counseling but they don't perform actual marriages.  Many pastors, churches, or religions have strict guidelines about who they will marry.  This leaves many couples still wanting a Christian wedding ceremony,  

I have been performing this Christian ceremony for many years and I love it!  It's definitely got more of a Baptist flare, so it's not for everyone. I get a lot of "Amens!" When I perform this ceremony!  I have other ceremonies you can add Christian elements to create a lovely, meaningful, Christian ceremony.  If you are a Christian Couple and have a Christian family, this ceremony may be perfect for you!

Formal Wedding Ceremony Script 9

​Welcome

Welcome to this celebration of love and the blessing of the new life being joined together by the marriage of Bride and Groom. They come to dedicate themselves to God and to each other, and with His eternal help, to fashion their house into a home, their family into a unity of His Kingdom, and to achieve within their lives a hint of eternity. Bride and Groom have come to publicly proclaim their love and devotion through holy marriage. ​​

---

Prayer for the Couple

Because this is a special day, we want to begin it in a special way, and that is with a moment of prayer. I now to ask that you close your eyes and turn within yourselves.

And now we call forth that divine presence from within you, knowing that as you do so, God’s blessings are now being poured out upon you both. “Through the presence and power and the activity of God within you, we now see you blessed with an abundance of all good. We see your minds illumined by divine wisdom, your hearts quickened by divine love, and your bodies purified and blessed with divine substance. This we do affirm through the power of the living presence of God within each of you.” Amen.

Words about Love and Marriage

True marriage is more than the joining of two persons in the bonds of matrimony. In its right relationship, it is the uniting of two souls already attuned to each other. When such a true bond already exists between a man and a woman, it is proper that an outer acknowledgment be made. This acknowledgment is the prime objective of the ceremony.

We are here to bear witness to the entry of these two loving friends, who are already one in spirit, into the closer relationship of husband and wife. Bride and Groom, you are now taking into your care and keeping the happiness of one in the world whom you love most dear, and the dynamic flow of love is the heart of marriage. This love emerges from, responds to, and is fellowship with God and each other. It is the challenge to create an atmosphere of freedom in which you both can develop your potential. It is working together in an attitude of service for common goals. It is sharing from the depths of your being in the understanding presence of each other. It is a union of persons that respects individuality. It is the covenant of love which accepts weakness as well as strength. 

You are adding to your life not only the affection and the response that your heart desires not only the happy companionship of hours together but a deeper trust as well. It is the implied trust of loving. You are finding in each other that which complements your life. You are agreeing to be a tower of strength to one another. You are agreeing to carry a part of each other’s responsibilities. You are entering on an adventure of pure faith in which you give of yourselves to the utmost.

A Reading from 1 Corinthians, Chapter 13

Listen to the words of the Apostle Paul, and let them fill your hearts:

“If I speak with the eloquence of men and of angels but have no love, I become no more than blaring brass or crashing cymbal. If I have the gift of foretelling the future and hold in my mind not only all of human knowledge but the very secrets of God, and if I also have that absolute faith that can move mountains but have no love, I amount to nothing at all. If I dispose of all that I possess, yes, even if I give my own body to be burned but have no love, I achieve precisely nothing.
This love of which I speak is slow to lose patience – it looks for a way of being constructive. It is not possessive: it is neither anxious to impress nor does it cherish inflated ideas of its own importance. Love has good manners and does not pursue selfish advantage. It is not touchy. It does not keep account of evil or gloat over the wickedness of other people. On the contrary, it is glad with all good men when truth prevails.

Love knows no limit to its endurance, no end to its trust, no fading of its hope; it can outlast anything. It is, in fact, the one thing that still stands when all else has fallen. In this life, we have three great, lasting qualities – faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.” 

Declaration of Intent

 Now, I ask you both: On this day, do you affirm the love that the two of you share, looking to the future to deepen and strengthen it? Will you affirm that love in plenty and in want, in sickness and in health, in failure and in triumph? Together, will you dream and break bread?  When you stumble, will you restore one another?  Will you share all things, serving one another and your fellow man?  Will you cherish, respect, comfort, and encourage one another?  Be open with one another, and stay with one another as long as you both shall live, bound by your love? 
Both answer:  We do

Vows

Name do you choose Name to be your wife, your friend, and your love? To have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, until death do you part?

I do

Name, do you choose Name to be your husband, your friend, and your love?  To have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, until death do you part?

I do.

May I have the rings, please?

The Blessing of the Rings

Bless, O Lord, the giving and receiving of these rings. May Name and Name abide in Thy peace and grow in their knowledge of Your presence through their loving union. May the seamless circle of these rings become the symbol of their endless love and serve to remind them of the holy covenant they have entered into today to be faithful, loving, and kind to each other. Dear God, may they live in Your grace and be forever true to this union. Amen."

Ring Exchange

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

Name, I give you this ring as a symbol of our vows, and with all that I am, and all that I have, I honor you. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. With this ring, I thee wed.

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

Name, I give you this ring as a symbol of our vows, and with all that I am, and all that I have, I honor you. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. With this ring, I thee wed."


Final Blessing

Name and Name, I want you all to be happy in the Lord; let your tolerance be evident to everyone. The Lord is very near and there is no need to worry. But if there is anything you need, pray for it, asking God for it with prayer and thanksgiving, and that peace of God, which is so much greater than we can understand, will guard your hearts and thoughts in Christ Jesus. And may the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God, and of God's son, Jesus Christ our Lord, and the blessing of God Almighty, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, be upon you and remain with you always. 

The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you, 
and be gracious to you, The Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.

Pronouncement of Marriage

The two of you have pledged yourselves to each other before God. In the name of the Holy Spirit who performs every true marriage, I now pronounce that they are husband and wife.

You may seal this marriage with a kiss….

---

** Formal Ceremony 1 ** Formal Ceremony 2 - Traditional, Non-Religious ** Formal Ceremony 3 - Modern and Romantic **
** Formal Ceremony 4 - Short and Sweet ** Formal Ceremony 5 - Christian-lite ** Formal Ceremony 6 - Secular Humanist **
** Formal Ceremony 7 - Interfaith-Jewish ** Formal Ceremony 8 - Modern Handfasting ** Formal Ceremony 9 - Christian Traditional **
​** Formal Ceremony 10 **​

** Formal Wedding Ceremony Guide ** Formal Wedding Ceremony Scripts ** Elopement Ceremony Guide ** Elopement Ceremony Scripts ** Parts of a Wedding Ceremony ** Vow Writing Guide ** Unplugged Ceremony ** Opening Prayers ** Welcoming ** Moment of Silence ** Declaration of Support ** About Love and Marriage ** Non-Religious Readings ** Christian Readings ** Secular I-do's! ** Christian I-do-s! ** Ring Meaning ** Ring Blessings ** Secular Ring Exchanges ** Christian Ring Exchanges ** Unity Ceremonies ** Secular Blessings ** Christian Blessings ** The-pronouncement-Secular  ** The Pronouncement - Christian **