Dorothy and DaWonda's Wedding Ceremony to kick off Pride Month in Indy!

DaWonda and Dorothy's Same-Sex Christian Wedding Ceremony Script. Featuring a Unity Candle of Remembrance, Family Sand Ceremony and Jumping the Broom!

I kicked off Pride Month in Indy with a BANG!  I married Dorothy and DaWonda on June 1st.  it was an absolutely spectacular ceremony. I was literally flying high by the time we finished.  I don't think we left anything out. 

Both brides wore amazing white wedding dresses - all of their guests wore white too! Both brides were escorted by male family members.  We remembered their father's in a Unity Candle of Remembrance Ceremony and a Moment of Silence.  We celebrated the coming together of a beautiful family with a sand ceremony and we ended the ceremony by jumping the broom! 

I literally don't think there was a dry eye in the room when the brides finished sharing their personal vows.  Yes, that included me too! 

This ceremony is the perfect mix of secular and Christian aspects as well as giving new meaning to the traditional unity ceremonies. 
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Let the ceremony begin...

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much for joining us today.  Before we begin the ceremony, I’d like to ask you to refrain from sharing anything about the ceremony on social media until the reception.  DaWonda and Dorothy are coming together today before God in the celebration of their marriage and would like the focus at this time to be on the ceremony.  Thank you. Let us begin!

Welcome

Welcome  to this celebration of love and the blessing of the new life being joined together by the marriage of DaWonda and Dorothy. 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. Dorothy and DaWondna have come to publicly proclaim their love and devotion through holy marriage.

Opening Prayer

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

The Presentation of the Brides

DaWonda and Dorothy, being assured that your love and your choice of each other as lifelong companions is in God’s will and that you have your families’ blessings, I now ask:

Who gives this woman DaWonda to be Married?

Her mom and Nephew:  We do

Who gives this woman Dorothy to be Married?

Her mom and Brother:  We do

Welcome and Remembrance
DaWonda’s Daughter has written a few words that she would like to share.  
Daughter comes up and reads.

Unity Candle

At this time, we’d like to take a moment to celebrate family.  Those of you who are here today and those who are not here today or no longer with us.  We would especially like to remember the father’s of both Brides (Names inserted here) who are not here.  As we light the unity candles we do so remembering them especially. We know that they are here with us in spirit.

Brief Moment of Silence

As you can see here, there are 3 candles.  The two on the outside represent all of you and those who we are remembering today.  One candle represents DaWonda and her family, friends and experiences that make her who she is today, ready to enter into marriage.  The other candle represents Dorothy and her family, friends and experiences that make her who she is today, ready to enter into marriage.  We will now have their sisters, each representing their family come up and light the outside candles.

Sisters come and light the candles

Now, we will have Dorothy and DaWonda light their candle together. As they do so, your two families are officially joined.  

May your light burn brightly for many years to come!


The Address

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 two people, it is proper that an outer acknowledgement be made. This acknowledgement 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 marriage. DaWonda and Dorothy,  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 potentials. 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 which 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 hearts desire, 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.

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 which 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 touch. 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.

(Insert Name Here) will now come up and share the reading

Why Marriage?
By Mary Nichols Haining

Because to the depths of me, I long to love one person, With all my heart, my soul, my mind, my body.
Because I need a forever friend to trust with the intimacies of me, who won't hold them against me,
Who loves me when I'm unlikable, who sees the small child in me, and who looks for the divine potential of me. Because I need to cuddle in the warmth of the night with someone who thanks God for me, with someone I feel blessed to hold. Because marriage  means opportunity to grow in love and friendship, because marriage is a discipline to be added to a list of achievements, because marriage do not fail, people fail when they enter into marriage expecting another to make them whole. Because knowing this, I promise myself to take full responsibility for my spiritual, mental and physical wholeness. I create me. I take half of the responsibility for my spiritual, mental and physical wholeness. I create me. I take half of the responsibility for my marriage. Together we create our marriage. Because of this understanding, the possibilities are limitless.

Vows

DaWonda and Dorothy, on this day do you affirm the love that the two of you share 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 and 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?

Dorothy, do you choose DaWonda, to be your wife, your friend, and your love?

DaWonda, do you choose Dorothy, to be your wife, your friend, and your love?  


You now have vows you’ve written for each other.

Ring Exchange

May we have the rings please?

​The circle has frequently been used to symbolize eternity. The ring, like the circle, is a reminder of the perfection and endurance of DaWonda and Dorothy’s commitment to and love for one another.  May the Lord bless these rings which you give as a sign of of your love and devotion.

Dorothy, Please repeat after me as you place the ring on DaWonda’s finger:
DaWonda,  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.

DaWonda, Please repeat after me as you place the ring on Dorothy’s finger:
Dorothy, 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."

Unity Sand Ceremony

Now that DaWonda and Dorothy have been united in marriage, they want to do something that represents their coming together as a family.  They are going to do that with a sand ceremony. Each of them, (Insert names here) have their own small container of sand.  It’s their own color and it represents their own beauty and uniqueness.  In just a moment, they will pour their sands together, never to be separated again. When the sand has been poured, they will have a created a work of art, of which, each of them are an integral part in it’s beauty.  Together, they are better then the sum of their parts. While the sand can never be separated again, remember that you are still you, you are made better by your connection as family.

Everyone pours their sand and then takes their seat, except for DaWonda and Dorothy, they come back together to be pronounced married.

Let up pray:

Dear God, thank you for this joyous day.
Thank you for Your Light that has entered DaWonda  and Dorothy’s life.
Thank you for all the miracles and blessings.
Please bless this union.
Help them to find the perfect place in this world for their love to flourish.
Let the radiant light of their love shine on all those around them.
May all their future creations be blessed.
God, bless them with the inner gifts of trust, compassion, forgiveness, and truth that they may live and grow together in love and peace.

The Pronouncement

Dorothy and DaWonda, you came here today to affirm your love for one another and formally acknowledge that which your hearts already knew...

That your lives are meant to be shared as one, that you are stronger together than you are apart, and that, for all your days yet to come, you wish to share together all life's joys and challenges, committed one to the other.  
I now pronounce you Married!  
You may seal this marriage with a Kiss!

Jump the Broom

We end this ceremony with the African American tradition of jumping of the broom. Slaves in this country were not permitted to marry, so they jumped a broom as a way of ceremonially uniting.  As Dorothy and DaWonda jump the broom, they physically and spiritually cross the threshold into the land of matrimony. It marks the beginning of making a home together. It symbolizes the sweeping away of the old and the welcoming of the new; the sweeping away all negative energy, making way for all things that are good to come into your lives. It is also a call of support for the marriage from the entire community of family and friends. The brides will now begin their new life together with a clean sweep!
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The broom is laid

Ladies and Gentlemen, Mrs. and Mrs.(Insert Name Here)!

Jump the broom!

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