Joe and Nick's Same Gender, Christian, Wedding Ceremony Script

I've been marrying couples for over 10 years.  Same gender marriages have only been legal for part of that time.  I loved it when Joe and Nick not only asked me to marry them but wanted a Christian wedding ceremony script.  They just seemed like things that didn't seem to all go together at the time politically.  Faith, of course is greater than politics! Joe and Nick were married in their back yard surrounded by family and friends from all over the country.  

Opening Prayer
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O God, Creator of us all, we thank you for the gift of life and on
this day we thank you especially for the joy that  Nick and Joe
have found in each other, and for the promises, they will make before you.
Bless all of our families and friends who are present with us on this special occasion. We also remember those who couldn't be here today. We pray, O God, that you remain with Joe and Nick as a partner in their marriage. Grant to them, and to us all, love and understanding all of our days. Amen

Welcoming Words
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Dear friends and family, we are gathered here today to witness and celebrate the union of Joe and Nick in marriage. In the years they have been together, their love and understanding of each other has grown and matured, and now they have decided to live their lives together as husbands. Today you've gathered your friends and family together to celebrate this special day with you. 

Words About Love and Marriage
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Throughout time, what people have found that is essential for a  strong and long-lasting relationship is that it be founded on love. Love is friendship, quiet understanding, mutual confidence, sharing and forgiving. It is loyalty through good times and bad. It settles for less than perfection and makes allowances for human weaknesses. Love is content with the present and hopes for the future, and it doesn't brood over the past. It is the chronicles of problems, compromises, small disappointments, big victories, and common goals. If you have love in your life, it can make up for a great many things that you lack. If you don't have it, no matter what else is there, it isn't enough.

Reading
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1 Corinthians 13:4-7 New Living Translation (NLT)
4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

Vows and Rings  (They put both of them together)
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Nick and Joe, this day represents so much for both of you. Of course, it is the day you begin your lives together married. Your wedding is a public proclamation of your love, made here in front of your friends and family. But beyond that, and most importantly, you are here to make promises to each other, the promises that are the foundation of your marriage. Your vows are how you put your relationship into words- what it means today, and what it will mean for the rest of your lives.  The rings you will now exchange are the symbols of the commitment which holds the two of you together. The wedding ring is the visible sign of an invisible bond that unites two hearts in love. 

Joe, as you place the ring on Nick's finger, please repeat after me:
I Joe, take thee, Nick, to be my Husband.
To have and to hold,
in sickness and in health,
for richer or for poorer,
in joy and sorrow,
and I promise my love to you.
And with this ring,
I take you as my husband,
for as long as we both shall live.

Nick, as you place the ring on Joe’s finger, please repeat after me:
I Nick, take thee, Joe, to be my Husband.
To have and to hold,
in sickness and in health,
for richer or for poorer,
in joy and sorrow,
and I promise my love to you.
And with this ring,
I take you as my husband,
for as long as we both shall live.
 
Pronouncement
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Joe and Nick, 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 the days yet to come, you wish to share together all life’s joys and challenges, committed one to the other.

You have made this affirmation and commitment in the presence of the most important people in your lives. May you forever feel that the life you share is the life you have always wanted.

I now pronounce you Husband and Husband 

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