Daniel & Stacey Whittaker’s Wedding
December 21, 2004
The minister takes her place before the bride and groom.
Let us begin.
Daniel and Stacey, it is fitting to speak briefly about
love. We live in a world of joy and fear and search for meaning and strength in
seeming disorder. We discover the truest guidelines to our quest when we
realize love in all its magnitudes. Love is the eternal force of life. Love is
the force that allows us to face fear and uncertainty with courage.
If you would have the foundation of your union be the love you have for each
other, not just at this moment, but for all the days ahead, then cherish the
hopes and dreams that you bring here today. Resolve that your love will never
be blotted out by the commonplace nor obscured by the ordinary in life.
Devotion, joy, and love can grow only if you nurture them together. Stand fast
in that hope and confidence, believing in your shared future just as strongly
as you believe in yourselves and in each other today. In this spirit, you can
create a partnership that will strengthen and sustain you all the days of your
lives.
The future is unknown to any of us. Yet your love for one another and trust in
the goodness of God, will make possible the act of faith you now make.
Please join hands.
Daniel, will you have this woman to be your
wedded wife, to live together in the holy estate of matrimony? Will you love her, comfort her, honor and
keep her, in sickness and in health, and forsaking all others, be faithful to
her as long as you both shall live?
DANIEL: I will.
Stacey, will you have this man to be your
wedded husband, to live together in the holy estate of matrimony? Will you love him, comfort him, honor and
keep him, in sickness and in health, and forsaking all others, be faithful to
him as long as you both shall live?
STACEY: I will.
Daniel, repeat after me…
DANIEL:
I Daniel, take you Stacey,
to be my wife,
to have and hold from this
day forward,
for better or for worse,
for richer or for poorer,
in sickness and in heath,
to love and to cherish,
until we are parted by
death.
Stacey, repeat after me…
STACEY:
I Stacey, take you Daniel,
to be my husband,
to have and hold from this
day forward,
for better or for worse,
for richer or for poorer,
in sickness and in heath,
to love and to cherish,
until we are parted by
death.
For thousands of years
lovers have exchanged rings as a token of their vows. These simple gold bands are not of great value in themselves, but
are made precious by our wearing of them.
Your
rings say that even in your uniqueness you have chosen to be bound
together. Let these rings also be a
sign that love has substance as well as soul,
a present as well as a past, and that, despite its occasional sorrows, love is
a circle of happiness, wonder, and delight.
Daniel, repeat after me…
DANIEL: Stacey, with this ring, I thee wed.
Stacey, repeat after me…
STACEY: Daniel, with this ring, I thee wed.
May the love you have found grow in meaning
and strength until its beauty is shown in a common devotion to all that is
compassionate and life-giving. May the flow of your love help brighten the fate
of your lives. May the source of all
love touch and bless you and grace your lives with color and courage.
For as much as you have made this solemn
covenant of marriage before God and by the authority vested in me, I now
pronounce you husband and wife. Now that the ceremony is over and the experience
of living day by day is about to begin, go and meet it gladly. You may now
embrace your bride.
ROSE CEREMONY
Daniel and Stacey, you will remember this day
for the rest of your lives. Those of us who are already married know that
marriage, like life, brings with it many joys and also many challenges. We also
know that love, while beautiful, does not always show its prettiest face. There
are days when we may find it hard to express the depth of our love for one
another. It is my hope and prayer that the two of you will set aside a special
place in your home for roses, ancient symbols of love. When words fail you, or
when the challenges of life or marriage begin to weigh on you, go out and get a
rose, and put it in that special place in your home, so that the other will be
reminded of this moment, and of the love you feel for one another.
MINISTER HANDS
A ROSE TO THE BRIDE AND TO THE GROOM…
As a token of that love, I would like to ask
you to make these roses your first gifts to one another as a married couple.
WEDDING PRAYER
Lord God, our heavenly Father, we give thanks
for the moment that brings Daniel and Stacey together in marriage. We recognize with thanksgiving the journeys
that have brought them to this time, and we celebrate the hopes they hold for
their life together. We ask your
blessing upon them and help them through the good and bad times. We pray that they may continue to find ways
that will nurture their marriage. May
they continue to grow together and their love deepen with each day. All this we ask in the name of the God.
ALL: Amen.
Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Daniel and Stacey
Whittaker!