This is a thread that was started in our old BlissWeddings.com forums by swim_a_lot on 4/08/05. Feel free to add your comments by pressing Post Reply.
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posted by swim_a_lot
Hi all, we recieved a copy of the wedding ceremony and UGH!!! We are so dissapointed with the ministers own written wedding ceremony and vows, I love everything about the chapel that we have chosen EVERYTHING, except this (i knew everything was going to smoothly) So we talked it over with the chapel and they are going to let us come up with our own written ceremony and vows but now that's just another thing for me to stress over, anyways i have been searching for vows to help in the process but haven't really come up with much, can anyone help me out, oh by the way, we are not having a very religious ceremony so we need more non-religious topics. thank you all.
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posted by TheaterDiva1
We had a non-religious ceremony as well. My uncle (who performed our ceremony as well as my cousin's) had e-mailed me what he used in my cousin's wedding. Let me know if you want me to forward it to you. My e-mail's
TheaterDiva1972@yahoo.com - just put Bliss in the subject line so I know it's you.
-Maggie
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posted by roseprincess
we took what our pastor gave us and combined what liked to come up with this:
WEDDING PLEDGES
Do you ___ take ___ to be your wedded wife/husband and live together in the holy bond of marriage? Do you pledge to her/him complete faithfulness through all experiences in life? And of your own free will, do you give yourself to her/him completely – mind, body and soul – that from this day forth you shall be hers as long as God gives you life?
WEDDING VOWS
I ___, take you, ___, to be my wife/husband, as my friend, my love, and the mother/father of our children. I love you as I love no other. All that I am I share with you. Together we will explore new trails, dream dreams, break bread, and lie down; we will stumble but restore each other, we will share all things. I will cherish and respect you, comfort and encourage you, be open with you and stay with you, as long as we shall live, according to God’s holy ordinance, freed and bound by our love.
If you don't want to use the word God or holy, I'm sure you can paraphrase... anyway, the point is there were four sets of pledges and vows and we picked what we liked best. You can easily do that, use Diva's, mine, whatever makes you feel tingly inside when you say it aloud and think of you FH!
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posted by aug05bride
Rose - I love that - it's beautiful. I'm going to email it to my FH and see what he says - the pastor marrying us is his long-time pastor so I'm leaving most of the contact with him up to FH and though the wedding is less than 4 months from now, we haven't even had time to discuss the vows with the pastor yet. I LOVE these. Thanks for sharing.
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posted by gymrat
Email me at
gymrat321@go.com. We wrote our ceremony which is non-religious. We found various things off the net. I probably could find the whole versions of everything we had but that might take a day or two. Just email me and I can send it your way as soon as I find it.
Smiles,
Lisa Marie
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posted by msjgrad
Hey girls, I found this great website that has helped a lot with vows (and a lot of other stuff too). I hope that you find it as helpful as I have.
http://www.usabride.com/vows_passages/wed_vows.html
Crystal
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posted by HeatherR
Here was our ceremony... (We had one passage spoken by a reader to appease the catholics in my husband's family, lol)
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Welcome / Statement of Marriage by Officiant
Welcome
We have gathered today in the love of friendship and family to celebrate the blending together of two lives. As (Name) and (Name) come before you here today as two, they will leave this place as one, united in marriage. As family and friends, each of you has played some part in bringing them to this moment and in various ways will continue to support and contribute to their relationship. We solemnize this unique time in their lives and make it meaningful by entering into it in an attitude of respect for their deep commitment to each other.
Introduction to Vows
(Name) and (Name), today you commit yourselves to honoring and protecting one another above your separate selves, and to valuing your union above your own interests. In so doing, you will find a wealth of love and peace not otherwise attainable. But with this joy comes a profound responsibility to protect the bond you share. For it is only with continual care that your love is truly secure in the face of life's inevitable tests.
You must regard each other with the deepest respect. You must appreciate each other's talents, foster each other's dreams, and be ever mindful of the many gifts the other offers you. You must inspire and encourage one another. For by strengthing your partner, you strengthen your marriage. Bring out the very best in each other. Be sparing in criticism and generous in praise for things well done.
In communication, be honest and open. For the heart that communicates truth without hesitation earns trust and builds a secure home. Without truth there is no respect, and without respect there is no love. Accept your marriage as a work-in-progress that will hereafter consume your attention, yet never be completed. Because a lifelong love requires a lifetime of hard work. But it is a joyous labor, whose fruits are the very richest.
Readings
Reading One
Song of Solomon 8:6 - 7
Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it: if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would be utterly contemned.
Reading Two
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of being and ideal grace.
I love thee to the level of every day's
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for right.
I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints. I love with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death..
Vows
(Wife), Will you have this man to be your husband, to live together in a holy marriage? 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?
Bride:
I will
Officiant:
(Groom) Will you have this woman to be your wife, to live together in a holy marriage?
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?
Groom:
I will
Rings (Officiant)
"It is customary to exchange rings as a symbol of love. As the rings have no end so your love should have no end. As the rings are made of gold symbolizing purity, so should your marriage have purity. As often as either of you see them, you will be reminded of this moment and the endless love you promised."
Groom: (Brides Name); with this ring I thee wed. Take it and wear it as a symbol of all we shall share.
Bride: (Grooms Name); with this ring I thee wed. Take it and wear it as a symbol of all we shall share.
Officiant: As you have consented together to be bound to one another in lawful marriage. You have made special promises to each other which have been symbolized by the joining of hands, taking of vows and by the giving and receiving of rings. By the authority vested in me, according to the laws of (State, or Country) I now pronounce you to be husband and wife.
Blessing
(“Blessing of the Apaches”)
Now you will feel no rain, for each of you will be shelter for the other. Now you will feel no cold, for each of you will be warmth to the other. Now there will be no loneliness, for each of you will be companion to the other. Now you are two persons, but there is only one life before you. May beauty surround you both in the journey ahead and through all the years, May happiness be your companion and your days together be good and long upon the earth.
Heather
Ceremony Vows
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