Bill and Antonia

Welcome

We have gathered today before God, in the love of friendship and family to celebrate the blending together of two lives. As Bill and Antonia come before you here today as two, they will leave as one, united in marriage. As family and friends, continue to pledge your friendship and love to support their relationship. We solemnize this unique time in their lives and make it meaningful by entering into it with an attitude of respect for their deep commitment to each other.

Parents

Bill and Antonia would like to acknowledge that even though illness prevents The bride’s mother Marion from participating in today’s celebration her best wishes are with them as they begin a new chapter in their lives together.

Bill and Antonia also take great comfort in the knowledge that their departed parents, Antonia’s father, Johchim , and Bill’s mother and father, Hilda and William Sr. are also here in spirit, to witness the joining of their children in matrimony.

Who is it that presents this woman to this man?

Introduction to Vows

Antonia and Bill, you realize that in a greater sense no other person or officiator can truly marry you. Only you can marry yourselves. By your commitment to love each other, to work with all your hearts toward creating an atmosphere of care and respect, and by your willingness to face together the fears and uncertainty that underlie human life, you marry yourselves more surely than any document we will put our signatures on today. Your love for one another and your willingness to accept each others strength and frailties with understanding and consideration will cement the foundation for a life together that will last.

Today you commit yourselves to honoring and protecting one another and to value your union above your own interests. In so doing, you will find a wealth of love and peace not otherwise attainable. 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. Be sparing in criticism and generous in praise.

In communication, be honest and open. 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.

A vast, unknown future stretches out before you. That future, with its hopes and disappointments, its joys and its sorrows, is hidden from your eyes. But it is a great tribute to your belief in each other that you are willing to face those uncertainties together. May the pure, simple love with which you join hearts and hands today never fail, but grow deeper and surer with every year you spend together.

Vows

Bill, do you come here freely and without reservation?

"I Bill, take you Antonia, to be my wife. To share the good times and hard times side by side as husband and wife, I humbly give you my hand and my heart as a sanctuary of warmth, peace and protection, and pledge my faith and love to you."

Antonia, do you come here freely and without reservation?

"I Antonia, take you Bill, to be my husband. To share the good times and hard times side by side as husband and wife, I humbly give you my hand and my heart as a sanctuary of warmth and peace, and pledge my faith and love to you."

Ring Exchange

For thousands of years lovers have exchanged rings as a token of their vows. These simple bands are not of great value in themselves, but are made precious by our wearing of them. Let these rings be a sign that love has a past, a present and a future, and that, despite its occasional sorrows, love is a circle of joyous wonder, and delight.

Bill place Antonia's ring on her finger and repeat after me:

Just as this circle is without end, my love for you is never-ending.

With this ring, I take you to be my partner for life.

Antonia place Bill's ring on his finger and repeat after me:

Just as this circle is without end, my love for you is never-ending.

With this ring, I take you to be my partner for life.

Pronouncement

Inasmuch as you have sealed your vows in the presence of those gathered here by the giving of these rings and have consented together to live in marriage, it gives me great pleasure to pronounce that your are now Husband and Wife.

Congratulations.

You may kiss your bride.

Ladies and gentlemen it is my great pleasure to present to you Mr. & Mrs. Bill _______