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Spiritual #1
Repeat: ____ I love you. You are my best friend.
Today I give myself to you in marriage.
I promise to encourage and inspire you, to laugh with you,
and to comfort you in times of sorrow and struggle.
I promise to love you in good times and in bad,
when life seems easy and when it seems difficult,
when our love is simple, and when it is an effort.
I promise to cherish you, and to always hold you in highest regard
These things I give to you today, and all the days of our life.
Spiritual #2
Read or Repeat to Partner: ~ These my love, are my promises to you: That I will love you freely, as the sky loves the bird, and as the sunset loves the early evening. ~ That I will love you grandly, with my tender fine emotions, with my loving words and all my actions. ~ That I will love you purely, with my honor, with my knowing, with all the best intentions of my being. ~ That I will love you joyfully, with my body, with my laughter, with my foolishness and playing. ~ That I will love you truly, with my finest kindest and deepest care. ~ That I will love you always, now, from this day forward, seamless, endless and forever.
Spiritual #3 – By Alan Johnson
Read to Partner: I love you. I pledge to grow in my Love for you.
I pledge to nurture our Love for it is loving you that nurtures my soul.
I pledge to share our Love together as One.
I love you because you are the only one for me.
To know you is to know Love and through you, know True Love.
I love you because you are the One who completes me.
I can not know union without you for it is by joining you that I learn
- about Love's union and where it comes from.
I love you because it is my soul mission in Life to learn our Love.
I do not so much seek to heal you, but to embrace our Love
- that fills our Life as a way of healing each other.
I see your Love for me in your eyes and I see what freedom is,
- what True Love is.
I promise to support your growth and share the fullness of myself.
I promise to honor you by being open to all the expressions of your inner self.
I promise to allow our Love we share become our Prayer we live.
Above all, I promise to be true to you and true to myself
- so that we may grow in our Love that joins us as one.
If the Eagle is the symbol of freedom born out of True Love,
- then I am one wing and you are equally the other.
Let us fly together in harmony and may gentle winds carry us all the way to Heaven.
Spiritual #4 – The Promise of Our Marriage-Written by Alice Swartz, 1999
Read to Partner: My beloved, romance may fade, but true love endures.
I choose to truly love you, with kindness, faithfulness, and respect,
- through every circumstance that life may bring.
Because you are the treasure of my heart, it will be my joy to support,
- encourage, comfort, and defend you as we together face the coming days
- of sorrow and joy, sickness and health, poverty and wealth.
When I have been wronged, I will forgive.
When I do wrong, I will confess with contrition.
When conflict dims our days, I will exercise the patience of true love
- and seek the light of wise counsel.
Most of all, I will rejoice and thank the Lord for completing me with the gift of you.
And through His infinite grace, I know that no matter what may come,
- I will remain by your side with enduring devotion and fidelity
- for as long as He allows us to share this earthly life.
This is my solemn vow because, in you, I have found the one my soul loves.
May the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit guide us
- and bless us each day from this moment forward.
Spiritual #5 – Hawaiian Theme
Male: _____, please take your lei and place it around _____ ‘s neck.
_____, let the beautiful & fragrant flowers that you have placed on _____ remind you of the beautiful and fragile nature of your relationship with her.
Do you _____, take _____, to be your wife, to live together according to God’s Word? Will you love and cherish her, assisting her in all her labors? Will you be true to her both in sickness and health, when things are going well and when there are problems? And will you be faithful to her as long as you both shall live? If so, you may answer, I WILL. _____, cherish _____always, treating her as your princess.
Female: _____, take this lei and place it around _____‘s neck. _____, let the beauty & fragrance of these flowers which you have placed on _____ remind you always of this day when you committed yourself to be his bride.
Do you, _____, take _____, to be your husband, to live together according to God’s Word? Will you love and cherish him, assisting him in all his labors? Will you be true to him both in sickness and health, both when things are going well and when there are difficulties? And will you be faithful to him as long as you both shall live? If so, you may answer, I WILL. _____ cherish _____ always, treating him as your prince.
Spiritual #6 – Irish
Repeat: "I, _____, now take you, _____, to be my wife/husband. In the presence of God and
before these witnesses I promise to be a loving, faithful and loyal husband/wife to
you, for as long as we both shall live."
Bride
Spiritual #7 – Eskimo Theme
Eskimo Love Song (Vow)
~ Author Unknown ~
You are my husband/wife
My feet shall run because of you
My feet dance because of you
My heart shall beat because of you
My eyes see because of you
My mind thinks because of you
And I shall love because of you.
Today I make you my wife/husband.
Spiritual #8
I promise to love you above all others and to value
your friendship as a precious gift.
I look forward to raising our family and building
our relationship under the care and guidance of God.
I promise to stand beside you in sickness or health, in times of
prosper and decline, in peace and in turmoil, as long as we both
shall live.
Muslim
Bride: “I, _________, offer you in myself in marriage in
accordance with the instructions of the Holy Quar‘an
and the Holy Prophet, peace and blessing be upon Him.
I pledge, in honesty and with sincerity, to be for you an
obedient and faithful wife.”
Groom: “I pledge, in honesty and sincerity, to be for you
a faithful and helpful husband.”
Celtic by Morgan Llewellyn
" You cannon possess me for I belong to myself
But while we both wish it, I give you that which is mine to give.
You cannon command me, for I am a free person
But I shall serve you in those ways you require
and the honeycomb will taste sweeter coming from my hand.
" I pledge to you that yours will be the name I cry aloud in the night
and the eyes into which I smile in the morning.
I pledge to you the first bite of my meat and the first drink from my cup.
I pledge to you my living and my dying, each equally in your care.
I shall be a shield for your back and you for mine.
I shall not slander you, nor you me.
I shall honor you above all others, and when we quarrel we shall do so in private and
tell no strangers our grievances.
" This is my wedding vow to you.
This is the marriage of equals."
Writing Your Own Vows:
Writing your own vows to express your feelings and dreams for your new life together is not as difficult as you may think. Keep these tips in mind: Think about what you want to get out of your marriage; describe what is special about your friendship; describe what you like about each other; express what you want from the future; and simply express your thoughts on peace, love, and hope. Write your vows on an index card for the ceremony. Read them out loud to see if they sound nice, and then revise them to fit your personal style and needs.
Savannah Georgia Wedding Officiant, Rev. Steven Schulte E-mail (912) 354-6815
©2005-2010 Reverend Steven P. Schulte