Family Vows
[Insert Name] and [Insert Name] have learned the value of family from
each of you. They ask that you continue to bring the warmth and
welcoming love you’ve offered up until this very moment for many more
years to come.
Would the rest of [Insert Name] and [Insert Name]’s family please stand?
Do you welcome [Insert Name] and [Insert Name] as daughter and son,
granddaughter and grandson, brother and sister, niece and nephew, cousin
and cousin, into your families? (we do)
Honoring those present and not present
We ask our honored guests assembled here to take a moment to exchange a
greeting of peace. Guests turn and greet those near them.
At this time, we would like to honor those who could not be with us today. We offer a special remembrance of [Insert Names].
Although they are not here with us physically, we feel blessed they are
with us in spirit on this beautiful day. We bow in silence to honor
their memory. Pause for a few moments.
Honoring Family
Our celebration of the union of [Insert Name] and [Insert Name] is
shared by those who have passed beyond this life. Their roles in the
lives of [Insert Name] and [Insert Name] are no less remembered and
honored as we savor today’s joyous moments. Join with us, then, in fond
memory of all these people, and in particular with [Insert Names]. In
their memory, let us be silent together.
Parents’ Blessing
(The Parents’ Blessing Module fits near the beginning of the ceremony, just after the officiant’s welcoming statements.)
OFFICIANT: This wedding is also a celebration of family. It is the
blending of two families, the (Family Name)s and the (Family Name)s,
separate up to this moment, but united from this day forward — blending
their different traditions, strengthening the family tree. To honor
this uniting of the families, (Bride) and (Groom) wish to ask their
parents’ blessing.
To Parents:
(Mother’s Name & Father’s Name), do you offer this couple your
goodwill? Do you welcome [Name] as a member of your family and give
him/her your love and affection?
Response: We do.
(Repeat)
Child/Children Recognition
(The Child Recognition Module fits near the beginning of the ceremony, just after the officiant’s welcoming statements.)
We also today want to celebrate the other individual(s) who will be joined in this marriage, your precious son(s)/daughter(s)/children, [name(s) here]
, who complete this newly created family, united by love
and caring for each other. Receive this/these young one(s) into your
hearts today, wrapped in all the welcome and love you can give.
Beach Sand
[Each partner holds a small vial of beach sand…]
[Name] and [Name], even though you come to this ceremony as unique
individuals, today you blend yourselves in spirit and personality to
bond and strengthen the future that you will build together.
It is to symbolize this blending that you now take these containers of
beach sand to mingle them together — as though pouring your separate
selves inseparably into each other and becoming one.
(Partners slowly pour their sand together)
As you now pour your sand together, your lives also are this vividly
joined as one. And just as each grain of this sand maintains its own
space, never losing itself and yet ever losing itself amid the goodness
of the whole sand — so will your marriage and your family be.
