Introduction
First, on behalf of [Name] and [Name] let me welcome all of you who have
come, many from great distances to participate and to witness and to
celebrate this wonderful day. Nothing could be a more meaningful
testimony of your love for these two people.
As human beings, despite our frailties, we are called to one another,
called to community and called to great acts which affirm our very
nature. Of all of our qualities, there is none stronger than a
professing of love, especially between two people, two people who had
for much of their lives been unknown to one another, two people who were
drawn through distance and time to be together and who found in one
another something mysterious, magical and unmistakable, something
undeniable and vital, something certain and true which completed each of
them.
And there is no greater avowal to be made by two people in this regard
than a solemn vow of unity, of commitment, of marriage, a joining of two
lives to one life. Two individuals who not only remain and flourish,
but two individuals who become elevated into another perhaps more
perfect state of being, a new entity which they shall forever call “We.”
It has been one of the greatest traditions throughout history in all
cultures that these moments should be noted, the days marked and
celebrated by families and friends as a reminder of what matters the
most to all of us, that we should love one another and be anxious to
celebrate living, to live gratefully and to never hesitate to express
our joys out loud.
A marriage is the most perfect expression of this and so it is most
appropriate that we gather and come to make music and beauty, to dance
together and to share food and drink together and to embrace one another
and to revel in our living on this day when two people who have found
one another and say they love one another above all others and that they
wish deeply to never be without one another so long as they live. Such
are the circumstances which define a great day, an auspicious day. When a
day like this comes in the lives of two people, we are all the better
for its coming.
And so it is time for these two people to state their love for one
another and their intentions before all of us gathered around them,
people now defined as a community by a love for them. This moment is
theirs and we are grateful to share in it.
Vows
[Insert custom vows]
Presentation of Rings
[Name], you have come here today before me and this good company to
state your intentions and your love for this woman/man. Do you take this
woman/man to be your lawfully wedded partner/spouse/husband/wife, to
profess your love for her/him, to provide for her/him and to protect
her/him and put her/him above all others, and to be her/his
partner/spouse/husband/wife and most faithful friend so long as you
shall live?
Please place this ring upon her/his finger as a symbol of the
preciousness of this circle of life you are creating and entering into
and which will be shared between you.
(repeat for other partner)
Pronouncement
Then the covenant of love has been made by these beautiful people before
me and these witnesses. It is a great day for all of us, let it always
be recalled with joy.
By the power vested in me as Humanist Celebrant, I am pleased to now
pronounce you legally married/life partners/husband/wife.
Congratulations! You may kiss.
