Welcome (OPTIONAL) We are gathered here today in the sight of God and the Angels, and in the presence of friends and loved ones, to celebrate one of life's greatest moments – to give recognition to the worth and beauty of love, and to add our best wishes and blessings to the words which shall unite GROOM and BRIDE in holy matrimony Marriage is a most honourable estate, created and instituted by God, signifying unto us the mystical union, which also exists between Christ and the Church.   So too may this marriage be adorned by true and abiding love.

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Giving Away (OPTIONAL)
Who brings this woman to be married to this man? - "I DO"


Wedding Prayer - Robert Louis Stevenson (OPTIONAL)
Let us Pray
Lord, behold our family here assembled.
We thank you for this place in which we dwell,
for the love that unites us,
for the peace accorded us this day,
for the hope with which we expect the morrow,
for the health, the work, the food,
and the bright skies that make our lives delightful;
and for our friends in all parts of the earth.
Amen


Monitum (COMPULSORY)
My name is Tim Addison and I am authorized by law to solemnize marriages according to law.   GROOM and BRIDE, before you are joined in marriage in my presence and in the presence of these witnesses, I am to remind you of the solemn and binding nature of the relationship into which you are now about to enter.    Marriage, according to Australian law, is the union of a man and a woman to the exclusion of all others, voluntarily entered into for life.


The Asking (OPTIONAL)
GROOM do you take BRIDE to be your wife?    Do you promise to love, honour, cherish and protect her, forsaking all others and holding only to her forevermore?   "I do"

BRIDE do you take GROOM to be your Husband?   Do you promise to love, honour, cherish and protect him, forsaking all others and holding only to him forevermore?   "I do"


Reading from Corinthians (OPTIONAL)
Love endures and is kind.   Love is not envious or jealous.   Love wants not itself, is not puffed up, does not behave itself unseemly, seeks not its own, it is not easily provoked and thinks no evil.
Love does not rejoice in unrighteousness - but in the truth.   Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things.   Love never fails.
So faith, hope and love remain and the greatest of these is love.


Vows (COMPULSORY) (OPTIONAL)
Would you please face each other, join hands and repeat after me.

I call upon the persons here present to witness that I GROOM take thee BRIDE, to be my lawfully wedded wife.   To have and to hold, in sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer, and I promise my love to you forevermore.

I call upon the persons here present to witness that I BRIDE take thee GROOM to be my lawfully wedded Husband.   To have and to hold, in sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer, and I promise my love to you forevermore.


Exchange of Rings (OPTIONAL)
Wedding rings are an outward and visible sign of an inward spiritual grace, signifying to all the uniting of this man and this woman in marriage.

GROOM, Please place your ring on BRIDE’s finger and repeat after me
BRIDE, with this ring, I thee wed. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

And BRIDE, in placing your ring on GROOM’s finger please also repeat after me.
GROOM, with this ring, I thee wed.   In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.


Charge to Couple (OPTIONAL)
GROOM and BRIDE as the two of you come into this marriage uniting you as husband and wife, and as you this day affirm your faith and love for one another, I would ask that you always remember to cherish each other as special and unique individuals, that you respect the thoughts, ideas and suggestions of one another. Be able to forgive, do not hold grudges, and live each day that you may share it together - as from this day forward you shall be each other's home, comfort and refuge, your marriage strengthened by your love and respect.


Cherokee Prayer (OPTIONAL)
Let us Pray
God in heaven above please protect the ones we love.
We honour all you created as we pledge our hearts and lives together.
We honour mother-earth - and ask for this marriage to be abundant and grow stronger through the seasons; We honour fire - and ask that their union be warm and glowing with love in their hearts;
We honour wind - and ask they sail though life safe and calm as in their father's arms;
We honour water - to clean and soothe their relationship - that it may never thirst for love;
With all the forces of the universe you created, we pray for harmony and true happiness as they forever grow young together
AMEN


Pronouncement (OPTIONAL)
GROOM and BRIDE in so much as the two of you have agreed to live together in Holy Matrimony, have promised your love for each other by these vows, the giving of these rings and the joining of your hands, I now declare you to be husband and wife.