Wedding Service
Officiated by
Kellie Kelly
WELCOME
Please be seated.
We are gathered here today to unite Katie and Steve in marriage.
Marriage is not to be entered into quickly or lightly, but advisedly with due reverence. After 9 years together, long distance moves, and life’s course changes, there is no doubt that Katie and Steve bring this reverence to each other and the commitment they make to each other today.
It has been my honor to get to know Katie and Steve over the last few months and to assist them in planning their wedding service. They are a special couple who are entering marriage with a deep commitment to each other, their loved ones, and their larger communities. They are the rare couple who have found their love strengthened by both storms and water balloons.
Marriage, which is spoken of as a bond, becomes actually many bonds – many strands – of different texture and strength—a web fashioned of many kinds of love. The web of marriage is made of loyalties and interdependencies and shared experiences. It is woven of memories of meetings and conflicts – of triumphs and disappointments.
It is a web of communication; a common language; and the acceptance of silences, too; a knowledge of likes and dislikes; of habits and reactions. It is a web of known and unknown exchanges.
The web of marriage is made in day by day living side by side. It is woven in space and in time, both mundane and holy, both private and connected to all. It is part of many other webs: the webs of families, the webs of friends, coworkers, and communities, the webs of the greater world, and ultimately, the webs of life and existence.
This interconnectedness of bonds holds us in love even when we are not aware of its presence. Katie and Steve are held in the bonds of your love as well as their own. It is for this reason that Katie and Steve are so grateful that you all are here to share this important day with them. They appreciate the long distances that many of you traveled to be here. They hold special appreciation for those loved ones who are no longer with us.
AFFIRMATION OF INTENTIONS
This celebration is the outward token of a sacred and inward union of minds and hearts, a union created by loving purpose and kept by abiding will.
Katie, do you believe your love for Steve is deep, rich and lasting enough to enable you to build a worthwhile life together?
I DO
Do you take Steve unto your heart as your husband from this day forward?
I DO
Steve, do you believe your love for Katie is deep, rich and lasting enough to enable you to build a worthwhile life together?
I DO
Do you take Katie unto your heart as your wife from this day forward?
I DO
READINGS I
Beyond What – Alice Walker
We reach for destinies beyond
what we have come to know
and in the romantic hush
of promises
perceive each
the other's life
as known mystery.
Shared. But inviolate.
No melting. No squeezing
into One.
We swing our eyes around
as well as side to side
to see the world.
To choose, renounce,
this, or that -
call it a council between equals,
call it love.
Modern Love – Nancy Barr Mavity
I want no little comfortable love
Ensheathed in chivalry and gentleness.
Call me to courage! Challenge me to truth!
Dare me to high and difficult comradeship!
Test me with anger, clasp my hand again
As friends whom anger cannot part, and then
Lover to lover I will meet you; then
March with you step by step unto the end.
MUSICAL INTERLUDE
READINGS II
Falling in love is like owning a dog – Taylor Mali
First of all, it's a big responsibility,
So think long and hard before deciding on love.
On the other hand, love gives you a sense of security:
when you're walking down the street late at night
and you have a leash on love
ain't no one going to mess with you.
Who knows what love could do in its own defense?
On cold winter nights, love is warm.
It lies between you and lives and breathes
and makes funny noises.
Love wakes you up all hours of the night with its needs.
It needs to be fed so it will grow and stay healthy.
Love doesn't like being left alone for long.
But come home and love is always happy to see you.
It may break a few things accidentally in its passion for life,
but you can never be mad at love for long.
Is love good all the time? No! No!
Love can be bad. Bad, love, bad! Very bad love.
Love makes messes.
Love leaves you little surprises here and there.
Love needs lots of cleaning up after.
Sometimes you want to roll up a piece of newspaper
and swat love on the nose,
not to cause pain,
just to let love know Don't you ever do that again!
Sometimes love just wants to go for a nice long walk.
Because love loves exercise.
It runs you around the block and leaves you panting.
It pulls you in several different directions at once,
or winds around and around you
until you're all wound up and can't move.
But love makes you meet people wherever you go.
People who have nothing in common but love
stop and talk to each other on the street.
Throw things away and love will bring them back,
again, and again, and again.
But most of all, love needs love, lots of it.
And in return, love loves you and never stops.
VOWS
I, Steve, take you, Katie, to be my wife,
to live our lives together,
to love, to work and share,
to grow and understand,
to discover a deeper, fuller life.
I promise to be your faithful husband
to share the joys and sorrows of life,
to honor and trust your integrity,
and to love you
as we both continue to change and grow.
I, Katie, take you, Steve to be my husband,
to live our lives together,
to love, to work and share,
to grow and understand,
to discover a deeper, fuller life.
I promise to be your faithful wife
to share the joys and sorrows of life,
to honor and trust your integrity,
and to love you
as we both continue to change and grow.
EXCHANGE OF RINGS
The ring has long been the visible symbol of vows taken in marriage. A circle, with no beginning and no ending, represents the love which is everlasting, which begins in trust, grows through companionship, and deepens with understanding.
Katie, place Steve’s ring on his finger with these words:
Steve, I give you this ring as a symbol of my love and my commitment.
Steve, place Katie’s ring on her finger with these words:
Katie, I give you this ring as a symbol of my love and my commitment.
COMMUNITY AFFIRMATION
As Katie and Steve have made their vows in your presence, they ask for your support of their marriage bonds today and in the years ahead.
The web of Katie and Steve’s marriage will be woven into your webs of families, friends, coworkers, and communities. This interconnectedness of bonds will hold you in love even when you are not aware of its presence.
Do you, Katie and Steve’s loved ones, promise to hold Katie and Steve in the bonds of your love, providing Katie and Steve your confidence and support as they learn to weave their marriage web?
WE DO
PRAYER FOR ALL OF US
- Please join me for a time of prayer or reflection.
- We pray rich blessings upon Steve and Katie who in the presence of this company have pledged unto each other all that mind and heart can give.
- Steve and Katie, equal partners in marriage, may you continue to live in the mutual desire to support each other in attaining your best selves.
- May you strengthen one another in all sorrow, share with one another in all gladness, and be companions to each other in times of the silent and unspoken
- May the love which has brought you together continue to grow and, should you ever lose yourselves, may you find a way back to the tenderness and goodness of your life together.
- May your home help to make the world more kind and just, bringing peace and inspiration to each of you and to those who know you.
- May the interconnectedness of all those here (and others we carry in our hearts) continue to grow, strengthen, and surround us in a love that never ends.
- May it be so. Amen.
PRONOUNCEMENT
For as much as Steve and Katie have consented together in marriage, declaring their love for one another, by the power vested in me by the State of Illinois, I declare that they are now marrried.
Steve and Katie will now kiss to seal their marriage bond.
PRESENTATION OF COUPLE
May Steve and Katie live and work together to create a life of love, joy, and community. May their ever-deepening partnership of mind and heart enrich and ennoble the lives of their loved ones and the larger world.
Now, it is my great pleasure to be the first to present Steve and Katie as husband and wife.