Welcome to the marriage of ____________ and _____________.

Who gives this woman to this man?

Groom and Bride, love one another, but do not make a bond of love.
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.
Fill each other's cup, but drink not from one cup.

Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping.
For only the hand of life can contain your hearts.
 
 
Groom, when you love someone, you do not love them all the time, in exactly the same way, from moment to moment. That is impossible. It is even a lie to pretend it is possible. And yet that is exactly what most of us demand. We insist on permanence, on duration, on continuity. The only continuity possible in life as in love is in growth, in fluidity, and in freedom, as dancers are free, barely touching as they pass, but partners in creating the same pattern.

:
Bride, the only real security is not in owning or possessing, not in demanding or expecting, not even in hoping. Security in a relationship lies neither in looking back nostalgically to what it was, nor forward in dread or anticipation to what it might be. It is loving in the present relationship, accepting it as it is now. Relationships must be like islands, which one must accept for what they are here and now with their limits, islands surrounded and interrupted by the sea, continually visited and abandoned by the tide. One must accept the security of the ebb and flow of intimacy.

The Bride and Groom pour each other a glass of wine.

 
The years of our lives are a cup of wine poured out for us to drink. The grapes when they are pressed give forth good juices for the wine. Under the winepress of time, our lives give forth labor and honor and love. Many days you will sit at the same table and eat and drink together. Drink now and may the cup of your lives be sweet and full to running over.

The Bride and Groom touch their glasses and drink a sip of wine.

 
Now, ____________ and ____________, will you take vows here, before all of us, which symbolize the many unseated vows you have already made and will continue to make to each other throughout your relationship.

 
Groom Repeat after me:
Bride, I promise to stand by you, to be there when you need me, and to share the happiness and sadness of my life with you.  Take this ring as a sign of my commitment.

Bride:
Groom,  I offer you all the days before me, no matter what may come our way. I freely take you, as my husband. Take this ring as a sign of my commitment.


 
When you share a joy, it is doubled, and when you share a sorrow, it is halved.

You have both pledged your love to each other before these witnesses. Therefore, by the authority granted to me, I joyfully pronounce you husband and wife.

You may kiss your bride!