Seaside Vows

Let us take a moment to meditate on the sacrament of marriage, open our hearts to the Lord to enter this ceremony, and give thanks for the beauty that surrounds us. Let us pray.

________ and ________ come today desiring to be united in this sacred relationship. So God, we thank you for the love that ________ & ________ have for you. We believe that you have led them to this day and we ask your blessing as they exchange their vows and seal their promises. As they become husband and wife, may they do so not only in our presence, but in Yours, with Your grace surrounding them and Your love within their hearts. We pray through Christ, Amen.

We are about to experience a miracle. This miracle is the joining of two lives in peace which becomes the inspiration that forms a family.

All of your moments together have led up to this exchange of vows and have prepared you as you promise to be each other's lifetime partner. This is a most special gift which you are about to share, which has been carefully nurtured and polished to give to one another. This gift cannot be bought in a store or found under a tree. This is the gift of love that can only be shared in marriage. May its radiance never diminish, even as the sea around us.

We are joyfully gathered today to witness and to celebrate the joining of two lives in marriage, Let us rejoice with each other in the making of this important covenant. The essence of this covenant is the taking of each other in entirety, as an everlasting lover, friend and companion. It is, therefore, a decision which has not been entered into lightly but rather undertaken with great consideration and respect for one another.

We have come together in the hope that the love which has brought you both to this union may go out beyond itself into the lives of others. Thus, we ask that your promises and hopes be realized. We ask that you both be granted the patience to listen, the capacity to understand, the compassion to give comfort and the joy to laugh and just to be together.. Most importantly, let your marriage make a home where neither person is a stranger, and, remember, it is just as important to be the right partner as it is to choose the right partner.

Let your marriage offer illumination and growth. Bask in the joy of shared discoveries. Let your union be strong enough to endure the darkness of all things. May silence and despair never separate you; may you always return to each other.

Will you together repeat after me…

I will share my life openly with you.
I will walk hand in hand with you.
I will grow with you, not away from you, in each of our discoveries.
I will support your strengths with love and honesty and protect you,
as we go forth together into this world as two yet one.

I _________, take you ________, to be my wedded wife. To have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness or in health, to love and to cherish 'till death do us part. And hereto I pledge you my faithfulness.

I, ________, take you ________, to be my wedded husband. To have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, 'till death do us part. And hereto I pledge you my faithfulness.

The word of God in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 tells us what love is like and what love does: “Love is patient, love is kind, and is not jealous; Love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things endures all things. Love… Never… Fails.

Having this kind of love in your hearts, you have chosen to share rings as the sign and seal of the vows you are making today. Let these rings which you are about to exchange, serve to remind us that a circle is a symbol of the sun, the earth and the universe, of wholeness, peace and unity. Your rings are circles which have no beginning and no ending. They are tokens of this growing relationship you have come here today to celebrate and confirm, emblems of eternity which can never be tarnished, and which are without end, to show how imperishable is the faith that you have now mutually pledged before God.

________, as a symbol of your faithfulness, place the ring on ________'s finger and repeat after me. With this ring, I thee wed. I accept you _WF, as my partner, as my friend, and as my wife, through all of the experiences life holds for us, in abiding faith and love.

________, as a symbol of your faithfulness, place the ring on ________'s finger and repeat after me. With this ring, I thee wed. I accept you ________, as my partner, as my friend, and as my wife, through all of the experiences life holds for us, in abiding faith and love.

Now, Allow me to share this wedding blessing with you…

Be together in harmony and let the winds of the heavens dance between you. Empower each other and allow your relationship to evolve to its highest purpose. Nourish each others possibilities and lift up each others spirits. Care for one another, share your love openly and let it be a moving sea between the shores of your souls. Sing and dance together and be joyful. Share your lives with each other and unite your love with our Creator. May your union last through all of your moments together, so that in the triumphs and the trials that lie ahead, you will feel just as you do now - happy to be in love and married to one another. Go then, in peace, and live more and more in the present, which is beautiful and stretches away beyond the limits of the past and towards the horizons of the future.

Having witnessed the vows you have just made to each other, surrounded by your love, (and by the sand, the sun and the sea of Corpus Christi), by the loving grace of God, and by the authority vested in me, upheld by the laws of the State of Texas, I now pronounce you husband and wife. May the Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make His face to shine on you, And be gracious to you; The Lord lift His countenance on you, and give you peace. Amen.

Mr. and Mrs. ________, you may now seal your love with a kiss.

3 Comments

  • minus the sea

    I think Ive found our ceremony! Its perfect except that we are being married where two rivers meet. (two lives also) A little rewording and it will be perfect.

    Joy Sickles 2012-07-17


  • to April

    Perhaps you should just write your own. You have good ideas.

    Jaq 2009-06-19


  • Seaside

    This isn't very ocean.
    There is nothing about the ocean being the great womb from which all life on earth is emerged, making the idea of the marriage being a rebirth not as 2 but 1. Nothing about most of our body being water, no survival without it, no real life without love. There is also the metaphoric representation of the journey that marriage mirrors. From the sea, evaporation, transformation, reconstitution in endless cycles similar to life death rebirth. From a vast sea of humanity 2 find one another and join together in marriage - elation of love and soaring of spirit almost like water vapors that rise then recondense in a cloud - in the falling back to earth of the droplet which now contains both essences comes the work of maintaining a relationship, establishing a home, much in the same way that the rain is a fresh substance usable for drinking and watering vegitation, the catalist for new life which again allows for your blood waters to join in the creation of your children.

    Just some things to think of incase you ever do a rewrite.

    L&L, April

    April 2005-04-04


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