THE NAME OF LOVE
Marriage is a promise,
the covenant two people make with each other
when they decide to join their lives together:
Marriage is the promise you make to one another
not only when you decide to live together,
work together, and share life together,
intimately and in all things,
but when you give each other the name of Love,
and proclaim it to your friends, your family, and to the world.
United in marriage,
you will have a chance to share an intense joy
not everyone in this life will know,
a joy that will be worth the hardest work you will ever do in this life,
and, we hope, worth more to you than life itself.
We wish you such a deep joy;
then may you call yourselves by the name of Love,
and we, the people gathered around you
to witness this moment,
may call you truly:
Dearly Beloved:
The moment is here; the time has come:
Time to seal the covenant,
Time to plight your troth,
Time to make a promise and keep it,
as it says in the Song of Songs:
"as a seal on your heart, stronger than death."
Time to take each other by the hand,
look each other in the eye, and
name each other:
Chris vows:
Melissa, my Love, my wife, I have you and hold you in my heart
From this day forward until death, I vow to be your true husband
in our life to come, and to do my part to make our marriage
a home for joy and a refuge from sorrow, come what may.
Melissa vows:
Chris, my Love, my husband, I have you and hold you in my heart.
From this day forward until death, I vow to be your true wife
in our life to come, and to do my part to make our marriage
a home for joy and a refuge from sorrow, come what may.
Chris puts the ring Melissa’s finger:
This ring is the seal of my love and the sign of my promise to you, my Love.
Melissa puts the ring on Chris’ finger:
This ring is the seal of my love and the sign of my promise to you, my Love.
The bond of love is sealed.
Hold nothing back.
Your hearts are where home is.
You bless us all with your love.
Kiss her, you fool.
(Bride and groom kiss, join hands and face the guests.)
Melissa and Chris are now united in holy wedlock.
Bride and bridegroom are husband and wife.
Let no one and nothing come between them.
Peace be with them, and with us all.
Let us celebrate a homecoming
in this union of these two hearts:
Let us welcome them home.
Let the party begin.
