Rev Proclaims:
Greetings friends and family and welcome to this day of celebration. We are united to witness the handfasting of (groom) and (bride). We’ve been invited to share in the commitment they make to each other today. They ask your blessing on this joyful occasion as we peacefully unite these two souls as one for eternity.
If life has any meaning to us at all, it possesses it because of love. Love enriches our human experience. It is the reason for the peace in the family and the peace of the peoples of the Earth. A meeting between two beings who are made for each other is a beautiful miracle.
This couple’s understanding of the true meaning of love has resulted from many influences; their families, their friends, and each of their own personal beliefs. We are here not only strengthen the binds of this couple’s love for each other but also to bring family and friends together to celebrate these same said bonds that hold us all together.
What defines our couple’s love today will change and grow to new depth in the future. It takes three seconds to say I love you, but it can take a lifetime to show it. This ceremony is the celebration of a single stage in a much larger process that is the love between these two souls. The promises made today and the ties that are bound here greatly strengthen your union. They will cross the years and lives of each soul’s growth.
(couple to look into each others’ eyes.)
Rev asks the groom:
Will you cause her pain?
Groom to reply:
I May
Rev to groom:
Is that your intention?
Groom:
No
Rev asks the bride:
Will you cause him pain?
Bride:
I may
Rev to bride:
Is that your intention?
Bride:
No
Rev to both:
Will you share each other’s pain and seek to ease it?
Both:
Yes
Rev to both:
And so the binding is made. Join your hands.
(The first cord (Blue) is draped across the bride and groom’s hands.)
Rev asks the bride:
Will you share his laughter?
Bride:
Yes
Rev to groom:
Will you share her laughter?
Groom:
Yes
Rev to both:
Will both of you look for the brightness in life and the positive in each other?
Both:
Yes
Rev to both:
And so the binding is made.
(The second chord (Red) is draped across the couple’s hands.)
Rev to bride:
Will you burden him?
Bride:
I may.
Rev to bride:
Is that your intention?
Bride:
No
Rev to groom:
Will you burden her?
Groom:
I may
Rev to groom:
Is that your intention?
Groom:
No.
Rev to both:
Will you share the burdens of each so that your spirits may grow in this union?
Both:
Yes
Rev :
And so the binding is made.
(The third chord (Gold) draped across the couple’s hands.)
Rev to bride:
Will you share his dreams?
Bride:
Yes
Rev to groom:
Will you share her dreams?
Groom:
Yes
Rev to both:
Will you dream together to create new shared realities?
Both:
Yes
Rev:
And so the binding is made.
(The fourth chord (Red) draped across the couple’s hands.)
Rev to groom:
Will you cause her anger?
Groom:
I may
Rev to groom:
Is that your intention?
Groom:
No.
Rev to bride:
Will you cause him anger?
Bride:
I may.
Rev to bride:
Is that your intention?
Bride:
No.
Rev to both:
Will you take the heat of anger and use it to temper the strength of this union?
Both:
We will.
Rev:
And so the binding is made.
(The fifth chord (Green) draped across the couple’s hands.)
Rev to bride:
Will you honor him?
Bride:
I will
Rev to groom:
Will you honor her?
Groom:
I will
Rev to both:
Will you seek to never give cause to break that honor?
Both:
We shall never do so.
Rev:
And so the binding is made.
(The sixth chord (yellow) draped across the couple’s hands, and tie all chords together while saying the following:)
Above you are the stars, below you are the stones. As time passes, remember, like the star should your love burn brightly, like the stone should your love be firm. Be close, yet not so close that you restrict one another. Possess one another, yet grant each other the freedom to grow. Be understanding and compassionate, and have patience with each other, for storms may come, but they will quickly pass. Be free in giving affection and warmth. The knots of this binding are not formed by these chords but instead by your vows. Either of you may drop the chords, for always you will hold in your own hands the making or breaking of this union. May this couple know great love together, and may they live in the desire to always support each other in positive and uplifting ways. May they strengthen one another in sorrow, share with one another in gladness, and be companions to each other in times of silence. May their home be a haven, and wherever they are plagued by changing fortune, may they be united not in word and outward form alone, but by the presence in the hearts of each, of the deepening love they share.
As both your arms and the cloth form the symbol of eternity, may your love endure through this life and all others. As your friends and family are witness with those of us present now, I proclaim them bound. The two are now one.
May you forever walk the path of happiness and love, (groom) and (bride), forever bound, eternally free! You may now kiss to seal your bond.