Chapter 9: A Marriage Service

The marriage service takes a variety of forms. The following is a modification of the Episcopal service:

At the time appointed for the marriage ceremony the persons to be united shall stand before the minister, the man at the right hand of the woman, and the minister shall say:

Dearly Beloved: We are gathered together in the sight of God and in the face of this company to join together this man and this woman in holy matrimony which is ordained of God, blessed by his favor, and to be held in honor among all men. Our Savior, having blessed a marriage ceremony by his presence, said that a man shall leave his father and his mother and shall cleave to his wife and they two shall be one flesh.

As one in a union of heart, mind and body they are to live in mutual esteem and forbearance, and in wholehearted love for each other; they are to help and comfort each other, to provide for each other, as is fitting, in material things, and to help each other and pray for each other as heirs together of the grace of life.

If any here present knows any just cause why these two may not be lawfully joined together, let him now speak, or else forever after hold his peace.
Then the minister shall say Let us pray. He may use the following prayer, or whatever prayer he finds best.

0 God, our Eternal Father, Giver of the love which binds man and woman together in marriage, we pray that these thy servants may be truly united in this holy estate. Help them to grow into a new state of mind and heart fitting their new relationship. Sustain them by thy divine grace that they may establish a home in which thy love for them and their love for each other shall give them fulness of joy. Be with them as they live together in this holy bond, from this time forth, and through all their days, through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Then the minister shall say to the man, calling him by his Christian name:
__________, will you take this woman to be your wedded wife, to live together in the holy estate of matrimony? Will you love her, comfort her, honor and keep her, and forsaking all others, keep you only unto her so long as you both shall live?

The man shall answer, I will.

Then the minister shall say to the woman, calling her by her Christian name:
__________, will you take this man to be your wedded husband to live together in the holy estate of matrimony? Will you love him, comfort him, honor and keep him, and
forsaking all others, keep you only unto him so long as you both shall live?

The woman shall say, I will.

Then the minister shall say:
Who giveth this woman to be married to this man?
Then the father (or friend) shall say, I, or by a sign, or by putting the hand of the bride into that of the minister, shall give her away.

The minister, receiving the right hand of the woman, shall place it in the right hand of the man. Then, as instructed by the minister, the man shall say:
I, __________, take thee, __________,to be my wedded wife, from
this time forward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish till death us do part, and thereto I plight thee my troth.

Then the woman shall take the right hand of the man and as instructed by the minister, shall say:
I, __________, take thee, __________, to be my wedded husband from this time forward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish till death us do part, and thereto I give thee my troth.

Then the best man or other person appointed shall put a ring in the hand of the minister and the minister shall say:
This ring is a symbol of a love which is complete, beautiful, and endless. May God help you to make your love perfect and eternal.

Then the minister shall deliver the ring to the man, and the man, putting it on the third finger of the woman's left hand, shall say:
With this ring I thee wed, and with all that I am and all that I have I thee endow: in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

If it is a double ring ceremony the woman shall place the ring on the man's finger, and shall repeat the same words, as instructed by the minister.

Following this the minister shall say:
Forasmuch as __________ and __________ have consented together in holy wedlock, and have witnessed the same before God and this company, and have pledged their faith each to the other, by the authority that is committed unto me, I pronounce them husband and wife. Whom therefore God bath joined together let no man put asunder.