Vows and Verses

This home that you have built is made of love,
Hope and happiness, hard grit and tears,
All the strength of will a heart can move,
Now ready to enfold us many years.
Know that we are grateful for the gift
You've given us by working day and night.
Over us though storms and trouble drift,
Under this roof all is good and right.

I, <bride/groom>, take you, <bride/groom>, to be my <husband/wife>.
I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad,
in sickness and in health. I will love you
and honor you all the days of my life.

Fifty years is really not enough
In which to plumb the depths of someone's soul.
Fifty more years, then, should be the goal:
To know the beauty of another's love,
Yearnings shape, and life-long shadows buff.

Yet life was never easy in those years.
Everest is sometimes hard to climb.
A will to love has brought you to this time,
Rich in joys that time cannot remove.
So may this day be filled with happy tears!

I, <bride/groom>, take you <bride/groom>, for my <husband/wife>,
to have and to hold,
from this day forward, for better,
for worse, for richer, for poorer,
in sickness and in health, until death do us part.

For some the years turn out to be a blessing:
In life and love the choices of the heart
Find their way to lushly colored meadows
Touched at night by fantasies of stars.
Yearnings sway like dancers in the wind.

You have learned the music of caressing,
Each taking passionately the other's part.
All the silent beauty of your shadows
Reappears as song that nothing jars,
Sheer happiness unfolding without end.

I, <bride/groom>, take thee <bride/groom>, to be my <husband/wife>,
and pledge thee my troth, so long as ye both shall live.

Fifty years together is a mountain
In truth not all of us would wish to climb.
For umpteen thousand days... but, well, who's countin'?
The two of you have trudged up this incline.
Yet what you see up there must be sublime.

Your love has shaped your lives much as the weather
Erodes the Earth into majestic forms.
A half a century of life together
Reveals the rock beneath the mountain heather,
Splendidly unmoved by passing storms.

I, <bride/groom>, take you, <bride/groom>, to be my <husband/wife>,
and these things I promise you:

I will be faithful to you and honest with you;
I will respect, trust, help and care for you;
I will share my life with you;
I will forgive you as we have been forgiven;
and I will try with you better to understand ourselves, the world, and God;
through the best and the worst of what is to come as long as we live.

Every child born into the world is a new thought of God
An ever fresh and radiant possibility.

<bride/groom>, Our miracle lies in the path we have chosen together.
I enter into this marriage with you knowing that the true magic of love
is not to avoid changes, but to navigate them successfully.
Let us commit until death parts us.

I love these little people;
and it is not a slight thing,
when they, who are so fresh from God, love us.

I, <bride/groom>, take thee <bride/groom>, to be my <husband/wife>,
and before God and these witnesses I promise to be
a faithful and true <husband/wife>.

In praising or loving a child,
we love and praise not that which is,
but that which we hope for.

I, <bride/groom>, take thee, <bride/groom>, to be my wedded <husband/wife>.
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.
According to God's holy ordinance,
and thereto I pledge thee my faith.

Groom:
I promise you <bride>, that I will be
your loving and loyal husband from now on.
I will share with you all of life's joy and sorrow,
pleasure and pain, until death parts us.

Bride:
I promise you <groom>, that I will be
your loving and loyal wife from now on.
I will share with you all of life's joy and sorrow,
pleasure and pain, until death parts us.

Honor thy parents, those that gave thee birth,
and watched in tenderness thine earliest days,
and trained thee up in youth, and loved in all.
Honor, obey and love them; it shall fill their souls with holy joy,
and shall bring down God's richest blessing on thee;
and in days to come, thy children, it they're given,
shall honor thee, and fill thy life with peace.

I, <bride/groom>, take thee <bride/groom>, to be my <husband/wife>,
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 thereto
I pledge thee my faith.

Remember the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, how he said, "Let the children come to me, do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of God."

I, <bride/groom>, take thee <bride/groom>, to be my wedded <husband/wife>,
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,
according to God's holy ordinance; and thereto
I pledge thee my faith.

Lord, teach me all that I should know:
In grace and wisdom I may grow;
The more I learn to do Thy will,
The better may I love Thee still.

I, <bride/groom>, ask you, <bride/groom>,
to be my <husband/wife>, my friend, and my love.
On this day I affirm the relationship we have enjoyed,
looking to the future to deepen and strengthen it.
I will be yours in plenty and in want,
in sickness and in health, in failure and in triumph.
Together we will dream, will stumble but restore each other,
we will share all things, serving each other and our fellow humanity.
I will cherish and respect you, comfort and encourage you,
be open with you, and stay with you as long as we shall live,
freed and bound by our Love.

All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures, great and small,
All things wise and wonderful,
The Lord God made them all.

Each little flower that opens,
Each little bird that sings,
He made their glowing colors,
He made their tiny wings.

The tall trees in the greenwood,
The meadows there we play,
The rushes by the water
We gather every day.

He have us eyes to see them,
And lips that we might tell
How great is God Almighty,
Who has made all things well.

I take you, <bride/groom>, to be my <husband/wife> from this day forward,
to join with you and share all that is to come, and I promise to be faithful
to you of God and this congregation to declare your intent. Will you have this
<man/woman> to be your <husband/wife>, to live together in a holy marriage?
Will you love <him/her>, comfort <him/her>, honor <him/her>, and keep <him/her>
in sickness and in health, and forsaking all others, be faithful to <him/her>
as long as you both shall live?

God made the world so broad and grand,
Filled with blessings from His hand.
He made the sky so high and blue,
And all the little children too.

Peace be to this house
And to all who dwell in it.
Peace be to them that enter
And to them that depart.

Day by day, dear Lord, of Thee
Three things I pray:
To see Thee more clearly,
To love Thee more dearly,
To follow Thee more nearly,
Day by day.

I, <bride/groom>, take thee <bride/groom>,
to be my wedded <husband/wife>,
and I do promise and covenant,
before God and these witnesses,
to be thy loving and faithful <husband/wife>;
in plenty and in want,
in joy and in sorrow,
in sickness and in health,
as long as we both shall live.

Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray Thee, Lord, Thy child to keep:
Thy love guard me through the night
And wake me with the morning light.

This ring I give you, in token and pledge of
our constant faith and abiding love.

What are little girls made of?
Sugar and spice, and everything nice.
That what little girls are made of.

I, <bride/groom>, take thee <bride/groom>, to be my wedded <husband/wife>,
to have an to hold from this day forward, for better for worse,
for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health,
to love and to cherish, 'til death do us part,
according to God's ordinance; and
thereto I pledge thee my troth.

What are little boys made of?
Ships and snails, and puppy dog's tails.
That's what little boys are made of.

I vow to be your faithful <husband/wife>,
understanding that marriage is a lifelong union,
and not to be entered into lightly, for the purpose of
mutual fellowship, encouragement and understanding; for
the procreation of children and their physical and spiritual nurture.
I hereby give myself to you in this cause
with my sacred vow before God.