Introduction
(Name
of Groom) AND (Name
of Bride), after your journey, you have arrived
here in Jamaica in this beautiful setting,
so that you can publicly commit yourselves to each other in marriage.
God invented marriage. He created it because He looked into the
future and saw what your needs and your desires would be for companionship,
love and fulfillment. But God also knew that no marriage would ever
be perfect. As you enter this union, it’s important to realistically
understand that it will take a love of love AND work to make this
relationship a success.
Many couples tend to think marriage as a 50/50 proposition. Actually,
the best relationships are 90/10. If you both will give 90% and
take only 10—you will have a formula likely to bring both of
you happiness for a lifetime.
The Bible and Marriage
The
best manual ever written on the subject of marriage…is the
Bible. Here are a few of the things that God has to say about marriage:
“Each man should have his own wife, and each woman should have
her own husband…A man leaves his father and mother and is joined
to his wife, and the two are united into one. Since they are no
long two, but one, let no one separate them, for God has joined
them together.
Give honor to marriage, and remain faithful to one another in marriage.
Husbands ought to love their wives as they love their own bodies…Each
man must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect
her husband.” (1 Cor. 7:2; Matt. 19:5-6; Heb. 13:4; Eph. 5:28,
33)
1 Corinthians 13
Love
is a verb. It is not a state of being but an ACTION verb.
It is not just how you feel about each other, but what you DO
for each other that will keep your relationship growing and
alive.
The Bible has a lot to say about love. Let me read 1 Corinthians
13 from the Bible: “Love is very patient and kind, never jealous
or envious, never boastful or proud, never haughty or selfish or
rude. Love does not demand it’s own way. It is not irritable
or touchy. It does not hold grudges and will hardly even notice
when others do it wrong. It is never glad about injustice, but rejoices
whenever truth wins out.
If you love someone, you will be loyal to him no matter what the
cost. You will always believe in him, always expect the best of
him and always stand your ground defending him.”
(Name of Groom)
AND (Name of Bride),
in Jamaica, there is a term
that describes how couples treat one another: “Giv an
Tek and Mek Up”, which means: “to put things right…by
family discussion”.
(Optional) Who gives this woman to be married to this man?
Sandburg’s Poem
While marriages are founded and built upon love, emotions are
often fickle. Poet Carl Sandburg captured the essence of a love,
which can stand the test of time, when he wrote:
“I love you. I love you for what you are but I love you yet
more for what you are going to be. I love you not so much for your
realities as for your ideals. I pray for your desires, that they
may be great, rather than for your satisfactions, which may be so
hazardously little.
A satisfied
flower is one whose petals are about to fall. But the most beautiful
rose is one, hardly more than a bud, wherein the pangs and ecstasies
of desire are working for larger and finer growth. Not always shall
you be what you are now. You are going forward toward something
great. I am on the way with you and … I love you.”
MINISTER
Friends (Name
of Groom) AND (Name
of Bride), stand before us to be united in
marriage. If anyone can show any just cause why they should not
be joined together in married, let him now speak or else forever
hold his peace.
His Vows
(Rose Ceremony is Optional)
(Name of Groom),
please take this rose and give it to (Name
of Bride).
Let this beautiful flower, that you have given to (Name
of Bride),
remind you of the beautiful and fragile nature of your relationship
with (Name
of Bride).
Cherish her always, treating her as your princess.
Do you, (Name
of Groom), take (Name
of Bride)
to be your wife, to live together according to the Word of God?
Will you love and cherish her, giving her assistance in all of life’s
labors? Will you be true to her both in sickness and health, when
things are going well and when there are problems? And will you
be faithful to her as long as you both shall live? If so, you may
answer, “I WILL”.
Her Vows
(Rose Ceremony is Option)
(Name
of Bride) please
take this rose and give it to (Name
of Groom). Let this beautiful flower, that
you have given to (Name
of Groom), remind you of the beautiful and
fragile nature of your relationship with (Name
of Groom). Cherish him always, treating him
as your prince.
Do you,
(Name
of Bride) take (Name
of Groom), to be your husband, to live together
according to the Word of God? Will you love and cherish him, giving
him assistance in all of life’s labors? Will you be true to
him both in sickness and health, when things are going well and
when there are no problems? And will you be faithful to him as long
as you both shall live? If so, you may answer, “I WILL”.
Her Ring
(Name of Groom),
may I have the ring, that is the lasting symbol of your vows to
(Name of Bride)?
This gold ring has been subjected to tremendous heat so that the
waste could be removed and the metal purified into a fit token of
your commitment of love. (Name
of Groom), let this ring symbolize your willingness
to build your character through your self-sacrificial love for (Name
of Bride). Place the ring on the third finger of (Name
of Bride)’S
left hand and repeat after me as you make these vows to (Name
of Bride):
“I,
(Name of Groom),
from this day forward, take you, (Name
of Bride), to be my lawfully wedded wife,
I will love you, I will cherish you, I will be true to you no matter
what comes, whether we become rich or poor, whether there is sickness
or health, until we are parted by death and with this ring, as a
symbol of this pledge, I now marry you.”
His Ring
(Name of Bride),
may I have the ring, that is the lasting symbol of your vows to
(Name of Groom)?
This ring is a circle, which symbolizes eternity—for a circle
has no ending. (Name
of Bride),
let this ring remind you of the new relationship that you are entering
with (Name of
Groom), which you desire to last for a lifetime.
Place the ring on the third finger of (Name
of Groom)’S
left hand and repeat after him as you make these vows to (Name
of Groom):
“I,
(Name of Bride),
from this day forward, take you, (Name
of Groom), to be my lawfully wedded husband.
I will love you. I will cherish you. I will be true to you no matter
what comes. Whether we become rich or poor, whether there is sickness
or health, until we are parted by death, and with this ring, as
a symbol of this pledge, I now marry you.”
Prayer (personal prayer by Marriage Officiant)
Proclamation
Now that you, (Name
of Groom) AND (Name
of Bride), have openly declared your wish
to be united in the covenant of marriage, and as you have made these
promises to each other before God and these witnesses, and have
given each other rings to confirm your vows:
By the power and authority given to me as a minister, according
to the laws of the Country of Jamaica,
I do now pronounce you to be: Husband and Wife, in the name
of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
God has joined you together—let no one tear you apart. “May
the Lord bless you and keep you; may His face shine upon you; may
He be gracious to you and give you peace forever.”
You
may kiss your Bride.
Spiritual
Ceremony | Contemporary Ceremony
| Ceremonies
of the Heart
