|
Uniquely, I Do's Gary & Dylan
Family are those who are with you in good times and in
bad. Who stand beside you when you are on your knees, who
walk beside you when you don’t know the way. By blood or
bond, through tears and laughter, triumphs and
disappointments, family are those who encourage, support
and believe in you. So it is with the greatest honor and
respect to welcome you all here today, Dylan and Gary’s
family, to share in this most wonderful of days and
to give recognition to the
worth and beauty of love. Your presence shows the
love in your hearts and your blessing of this ceremony
which shall unite Dylan and Gary in marriage.
The ideals of love and family are as universal as time
itself, and the desire to spend a lifetime with the one we
love transcends language and time, and it speaks to the
very core of what makes us truly human.
May all of us be reminded this day, love is truly a gift
to be treasured and respected.
Let us bow our heads and begin with a blessing for this
union,
"Our hearts are filled with great happiness
on this the wedding day of Gary and Dylan.
They have come before you,
pledging their lives and their hearts to one another.
Gary that they may be ever true and loving,
living together in a way that shall ever nurture
the soul of their marriage.
Temper their hearts with kindness
and help them to be sweethearts, helpmates,
friend and guide,
So that together, may they meet the cares
and problems of life more bravely.
May their home truly be a place of love and harmony
where your Spirit is ever present.
Bless their wedding day, we pray,
and walk beside them, through all their life together.
Amen"
Marriage is a promise that strives to ensure that his
dreams will always be her dreams, and her dreams will
always be his dreams. Dylan and Gary, though the years
shall bring each of you into greater age and wisdom, you
will need to teach each other who you are, what you yet
shall be. You will need to enable one another to know the
fullness of being, for you are more than yourselves, and
more than each other.
You have come a long way from that math class in high
school, friendly partners in troublemaking while secretly
crushing on one another. Your journey brought you here,
ready to make a promise to stand with and for each other
in the times when love alone is not enough. The promises
you make this day are a lifelong commitment before all
those you love most in the world. The promise to love
another person openly and trustingly, without limits or
preconditions, for a lifetime, is perhaps the bravest
thing two people will ever do.
I have adapted some passages from The Invitation by Oriah,
and ask that you both, in the quiet moment of your hearts
and minds, ensure you trust in yourself and one another to
know and continually seek the answers anew;
Will you always risk looking like a fool for love, for
your dream, for the adventure of being alive?
Have you touched the center of your own sorrow, can you
sit with pain, your own or the other’s, without moving to
hide it, fade it or fix it?
Can you be with joy, your own or the other’s, can you
dance with wildness and let ecstasy fill you to the tips
of your fingers and toes without cautioning to be careful,
to be realistic, or to remember the limitations of being
human?
Can you disappoint another to be true to yourself? Can you
bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own
soul?
Can see beauty, even when it's not pretty, every day? Can
you source your own life from its presence?
Do you know what you ache for? Do you dare to dream of
meeting your hearts longing?
Can you get up, after the night of grief and despair,
weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be
done?
Will stand alone in the center of the fire with one
another and not shrink back?
If you are sure of your answers, I ask each of you now,
Gary, do you take Dylan to be your lawfully wedded wife?
[I do] Will you cherish and continually bestow upon her
your heart’s deepest devotion, forsaking all others,
keeping yourself only unto her as long as you both shall
live?
Dylan, do you take Gary to be your lawfully wedded
husband? [I do] Will you cherish and continually bestow
upon him your heart’s deepest devotion, forsaking all
others, keeping yourself only unto him as long as you both
shall live?
You are both here today because you cannot imagine
spending the rest of your lives with anyone else. Today,
you each pledge your heart, body- even the scrapes, bumps,
bruises- and soul to this union. You promise to support
one another in all your endeavors, counsel one another
when you need guidance, and push one another to new
heights, kickflips and grinds. With an open heart and open
mind, you will share thoughts, dreams, hopes and fears.
You will hold one another close when you laugh, when you
cry and when you crash. Each of you vow to be a strong
individual within a solid union so you may both grow in
love, wisdom and skill all the days of our lives.
As you have dreamed your whole lives of finding one
another, and this dream has come true, I ask you to repeat
your vows to one another after me:
"Dylan, today, I give myself to you." [repeat]
"I give you my heart and my soul." [repeat]
"I thank you for accepting me for who I am, [repeat]
for never asking me to change." [repeat]
----
"Today, I promise to love you in good times, [repeat]
to comfort you in bad times." [repeat]
----
"I will always be proud to call you my wife." [repeat]
"You are my rock and my best friend." [repeat]
"With you, I have found the perfect love, [repeat]
The woman I want to grow old with." repeat]
"You are the future I dreamed of." [repeat]
---
"Today and all the days to come, [repeat]
I will love you unconditionally." [repeat]
Gary, do you have a ring for your bride? If you will please place
this ring on Dylan’s finger in remembrance of your vows, a
forever symbol of love that is complete, beautiful, and
endless between you, and say, “With this ring, I thee
wed.”
"Gary, today, I give
myself to you." [repeat]
"I give you my heart and my soul." [repeat]
"I thank you for accepting me for who I am, [repeat]
for never asking me to change." [repeat]
----
"Today, I promise to love you in good times, [repeat]
to comfort you in bad times." [repeat]
----
"I will always be proud to call you my husband."
[repeat]
"You are my rock and my best friend." [repeat]
"With you, I have found the perfect love, [repeat]
The man I want to grow old with." [repeat]
"You are the future I dreamed of." [repeat]
---
"Today and all the days to come, [repeat]
I will love you unconditionally." [repeat]
Dylan, do you have a ring for your groom? If you will
please place this ring on Gary’s finger in remembrance of
your vows, a forever symbol of love that is complete,
beautiful, and endless between you, and say, “With this
ring, I thee wed.”
Through the unity of bringing the two of you together as
partners, Gary you also bring your son, [Name]. The
sealing of this marriage also seals the union of you as a
family.
Dylan, you give [Name] the gift of a mother’s love, and
this is will always be the most precious gift he will
receive from you. Do you promise to hold his hand, hug him
endlessly, play with him and provide him the security and
safety of a mother’s love each and every day? Please seal
this promise with a hug!
Dylan and Gary, Forever be together in harmony and let the winds of
the drops dance between you. Empower each other and allow
your relationship to evolve to its highest purpose. Sing
and dance and skate together and be joyful. Care for one
another, share your lives with one another and unite in
spirits with every fiber of your being. Bring your union
to the foreground of your thoughts always and through all
of your moments together, so that in the triumphs and
trials that lie ahead, you will you will feel just as you
do now, happy to be in love and married to one another. Be
at peace and live more and more in the present, which is
beautiful and stretches beyond the limits of the past and
towards the horizons of the future.
Gary and Dylan, it is with great honor and by the power of your
love and commitment and the authority vested in me to now
pronounce you husband and wife.
May I present to you Mr. & Mrs. Gary & Dylan... Gary, you
may kiss your bride!
|
