Prelude .....(list songs here)
Seating of Chosen Family.....(song here)
Procession of the Brides....(song here)
Greeting............(Offic)
Greeting: Friends, we have been invited here today to share with Jennifer and Shell a very important moment in their lives. In the years they have been together, their love and understanding of each other has grown and matured, and they have decided to live their lives together in marriage.
Opening prayer/Reading.............(Scottish Wedding Prayer, given by FRIEND)
Scottish Wedding Prayer
Lord help us to remember when
We first met and the strong
love that grew between us.
To work that love into
practical things so that nothing
can divide us.
We ask for words both kind
and loving and hearts always
ready to ask forgiveness
as well as to forgive.
Dear Lord, we put our
marriage into your hands
Lord help us to remember when
We first met and the strong
love that grew between us.
To work that love into
practical things so that nothing
can divide us.
We ask for words both kind
and loving and hearts always
ready to ask forgiveness
as well as to forgive.
Dear Lord, we put our
marriage into your hands
Giving of the Brides ...... (offic)
Giving of the brides: Jennifer and Shell come before you, their chosen family and friends, to join their hands in marriage. If there is any reason they should not be wed, speak now or forever hold your peace.
Definition of Marriage ...... (offic)
Definition of Marriage ...... (offic)
Definition of Marriage:
Historically speaking, there are as many ways to wed as there are people and socieities. Depending on the culture and era, marriage could be between two or more people, might or might not include living together or children, might be between strangers where the family arranges everything, and might well be acknowledged as legal without a vow being said. It might only be valid when dowry or bride-price is paid or be invalidated if monetary consideration is given, it might require consent of every living parent and an entire community to witness or it might require nothing more than words said when utterly alone together. The crucial point was the will of those involved to be married and their commitment to stay that way.
Humans are diverse, but we share some needs in common, which are the causes for marriage. The need for love, companionship, intimacy, support in hard times; these are things that make a family, be it a family of two or of twenty. Perhaps the most important facet to marriage is that it challenges you to be better than before, as a single person only worries about herself, but a married person is concerned about the needs of someone else. Marriage says you will create a future together, not just stay together as long as something better doesn't come along. Marriage is about making promises to God and to someone you love and keeping them.
Jen and Shell are in a rather unique situation where they may legally wed in South Carolina, but when Jen becomes legally female, South Carolina law currently states that it will be as if this wedding never happened. That possibility does nothing to change the fact that they are here today, making these promises, and getting married in the eyes of God, their family and friends, and most importantly, each other. Marriage is a thing of love. The world, including it's laws, passes away, but love remains.
Exchange of Vows ...... (Jen & Shell)
Jen to Shell: ???
Shell to Jen:
I love you because you care for me so unselfishly, from putting a heater under the covers in the winter to keep my toes warm to doing a full 12 days of Christmas for me, appreciating my various facets.
I love you because you show me that there are people to whom honesty, honor, and thinking of other's needs first really do exist in the world and you remind me to open my cynical heart to that hope.
I love you because you give me endless joys, from the big intense ones like today to the little silly ones like when you come up to me when I'm cooking and hug me.
I love you because you are patient with me, letting me arrive at things at my own pace and in my own time, like when I proposed to you, months after you made it known ever so gently that you wanted to be my wife.
Because I love you, I promise to treat you the way you want to be treated and with the respect you deserve, knowing that your thoughts, desires and feelings will sometimes be different than my own, but remembering that our strength comes from those differences. I promise to build trust with my words and actions.
Because I love you, I will deeply appreciate all the wonderful qualities you have and not let the passage of time dull that appreciation. I promise to grow along with you, to be willing to adapt as our lives change, keeping our relationship alive and exciting.
Because I love you, if I stumble and fail to live up to my promises, I will look you in the eyes, hold your hands, and apologize with sincerity. I promise to love you regardless of the obstacles we may face, with all I have to give and all that I am.
Because I love you, I will be my best for you.
Exchange of Rings ...... (Jen & Shell)
Jen to Shell: ???
Shell to Jen: Jennifer, With this ring I thee wed, with my body I thee worship, and with all my worldly goods I thee endow.
Moment of Reflection or Reading?.....(song and artist or title, author, given by FRIEND)
(Fill in the blank here)
Pronouncement of Marriage ......(offic)
As you have both consented together in the presence of this company, by the virtue of the authority vested in me by the state of South Carolina, I pronounce you married.
Introduction of Newlyweds......(offic)
Introduction of Newlyweds: I present to you the happily married couple, Jennifer and Shell
Recessional....(song title and artist)
Closing Words...(offic)
Closing Words: Jennifer and Shell invite you all to join them at the reception, and don't hold the party up on their account!
