The blessing is inserted at the end of the ceremony, just before the couple is pronounced husband and wife. It is read either by the officiant or you may choose a family member to read it.

Secular/Nonreligious

1.        May your marriage bring you all the exquisite excitements a marriage should bring, and may life grant you also patience, tolerance, and understanding.  May you always need one another - not so much to fill your emptiness as to help you know your fullness. A mountain needs a valley to be complete;the valley does not make the mountain less but more; and the valley is more a valley because it has a mountain towering over it. So let it be with you and you.May you need one another, but not out of weakness.May you want one another, but not out of lack.May you entice one another, but not compel one another.May you succeed in all important ways with one another, and not fail in the little graces. May you look for things to praise, often say, "I love you!" and take no notice of small faults.If you have quarrels that push you apart, may both of you hope to have good sense enough to take the first step back.May you enter into the mystery which is the awareness of one another's presence - no more physical than spiritual, warm and near when you are side by side, and warm and near when you are in separate rooms or even distant cities. May you have happiness, and may you find it making one another happy. May you have love, and may you find it loving one another!

2.        Groom and Bride, as you pledge to each other to be loving friends and partners in marriage.  To talk and to listen, to trust and appreciate one another; to respect and cherish each other's uniqueness;  and to support, comfortand strengthen each other through life's joys and sorrows. You have promised to share hopes, thoughts and dreams as youbuild your lives together.   May your lives be ever intertwined, your love keeping you together.   Remember to build a home that is compassionate to all, full of respect and honor for others and each other. May your home be forever filled with peace, happiness and love.

3.        Now you will feel no rain, for each of you will be the shelter for each other. Now you will feel no cold, for each of you will be the warmth for the other. Now you are two persons, but there is only one life before. Go now to your dwelling to enter into the days of your life together. And may your days be good and long upon the earth.

4.        (Longer version of #3)Now you feel no rain,for each of you will be shelter to the other.Now you feel no cold,for each of you will be warmth to the other.Now there is no loneliness,for each of you will be a companion to the other.You are two bodies,but there is one life before you and one home.When evening falls,You look up and there the other will be.You will take handsand you'll turn togetherTo look at the road you traveled to reach this - the hour of your happiness.It stretches behind you,even as the future lies ahead.A long and winding road,whose every turn means discovery.Old hopes, new laughter, shared fears.The adventure has just begun.

5.        Treat yourselves and each other with respect, and remind yourselves often of what brought youtogether. Give the highest priority to the tenderness, gentleness and kindness that your connection deserves. When frustration, difficulties and fear assail yourrelationship, as they threaten all relationships at onetime or another, remember to focus on what is rightbetween you, not only the part which seems wrong. In this way, you can ride out the storms when clouds hide the face of the sun in your lives -- remembering that even if you lose sight of it for a moment, the sun is still there. And if each of you takes responsibility for the qualityof your life together, it will be marked by abundance and delight.

6.        May your joys be as bright as the morning,your years of happiness as numerous as the stars in the heavens,and your troubles but shadows that fade in the sunlight of love

7.        May this day shine eternally in your lives.May it add brilliance to every achievement and cast a divine light over any misfortune.May you care for each other in all sadness.May you give cheer to each other.May you give vitality to each other in all undertakings.May all that is virtuous, beautiful and honest, remain with you always.

8.        You were born to be together, and together you shall be forevermore.You shall be together when the wings of death scatter your days.Ay, you shall be together even in your silent memory.But let there be spaces in your togetherness,And let the winds of the heaven dance between you.Love one another, but make not a bondage of love.Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.Fill each other's cup, but drink not from one cup.Give one another of your bread, but eat not of the same loaf.Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each of you be alone,Even as the strings of a lute are alone, though they quiver with the same music.Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping,For only the hand of life can contain your hearts.And stand together, yet not too near together,For the pillars of the temple stand apart,And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in shadow.

Love has no other desire but to fulfill itself.To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks to another day of loving.To rest at the noon hour and meditate love's ecstasy;To return home eventide with gratitude, and then sleep with a prayerFor the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips.

9.        In the years which shall bring Groom and Bride into greater age and wisdom, we hope that their love shall be ever young; that they shall be able to always recover from moments of despair. In this hope, may they keep the vows made on this day, in freedom, teaching each other who they are, what they yet shall be, enabling them to know that, in the fullness of being, they are more than themselves and more than each other, that they are all of us, and that together we share joyously the fruits of life on this earth, our home.

10.        Marriage is:
It is never being too old to hold hands.
It is remembering to say "I love you" at least once a day.
It is at no time taking the other for granted.
It is having a mutual sense of values and common objectives.
It is standing together facing life.
It is forming a circle of love that gathers in the whole family.
It is doing things for each other not in the attitude of duty or sacrifice, but in the spirit of joy.
It is speaking words of appreciation and demonstrating gratitude.
It is not looking for perfection in each other.
It is cultivating flexibility, patience, understanding, and a sense of humor.
It is having the capacity to forgive and forget.
It is giving each other an atmosphere in which each can grow.
It is finding room for the things of the spirit.
It is a common search for the good and the beautiful.
It is establishing a relationship in which independence is equal, dependence is mutual, and obligation is reciprocal. 
It is not only marrying the right partner, it is being the right partner.


Religious/Spiritual

11.        We ask that the Spirit of love may deepen the lives of _______ and _________. May the  relationship, which today has been expressed, continue to grow in the years to come. And whatever changes time may bring, let this wedding ceremony remain as a treasured memory and a guide to life. May they always experience that breathless wonder that exclaims: "Out of all this world, YOU have chosen ME." When life is done and the sun is setting, may they be found then as now, still hand in hand, still thanking thee for each other.

12.        Go forth in peace.
Be still within your self
And know that the trail is beautiful.
May the winds be gentle upon your face
And your path be straight and true
As the flight of the eagle.
Walk in beauty and harmony
With God and all people.

13.        Dear heavenly Father our hearts are filled with great happiness on _____________ and _________________'s wedding day, as they come before You pledging their hearts and lives to one another. Grant that they may be ever true and loving, living together is such a way as to never bring shame or heartbreak into their marriage. Temper their hearts with kindness and understanding, rid them of all pretense of jealousy. Help them to remember to be each other's sweetheart, helpmate, friend and guide, so that together they may meet the cares and problems of life more bravely. And with the passage of time, may the home they are creating today, truly be a place of love and harmony, where your spirit is ever present. Bless this union we pray, and walk beside _________________ and ________________ throughout all their lives together. We ask these things in Jesus name; AMEN

14.        May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face shine upon you, and be gracious unto you. May the Lord lift up his countenance unto you, and give you peace.

15.        Father in heaven, You ordained marriage for your children, and you gave us love.We present to You _____ and _____, who come this day to be married. May the covenant of love they make be blessed with true devotion and spiritual commitment. We ask that You, God, will give them the ability to keep the covenant they have made. When selfishness shows itself, grant generosity; when mistrust is a temptation, give moral strength; when there is misunderstanding, give patience and gentleness;if suffering becomes a part of their lives, give them a strong faith and an abiding love. Amen.

16.        Gracious God, richly bless ______ and ______in the promises that they have made to each other.Grant that the courtesies, the thoughtfulness, and the self giving which alreadyhave laid the foundation for their love,build the home which is raised on it.May they be loyal and engaging companions to each other,.and may they be loving and wise parents.And in this world where there is much disillusion and disappointment... where love brings delight and also wounding in the frailty of our ways...make them a visible symbol of the love that does not wane whenthe evening comes but is fresh with each new day.And as you bless this special couple this day,bless each union represented here.Forgive us where we have not been good newsand glad days for each other.Perfect our imperfect love with the joy that comes from above,and may we grow ourselves and grow in affirmation of the other.May the Lord bless you and take care of you:May the Lord be kind and gracious to you:May the Lord look on you with favor and give you peace.

17.        Bless this marriage, as ____________ and _________ begin their journey down the road of life together. May they respect each other's likes and dislikes, opinions and beliefs, hopes and dreams, and fears even though they may not always understand each other.  May they rest in the knowledge that no matter what happens by holding on to each other things will work out for the best. Most of all, dear God, help them to keep the torch of love burning with the fire that they now share in their hearts.

18.        Treat yourselves and each other with respect,and remind yourselves often of what brought you together.Give the highest priority to the tenderness, gentleness and kindness that your connection deserves.When frustration, difficulties and fear assail your relationship,as they threaten all relationships at one time or another,remember to focus on what is right between you, not only the part which seems wrong.In this way, you can ride out the stormswhen clouds hide the face of the sun in your lives...remembering that even if you lose sight of it for a moment, the sun is still there.And if each of you takes responsibility for the quality of your life together,it will be marked by abundance and delight.For where two or three are gathered together in my name,there am I in the midst of them.

19.        In joining your lives may God grant you both...Love... to afford each other a special quality of time together.Joy...in the accomplishments of one another.Understanding...that your interests and desireswill not always be the same.Friendship...based on mutual trust.Courage...to speak of a misunderstandingand to work on a solutionbefore the setting of the sun.Compassion...to comfort each other in pain and sorrow.Foresight...to realize rainbows follow rainy days.Imagination...to keep with you part of the child you used to be.Mirth...from your sense of humor.Awareness...to live each day with the knowledgethat there is no promise of tomorrow.May God bless you and keep youin the Palm of His hand.

20.        _____________ and __________________, may God bless and keep you. May the sun of many days and years shine upon you.  May the love you have for one another grow and hold you close. May the true light within you guide your way together. May your dreams come true, and when they don't, may new dreams arise.  And long, long years from now, may you look at each other and say, "Because of you, I have live the life I always wanted to live-because of you I have become the person I longed to be.

21.        Any may you build together a lasting home, not of wood and stone and glass, but a mansion made of many rooms, filled with shared experience and furnished with shared love. And in your house of many rooms, remember to keep a place apart for thinking private thoughts, and dreaming private dreams; a place where each of you can grow and share with God a private you in contemplation and prayer. And from this day until forever may the Lord remain with you always, to keep your love eternally young, and your faith forever strong. Amen.

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