Wedding Ceremony for Eileen & Keith
Processional:
Officiant will come in at the beginning of Beautiful Day on Strings. Keith's(Groom) brother, Patrick will escort his grandmother, Nan, followed by Eileen's (Bride) dad, Jerry escorting out her grandparents Joe and Marge. Jerry will take his seat.
Music will change to a song from the Matrix soundtrack for Keith's processional, who will be escorted by his parents, Jeannie and Skip. They will take their seats.
Music will change to Canon in D and the wedding party will come down the stairs in couples:
Katie and Jonathan
Tracy & James
Becky and Patrick (maid of honor and best man)
Music will change to instrumental version of Kissing You from Romeo + Juliet. Officiant will have everyone stand. Eileen will be escorted down the stairs by her mother, Pam. She will hug and kiss both Eileen & Keith and will go to her seat.
We will wait for music to stop.
Officiant: Who gives their blessing for the marriage of Eileen & Keith?
Both sets of parents: "We do."
Eileen will hand her flowers to Officiant. Becky will fix dress/veil. Officiant will hand flowers to Becky. Eileen & Keith will turn to face Officiant.
Officiant will ask guests to be seated and greet everyone informally on behalf of Eileen & Keith.
Opening Words
(Officiant)
We have come together today to witness the joining in marriage of Eileen & Keith. As family and friends, we wish to celebrate their love with them and send them on their way with our love and best wishes for their future.
A marriage is a promise between two people which takes a lifetime to fulfill; a promise to share your lives generously and enthusiastically each and every day; a promise to listen when the other needs to talk; a promise to comfort when the other needs assurance; and a promise to renew the appreciation and love you feel for the other.
A good marriage must be created and maintained. It is more than the excitement and romance of being deeply in love. By marrying, you are committing to an agreement-one that you must make new every day; "I agree to help you. I agree to look out for you. I agree to trust you and be worthy of your trust. I agree to put up with your bad moods and try to make you laugh. I agree to do the best I can, and if, on occasion, my best falls short, I will continue to grow and get better. And so each day becomes a small mosaic of plans and trials and laughter and ideas and promises shared and promises fulfilled, and to this we add the words: "Because I love you, I agree to do this. And because I love you, I will make this agreement new everyday."
With love, shared pain is lessened. With love, shared joy is increased. Love makes you stronger, so that you can reach out and live in ways you dared not risk alone. Let your love give you the strength to stand apart, to make your own contributions to the world. Love each other's families as your own. May you look upon each other's strengths with joy, accept each other's imperfections with understanding, and renew your love each and every day.
As we now proceed to the marriage vows, may each married couple here today be inspired to re-affirm the vows they made on their own wedding day and for others, may it bring a smile for future dreams.
Statement of Intention
(Officiant)
Today your separate lives, with their individual memories, desires, and hopes merge into one. You bring to this new life, each for the sake of the other, the best that you have in you, seeking to express your life together with mutual love. Eileen and Keith will you both honor each other's happiness, respect each others differences and hold each other in your hearts, remembering always to be each others best friend?
Eileen & Keith: I will
Hand Fasting
Officiant: There is an ancient Celtic tradition of binding a couple in marriage by hand-fasting. As you join your hands, so your lives are joined. Keith & Eileen, you have each prepared yourselves in your hearts to begin a new life, one built together on a strong foundation of love and respect. In this, marriage is a rite of passage as their solitary past is left behind and you will walk together bound by the ties of love. Eileen & Keith, please clasp your left hands together. To symbolize these bonds, we will now bind your left hands together with this cord, which, like your love, holds you together, yet you maintain your individuality.
James and Tracey will bind Eileen & Keith's hands together.
Vows
Officiant: Having been bound by your intentions to live together in marriage, I ask you to read your vows to one another.
Keith:
Eileen, I love you for your beauty, your intelligence, your kindness, for the way you sing only to me…and for the way you always know how to make me feel so special. So, on top of all the other vows that I will make to you on our wedding day, I vow to make you laugh, to kiss away your tears and always appreciate how lucky I am to have someone who makes me feel the way you do. I will continue to try as hard as I can to make you feel as special as you make me feel, to inspire you, respect and love you, forever and ever.
Eileen:
Keith, you have been my best friend, playmate, confidant and my greatest challenge. But most importantly, you are the love of my life and you make me happier than I could have ever imagined and feel more loved than I ever thought possible. I love that you make me smile even when I don't want to, that you're the first person I want to see when I wake up in the morning and the last person I want to kiss before going to sleep at night. I promise to love, encourage and inspire you, to laugh with you, and to comfort you in times of sorrow, with all that I am and all I feel inside in the only way I know how…completely and forever.
Exchange of Rings
Officiant will get the rings from Katie and Jonathan.
(Officiant) These rings mark the beginning of a long journey filled with wonder, surprises, laughter, tears, celebration, grief & joy. May these rings glow in reflection of the warmth and love which flow through both of you today.
Eileen, please extend your left hand. Keith, please take Eileen's ring and place it on her finger, repeating after me:
Keith: I give you this ring as a symbol of my love. As it encircles your finger, may it remind you always that you are surrounded by my enduring love. I am honored to call you my wife.
(Officiant) Eileen, please take Keith's ring, place it on his finger, and repeat after me:
Eileen: I give you this ring as a symbol of my love. As it encircles your finger, may it remind you always that you are surrounded by my enduring love. I am honored to call you my wife.
Officiant: I will now unite your hands as your vows and the exchange of rings have bound you together in spirit.
Signing of the license (witnessed by Becky & Patrick)
Words of thanks to the parents
(Officiant) Keith & Eileen would like to extend thanks to their parents:
When we were children, you held our hands when we crossed the street. All these years later, you no longer hold our hands but you still hold our hearts. You have given us roots to ground us and wings to let us soar. We have made you proud, worried, frustrated, frazzled, afraid, euphoric and bewildered-sometimes (during the teen years) all in the span of 5 minutes. Still, you have believed in us, encouraged us and loved us unconditionally. You cheered, advised, listened, cajoled and extricated us from more sticky situations than we will ever admit. You have baked cookies, scared the monsters away from under the bed and helped us calculate at what spot two trains traveling toward each other from 100 miles apart, leaving at the same time and traveling at 50mph would pass. You have always been there and without that, we would not be the people we are today.
Most important, you have been our role models, not only in teaching us, but by living lives of integrity, selflessness and unconditional love for us and one another. Because of your love, we, in turn, are able to love each other wholeheartedly and without reservation.
And for that, we thank you.
Final Blessing (given by Eileen's family friend, Nick)
Pronouncement
(Officiant)
Keith & Eileen, in so much as the two of you have agreed to live together in matrimony, have promised your love for each other by these vows, the giving of these rings and the joining of your hands, I now declare you to be husband and wife.
Keith, you may kiss your bride.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I present "Mr. and Mrs. Keith and Eileen Smith"
Recessional
Everyone walks out as couples.
Cocktails will be served in the reception area. Bridal party will go for photos.