Spiritual Wedding Ceremony
Convocation
We are gathered here today because love gathers us, and especially because love has found _______ and ______ and has woven them together.
We are here to remember and rejoice, and to recount with one another that love, as it’s purest, is all the nourishment a soul needs on its journey through life.
It is within this loving circle of family and friends gathered here today that _______ and ______ have sought out and found with your support during times of hard work and perseverance, the path of love, which joins their souls together.
Invocation
Please join me in prayer.
We give thanks for the love that has gathered us together in this place, and especially for the beautiful, heartwarming love that _______ and ______ have chosen to consecrate this day in marriage.
From the east we come to offer blessings, for the powers of the wind. We wish you wisdom in hardship, laughter in joy, and trust in each other. We offer blessings over all beginnings you ever choose together, and the brightness of all dawning times. Under the overarching sky, we offer blessings.
From the south we come to offer blessings, for the powers of fire. We wish you strength over grimness, light in darkness, and pride in each other. We offer blessings over all things you are passionate in together, and the warmth of flame in the joining of your souls. Under the glory of the sun, we offer blessings.
From the west we come to offer blessings, for the powers of the sea. We wish your compassion in grief, patience in frustration, and delight in each other. We offer blessings over all laughter you share together, and the calm of the eternal waves under moonlight. Above the sparkle of the oceans, we offer blessings.
From the north we come to offer blessings, for the powers of the mountains. We wish you fortitude in delay, beauty in stillness, and support in each other. We offer blessings over all things lasting you hold together, and the glow at the heart of an amber. Above the eternity of a rising earth, we offer blessings.
From within we come to offer blessings, for the powers of those without. We wish you delight in life, diversity in unity, love always. We offer blessings over all companions traveled with together, and true hearts to share freely. In heartfelt love and delight, we offer blessings.
For their wisdom in choosing love, and for their willingness to journey on the path of love, we give thanks. And for this circle of loving family and friends, and their open hears and loving spirits, we give thanks.
The Rose Blessing
Because of your presence in our hearts and minds, we invite you to participate in a Rose Blessings during our wedding ceremony. You will be given a rose, representing your love and joy, to hold at the beginning of the wedding ceremony. When the time comes, please share your rose with us, as well as your love and blessings, as we gather a bouquet from family and friends. We will keep the bouquet near us as we exchange vows – as a symbol of your involvement and importance in our lives.
Roses are universal symbols of love and blessings. Roses represent joy, the ability to love in a nurturing way, and the ability to see beauty in all things. More than that, the rose that you hold symbolizes the love and blessings that you wish to share with Joanna and Elijah on this special day. Please share your blessings with them now.
This bouquet of roses here with _______ and ______, represents your presence in their daily lives, and the loving foundation that creates the opportunity for _______ and ______ love to flourish.
The Readings
For the next few moments, let us reflect upon the challenging and yet rewarding nature of love with three special readings.First, a reading from Loise De Bernieres’ Corelli’s Mandolin
Now, an original piece
Lastly, a reading from William Shakespear’s Sonnet 116
Charge to the Couple by Officiant
On this, one of the most important days of _______ and ______ new life together, they stand within this wondrous circle of love of their families and dearest friends, who are here to witness and participate in their marriage.
_______ and ______, as you stand within this loving circle, may you not only draw from the unity, wholeness, and perfection symbolized by the circle, but also recall the ancient and modern meaning of being within a sacred space.
You two have chosen to have this ceremony as a way to publicly declare and enact your union with each other.
You have expressed the wish to acknowledge, articulate, and share what you are experiencing together with everyone here.
This is the time when you can create a magical and unforgettable celebration of love, where you can renew the intensity of your wonder and appreciation of each other as you begin to embark on a new voyage of discovery.
Consecration
Seeing that no moment is without meaning, no undertaking is without significance, no individual is of such a quality as to be diminished by even so important an enterprise as marriage, we ask that you both, together and as your unique special selves, be honored and expanded by the promises you are about to make, the marriage you are about to create. And may love, nourishment for your souls, be always in your midst, the foundation of your marriage.
Expression of Intent
_______ and ______ do you now choose to walk the path of love, hand in hand, with an open mind and open heart, and a willingness to witness and withstand the ongoing becoming of yourselves, and with a promise to listen, to have patience, and to work through difficult times? And will you always keep in mind that love, given and accepted freely, provides nourishment and health for your souls as they journey through this lifetime together? We doVows
Blessing of the Rings
Wholeness is the state in which nothing is missing and everything is possible, in which what has been completed by what is, and in which there is no lack.
These rings represent wholeness, a coming around of the cycle: from sickness to health, from want to plenty, from despair to joy, from failure to possibility, from loneliness to love.
Let these rings also be a sign that love has substance as well as soul, a present as well as a past, and that despite its occasional sorrows, love is a circle of happiness, wonder and delight.
Exchanging the Rings
Pronouncement of Marriage
Because you _______ and ________ have come together with your hearts, minds and souls, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss each other.
Benediction
May your marriage bring you all the excitement a marriage should bring, and may life grant you 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 __________.
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 the important ways with one another, but 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 have the good sense enough to take the first step back.
May you enter into the Mystery, which is the awareness of one another’s presence – warm and near when you are side by side, warm and near when you are in separate rooms or even in 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. Congratulations _________ and ____________.
A Blessing
Whenever two hearts find a love that is deep and full and true,
Whenever two souls pledge to share one pathway
All life through,
The world around them cannot help but change
And transform, too
For love is the force
That magically creates and makes things new.
From the Mothers of the Bridge and Groom
In the Polish tradition, we offer you BREAD SPRINKLED WITH SALT: a symbol of hope that you will never experience hunger or need. May you always find a way to deal with all your struggles.
And WINE – that you may never thirst, and that the life you share together be one of good health and good cheer, shared with the company of family and good friends
In the Italian tradition, we offer you CONFETTIS, sugar coated almonds that represent the sweet and bitter in life and the fruitfulness of the earth – a symbol of your promise of everlasting love.
May the sun bring new energy by day,
May the moon softly restore you by night
May the rain wash away your worries
And the breeze blow new strength into your being,
All the days of your life may you walk
Gently through the world and know its beauty.
Joanna Scaparotti | RMT & Ordained Minister | 617-429-1793 | joannascaparotti@gmail.com