Including children in the ceremony

mrshall1027

Since a friend of ours is officiating the wedding, I am writing up the entire ceremony on my own with the help of google

Unfortunately, I haven't really been able to find much on including the children from a previous marriage into the ceremony.  I found where you say vows to each other, but I think they are too shy for that and they would be too uncomfortable which would make it really awkward.

Ideally, I would like to just add something onto the end of my vows to FI and then work a way of presenting them both with their own rings or necklace.  I just can't figure out the wording.

We will both be saying the same vows to eachother, but I am going to add this to the end of mine:

"I not only stand here and promise to be a loving and faithful Wife, I promise to be a patient, loving and caring Mother to Ava and Isla. I accept them as my own and promise to always be there for them, to listen to them, advise them, and love them until the end of our days."

Should I say something about presenting them with the ring/necklace or should I have the officiant say something and ask them to come up so that I can give it to them?  At what point should I do it - after I am done saying that part in the vows or when FI and I present our rings to eachother?

ETA: I'm also going to post this in Ceremony Ideas.

AllieHysh19

honestly, I think you have said it all in the vows to them.  I think you should say it twice though, once to each of them to make them feel individually special, then put the piece of jewlery on for them.  I think it will be super sweet, and a really nice gesture for you

ericaandtom2012

I think what you have planned within your vows is good. I wouldn't do vows with the children, especially if they are shy. Also, if their mother is still around, it would be awkward for them since it might seem like you're replacing their mom. For the necklace, I would give it to them before the ceremony in private.

cbear215

We are writing our own ceremony too.  I bought a book called "The Wedding Ceremony Planner" by Judith Johnson.  I bought the Kindle version for like $8 and it has really been a big help.  They have a bunch of different examples of ceremonies and have a section on incorporating children, including different text on how to do it. 
If you want to present them with jewelry during the vows, some of the examples in the book are:
"I give you this necklace as a symbol of my promise to always be there for you"
"we give you these rings to remind you of our love and to serve as a symbol of the unity of our new family"
Hope that helps!!

mrshall1027

Thanks for the input ladies.  Y'all are so much nicer then some of the girls on the Ceremony Ideas board!