Michigan-Detroit

XP: critique my ceremony please?

My FI and myself are putting together our entire ceremony and I am looking to get some feedback from others on length/content etc.

We intend to write our vows ourselves, but I included the traditional vows as a placeholder and so the flow is there.

If anyone has any feedback, I would greatly appreciate it! (sorry for the formatting of this post, I copy/pasted from Word and it seemed to mess it up). I also posted this on the Ceremony ideas board, but would love Feedback specifically for our little area of the world :)


01. Greeting:

OFFICIANT: Angelique and Nathaniel have brought us together here for an occasion of great joy and cause for celebration. Having found each other, they have built the kind of relationship that will serve them well as the foundation for their marriage. They have chosen us to be here with them to witness their wedding vows as they join together as husband and wife.


Each of us knows that a marriage is not created by a law or a ceremony, rather in the hearts of two human beings. It grows out of loving, caring and sharing ourselves with one another. And so it is that Angelique and Nathaniel have connected their hearts and souls, one to the other. So in witnessing this ceremony today, we are observing only an outward union that already exists between Angelique and Nathaniel.



02.) Love/Wine Box (alternative to unity candle)

OFFICIANT: Nathaniel and Angelique have both written love letters to each other.

These letters describe the good qualities they find in one another, the reasons they fell in love, and their reasons for choosing to spend their lives together. The letters are sealed in individual envelopes and they have not seen what the other has written.


Today, the letters will be placed inside this box, along with a bottle of wine and will be sealed shut. Five years from today, on their 5th wedding anniversary, Nathaniel and Angelique will open this box, read their letters to one another, and toast to the success of their marriage, replenish the contents of the box and repeat on their 10th anniversary, and so on.


Nathaniel and Angelique -  even though this box is intended to be opened in celebration and as a reward for five years of marriage, should you ever find your marriage enduring insurmountable hardships before that time, you are to open this box, sit and drink the wine together, and read the letters that you wrote to one another. Doing so will remind you of this day that you were united as a couple in marriage. By reading these love letters, it is hoped that you will reflect upon the reasons that you fell in love, will be reminded of why you chose to marry each other, and find the strength to overcome whatever obstacles led you to open the box.


(love letter carriers) Michael & Emma, will you please bring up the letters?


Love letter carriers hand letters to bride and groom


Angelique and Nathaniel, I now ask you to place the letters in the box and seal it shut.

 


03.) Reading

OFFICIANT: The Bride and Groom have asked Ben, brother of the Groom, to share a reading.


Ben takes microphone and completes  reading.



04.) Declaration of Intent

OFFICIANT: Nathaniel, do you take Angelique to be your wife, your partner in life and your one true love? Will you cherish your union and love her more each day than you did the day before? Will you trust and respect her, laugh and cry with her, love her faithfully through good times and bad, regardless of the obstacles you may face together. Will you give your hand, your heart, and your love, from this day forward for as long as you both shall live?


GROOM: I do!


OFFICIANT:  Angelique, do you take Nathaniel to be your husband, your partner in life and your one true love? Will you cherish your union and love him more each day than you did the day before? Will you trust and respect him, laugh and cry with him, love him faithfully through good times and bad, regardless of the obstacles you may face together. Will you give your hand, your heart, and your love, from this day forward for as long as you both shall live?


BRIDE: I do!


OFFICIANT: Take each others hands and speak your vows to one another:



05.) Wedding Vows (writing our own)


GROOM:  I Nathaniel take you Bride to be my wedded wife, to have and to hold, for better or worse , for richer or poorer, to love and to cherish from this day forward.


BRIDE: I Angelique take you Groom to be my wedded husband, to have and to hold, for better or worse , for richer or poorer, to love and to cherish from this day forward.


 

06.) Ring Exchange

OFFICIANT: The wedding ring is a circle symbolizing the sun, and the earth, and the universe. It is symbol of wholeness, perfection, and peace. As you enter into the circle of your shared love. May you be blessed through your union. May your journey as husband and wife be filled with peace, love, and joy.


BRIDE:  Nathaniel, I give you this ring as a symbol of my vow to always love you, cherish you, honor you, and respect you.


GROOM:  Angelique, I give you this ring as a symbol of my vow always love you, cherish you, honor you, and respect you.



07.) Pronouncement


You have made your marriage vows to one another, witnessed by your friends and family. You have sealed your vows with the giving and receiving of these rings. So now, by the power vested in me, I pronounce you husband and wife and invite you to kiss one another.

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Re: XP: critique my ceremony please?

  • Short, sweet and straight to the point. Love the wine box idea. I have no negative feedback, yours is very similar to my own.
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  • Glad to hear it's short enough, I was worried it was starting to get lengthy!

    I think I'm also going to talk to FI and see if he maybe wants to stick with the vows included here - we're already doing a pretty unique ceremony and I think it might be nice to keep a little bit of tradition in there! Not to mention we'll already have written very personal unique letters to one another already.

    What do you think? Good idea? Bad idea?
    image
  • edited August 2012
    Honestly, if your FI was on board with doing his own vows... I wouldn't pass that up. I really wish I could get my FI to do our own vows, but he is too uncomfortable with it. We're using a passage from a book we both found instead.

    I wouldn't worry about not following tradition. You're saying vows, you're exchanging rings... it's all tradition. The ceremony is all about you and your FI, the vows especially, so do whatever feels right to the both of you. 
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  • He did agree to write his own vows, but the thing is he is the procrasting/needs to be heckled type and I honestly don't feel like I have the time/patience to harass him about vows for the next week and 4 days with everything else we have to do!

    I feel like him writing the letter to include in the box is sort of the same idea and It will be even more meaningful when I do finally get to read it.

    Guess I'll talk it over with him tonight. It's possible he'll really really want to write his own, but I'm betting if I give him this out he'll take it! lol
    image
  • I love the wine box idea!  
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