AMERICAN WEDDINGS BLOG
Stay up to date with the latest wedding ceremony trends, script writing inspiration, tips and advice for first-time officiants, and news that matters to couples and wedding ministers.
Stay up to date with the latest wedding ceremony trends, script writing inspiration, tips and advice for first-time officiants, and news that matters to couples and wedding ministers.
Published Wednesday, Feb. 16th, 2022
Are you planning a wedding ceremony grounded in the loving wisdom and harmony of the Tao?
This Taoist wedding ceremony script begins by welcoming the partners into a loving circle of guests as the wedding ritual begins. The officiant gives thanks to the couple’s ancestors, the universe, to the five elements, and to the movement of the eternal, mysterious Tao within all things.
The heartfelt invocation includes a reading from Chuang Tzu (Zhuang Zhou), and references to the Way, and to the joining and intermingling of the couple’s two individual lives to create a new path together.
From the script:
“This eternal movement of the Way has brought this couple together, so that their lives have become beautifully and mutually entangled, like the Yin and the Yang, or the light and the dark, interdependent opposites which cannot be separated from each other.
This unity of opposites, this harmony, shall become the source of your strength to endure life’s hardships, cherish its joys, and fulfill your duties to each other and to your family.”
This moving opening officiant speech is followed by an Elemental Ceremony unity ritual, which includes a candle lighting, and the symbolism of the fire and water elements to demonstrate a harmonious balance between energies. This is a beautiful modern approach to Taoist wedding traditions!
The vow exchange is given with joint ‘we do’ wedding vows to demonstrate unity and harmony, followed by a traditional ring exchange, the officiant’s pronouncement, and an optional love poem written by Chinese poet and artist Kuan Tao-Sheng (Guan Daosheng).
This detailed wedding script, with its elemental unity ceremony and classic Tao readings, is a great starting place for your own Taoist (Daoist) ceremony. Use the template as is, or mix and match your favorite sections to create a custom experience!
We know that writing a ceremony from scratch can be a daunting process, especially if you’re officiating on short notice. To make things easier, we keep our Sample Script Library well stocked with wedding ceremony templates and sample scripts for you to choose from.
These scripts are a great starting point, with sections to add to, leave out, or reorganize, as you personalize a ceremony.
You'll find more spiritual and community-centered wedding scripts, including a Civil Wedding Ceremony With Thesis Of Natural Community.
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