New Year’s Eve Wedding Ceremony Script with Wine Box & Love Letters

Before the Ceremony:

• As guests enter the ceremony space, they’re each given a vile or pouch filled with festive confetti. Guests are then invited to take their seats.

Processional

Members of the wedding party walk down the wedding aisle and take their places. Guests are then asked to rise. The couple will walk down the aisle together to meet the officiant, or one partner may choose to be escorted down the aisle to meet the other partner and the officiant.

Welcome

Officiant to reception

Thank you, please be seated. We are gathered together to celebrate the love that [Partner 1] and [Partner 2] share, as we also ready to celebrate a new year. [Partner 1] and [Partner 2] chose this day, New Year’s Eve, to signify the closing of one chapter and the bliss of beginning a new one – one full of endless possibilities.

And that’s what marriage is – infinite and limitless. It’s experiencing love unbound and unrestrained. It’s two people bringing out the best in each other, and supporting one another when life is less than simple. But while love can look differently on different people, there’s no question that we’re looking at love right now.

Invocation

Officiant

The commitment of marriage is not one that [Partner 1] and [Partner 2] take lightly. As they commit their heart and souls for a lifetime, they ask each of you to share in a commitment, as well. As we take a moment and pause, reflect back on the closing year – and something you spent time doing that brought you joy. They ask you to resolve to incorporate more of that activity – and therefore joy - into your life, in the New Year.

(Pause)

Declaration Of Intent 

Officiant

As this intention has been set for [2023 / Coming Year], it’s time for [Partner 1] and [Partner 2] to confirm their intention to each other for life. 

Officiant to Partner One

[Partner 1] do you wholeheartedly take [Partner 2] to be your partner in life and one true love, with the promises of love, honor, and respect, as together you create your future?

• Partner 1 answers, “I Do”
• Officiant turns to next partner

Officiant to Partner Two

[Partner 2] do you wholeheartedly take [Partner 1] to be your partner in life and one true love, with the promises of love, honor, and respect, as together you create your future?

• Partner 2 answers, “I Do”

Wedding Reading

• This reading is called “You are the Bubbles,” a poem by Rachel Bright

Officiant to the couple

Together, you are the bubbles in one another’s champagne
The morning sun through a window
The breaking of a smile.
Together, you are the one doughnut in the bag with more jam than all the others.
That photo where everybody looks great.
The know-all-the-words, sing-out-of-tune chorus of your favorite song.
Together, you are the beginnings of a big idea.
The twinkly bits that hang in the sky after the firework goes bang.
The cold, thin air at the top of a mountain.
The only two people in a crowded room.
Together, you are that unforgettable day of the holiday.
An accidental adventure.
Chocolate chip.
The last two pages of your favorite book.
A BBQ with friends.
The spray of the sea.
The nose of the cheese.
A kiss.
A hug.
A hold-my-hand.
A decision which, looking back, will seem to be the most excellent one you’ve ever made.
Together you are bubbles.
The unburst-able bubbles of the very best things in life

Exchange of Vows

Officiant to the couple

The vows that you’re about to share are entwined in choice. You’re choosing each other. You’re choosing to continue to walk a road together, without knowing exactly where it will lead, or what it may bring. The path of marriage is not an easy one, but its rewards can be priceless.

Now, you’ll make your promises to help each other keep their feet, and be swept to the same corners of adventure.

Officiant to Partner One

“Today I give you my hand to hold and my heart to keep. I promise to encourage and inspire you, to laugh with you, and to comfort you in times of sorrow and struggle. I promise to love you in good times and the difficult times, when our love is simple, and when it is an effort. I promise to cherish you, adventure with you, and to grow with you through all my days. 

• Partner 1 repeats each phrase after the Officiant.

Officiant to Partner Two

“Today I give you my hand to hold and my heart to keep. I promise to encourage and inspire you, to laugh with you, and to comfort you in times of sorrow and struggle. I promise to love you in good times and the difficult times, when our love is simple, and when it is an effort. I promise to cherish you, adventure with you, and to grow with you through all my days. 

• Partner 2 repeats each phrase after the Officiant

Exchange of Rings

Officiant

May we have the rings?

• The Best Person/ Best Man/ Person of Honor hands the rings to the officiant.

Officiant to the couple

Your wedding rings are a circle, a symbol expressing the infinite nature of your love. As you look at your wedding rings, let them remind you of the promises that you’ve made to each other on your wedding day.

Officiant to Partner One

[Partner 1], as you place the ring on [Partner 2]’s left ring finger, repeat after me:

[Partner 2], I give you this ring with all of my love, and all of my tomorrows. Let it be a reminder that you are always in my heart. 

Officiant to Partner 2

[Partner 2], as you place the ring on [Partner 1]’s left ring finger, repeat after me:
 
[Partner 1], I give you this ring with all of my love, and all of my tomorrows. Let it be a reminder that you are always in my heart. 

Wine Box And Love Letter Ceremony

• This unity ceremony can be easily modified by placing something other than wine in the box -- such as a favorite whiskey, tequila, or champagne, a non-alcoholic beverage such as sparkling cider, or a favorite shelf-stable food.

Officiant to the couple

[Partner 1] and [Partner 2] you’ve sealed your vows by exchanging your rings, now you’ll also seal letters to each other. 

[Partner 1] and [Partner 2], you’ve brought an engraved wooden box that holds a bottle of wine, and you have each written a letter expressing your thoughts about the qualities that you love in one another. At the end of your handwritten letters, you included a single word – an intention, or mantra, that you will focus on cultivating in the New Year. 

You sealed these letters without sharing them with one another, and now I ask you to place them in the box with the wine.

• Each partner places their letter in the box beside the wine. 

On your first anniversary, open this box and pour each other a glass of wine. Read your letters to each other and remember how you felt on your wedding day. Talk about the year that has passed by since. Then write each other another letter and seal without sharing. Place the new letters and the old ones back in the box, replace the bottle of wine, and repeat this ritual every New Year’s Eve, your anniversary, to reflect on your relationship and the passing year, together.

Now, we metaphorically seal this box with the joy surrounding you today.

Pronouncement

Officiant to the couple

[Partner 1] and [Partner 2], by the love that has brought you here today, by the vows and rings you have exchanged, in the presence of myself and your loved ones here, I happily pronounce you married!

You may celebrate with a kiss!

Introduction/ Presentation of the Couple

Officiant to guests

Family and friends, it is my honor, to introduce to you for the first time as newlyweds, [Make sure to ask the couple how they would like to be introduced].

Get your confetti ready and please join me in congratulating them! 

Recessional

• The ceremony ends.
• The couple walks back down the aisle to their chosen song, as guests toss confetti. Couple is then followed by members of their wedding party.