Winter Solstice Wedding Ceremony with Reading from 'Northern Sky'

PROCESSIONAL

• GUESTS ARE SEATED. CEREMONY BEGINS.

wedding WELCOME & INVOCATION

OFFICIANT TO GUESTS

Welcome! We gather on this auspicious winter day to celebrate the love between (Partner A) and (Partner B). 

The winter solstice brings the longest night of the year, and with it, the spark of intuition and reflection. From the sweet embrace of night, a new dawn is born, with new beginnings, the start of a new cycle, and a new adventure. 

Tonight, mother nature takes a breath, we share a moment of stillness in joyful anticipation of the happiness and light that lies ahead. Tomorrow, we’ll wake to a world that is a bit brighter, and a bit lighter, because of the love we’ve shared here.

Before we continue (today’s / tonight’s) joyful celebration, let’s pause for a moment, to reflect on the innumerable small joys and discoveries that (Partner A) and (Partner B) have found on their journey to this day, and how very blessed we are to witness their love as they begin this new season together.

• Pause for a moment of mindful reflection

DECLARATION OF INTENT

OFFICIANT TO COUPLE

Now I ask you, (Partner A) and (Partner B), do you come here of your own free will, with a clear heart and mind, to take each other as (husband/ wife/ spouse and husband/ wife/ spouse), to love, trust, and cherish, for all the seasons of your lives?

COUPLE TO OFFICIANT

We do.

Wedding Reading from song

• THIS READING INCLUDES THE LYRICS OF THE SONG “NORTHERN SKY,” WRITTEN BY NICK DRAKE, FROM THE 1971 ALBUM BRYTER LAYTER, island records.

“I never felt magic crazy as this,
I never saw moons, knew the meaning of the sea,
I never held emotion in the palm of my hand,
Or felt sweet breezes in the top of a tree.
But now you're here –
Brighten my northern sky.

I've been, a long time that I'm waiting,
Been a long that I'm blown,
I've been, a long time that I've wandered
Through the people I have known.

Oh, if you would and you could
Straighten my new mind's eye,
Would you love me for my money?
Would you love me for my head?
Would you love me through the winter?
Would you love me 'til I'm dead?

Oh, if you would and you could,
Come blow your horn on high,
I never felt magic crazy as this,
I never saw moons, knew the meaning of the sea,
I never held emotion in the palm of my hand,
Or felt sweet breezes in the top of a tree,
But now you're here,
Brighten my northern sky.”

EXCHANGE OF VOWS

OFFICIANT TO COUPLE

Your marriage vows are the promises you make for the years ahead. They are a symbol of the love and commitment you’ll nurture, a kind of magic, a spiritual spellcasting, an incantation under the stars. They are the truest mark of your marriage, the pledge and threads that will bind you, heart to heart, and hand in hand.

Now, as you look lovingly at each other, you’ll speak these promises, of a lifetime of love to come.

OFFICIANT TO PARTNER A

(Partner A), please repeat after me:
 
Today, I give you my heart and my hand.
I take you as my life’s companion,
My partner, friend, and lover.
I promise to honor the gift of our love,
to support you and comfort you, 
for better or worse, in good times and bad.
I promise to laugh with you, 
To grow with you, 
And to walk beside you faithfully,
In constant and tireless love, 
Each day and each night,
And every season to come.

• PARTNER A REPEATS AFTER THE OFFICIANT

OFFICIANT TO PARTNER B

Now Partner B, please repeat after me:
 
Today, I give you my heart and my hand.
I take you as my life’s companion,
My partner, friend, and lover.
I promise to honor the gift of our love,
to support you and comfort you, 
for better or worse, in good times and bad.
I promise to laugh with you, 
To grow with you, 
And to walk beside you faithfully,
In constant and tireless love, 
Each day and each night,
And every season to come.

•  PARTNER B REPEATS AFTER THE OFFICIANT

EXCHANGE OF wedding RINGS 

Officiant to couple

Now, you will exchange a physical symbol of your love and of the light that you bring to each other’s lives. 

Your wedding ring is a circle, a bright symbol of love’s infinite flow, of life’s infinite cycles. Your ring is a reminder of the wheel of the world as it turns, of long nights met with a still brighter dawn, of renewal and recommitment, of blessed wholeness. 

The rings you exchange today symbolize the unbreakable promises you’ve made, to love each other boldly, proudly, and without end. 

OFFICIANT TO PARTNER A

(Partner A), place the ring on (Partner B)’s left ring finger, and repeat after me:

(Partner B), I give you this ring as a symbol of my love, today, tomorrow, in darkness and light.

• PARTNER A REPEATS THE WORDS 

OFFICIANT TO PARTNER B

(Partner A), place the ring on (Partner B)’s left ring finger, and repeat after me:

(Partner B), I give you this ring as a symbol of my love, today, tomorrow, in darkness and light.

• PARTNER B REPEATS THE WORDS 

CLOSING WORDS & wedding BLESSING

OFFICIANT TO COUPLE

(Partner A) and (Partner B), as you leave here today, let the love of your friends and family here (today / tonight) shine on in your hearts, and know that we will continue to hold you in ours, for many happy years ahead.

May the sun bless you each morning, may the moon keep you company each night, and may the stars always light your way home with love. 

PRONOUNCEMENT of marriage

OFFICIANT TO COUPLE

(Partner A) and (Partner B), it’s a true joy to pronounce you Married. Congratulations! 

You may celebrate with a kiss!

RECESSION

• THE CEREMONY ENDS