Timothy R. Birdsall

If you’ll indulge, Brianna and Kurtis would like us to take a moment to remember those that are no longer with us, but that are here, in spirit.

Who gives Brianna to be wed to Kurtis? (Eric Marvin, Brianna’s father)

(Please be seated.)

Welcome, Friends, Family, Honored Guests.

True love is a friendship set on fire. Dearly beloved, we are gathered here, today, to light this friendship ablaze, and join Brianna and Kurtis together in marriage.

The search for true love is one that we all have in common. When we are lucky enough to find it, it truly lights a fire within our soul. Acquaintances become friends and, sometimes, friendship turns into something much more. When that spark ignites, and you know you’ve found the person with which you want to spend your life, from that moment on, you are somehow different … changed for the better.

1 Corithians, Chapter 13 helps to define true love. Verses 4-8 read as follows:

“Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous, or boastful, or proud, or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever.”

In Verse 13, it goes on to say, “Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.”

Love isn’t always perfect. It isn’t always a fairytale or storybook and it doesn’t always come easy. Love is overcoming obstacles, facing challenges, fighting to be together, holding on and never letting go. It is a short word, easy to spell, difficult to define, and impossible to live without. Love is work, but most of all, love is realizing that every hour, every minute, every second of it was WORTH it, because you did it TOGETHER.

Making a marital commitment begins with a proposal, and then a ceremony. In this ceremony you make a lifelong commitment to this one special person. You begin by exchanging vows and rings to symbolize this covenant. These are the vows that you are making to each other:

(Brianna)

I, Brianna, take you, Kurtis, ** to be my husband, ** to have and to hold ** from this day forward, ** for better, for worse, ** for richer, for poorer, ** in sickness and in health. ** I will love and honor you, ** comfort and keep you, ** and, forsaking all others, ** be faithful to you ** as long as we both shall live, ** so help me, God.

(Kurtis)

I, Kurtis, take you, Brianna, ** to be my wife, ** to have and to hold ** from this day forward, ** for better, for worse, ** for richer, for poorer, ** in sickness and in health. ** I will love and honor you, ** comfort and keep you, ** and, forsaking all others, ** be faithful to you ** as long as we both shall live, ** so help me, God.

Brianna and Kurtis, as you join your separate lives together, your relationship is symbolized through the pouring of these individual containers of sand. Each individual container represents each one of you, all that you were, all that you are, and all that you will ever be. As these containers of sand are poured into the larger container, the individual containers will no longer exist, but will be joined together as one. Just as these grains of sand can never be separated and poured again into the individual containers, likewise are your lives intertwined into one life that, it is our prayer here today, will last as long as it would take to separate the individual grains of sand.

To symbolize and bind your love we exchange rings. These rings are made in a circle, which has long been a symbol of everlasting love. The sky and the earth are round. The wind, in its greatest power, whirls. The sun and moon, both of which are round, come forth and go down, again, in a circle. Even the seasons form a great circle in their changing and always come back again to where they were. Without beginning or end and with no point of weakness, the circle is a reminder of unending strength. Let the seamless circle of these rings become the symbol of your endless love and unending faithfulness. As you place the rings on each other’s finger, I ask that you repeat after me.

I give you this ring ** as a token of my love ** and as a symbol ** of my never-ending devotion ** with all my hope **all my faith ** and all my love.

Brianna and Kurtis, before I pronounce you Husband and Wife, I’d like to invite you to take a moment of reflection. I once mentioned how your wedding day is one that, once it’s here, with all the anticipation and planning, seems to be gone just as quickly as it came. It’s a day filled with emotion, friends, family, vows, rings, and celebration. So I want you to take a few seconds to look into each other’s’ eyes. Think about the happiness you’re feeling in this wonderful place, in this moment, and let that feeling truly register in your mind, in your heart, in your body, and in your soul.

Now, I want you to think about your life together in 5, 10, 20 years. Where are you? What are you doing? We all know that your visions of the future are not identical, and they shouldn’t be; but they are, likely, complimentary to the other.

John Lennon once said, “A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together is reality.” For you, and everyone in your lives, that reality starts right now.

Brianna and Kurtis, you have expressed your commitment to one another, and exchanged rings to seal that commitment. In accordance with the laws of Iowa, and by the authority vested in me, I now pronounce you Husband and Wife. Kurtis, you may kiss your Bride!

And two became one!

Ladies and Gentlemen, it is now my pleasure, my privilege, and indeed my honor, to introduce for the very first time: Mr. and Mrs. Kurtis and Brianna Christensen!