Robin Sabrina Washington

Officiant-Definition of Marriage

Marriage is perhaps the greatest and most challenging adventure of human relationships. No ceremony can create your marriage; only you can do that through love and patience, through dedication and perseverance; through talking and listening (cup ear) , helping and supporting and believing in each other, through tenderness and laughter, through learning to forgive, learning to appreciate your differences, and by learning to make the important things matter and to let go of the rest. What this ceremony can do is to witness and affirm the choice you make to stand together as life mates and partners.

Please stand as we offer them the Support of Family & Friends

Two people in love do not live in isolation. Their love is a source of strength with which they may nourish not only each other but also the world around them. And in turn, we, their community of friends and family, have a responsibility to this couple. By our steadfast care, respect, and love, we can support their marriage and the new family they are creating today.

Officiant: Will you who are present here today, surround Erica and Edward in love, offering them the joys of your friendship and supporting them in their marriage?

Officiant You may be seated

Wedding Vows

Officiant: Marriage begins in the giving of your word. You cannot join yourselves to one another without giving your word. This must be unconditional giving, for in joining yourselves to each other, you join yourselves to tomorrow, the unknown and everchanging season of life. I ask you to remember that love—which is rooted in faith, trust, and acceptance—will be the foundation of an abiding and deepening relationship. No other ties are more tender, no other vows more sacred, than those you now assume. If you are able to keep the vows you take here today, not because of any religious or civic law, but out of a desire to love and be loved by another person fully, without limitation, then your life will have joy and the home you have established, will be a place in which you both will find the direction of your growth, your freedom, and your responsibility.

Erica & Edward, please repeat after me.

I Erica/Edward, take you, Erica/Edward, to be my husband/wife, my constant friend and partner, and my love. I will work to create a bond of honesty, respect, and trust; one that withstands the tides of time and change and grows along with us. I vow to honor and respect you for all that you are and will become, taking pride in who we are, both separately and together. I promise to challenge you and to accept challenges from you. I will join with you and our community in an ongoing struggle to create a world we all want to live in, where love and friendship will be recognized and celebrated in all their many forms. Our home will be a sanctuary and a respite for us and for those whom we cherish. Above all, I will give you my love freely and unconditionally. I pledge this to you from the bottom of my heart, for all the days of our lives.

Blessing of the Rings

These are rings of precious metal, they have value and great worth. Today, they are pristine and shining. With wearing, they will become weathered and worn and yet their value and worth will deepen. The rings are complete and whole, they are endless circles; without identifiable beginning and without ending. May your love for each other bear each of these characteristics in the years to come, even as you present these symbols each to the other. (continue prayer of rings then AMEN).

Officiant-Please repeat after me: I give you this ring, as a daily

reminder of my love for you.

Bride and groom: I give you this ring, as a daily reminder of my love for you. (Bride & Groom exchange rings)

Another Prayer or Song

Officiant: By the power of your love and commitment, and the power vested in me, I now pronounce you Mr & Mrs Howard. You may now celebrate with your first kiss as husband and wife. Kissy Kissy Kissy (quickly get out of the way for pics)

It is my honor to introduce for the very first time Mr and Mrs Edward Howard