Walt Thomas Landon

Giving Bride Away in our lives as in the world Who supports Shawna as she and Greg take this next step together? Wait for answer Greeting Welcome! Friends and Family of the Bride and Groom, and thank you for being here on this important day. Greg and Shawna are getting married today. We are gathered together to celebrate the very special love between them, by joining them in marriage. All of us need and desire to love and to be loved. The highest form of love between two people is within a monogamous, committed relationship. Shawna and Greg, your marriage today is the public and legal joining of your souls that have already been united as one in your hearts. Marriage will allow you a new environment to share your lives together, standing together to face life and the world, hand-in-hand. Marriage is going to expand you as individuals, define you as a couple, and deepen your love for one another. To be successful, you will need strength, courage, patience and a really good sense of humor. So, let your marriage be a time of waking each morning and falling in love with each other all over again. Prayer Let's us pray, Greg and Shawna repeat after me. Bless our marriage oh God, as we begin our journey down the road of life together. We don't know what lies ahead for the road turns and bends. But help us to make the best of whatever comes our way. Help us to hug each other often... laugh a lot , talk more, and argue less.. Help us to realize that nothing nor on one is perfect and to look for the good in all things, And in the people, including ourselves. Help us to respect each other's likes and dislikes, opinions and beliefs, hopes and dreams and fears even though we may not always understand them. Help us to learn from each other and to help each other to grow mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Help us to realize that there is design and purpose and no matter what happens to us we will hold on to each other and know that things have a way of working out for the good. Help us to create for our children a peaceful, stable home of love as a fountain on which they can build their lives. But most of all dear God, help us to keep lit the torch of love the we now share in our hearts so that by our loving example we may pass on the light of love to our children and to their children and to their children's children forever. Amen. Although marriage is in some ways just another step in their relationship, it is the most important one they will ever take. In getting married, they are agreeing to a bond that is not only legal, but spiritual. It is a bond that united their hearts and minds into a lifelong partnership that is stronger than two individuals alone can ever be. It is a public act, that we are all witnesses to. But marriage is so much more than speaking promises and signing a document. Marriage is an eternal vow, and no matter what the world might say, these two people have pledged themselves to each other. A pledge to face whatever comes their way, together. A pledge to support each other, nurture each other, and love each other for the rest of their lives. Vows Custom Vows Blessing of the Rings May I have the rings: Marriage is a state in which two people come together and create a union that is greater than the sum of its parts. As love is so difficult a concept to express in mere words, we use symbols. Since the dawn of humanity, the ring has been a emblem of the sincerity and permanence of a couple's love for one another and the last value of their marriage. As the circle can begin anew at any point, so marriage can always be renewed. These rings are symbols of your eternal love. Marriage is a commitment to life, the best that two people can find and bring out in each other. It offers opportunities for sharing and growth that no other relationship can equal. It is a physical and an emotional joining that is promised for a lifetime Within the circle of its love marriage encompasses all of life's most important relationships. They are each other's best friend, confidant, lover, teacher, listener, and critic. And there may come times when one partner is heartbroken or ailing, and the love of the other may resemble the tender caring of a parent for a child. Marriage deepens and enriches every facet of life, Happiness is fuller, memories are fresher, commitment is stronger, even anger is felt more strongly, and passes away more quickly. Marriage understands and forgives the mistakes life is unable to avoid. It encourages and nurtures new life, new experiences, and new ways of expressing a love that is deeper than life. When two people pledge their love and care for each other in marriage, they create a spirit unique unto themselves which binds them closer than any spoken or written words. Marriage is a promise, a potential made In the hearts of two people who love each other and takes a lifetime to fulfill. Greg please place the ring on Shawna's hand: Do you promise to love, honor and cherish her for all of your days? If so, say I do and place the ring on her hand. Shawna please place the ring on Greg's hand: Do you promise to love, honor and cherish him for all of your days? If so, say I do and place the ring on his hand. Stone Blessing Ritual Greg and Shawna, before you met, your lives were on different paths with different destinations. But love has brought you together and merged your separate paths into one. Each one of your friends and family here today has a small stone (take stone out of pocket) the represents their individuality and presence at your wedding. Each person here has played, or will play, a unique role in your relationship and marriage, which is why you have asked them to be part of your wedding and this celebration of your love for each other. You also each have a stone of your own that symbolizes your previously separate lives, separate friends, separate families and the different journeys you once traveled. I now ask that everyone take out the stone you have been given and pause to make a wish or blessing for the love and happiness for the couple, for the future of their marriage, or any other wish or blessing you would bestow upon them. Your collective love will empower them as they set out on their journey together, as a married couple. Wait for everyone to get done with stone Now we ask that as you walk out, after the ceremony, please place the stone into the basket on the table, and Shawna and Greg will then add their individual stones to the box as well. This box will have a special place in their homes and will be a beautiful reminder that each of you joined them today in their celebration of marriage, and of your blessings and good wishes. As the stones are combined with love into one container, so too are the couple's friends and family joined into one community. You once solitary life's paths are now one. All that was once separate in now shared, and in this sharing you will find new strength and joy as you set out together o n the path of marriage. Marriage Announcement We are almost there; you have just sworn your love to each other, and promised to support and remain committed to each other. In just a moment, I will make the pronouncement that everyone has been waiting to hear. But before we do that, and while I still have everyone's attention, I want to wish you, Shawna and ,Greg a wonderful life together and remind you to never take the other for granted. As you settle into married life together, remember that you are stronger as a pair than individuals. You will make mistakes. We all do. But the key is to remember the reasons why you are together, why you got married, why you love the other person. Remember these reasons, communicate with each other, have good laugh or cry, and as long as you do so together, you will be able to get through anything. Now, you came here today to affirm your love for one another and formally acknowledge that which your hearts already knew... That you lives are meant to be shared as one, that you are stronger together than you are apart, and that, for all your days yet to come, you wish to share together all life's joys and challenges, committed one to the other. I now pronounce you Husband and Wife! May I present for the first time. Greg and Shawna Heckman. You may kiss the bride! Picture Announcement The bride would like me to let you all know that while they take the wedding pictures, please take your chair to the table and you may begin eating.