Ammie M Gaylor

Welcome everyone! On behalf of Phillip and Kaleb, I'd like to thank you all for being here. My name is Ammie Gaylor with Marquee Services and it is my honor to officiate this ceremony tonight.

Phillip and Kaleb: you have known each other from the first glance of acquaintance to this point of commitment. At some point, you decided to marry. From that moment of “Yes” to this moment of “Yes,” it is true: you have been making promises and agreements in an informal way. All those conversations that were held riding in a car or over a meal or during long walks – all those sentences that began with “When we’re married” and continue with “I will and you will and we will” – those late night talks that included “someday and somehow and maybe” – and all those promises that are unspoken matters of the heart. All these common things, and more, are the real process of a wedding. The symbolic vows that you are about to make are a way of saying to one another, “You know all those things we’ve promised and hoped and dreamed – well, I meant it all, every word.” Look at one another and remember this moment in time. Before this moment you have been many things to one another – acquaintance, friend, companion, lover, dancing partner, and even teacher, for you have learned much from one another.

In my lifetime, I don’t know that there will be a more affirming statement that, indeed, LOVE IS LOVE. The greatest happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved, loved for ourselves. If there is anything better than being loved, it is LOVING. Here is a small reading I came across. It is called ‘To My Friend'. Phillip, Kaleb - please look at each other as I read this:

I love you not only for what you are, but for what I am when I am with you. I love you not only for what you have made of yourself, but for what you are making of me. I love you because you have done more than any creed could have done to make me good, and more than any fate could have done to make me happy. You have done it without a touch, without a word, without a sign. You have done it by being yourself. Perhaps that is what being a friend means, after all.

Vows

Phillip and Kaleb, now we come to your vows. May I remind you that saying your vows are one thing, but nothing is more challenging than living them day-by-day. What you promise today must be renewed tomorrow and each day that stretches out before you. And when you will say a few words that will take you across this threshold of life, things will never quite be the same between the two of you. For after these vows, you will say to the world: this is my husband, my partner, my one true love.

Phillip, you have chosen Kaleb to be your husband. Will you love and respect him? Will you be honest with him? Will you stand by him through whatever may come? [I Will].

Kaleb, you have chosen Phillip to be your husband. Will you love and respect him? Will you be honest with him? Will you stand by him through whatever may come? [I Will].

And do you both promise to do the best you can to make the necessary adjustments in your personal lives in order that you may live in a harmonious relationship together? [We Do].

Intent and Ring Exchange

This is the point in the ceremony where we usually talk about the wedding bands being a perfect circle, with no beginning and no end. But we all know that these rings do have a beginning. Rock is dug up from the earth. Metal is liquefied in a furnace at a thousand degrees, then molded, cooled and painstakingly polished. Something beautiful is made from raw elements. Love is like that. It comes from humble beginnings, made by imperfect beings. It’s the process of making something beautiful where there was once nothing at all.

Phillip, please repeat after me:

In the presence of our family and friends,

I Phillip, choose you Kaleb,

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,

in joy and in sorrow,

to love and to cherish,

and to be faithful to you alone.

This is my solemn vow.

Now Kaleb, please repeat after me:

In the presence of our family and friends,

I Kaleb choose you Phillip

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,

in joy and in sorrow,

to love and to cherish,

and to be faithful to you alone.

This is my solemn vow.

Who has the rings?

Phillip, as you place the ring on Kaleb’s finger, please repeat after me:

I give you this ring,

that you may wear it,

as a symbol of the vows we have made this day.

I pledge you my love,

My respect,

my laughter and my tears.

With all that I am, I honor you.

Kaleb, as you place the ring on Phillip’s finger, please repeat after me:

I give you this ring,

that you may wear it,

as a symbol of the vows we have made this day.

I pledge you my love,

and respect,

my laughter and my tears.

With all that I am, I honor you.

Blessing

Kaleb and Phillip may those who wear these rings live in love all of their days. May all your days be blessed with love and friendship; may the love, which has brought you together, continue to grow and enrich your lives. May each day and night of your lives be a new beginning; may you continue to meet with courage any problems, which may arise to challenge you. May your home be filled with laughter and the warm embrace of a summer’s day. May you find peacefulness and beauty, challenge and satisfaction, humor and insight, healing and renewal, love and wisdom, as in a quiet heart, may you always feel that what you have is enough; and may everything you have said and done here today become a living truth in your lives.

Today you have expressed your love for one another through the commitment and promises you just made. You have kissed each other a thousand times, but now it will be different: better – as you embrace each other as a beautiful married couple.

Now only one step remains:

I now pronounce you married! You may seal these vows with a kiss!

May I now present the newly married Phillip and Kaleb Perez!

Congratulations!