Melanie Jordan Garell

As a symbol of your blessings and well wishes for Emma and Mitchel please hold on to one of the stones throughout the ceremony. Emma and Mitchel will keep these stones on their mantel as a continuous reminder that they are supported and loved!

Welcome, beloved friends, family, and all the souls before us who gave us life. We've gathered here today to celebrate and bless this union between these two souls. It is with a deep understanding that union comes with great obligations and responsibilities. Let’s remember that love, loyalty, and empathy are the foundations of a happy and enduring marriage. Love is a dance that takes time to learn and must always be practiced.

Who walks with, Emma, with great joy and love to offer into union to Mitchel?

Jeff: I do

Mitchel and Emma, as you take each other's hands keep in mind that hands are the part of you that you use the most, everyday you look at your hands as they do their work. From now on when you see your hands you will be reminded of the promises you will make to each other today.

The promise to share a life and witness each other's fears & growths, failures & successes, and stumbles & laughter.

Do you Emma come here of your own free will to be joined with Mitchel?

Emma: Yes, for he is my one true love.

Do you Mitchel come here of your own free will to be joined with Emma?

Mitchel: Yes, for she is my one true love.

East/air:

Let this feather be a reminder that love flies high and is light and free like a butterfly. May the wind sing your tale and keep the connection clear between your hearts, minds, and bodies as you love without boundaries.

South/fire:

Let this candle be a reminder that love is like a hot flame that rises within you; mesmerizing yet dangerous when left unchecked. May you learn to dance in the lightning and keep your love full of unpredictable passion. May it keep your home full of warmth and light.

West/water:

Let this shell be a reminder that love like the tides ebbs and flows; it crashes into rocks, it creates new paths and always returns. May your love be like a river flowing deeply, always passionate and always flexible.

North/Earth:

Let this stone be a reminder that love is rooted deep like the mountains and can be used to create sturdy homes for your family to grow. May your love remain steady and stable as you tend to your land and its harvests.

Below/Ancestors:

Let this Othila be a reminder that love has roots like your family trees; full of lessons about how to love and how not to love. May your love be as playful as the child inside of you; find your mirth; like a yoyo that comes back to you when you play gently and be aware that it can become tangled when you play too roughly.

Above/Universe:

Let this tiny galaxy be a reminder that love is a mystery like so many laws of the universe; May your love be as complex and orderly as the planets and stars in the cosmos. Aries and Gemini can make many discoveries together that they might have missed fulfilling alone. Aries and Gemini's relationship can last for a lifetime.

Love like all things of this earth grows gradually, strengthening leaf by leaf and breath by breath with each new day. Bless this couple, that they may tend to their love as they tend to their garden, with nurturing care and patience. Help them to grow their love as boundless as the sky, as steadfast as the mountains, and as passionate as the sea.

Let Mitchel and Emma’s love accompany every sunrise and phase of the moon as they are assured that laughter and joy will always chase away those dark moments and remind them that their love for each other is enough.

Emma and Mitchel have decided to exchange a token that encompasses who they are to each other before they exchange rings.

Wedding rings are an unbroken circle of love, telling the world that you are forever united. These rings are a physical symbol of your promise to one another; unbroken and unending, as your growing commitment to each other.

By seeds of all beginnings, by roots of all depths, by stem and trunk that reach for the sky, by buds that grow, by leaves that kiss the sun and rain, by flowers that open to the dawn, by fruit that gives forth sweetness, by seeds within the fruit that grows new trees.

Do you both promise to begin anew with each other as many times as the spirits decree?

Together: We do

Do you Emma promise to Mitchel to cause no harm to him, to care for his needs above all others, to provide for his happiness even before your own, to treat him with honor and respect, and to be his witness in life?

Emma: I do

Do you Mitchel promise to Emma to cause no harm to her, to care for his needs above all others, to provide for her happiness even before your own, to treat her with honor and respect, and to be her witness in life?

Mitchel: I do

Now take each other's hands. Tying together of the hands symbolizes that you are no longer two separate people but a new unit. A family bound together in mutual love.

Repeat after me together:

I promise to stand by you in sunshine and storm,

in darkness and brightness, in adventure and monotony, and in good times and bad.

From today forward, your lives will be forever intertwined, and your bond unbreakable.

Emma and Mitchel face your guest;

Now you will feel no rain,

For each of you will be shelter to the other.

Now you will feel no cold,

For each of you will be warmth to the other.

Now there is no more loneliness,

for each of you will be a companion to the other.

Now you are two bodies,

But there is one life before you.

Go now to your dwelling place,

To enter into the days of your togetherness.

And may your days be good and long upon the earth.

By the authority vested in me by American Marriage Ministries and the state of Virginia, I now pronounce you husband and wife.