Eric Raymond Colborne

You may be seated.

Family and friends, thank you all for coming today to share in this wonderful occasion. Today we are here together to unite Kathy and Pete in marriage.

Marriage is a commitment to life-to the best that two people can find and bring out in each other. It offers opportunities for sharing and growth no other human relationship can equal, a physical and emotional joining that is promised for a lifetime.

Within the circle of its love, marriage encompasses all of life's most important relationships. A wife and husband are each other's best friend, confidant lover, teacher, listener and critic. There may come times when one partner is heartbroken or ailing, and the love one 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 love through the seasons of life. When two people pledge to love and care for each other in marriage, they create a spirit unique to 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, which takes a lifetime to fulfil.

Edmund O'Neil could not have said it better. Marriage is a promise, to love and to forgive. It is also a journey. A journey taken by two people who love each other fiercely. About a love worth sharing to the next generation.

Do you Kathy, take Pete to be your husband, to live together as equal partners, to love him, comfort him, honor and keep him, in sickness and in health, in sorrow and in joy, to have and to hold, from this day forward, as long as you both shall live?

No you Pete, take Katy to be your wife, to live together as equal partners, to love her, comfort her, honor and keep her, in sickness and in health, in sorrow and in joy, to have and to hold, from this day forward, as long as you both shall live?

I now request the rings be brought forth so that they may exchange them. Much like your love has no true beginning and end, so do these rings act as a perfect symbol of the bond you forge today. Please present the rings to each other. I ask Pete to place the ring on Kathy's finger and repeat after me. “With this ring, I make an eternal promise, to love you, and cherish you forever.”

I now ask the same of you, Kathy. Please place the ring on the finger of Pete's and repeat those same words. “With this ring, I make an eternal promise, to love you, and cherish you forever.”

By the authority vested in me by American Marriage Ministries and the State of Michigan, it is my true honor and privilege to introduce to you all Mr. And Mrs. Fleming!

Pete, you may kiss your bride!