Jennifer Johnston Crow

INTRODUCTION

We’re here today to celebrate the marriage of Zoe LAW and Aaron SPRINGER.

Marriage is a promise between two people who love, trust, and honor each other as individuals, and who choose to spend the rest of their lives together. It’s a symbol of how far they have come these past few years. It’s a symbol of the promises they will shortly make to one another to continue growing stronger as individuals and as partners – no matter what challenges arise.

DECLARATION OF INTENT

Zoe and Aaron, no words of mine or of anyone else can truly marry you. That’s done only when you exchange your promises and commit yourselves to this marriage and to one another. So I ask each of you:

Do you, Aaron, take Zoe to be your lawfully wedded spouse? To honor and cherish from this day, sharing your life through good times and bad, with kindness and patience, comfort and love each day, for as long as you both shall live? I do.

Do you, Zoe, take Aaron to be your lawfully wedded spouse? To honor and cherish from this day, sharing your life through good times and bad, with kindness and patience, comfort and love each day, for as long as you both shall live? I do.

RING EXCHANGE

A wedding ring is a powerful symbol. It’s made of precious metal, but it’s also made precious by the wearing of it. It’s a circle, a symbol of never-ending love. The exchange of rings today seals the vow you make to love without end, and it marks the official start of your journey together.

Aaron, please place this ring on Zoe’s left hand and repeat after me:

I place this ring on your finger as a sign of my love.

Your feelings, sorrows, joys, and cares now become mine.

With this ring, I joyfully welcome Lilly as my child.

Know that I have chosen you above all others,

and that I will be a true and faithful spouse and parent.

My love for you and for Lilly is unshakable.

Zoe, please place the ring on Aaron’s left hand and repeat after me:

I place this ring on your finger as a sign of my love.

Your feelings, sorrows, joys, and cares now become mine.

Know that I have chosen you above all others,

and that I will be a true and faithful spouse and parent.

My love for you and for Lilly is unshakable.

HANDFASTING

To seal these vows today and to bless the rings you now wear, we invoke an ancient Celtic wedding ritual – Handfasting – which is literally the origin of the phrase: “tying the knot.”

• Handfasting is a symbol of strength, love, continued commitment and steady devotion.

• It signifies a desire to grow alongside one another, to face life as a team.

• It draws upon your individual strengths while accepting one another's help and support.

• It embodies the belief that together you will meet challenges you could never meet alone.

This ritual beautifully symbolizes the merging of your two individual paths into one, and the start of your journey together.

• Cindy, Ron, and Lilly, please come forward with your ribbons.

• Zoe and Aaron, please place your left hands together.

• Cindy and Ron: please drape your ribbons across their clasped hands. These pink and gray ribbons symbolize the two families from which this couple has come.

• Lilly: please drape your white ribbon between these two. This ribbon symbolizes the new family being created here today.

• And now, Aaron and Zoe, please grasp the ribbons hanging down from the knot with your free hands. As you gently pull your right hands apart, also gently pull the ribbons to tighten the knot.

• Behold the infinity knot, a sign of long-lasting commitment and love. Know and always remember that together in this marriage, you are each deeply known and deeply loved.

PRONOUNCEMENT and PRESENTATION

By virtue of the authority vested in me by the state of Ohio and American Marriage Ministries, I now pronounce you husband and wife. I invite you to seal your vows with a kiss.

It is my distinct pleasure to present Aaron and Zoe Springer