Stephen Wayne Clemensen

Melodie and Tim Wedding

- PROCESSION

Who gives this bride on her wedding day?

You may all be seated.

- INVOCATION

Good Afternoon. Thank you all for being here today... Today is a day of celebration! It’s a day of happiness. It's a day of love. We are gathered here today in the sight of God, and the presence of friends and loved ones, to celebrate one of life’s greatest moments. We are here to give recognition to the beauty of love that is shared between Tim and Melodie as they complete their family in holy matrimony. Marriage is a contract not to be entered lightly but thoughtfully and seriously and with a deep realization of the obligations and responsibilities. Marriage is the moment where your hearts and souls are joined together for eternity.

- PRAYER

Let's start today with a prayer. Please bow your head.

Dear Heavenly Father,

We humbly bow before you and thank you for all you have done for Tim and Melodie. And, for every day that led them to this joyous occasion. You have blessed them with this unique bond and a gift of this special love that is like no other. We ask that you shine on them today, as they take their vows and unite their lives and become one. We pray to you in Jesus’s name – Amen

- SERMON

Joining of two hearts as husband and wife is a commitment like no other. It offers opportunities for sharing and for growth that no other human relationship can equal. A husband and wife are each other’s best friends, confidants, lovers, teachers, listeners, and critics. The bond between a husband and wife deepens and enriches every facet of life. Happiness is fuller, and commitments are stronger. Marriage also encourages new life and new experiences and finds new ways of expressing love through the ups and downs of life.

God knew your needs when he brought you together. He knew exactly what you needed to make you complete. And now, He wants you to commit yourselves to each other as the one He has chosen to complete you. Through the ages, man has tried to define “love.” Poems, songs, and books all have been written to describe this four-letter word. But the best description I have found comes from God Himself, after all, He is the author of love. In His Word in First Corinthians, Chapter 13. It describes the kind of love that must characterize your lives if you are to live in joy ad harmony and honor with each other, also before God and your fellow man.

I Corinthians 13:4-8a – “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing but rejoices in the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.”

Tim, I believe you are saying to all of us today that you are committing yourself to this woman only, moving toward her in a more open ad intimate way, giving yourself to care for her, and promising to love her as she needs to be loved.

And Melodie, I believe you are saying to us that you are committing yourself to this man only, moving toward him with increasing openness, tenderness, and respect, giving yourself to him, and trusting him as the head of your home, and, through him, listening to God’s plan for your life together.

- DECLARATION OF INTENT

Do you Tim, take Melodie to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, in good times and woe, for richer or poorer, keeping yourself unto him for as long as you both shall live? - I Do

Do you Melodie, take Tim to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, in good times and bad, for richer or poorer, keeping yourself unto him for as long as you both shall live? - I Do

- EXCHANGE OF VOWS

Please take each other’s hands.

Melodie and Tim have chosen to write their own vows to express their love today

Tim place the ring on Melodie's finger and state your vow:

Melodie place the ring on Tim's finger and state your vow:

- RING EXCHANGE

And now, may we have the rings?

These are the rings that Tim and Melodie will wear for the rest of their lives and will express the love that they have for one and other. Please take a moment and send your prayers, your thoughts and your love to these rings, so as Tim and Melodie wear them, they will also carry our love with them as well.

- CANDLE LIGHTING

And now Tim and Melodie have also chosen to use the lighting of a unity candle to symbolize their two lives coming together and becoming one. Tim and Melodie, the blending of your lives as husband and wife is symbolized through the lighting of these individual candles. Tim and Melodie, each candle represents you and all that you were, all that you are, and all that you will ever be. Melodie as you light your candle, your flame will bring your likes, your heritage, and your heart to this union. Tim as you light your candle, your flame will bring your likes, your heritage and your heart to this union. As two the flames come together they will make one flame just your lives are coming together and will no longer be separated. These two flames are now one just as you both are now becoming one, as husband and wife.

-PRONOUNCEMENT

Tim and Melodie as you wear these rings may they remind you that your love, like the sun, warms all that it touches, like the moon, brightens up the night, like the eye, is a gateway to your heart.

And may it also remind you of your love, like the arms that embrace you, makes everything right with the world.

We, your family and friends, wish for you the very best! We wish that your lives together be filled with joy, and that love surrounds you always.

May the Lord bless you with many happy years together, so that you may enjoy the rewards of a good, long and healthy life.

And now in the presence of your family and friends and before God, with the power vested in me through the state of Florida; I now pronounce you husband and wife.

You may now kiss your bride!