Kyle Vincent Lamp

INVOCATION

We are gathered here today to celebrate with ALEX and ASHLEY as they proclaim their love and commitment to the world. We are gathered to rejoice, with and for them, in the new life they now undertake together.

DECLARATION OF INTENT

Today promises become permanent and friends become family.

However, this day is not about the words spoken or the rings exchanged, nor is it about grand pronouncements and recessional marches.

This day – the day of ALEX and ASHLEY’s wedding – is about love.

One of my favorite authors once wrote, “If love is not all, then it is nothing: this principle, and its opposite, collide down all the years of my breathless tale.”

ALEX and ASHLEY, your breathless tale is about to begin.

If love is not all, then it is nothing.

Its opposite – If love is all, then it is everything – is going to be the basis for every aspect of your relationship.

All you have to do is simply love one another and that love shows through in everything you do for one another, how you treat each other, in good times and bad.

Love isn’t just a word; it’s an action.

Love isn’t something you say, it’s something you do.

Love is genuine, honest, and open, compassionate and kind, passionate and blind, love doesn’t know space or time, nor look through jealous eyes, and in the modified words of Paul in his letter to the Corinthians, “Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things.

Love never fails.”

There are many different kinds of love, almost if not all of which are represented here today.

There is romantic love, the love of parents and children, of brothers and sisters and family, and love among friends.

Not only do ALEX and ASHLEY love one another romantically – and they do, you can see it in every look, every touch, every moment they’re together – they also love one another as friends.

In fact, they’re best friends, constantly giggling and taunting and teasing and very plainly and obviously having fun together.

That love and enjoyment of each other as best friends will sustain them through this marriage.

In addition, the love collectively in this room, from friends and family, will help sustain and support the promises they make today.

All of us here will help solidify this bond, as these two individuals are joined as husband and wife.

This new journey will be at times richly rewarding and extremely difficult, but, most importantly, it will be a journey you take together.

Marriage is much more than your signatures on a legal contract.

You are promising, in front of all these people you love, that you want to be with each other and only each other for the rest of your lives, and that you will do everything in your power to honor the promises you are making here today.

For their part, the people who love you will also do everything in their power to try to help you hold up your end of the bargain.

VOWS (face each other and hold hands)(repeat after me)

I, ALEX take you ASHLEY to be my WIFE, my partner in life and my one true love. I will cherish our friendship and love you today, tomorrow, and forever.

I will trust you and honor you

I will laugh with you and cry with you.

Through the best and the worst,

Through the difficult and the easy.

Whatever may come I will always be there.

As I have given you my hand to hold

So I give you my life to keep

I, ASHLEY take you ALEX to be my HUSBAND, my partner in life and my one true love. I will cherish our friendship and love you today, tomorrow, and forever.

I will trust you and honor you

I will laugh with you and cry with you.

Through the best and the worst,

Through the difficult and the easy.

Whatever may come I will always be there.

As I have given you my hand to hold

So I give you my life to keep

Words of Wisdom

ALEX AND ASHLEY I would ask that you always treat yourself and each other with respect, and remind yourselves often of what brought you together today.

Give the highest priority to the tenderness, gentleness and kindness that your marriage deserves. When frustration and difficulty assail your marriage - as they do to every relationship at one time or another - focus on what still seems right between you, not only the part that seems wrong.

This way, when clouds of trouble hide the sun in your lives and you lose sight of it for a moment, you can remember that the sun is still there. And if each of you will take responsibility for the quality of your life together, it will be marked by abundance and happiness.

I Do’s

ALEX, do you take ASHLEY to be your WIFE? ("I do")

Do you promise to love, honor, cherish and protect her, forsaking all others and holding only unto her forevermore? ("I do")

ASHLEY, do you take ALEX to be your HUSBAND? ("I do")

Do you promise to love, honor, cherish and protect him, forsaking all others and holding only unto him forevermore? ("I do")

Ring Exchange (MAX) (repeat after me)

The ring is a symbol of the unbroken circle of love. Love freely given has no beginning and no end, no giver and no receiver for each is the giver and each is the receiver. May these rings always remind you of the vows you have taken!

I ALEX, take thee, ASHLEY to be my WIFE- To have and to hold, in sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer, in joy and sorrow, and I promise My love to you. And with this ring, I take you as my WIFE, for as long as we both shall live.

I ASHLEY, take thee ALEX, to be my HUSBAND. To have and to hold, in sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer, in joy and sorrow, and I promise My love to you. And with this ring, I take you as my HUSBAND, for as long as we both shall live.

Closing Comments

To make your relationship work will take love. This is the core of your marriage and why you are here today.

It will take trust, to know, that in your hearts, you truly want what is best for each other.

It will take dedication, to stay open to one another - and to learn and grow together.

It will take faith, to go forward together, without knowing exactly what the future brings.

And it will take commitment, to hold true to the journey you both have pledged to today.

By the power vested in me I now pronounce you HUSBAND AND WIFE

The Kiss

You may kiss your BRIDE.

I would like to introduce the happy couple