Todd Joseph Tschiggfrie

Welcome everyone. We are gathered here together to join Jonathan Swerski and Marieke Zaffron in the legal union of marriage and bestow all the health insurance benefits that accompany it.

How do you define LOVE?

Love is a choice.

Love is the greatest adventure.

Love is a whole new world.

Love is an open door.

Love is “I look at you, and I’m home.”

It is something that grows over time... a true friendship. A feeling in the heart that becomes even stronger with time... The passion of friendship will soon blossom into a righteous power and through it, you will know which way to go…together as one.

Marriage provides answers to the question…

You are my choice.

You are my greatest adventure.

You are my whole new world.

You are my open door.

You are my home.

You are my love.

Please join hands as you declare your intentions to one and other.

Do you, Jonathan Swerski, take Marieke Zaffron to be your lawfully wedded wife, your constant friend and partner, and your love? Will you work to create a bond of honesty, respect, and trust; one that withstands the tides of time and change, and grows along with you? Do you vow to honor and respect her for all that she is and will become? Do you promise to challenge her and accept challenges from her? Do you promise to give your love freely and stand by her side, follow her into the unknown and always lead her home, to laugh together and cry together, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, through adventures and misadventures, and to love her 3000, as long as you both shall live?

Jon: I do.

Do you, Marieke Zaffron, take Jonathan Swerski to be your lawfully wedded husband, your constant friend and partner, and your love? Will you work to create a bond of honesty, respect, and trust; one that withstands the tides of time and change, and grows along with you? Do you vow to honor and respect him for all that he is and will become? Do you promise to challenge him and accept challenges from him? Do you promise to and stand by his side, follow him into the unknown and always lead him home, to laugh together and cry together, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, through adventures and misadventures, and to love him 3000, as long as you both shall live?

Marieke: I do.

This is the point in the ceremony where we usually talk about the wedding bands being a perfect circle, with no beginning and no end. But they do in fact have a beginning. Rock is dug up from the earth. Metal is liquified in a furnace at a thousand degrees, then molded, cooled, and painstakingly polished. Something beautiful is made from raw elements. Love is like that. It comes from humble beginnings, made by imperfect beings. It is the process of making something beautiful where there was once nothing at all.

Jonathan and Marieke will now exchange rings as a symbol of their love and commitment. Jon you may place the ring on the finger of your bride and repeat after me:

Jon: With this love begins a new circle of life. This ring is my promise to accept your imperfections and all that makes you unique and beautiful.

By the same token Marieke, you may place the ring on the finger of your groom and repeat after me:

Marieke: This ring is my promise to accept your imperfections and all that makes you unique and beautiful. Now and forever more, you'll be in my heart, always.

By the power vested in me by American Marriage Ministries and the State of Illinois, I now pronounce you husband and wife. Go on and kiss the girl.

Swerski family, Assemble!