THE ROSE GARDEN, ALLENTOWN, PA - JUNE 19, 2021
For the Wedding of Bride and Groom, June 19, 2021 at the Rose Garden, Allentown, PA
Cast the circle
By the Guardians of the East and the Powers of Air, I cast this circle (light incense, place on altar)
By the Guardians of the South and the Powers of Fire, I cast this circle (light charcoal, place on altar)
By the Guardians of the West and the Powers of Water, I cast this circle (place shells on altar)
By the Guardians of the North and the Powers of Earth, I cast this circle (place crystals on altar)
Goddess Kwan Yin, Lord Shiva, be with us in this sacred place as I join Jennifer and Damian in marriage.
Blessed Be.
Guests are seated.
Officiant enters.
Groom enters.
Maiden of Honor and Best Man enter.
Officiant: Please rise.
Bride enters with Father of the Bride
Rev. Rachael: Please be seated.
Today we gather our family and friends to celebrate and realize the sacred bond of two radiant beings: Bride and Groom. They will join their energies together as one as they enter into this most intimate covenant.
Through their marriage, they will find protection and sanctuary as they journey through this beautiful life.
OFFICIANT (to couple): We mark today as the moment you forever embrace not only one another but everything that has risen up out of your union. Your partnership, steadfast and humble, has nurtured love from the ground up.
From this day forward, you will continue on your paths, seeking goodness and light in every direction, strengthened evermore by the goodness and light in one another. With this partnership, bound by law and sealed with a kiss, the world calls upon you to protect one another. To cherish every moment. To find humility when it is needed. To support, uplift, and encourage the heaviest of hearts and the wildest of dreams.
This marriage is your gift to bestow upon the world around you. When you leave today, you will both have the power to demonstrate the divine magic that is a lasting love.
Thank you all for coming today to support Bride and Groom with your presence and loving energy. Today we call upon the divine elements - earth, water, air, and fire - to bring to this union the same harmony that they share. We know that coexistence is the key to a mutual, loving partnership. It is through these four elements we understand how one has the power to make another stronger. Today we ask the elements to share with Jenni and Damian some of their most magnificent features:
From Air, we ask for lightheartedness, curiosity, playfulness, and peace. (Shiva incense)
From Fire, we ask for courage, passion, radiance, and warmth. (charcoal)
From Water, we ask for stillness, strength, creativity, and flow. (shells)
From Earth, we ask for humility, friendship, gratitude, and growth. (crystal)
(get the candles from Maiden of Honor and Best Man)
From Spirit, we ask for understanding, compassion, and Unity. (light the Unity candle)
As witnesses to this event, do you hereby agree that these elements have blessed Bride and Groom for ever more? CONGREGATION: We do! (place Unity candle on altar)
Officiant: Please join your right hands.
From “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho:
When he looked into her eyes, he learned the most important part of the language that all the world spoke – the language that everyone on Earth was capable of understanding in their heart. It was love.
Something older than humanity, more ancient than the desert. What the boy felt at that moment was that he was in the presence of the only woman in his life, and that, with no need for words, she recognized the same thing. Because when you know the language, it’s easy to understand that someone in the world awaits you; whether in the middle of the desert or in some great city.
And when two such people encounter each other, the past and the future become unimportant. There is only that moment, and the incredible certainty that everything under the Sun has been written by one hand only. It is the hand that evokes love, and creates a twin soul for every person in the world. Without such love, one’s dreams would have no meaning.
(lay cords over your hands)
OFFICIANT (to congregation): We cannot deny Groom and Bride their passage into marriage any longer. They are proud to have gathered their closest community around them during this special time.
We ask that each of you holds in your hearts a blessing for this couple as they now say their vows.
OFFICIANT: Bride, please repeat after me.
I, Bride, take you, Groom to be my wedded husband. To hold in the highest of light, day in and day out, through the storms, and the rain and the wonderful mysteries of this life. I promise you faithfulness, compassion, and friendship from this day forward until we have no more days remaining.
(Bride, I will place your end of the cord in your hand after this)
I, Groom, take you, Bride to be my wedded wife. To hold in the highest of light, day in and day out, through the storms, and the rain and the wonderful mysteries of this life. I promise you faithfulness, compassion, and friendship from this day forward until we have no more days remaining.
(Groom, I will place your end of the cord in your hand after this)
Bride and Groom repeat their own vows
An Apache Blessing:
“Now you will feel no storms, for each of you will be shelter to the other. Now you will feel no cold, for each of you will be warmth to the other. Now there is no loneliness, for each of you is companion to the other, You are two persons, but there is one life before you, and one home.
Turn together to look at the road you traveled, to reach this—the hour of your happiness. It stretches behind you into the past. Look to the future that lies ahead. A long and winding, adventure-filled road, whose every turn means discovery, new hopes, new joys, new laughter, and a few shared tears.
May happiness be your companion, May beauty surround you both in the journey ahead; And through all the years to come. Go this day to your dwelling place and enter into your days together. May your days be good and long upon the earth. Your adventure has just begun!”
(Tie the knot!)
PRONOUNCEMENT OFFICIANT (to couple): By the power vested in me by the Universal Life Church, the State of Pennsylvania, and the divine forces of nature, I now pronounce you lawfully and spiritually wed. You are joined now beyond love and into the heavens: you may kiss! (Couple kisses)
Ladies and gentlemen, it is my honor to introduce to you, Mr. and Mrs. Groom. (everyone stands; couple exits down the aisle, Best Man and Maiden of Honor exit)
Guests exit.
Circle is released.
Cast the circle
By the Guardians of the East and the Powers of Air, I cast this circle (light incense, place on altar)
By the Guardians of the South and the Powers of Fire, I cast this circle (light charcoal, place on altar)
By the Guardians of the West and the Powers of Water, I cast this circle (place shells on altar)
By the Guardians of the North and the Powers of Earth, I cast this circle (place crystals on altar)
Goddess Kwan Yin, Lord Shiva, be with us in this sacred place as I join Jennifer and Damian in marriage.
Blessed Be.
Guests are seated.
Officiant enters.
Groom enters.
Maiden of Honor and Best Man enter.
Officiant: Please rise.
Bride enters with Father of the Bride
Rev. Rachael: Please be seated.
Today we gather our family and friends to celebrate and realize the sacred bond of two radiant beings: Bride and Groom. They will join their energies together as one as they enter into this most intimate covenant.
Through their marriage, they will find protection and sanctuary as they journey through this beautiful life.
OFFICIANT (to couple): We mark today as the moment you forever embrace not only one another but everything that has risen up out of your union. Your partnership, steadfast and humble, has nurtured love from the ground up.
From this day forward, you will continue on your paths, seeking goodness and light in every direction, strengthened evermore by the goodness and light in one another. With this partnership, bound by law and sealed with a kiss, the world calls upon you to protect one another. To cherish every moment. To find humility when it is needed. To support, uplift, and encourage the heaviest of hearts and the wildest of dreams.
This marriage is your gift to bestow upon the world around you. When you leave today, you will both have the power to demonstrate the divine magic that is a lasting love.
Thank you all for coming today to support Bride and Groom with your presence and loving energy. Today we call upon the divine elements - earth, water, air, and fire - to bring to this union the same harmony that they share. We know that coexistence is the key to a mutual, loving partnership. It is through these four elements we understand how one has the power to make another stronger. Today we ask the elements to share with Jenni and Damian some of their most magnificent features:
From Air, we ask for lightheartedness, curiosity, playfulness, and peace. (Shiva incense)
From Fire, we ask for courage, passion, radiance, and warmth. (charcoal)
From Water, we ask for stillness, strength, creativity, and flow. (shells)
From Earth, we ask for humility, friendship, gratitude, and growth. (crystal)
(get the candles from Maiden of Honor and Best Man)
From Spirit, we ask for understanding, compassion, and Unity. (light the Unity candle)
As witnesses to this event, do you hereby agree that these elements have blessed Bride and Groom for ever more? CONGREGATION: We do! (place Unity candle on altar)
Officiant: Please join your right hands.
From “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho:
When he looked into her eyes, he learned the most important part of the language that all the world spoke – the language that everyone on Earth was capable of understanding in their heart. It was love.
Something older than humanity, more ancient than the desert. What the boy felt at that moment was that he was in the presence of the only woman in his life, and that, with no need for words, she recognized the same thing. Because when you know the language, it’s easy to understand that someone in the world awaits you; whether in the middle of the desert or in some great city.
And when two such people encounter each other, the past and the future become unimportant. There is only that moment, and the incredible certainty that everything under the Sun has been written by one hand only. It is the hand that evokes love, and creates a twin soul for every person in the world. Without such love, one’s dreams would have no meaning.
(lay cords over your hands)
OFFICIANT (to congregation): We cannot deny Groom and Bride their passage into marriage any longer. They are proud to have gathered their closest community around them during this special time.
We ask that each of you holds in your hearts a blessing for this couple as they now say their vows.
OFFICIANT: Bride, please repeat after me.
I, Bride, take you, Groom to be my wedded husband. To hold in the highest of light, day in and day out, through the storms, and the rain and the wonderful mysteries of this life. I promise you faithfulness, compassion, and friendship from this day forward until we have no more days remaining.
(Bride, I will place your end of the cord in your hand after this)
I, Groom, take you, Bride to be my wedded wife. To hold in the highest of light, day in and day out, through the storms, and the rain and the wonderful mysteries of this life. I promise you faithfulness, compassion, and friendship from this day forward until we have no more days remaining.
(Groom, I will place your end of the cord in your hand after this)
Bride and Groom repeat their own vows
An Apache Blessing:
“Now you will feel no storms, for each of you will be shelter to the other. Now you will feel no cold, for each of you will be warmth to the other. Now there is no loneliness, for each of you is companion to the other, You are two persons, but there is one life before you, and one home.
Turn together to look at the road you traveled, to reach this—the hour of your happiness. It stretches behind you into the past. Look to the future that lies ahead. A long and winding, adventure-filled road, whose every turn means discovery, new hopes, new joys, new laughter, and a few shared tears.
May happiness be your companion, May beauty surround you both in the journey ahead; And through all the years to come. Go this day to your dwelling place and enter into your days together. May your days be good and long upon the earth. Your adventure has just begun!”
(Tie the knot!)
PRONOUNCEMENT OFFICIANT (to couple): By the power vested in me by the Universal Life Church, the State of Pennsylvania, and the divine forces of nature, I now pronounce you lawfully and spiritually wed. You are joined now beyond love and into the heavens: you may kiss! (Couple kisses)
Ladies and gentlemen, it is my honor to introduce to you, Mr. and Mrs. Groom. (everyone stands; couple exits down the aisle, Best Man and Maiden of Honor exit)
Guests exit.
Circle is released.