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Exchanging Rings and Vows
When a couple exchanges rings it is typical for them to do so with their ceremony
wedding vows. The wedding ceremony vows should be reflective of the feelings
and commitment of the couple taking them.
Creating Personal Traditions: Writing Your Own Wedding Vows
Writing your own wedding vows may suit your personal wedding
style, but it can be a bit of a daunting task to begin with. If you are trying
to write your own vows, don’t let the task overwhelm you or intimidate
you. Writing your own vows should begin and end with how you feel, not what others
are expecting. If you are creating your own wedding ceremony and style and you
want to write your own vows, here are a few questions to consider in creating
the vows you want to make.
- When and where did you first meet?
- What was the state of your life before the two
of you met?
- At what point did you realize you were in love?
Describe the feeling.
- What inspires you about your loved one?
- What life goals and dreams do you share?
- What have you learned from each other?
- What qualities make your love unique? What qualities
will keep it strong?
- How has your view of the world changed since you
fell in love?
- What do you most look forward to about life with
this person?
- What are some special moments in your relationship?
Use them all, even the sad times as well as the happy,
moving, or profound.
- What happened the day you asked her to marry you?
How did you feel?
Reading the vows you have written
yourself during your wedding ceremony can be one
of the most romantic things you’ve ever done. It’s
the kind of thing that really helps you create your
own personal wedding style. Writing your own vows
is a kind of personal touch that cannot be replicated
by any other style of vow.
Exchanging Rings and Vows
When a couple exchanges rings it is typical for them
to do so with their ceremony wedding vows. Some couples
want to write their own ceremony wedding vows and others
want to find vows that reflect their thoughts. Ceremony
wedding vows can be long and elaborate or short and sweet.
They do not need to be one or the other. Here are a few
sample ceremony wedding vows that may or may not be what
you are looking for:
- This ring is a token of my love. I marry you with
this ring and with all that I am.
- I give this ring as my gift to you. Wear it and
think of me and know that I love you.
- I give you this ring in God’s
name, as a symbol of all that we have shared and
promised.
- This ring is a token of my love, my fidelity and
of the unending circle of our lives for yesterday,
today and tomorrow.
- I pledge to you all that I am and will ever be.
With this ring, I am gladly yours and you are mine.
- This ring is a symbol of our love, our faith and
our commitment to each other.
- Please take this ring as a token of my love, my
trust and my unending desire to be with you for all
the days of our lives.
- I give you this ring as a symbol of my vow, and
with all that I am and all that I have, I honor you,
in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of
the Holy Spirit
- With this ring, I thee wed and I do bestow upon
thee all the treasures of my heart, my mind and my
hands.
Music is a Universal Language
Wedding ceremony music is about communicating in a language
that everyone can understand. From the comforting tones
of the wedding march to the salutations and hymns sung
during ceremonies celebrating love, relationships and
their commitment to a higher divinity, music serves multiple
purposes.
The wedding ceremony music is important
to the theme of the wedding and the location. During
your wedding planning, always check with the ceremony
location about their rules for music. While you will
be choosing a song for your wedding reception, the song
that you and your fiancé will dance your first
dance to, you can also use recorded music during your
ceremony.
Looking for a romantic song for your wedding? Want to
make the ideal mix tape or burn the greatest romantic
CD for your evening with spouse? Want a great song to
request of the DJ so you can slow dance? Here are fifteen
romantic song suggestions.
- Breathe - Faith Hill
- Can't Help Falling in Love With You - Elvis Presley
- Endless Love - Lionel Richie
- From This Moment On - Shania Twain and Bryan White
- Have I Told You Lately - Rod Stewart
- Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman - Bryan Adams
- I'll Be - Edwin McCain
- I Will Always Love You - Whitney Houston
- Something - The Beatles
- Take My Breath Away - Berlin
- You Are So Beautiful - Joe Cocker
- Unchained Melody - Righteous Brothers
- Unforgettable - Nat King Cole
- When I Fall in Love - Natalie Cole / Nat King Cole
- Woman - John Lennon
- The Way You Look Tonight - Frank Sinatra
- Love of My Life - Dave Matthews and Carlos Santana
The Wedding Mass
The Catholic wedding ceremony is remarkable in that it
can be celebrated with or without a mass. The majority
of practicing Catholics are going to choose a wedding
ceremony with the Mass. A Catholic wedding ceremony with
a mass lasts about one hour. The Mass portion includes
a celebration of the Eucharist, the singing of hymns
and readings from the Bible.
Upon entering the church, Catholics will bless themselves
by dipping their fingers into the font and making the
Sign of the Cross. A non-Catholic attending is not required
to perform the gesture. Ushers may seat guests and before
taking their seat in the pew, a Catholic should make
the Sign of the Cross and bend down on one knee. Once
all have arrived in the Church and the ceremony begins,
the Priest will greet the bride, groom and guests. He
will open with prayer and the guests as well as the bridal
couple will alternate standing and bowing at appropriate
times.
The homily of a Catholic wedding ceremony should focus
on marriage and if the couple is well known to the priest,
he may offer his own personal observations and relations
to them in the homily. The vows will be taken after the
homily and the Prayer of the Faithful follows. The Catholic
wedding ceremony is a beautiful symbiosis of uniting
the marriage with the mass. This is the beauty of celebrating
religion, faith and love in one ceremony.
Before communion is served, the priest will ask for there
to be a Sign of Peace. When he calls for this, he means
for people to turn to hose that are next to them and
shake their hands and offer peace be with them. Family
and loved ones will often kiss and hug as well during
this part. When the Communion is offered during a Catholic
wedding ceremony, it’s important to remember that
it is for baptized Catholics only. Following communion,
the priest will introduce the new couple to the guests.
Hand Fasting
Are you considering a traditional or alternative wedding
ceremony? Have you ever heard of hand fasting? It has
seen a revival in the last few decades from the fringe
to the mainstream. A hand fasting indicated a betrothal
and marriage in medieval times. There are many who interpret
a hand fasting as a trial marriage, latching onto the
idea that it lasts a year and a day. This concept dates
back to a time when divorce was not an option for many
couples and fertility was important to the success of
a marriage.
As an alternative wedding ceremony, a couple chooses
hand fasting because it is a part of their faith and
belief to make their commitment to marriage. They are
typically surrounded in a circle by the attendees while
the minister or priest joins their hands by symbolically
tying them together. It honors the trinity of man, woman
and the divine and promises the trinity of what will
hopefully be man, woman and child.
In this, it is an honest commitment to marriage and not
a substitute for it. The venue for the hand fasting can
be a living room, a garden or a waterfall - anywhere
the couple has chosen. It can be held in the morning,
when the first rays of the sun are coming above the horizon
- the time honors the start of a new life beginning with
the start of a new day.
A hand fasting is a recognized alternative wedding ceremony
and still requires a licensed justice of the peace, minister
or other legally recognized individual must perform the
ceremony unless the couple registers their marriage at
a courthouse beforehand.
Wedding Ceremony Vows - Cherokee
Vows
Try these Cherokee wedding ceremony vows:
God in heaven above please protect the ones we love.
We honour all you created as we pledge our hearts and
lives together. We honour mother-earth - and ask for
our marriage to be abundant and grow stronger through
the seasons;
We honour fire - and ask that our union be warm and glowing
with love in our hearts; We honour wind - and ask we
sail though life safe and calm as in our father´s
arms; We honour water - to clean and soothe our relationship
- that it may never thirsts for love; With all the forces
of the universe you created, we pray for harmony and
true happiness as we forever grow
young together. Amen."
DIY Bridal Bouquet
When making your own bridal bouquet, it's best to make
it the morning of the wedding so that it appears as fresh
as you are!
If, for some reason, you are unable to make the bridal
bouquet the morning of the wedding (and let's face it,
many brides have other things to do), then your best
option is to use silk flowers. Silk flowers have come
a long way and many brides are now opting to go with
silk flowers as both a way to cut costs and preserve
the bridal bouquet for a lifetime. Of course, the added
bonus is that you can make your bridal bouquet long before
the wedding day arrives.
Silk flowers can be bought wholesale through online retailers.
Wedding Ceremony Traditional Vows
If you´re looking for well-written
wedding ceremony traditional vows, you might try
this one from William Shakespeare:
Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments, Love is no Love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove
Oh no! It is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wand´ring bark,
Whose worth´s unknown, although his height be taken,
Love´s not time´s fool, though rosy lips
and cheers
Within his bending sickle´s compass come;
Love alters not with its brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.
Traditional Chinese Wedding Ceremony
"A traditional Chinese marriage
is best conceived of as a contractual transfer of personnel
(the bride) from one patrilineal group to another. It
was not arranged by the bride and groom but rather by
their respective families, who themselves turned the
responsibility of matching mates over to a hired go-between
and, ultimately, to Heaven." - Joachim 1986, 164
A traditional Chinese wedding ceremony was very elaborate
in the preparations, but utterly simple in the actual
wedding ceremony. The day of the wedding, the bride went
through several preparation rituals including:
- The Hair Dressing Ritual
- The Capping Ritual
- The Ritual Journey to the
Groom’s House
- The Arrival Ritual
Each of these rituals was designed to help the bride
to be achieving the look of a married woman. Her transition
from single daughter to wife was as important to her
choice of hairstyles as it was to her bearing and clothing.
A good luck woman spent the time of preparation with
her and spoke words of wisdom to help prepare her for
the transformation. Each ritual served a purpose in leading
up to the Chinese wedding ceremony.
The ceremony itself was exceptionally simple. The bride
and groom would be conducted to their family altars where
they would pay homage to the family ancestors, the Kitchen
God and to Heaven and Earth. They would then offer tea
to the groom’s parents. After the tea was served,
the bride and groom would then bow to each other and
thus the wedding ceremony itself was concluded. Following
a traditional Chinese wedding ceremony, the bride and
groom would retire immediately to the bridal chamber
where they would then spend their time together and get
to know each other.
Sample Wedding Ceremonies - Apache
Vows
You might use this Apache Wedding
Prayer as a sample wedding ceremony vow: Now you will
feel no rain... 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 more
loneliness... For each of you will be companion to
the other. Now you are two bodies... But there is only
one life before you. Go now to your dwelling place
to enter into the days of your togetherness... And
may your days be good and long upon the earth! Another
Apache wedding prayer might be:
"Treat yourselves and each other with respect,
and remind yourselves often of what brought you together.
Give the highest priority to the tenderness, gentleness
and kindness that your connection deserves. When frustration,
difficult and fear assail your relationship - as they
threaten all relationships at one time or another -
remember to focus on what is right between you, not
only the part which seems wrong. In this way, you can
ride out the storms when clouds hide the face of the
sun in your lives - remembering that even if you lose
sight of it for a moment, the sun is still there. And
if each of you takes responsibility for the quality
of your life together, it will be marked by abundance
and delight."
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