GREETING - WELCOME

On behalf of__________and__________and their respective families, Rabbi
and I welcome you to this joyous celebration in which __________ and __________ will affirm the choice they have made of each other as life's mates.

(Guests are seated)

Marriage is as old as the human family. It is the highest of life's relationships. It is of the ordering of the Creator in the very nature of our being as man and woman.
As affirmed by Holy Scripture: "It is not good that one should be alone (Gen. 2:18); therefore, a man leaves his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and the two become one flesh." (Gen. 2:24)
Therefore, a wedding is more than simply a social event, or merely a formal observance. It is the celebration of the highest we know in love, the pledging of the deepest fidelity, the expression of the highest aspirations. A relationship this sacred must not be entered into casually or frivolously, but thoughtfully and deliberately. It is into this covenant relationship that__________ and __________ come now to be joined.

OLD TESTAMENT LESSON

NEW TESTAMENT LESSON

CUP OF WINE AND FIRST BLESSING

STATEMENT OF INTENTION

(To Groom)
Are you __________ ready to enter into this covenant relationship, to accept the responsibility of a husband; to be __________'s loving, faithful, and helpful husband, whether in days of success or adversity? If so, answer, "I am."

(To Bride)
Are you __________ ready to enter into this covenant relationship, to accept the responsibility of a wife; to be __________'s loving, faithful, and helpful husband, whether in days of success or adversity? If so, answer, "I am."

PARENTS' BLESSING (optional)

(To bride's parents)
Who gives their blessing for__________to be married to__________?

(To groom's parents)
Who gives their blessing for__________to be married to__________?

EXCHANGE OF VOWS

As a further indication of your readiness to enter into this covenant relationship, we ask you to face each other, join hands, and repeat individually after us your marriage vows.

(To Groom)
I,__________, promise you,__________, to be your faithful husband, and with God's blessing, to love you, and to work with you, in establishing a life of love, mutual dependency, honesty, respect, and trust, as long as we both shall live. Amen.

(To Bride)
I,__________, promise you,__________, to be your faithful wife, and with God's blessing, to love you, and to work with you, in establishing a life of love, mutual dependency, honesty, respect, and trust, as long as we both shall live. Amen.

RING STATEMENT

The wedding ring serves as a symbol of the covenant you have just affirmed. They are the outward and visible signs of an inward and invisible love which binds your lives together. As they are of the finest of earth's materials, so your love is of the richest of spiritual values. As rings are without seam, having no beginning and no end, they symbolize the perfection of a love that cannot end.

BLESSING OF RINGS

Bless these rings, O God, that they may be the visible sign of the vows here made, that each who gives and each who wears one, may ever be reminded of their promises, evermore living and growing in the spirit of your love. Amen.

EXCHANGE OF RINGS

(Groom to Bride)
__________ , I give you this ring as a sign of our covenant of marriage. Amen.

(Bride to Groom)
__________, I give you this ring as a sign of our covenant of marriage. Amen.

CUP OF WINE AND SECOND BLESSING

PRONOUNCEMENT OF MARRIAGE
In as much as __________ and __________, have now shared with one another the covenant to live together in marriage, and have exchanged rings as symbols of that covenant; WE now declare, that having entered this place as bride and groom, they will leave it as husband and wife. May God add his blessing to all those, which are wished them by their friends and families.

(The lighting of Unity Candles and/or giving Roses to bride's and groom's mothers may be done at this time.)

WEDDING BLESSING

BLESSING AND BREAKING OF GLASS