Wedding Vows

Our tentative wedding vows. =D
Opening Words: We have come together today to witness the joining in marriage of Ian Matheson and Brittany Hensley. As family and friends we wish to send them on their way with our love and best wishes for their future. Marriage is more than a contract. It is a commitment to a journey, to a life of becoming, in which joy can comprehend despair, running through rivers of pain into joy again. And thus marriage is even deeper than commitment. It is a promise, a solemn promise that says:
I love you.I trust you completely.I will be here for you when you are hurting, and when I am hurting. I will not leave.
This is no promise to provide haven from pain, or from anger and sorrow. Life offers no such haven. Instead, marriage is intended to provide a sanctuary safe enough to risk loving, to risk living and sharing from the center of oneself. This is worth everything.
Statement of Intent/Consent: With that said,Ian, do you take Brittany to be your wedded wife? Do you promise to love her, respect her, and care for her during times of joy and hardship? Do you commit yourself to share your feelings of happiness and sadness? And forsaking all others, do you pledge to remain faithful to her?
Ian: I do.
Brittany, do you take Ian to be your wedded husband? Do you promise to love him, respect him, and care for him during times of joy and hardship? Do you commit yourself to share your feelings of happiness and sadness? And forsaking all others, do you pledge to remain faithful to him?
Brittany: I do.
Exchange of Vows: You may now face each other, and Ian, repeat after me…
Ian: I, Ian Matheson, take you Brittany Hensley, to be my wife; to love and to cherish, in sickness and in health, for richer, for poorer, through good times and bad, for as long as we both shall live. and Brittany, repeat after me… Brittany: I, Brittany Hensley, take you Ian Matheson, to be my husband; to love and to cherish, in sickness and in health, for richer, for poorer, through good times and bad, for as long as we both shall live.
Ring Passage and Exchange: And now, the rings please,
The wedding ring is the outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual bond which unites two loyal hearts in endless love.
Ian, please place the ring on Brittany's finger and repeat after me,
Ian: I give this ring as a token of my love and affection/ and as a reminder of the love we share/ with all that I am/ and all that I have. I am so in love with you.
Now, Brittany, please place the ring on Ian's finger and repeat after me,
Brittany: I give this ring as a token of my love and affection/ and as a reminder of the love we share/ with all that I am/ and all that I have. I am so in love with you.
Blessing: 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 you will feel no loneliness, for each of you will be a 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 the days of your life together.And may your days be good, and long upon the earth.
Before this gathering Ian and Brittany have declared their love and devotion to each other, promised to uphold these vows, and by the joining of hands and the giving of rings, I now pronounce you husband and wife. Congratulations, you may kiss your bride.
It is my privilege to present to you Mr. & Mrs. Matheson