OFFICIANT (to congregation):

Please be seated. Today we gather our family and friends to celebrate and realize the sacred bond of two radiant beings _________ and _________. They will join their forces 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.

At the couple’s request, I will now read a traditional Apache blessing.

OFFICIANT (to congregation):

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!

OFFICIANT (to congregation):

Thank you all for coming today to support _________ and _________ 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 _________ and _________ some of their most magnificent features:

From Air, we ask for lightheartedness, curiosity, playfulness, and peace.

From Fire, we ask for courage, passion, radiance, and warmth.

From Water, we ask for stillness, strength, creativity, and flow.

From Earth, we ask for humility, friendship, gratitude, and growth.

As witnesses to this event, do you hereby agree that these elements have blessed _________ and _________ for ever more?

OFFICIANT (to congregation):

We cannot deny _________ and _________ 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 (to _________):

Please repeat after me.

OFFICIANT (to _________):

Ok _________ now it’s your turn.

OFFICIANT (to congregation):

It’s time to exchange rings. Each ring is a symbol of the never-ending trust and commitment you share. There is no beginning, and there is no end. For the shared experience of a lifetime is too great to limit to earthly terms.

OFFICIANT (to couple):

By the power vested in me by the Universal Life Church Ministries 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!