THE WEDDING OF ELIZABETH & CARLOS

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THE PROCESSIONAL

THE ENTRANCE OF THE BRIDE

Celebrant: Please stand to greet the Bride.

Music Selection/Bride’s Entrance: I’m your Lady - Celine Dion

Bride enters with her SON.

Music Cue: Song fades out

Celebrant: Please be seated.

PRESENTATION OF THE BRIDE

Celebrant:

Today we honor one of the deepest relationships in life as Elizabeth’s son and daughter present their Mother in marriage.

Celebrant (to BRIDE’S SON and DAUGHTER):

And so I ask, who, on behalf of all of us, presents Elizabeth to be married to Carlos?

BRIDE’S SON and DAUGHTER: We do.

MONITUM

Celebrant:

Elizabeth and Carlos,

I, Cynthia Reed, a Civil Ordained Celebrant,

am duly authorized by the law

to solemnize this, your marriage,

according to the laws of New Jersey.

But before you are joined together in marriage in my presence

and in the presence of these witnesses,

I am bound to remind you

of the solemn, the serious and the binding nature

of the relationship into which you are now about

to enter.

Marriage, as most of us understand it,

is a voluntary and full commitment

of a man to a woman,

and a woman to a man,

it is made in the deepest sense

to the exclusion of all others,

and is entered into with the desire,

the hope and the firm intention

that it will last for life.

INTRODUCTION

Celebrant:

We are gathered here in the presence of God to join in marriage Carlos and Elizabeth, and to bear witness to the transforming power of true love. We give thanks to God for Carlos and Elizabeth, for their open hearts and their willing spirits, and for the example of love that they embody here in our presence. We ask the Lord to be with them on this joyous occasion and throughout their lives.

Carlos and Elizabeth have known each other for about 20 years. They met through Elizabeth’s best friend and Carlos’s cousin, Anna, who is also Elizabeth’s daughter’s godmother. As Carlos recalls, “At the time, I had a major crush on her, but due to the fact that I was younger than her, I figured she would never give me a chance.” He may have been right. Elizabeth remembers it as a quick meeting and that, she says, “There was no immediate attraction.” And yet, there was something about Carlos that intrigued her. “Every time I saw Carlos I seemed to stare at him with a curious feeling inside. I couldn’t explain it back then and I can’t explain it now. It was almost like I felt that we were going to be something big in the future.”

For Carlos, his love for her has always been there, even since those early years. “I just knew that she was the one for me.” When they started seeing each other, he says, “I felt that even though we just had started dating, we had been together for a very long time. In short, it all just felt natural.” He knew he wanted to be with Elizabeth forever from the moment they decided to move in together. “Our love for one another pulls us together during any ups and downs,” Carlos says, “we complement each other and keep a harmonious balance in our relationship.” “I love Elizabeth,” he says, “because she is more than a companion, she is my best friend.”

Elizabeth knew that she loved Carlos too, but this love touched her in her heart when he asked her to marry him. “I knew I loved him before this but the love I felt for him on this day was unbelievable. This is because we are living together and he knows what a difficult, stressed out person I can be. He knows my children. After knowing all this about my life I couldn’t believe he wanted to commit with my children and me forever.” She says, “He even encourages my alone time with the kids. He shows me how unselfish he is. He accepts me – my whole life.” Carlos, Elizabeth says, makes their house into a home.

The relationship Elizabeth and Carlos have with Elizabeth’s children is especially important. Today we witness the joining together not only of husband and wife, but of a family. Carlos loves that Elizabeth is a good loving mother. Elizabeth knows that Carlos loves her children as if they were his own. He encourages the children to be the best that they can be.

In return, Elizabeth’s children have welcomed Carlos. Elizabeth notes that when Carlos works late they ask for him. They show that they miss his absence. They want to share special moments with him. They even would ask Carlos to ask Elizabeth to marry him! Carlos thanks them for allowing him to share the rest of his life with them and their mother.

Together, Carlos and Elizabeth look forward to having a united, healthy, happy and prosperous family, and to continue to share the love they now share with each other.

They also wish to thank you, their families and friends, for being here to share their joy. Your presence means everything to them, and it is their honor to share their happiness with the ones they love and care for. Elizabeth and Carlos practically grew up together, and their families are like one big family. Elizabeth especially thanks her mother who through the years has shown her hope, love and patience, and the most beautiful gift of all: faith in God. Carlos especially thanks his mother and sister for always being caring and understanding and always supportive in times of need.

Carlos and Elizabeth also wish to remember those special people, no longer with us, who have been so important to their lives. Elizabeth remembers her father and her brother. She feels in her heart that they are happy for her and her children, and that they are angels who somehow had something to do with orchestrating this union. Carlos remembers his Grandmother. We know that all of these souls are with us today in light and love, supporting this marriage and this family.

As you join in their wedding today, Carlos and Elizabeth would like for you to feel how much love they have in their family and to know how happy they are to be united. They would like you to share their vision that this is a marriage that was meant to be, that their paths were meant to cross. God intended that Carlos and Elizabeth be brought together for this unity, and so they are.

READING

Celebrant:

Before they make their vows to one another, Elizabeth and Carlos would like to share a reading for one another.

Bride:

Two lives, two people, so very different, yet so similar. Together we stand as one, sharing our future as it comes. The past is that past. Buds are yet to blossom, with care and trust, the best is yet to be revealed. Honesty and kindness, are the fruits of love. Lord bless this day and always to enrich us so our love will never end.

Groom:

The author George Eliot said:

“What greater thing is there for two human souls than to feel they are joined for life -- to strengthen each other in all labor, to rest on each other in all sorrow, to minister to each other in all pain, to be one with each other in silent, unspeakable memories at the moment of the last parting.”

READING

Celebrant:

Kahlil Gibran, in his book “The Prophet”, reflects on marriage. He says:

Love one another but make not a bond of love;

let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.

Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup.

Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf.

Sing and dance together and be joyous,

but let each one of you be alone.

Even as the strings of the lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.

When two people marry, they bring with them all the experiences of their pasts.

Each has strengths and knowledge to share with the other.

Each is unique and thus their particular marriage will be unique.

Each partner must respect the other's individualism.

More than likely, this individualism is what attracted each to the other.”

THE VOWS

Celebrant:

Carlos and Elizabeth, please join hands and face each other and recite the vows that you both composed.

Groom:

Elizabeth, I love you and I know this love is from God and is meant to be.

Because of this, I want to be your husband.

As the two of us are joined on this day, we become part of each other:

your feelings become my feelings;

your sorrows become my sorrows;

your joys become my joys;

your cares become my cares,

and your children become my children.

With God’s help and guidance I promise to be a true and faithful husband and father,

always there to comfort you, rejoice with you,

and endure all the complexities of life that we will face together as a family

over the years to come.

My love for you and these children is pure and unshakable,

and I hereby commit myself to all of you from this day forward.

Bride:

Carlos, I love you and I know that this love is from God and is meant to be.

Because of you, I laugh, I smile, I dare to dream again.  

I found a kind, caring, unselfish man in you.

A true man who is able to sincerely love and befriend my children.

It is because of these reasons that I look forward with great joy

to spending the rest of my life with you, caring for you, nurturing you,

being there for you in all life has for us.

With God’s help and guidance I promise to be a true and faithful wife,

always there to comfort you, rejoice with you,

and endure all the complexities of life that we will face together as a family

over the years to come.

My love for you is pure and unshakable,

and I hereby commit myself to all of you from this day forward.

THE ASKING

Celebrant to the groom:

Carlos,

Will you take Elizabeth to be your lawful wedded wife?

Will you love and respect her,

be honest with her,

and stand by her through whatever may come,

so you can genuinely share your life together?

Groom:

I do.

Celebrant to the Bride:

Elizabeth,

Will you take Carlos to be your lawful wedded husband?

will you love and respect him,

be honest with him,

and stand by him through whatever may come,

so you can genuinely share your life together?

Bride:

I do.

THE RING CEREMONY

Celebrant:

Elizabeth’s Mother will now come forward to bless the rings.

The Blessing of the Rings

Elizabeth’s Mother:

Padre santo, creador del universo, que modelaste al hombre y la mujer a tu imagen y semejanza, y bendijiste su union matrimonial: te rogamos por estos esposos que hoy se han unido en matrimonio. Descienda, Senor, sobre ellos tu abundante bendicion: que sus hijos sean alegria de su hogar, progreso del mundo y riqueza de tu Iglesia. Que en la alegria sepan darte gracias, Senor, y en la tristeza te busquen; en el trabajo encuentren el gozo de tu ayuda en las necesidades sientan cercano tu consuelo; que participen en la oracion de tu Iglesia, y den testimonio de ti entre los hombres; que tengan una vida larga y feliz, y que, un dia, rodeados de los amigos que hoy los acompanan, lleguen a tu reino eterno. Por Jesucristo nuestro Senor. R/. Amen.

The Ring Vows

Groom:

Elizabeth, I give you this ring, wear it with love and joy.

I choose you to be my wife,

to have and to hold, from this day forward,

for better or for worse, for richer for poorer,

in sickness and in health,

to love and to cherish,

as long as we both shall live.

Bride:

Carlos, I give you this ring, wear it with love and joy.

I choose you to be my husband:

to have and to hold, from this day forward.

For better, for worse, for richer for poorer;

in sickness and in health,

to love and to cherish,

as long as we both shall live.

The Family Pendant Ceremony

Celebrant:

Carlos, and Elizabeth, the rings you have given to one another are symbols of your commitment to one another, but they are also more. For today you are also making a commitment to the children. Today you are pledging your love to them as well, committing to them that you will create a family together. Let the perfect circle of the wedding ring embrace your children, as well as the two of you. For our children are gifts entrusted to us.

Consider these words from The Prophet: You may give them your love but not your thoughts, for they have their own thoughts. You may house their bodies but not their souls, for they dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams. You may strive to be like them, in their innocence, but seek not to make them like you. For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday. You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.  

As the Family Medallion is placed around the neck of each child, it provides a unique opportunity for those being married to pledge their love to all the children either spouse brings to the marriage.

Celebrant to the Children:

As a symbol of the two families joined as one today, a special gift will now be presented to each of you. As you receive your token of family unity, always remember the love that has brought all of you together and that will guide you and nurture you in the years ahead.

THE ROSE CEREMONY

Celebrant:

Carlos and Elizabeth, I would ask that where ever you make your home in the future - whether it be a large and elegant home - or a small and graceful one - that you both pick one very special location for roses; so that on each anniversary of this truly wonderful occasion you both may take a rose to that spot both as a recommitment to your marriage - and a recommitment that THIS will be a marriage based upon love.

In every marriage there are times when it is difficult to find the right words. It is easiest to hurt those who we most love. It is easiest to be most hurt by those who we most love. It might be difficult sometimes to say the words "I am sorry" or "I forgive you"; "I need you" or "I am hurting". If this should happen, if you simply cannot find these words, leave a rose at that spot which both of you have selected - for that rose says what matters most of all and should overpower all other things and all other words.

That rose says the words "I still love you". The other should accept this rose for the words that cannot be found, and remember the love and hope that you both share today.

Carlos and Elizabeth, if there is anything you remember of this marriage ceremony, it is that it was love that brought you here today, it is only love that can make it a glorious union, and it is by love that your marriage shall endure.

In this spirit, you will each now hand a rose to the other.

The Bride and Groom hand each other a rose.

Celebrant:

Not only are Carlos and Elizabeth creating a marriage today, but they also are forming a family. Just as it is appropriate for Carlos and Elizabeth to begin their marriage by affirming their love for each other with the gift of a rose, they also wish to show you, their children, how much they love you with the gift of a rose.

The Bride and Groom hand each child a rose, give them a hug, and whisper "I love you."

READING

Celebrant:

The Groom’s sister will now read for us The Prayer of St. Francis.

The Prayer of St. Francis

God, make Carlos and Elizabeth a channel of your peace:

That where there is hatred they may bring love;
Where there is hurt they may bring the spirit of forgiveness;
Where there is doubt they may bring faith;
Where there is despair they may bring hope;
Where there is darkness they may bring light;
Where there is sadness they may bring joy.

For it is by giving that they shall receive, by losing that they shall find, by forgiving that they shall be forgiven.

God grant that they seek rather to comfort than to be comforted,
To understand than to be understood,

To love than to be loved.

BLESSING OF THE MARRIAGE

Celebrant:

Elizabeth and Carlos have asked me to read “The Apache Wedding Prayer” as a blessing for their marriage:

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 loneliness for you,
For though you are two bodies, you are only one life.

Go now to your dwelling place,
To enter into the days of your togetherness.
May your days be good and long upon this earth.

DECLARATION OF MARRIAGE

Celebrant:

Carlos and Elizabeth have declared before us that they will live together in marriage and promise to include God in their life, which will help them to provide a loving home for their children. They have made special promises to each other and to their children. They have symbolized their union by joining hands and taking vows, and bestowing gifts.

Therefore, on behalf of the community, I now declare Carlos and Elizabeth to be husband and wife. I am honored to introduce you to Mr. & Mrs. Carlos Chavez!

You may now kiss each other!

RECESSIONAL