The Marriage Ceremony

A helpful, inspiring planning guide for brides and grooms, officiants, and wedding consultants. This e-book edition of A Wedding Ceremony to Remember now offers even more choices to create a wedding ceremony that’s both memorable and meaningful. Choose from nine complete ceremonies, a variety of Vows, Readings, Prayers and Blessings, Wedding Traditions, and other Special Touches to design your ceremony and make it uniquely you. In addition, an Order of Service, Program Samples, Diagrams, and Rehearsal and Ceremony Worksheets assist you with all the details—and help make your decisions a piece of cake.

This handbook makes a great gift for a newly ordained Minister of the Gospel or Seminary Graduate! This handbook has been designed to assist the Pastor or Minister of the Gospel in performing Marriage Ceremonies. The easy "step-by-step" format is simple to follow and has spaces provided to insert the names of the Bride and Groom. The three main ceremonies are included in this handbook: 1. The Traditional Wedding Ceremony which incorporates scripture reading and charges to the bride, the groom, the witnesses in the wedding party and also the audience. The author has been using this system extensively for over 20 years and has never failed to get several compliments on the ceremony. 2. The Civil Ceremony. This is a short, easy and quick wedding ceremony. It is often performed at City Hall, but be used anywhere. The author has even used in a local jail where an inmate and his fiance were married! It "mentions" God, but not to the extent of the other two types of ceremonies. 3. The "Episcopalian" Ceremony. This is a longer ceremony (very rarely used by the author) and incorporates the taking of communion as well as all the other elements of the Traditional Ceremony. This handbook is a compilation of many different marriage manuals the author has used for over 20 years of performing marriage ceremonies. Taking "the best" sections from various manuals and combining them into one, "easy to use" handbook and written in a "Step-by-Step" format allows the user to immediately take this Handbook and perform marriage ceremonies like they have been doing it for years!

If you're like the many couples that have needs and desires that cannot be met by conventional ceremonies, I DO was written just for you. Whether you're celebrating an interfaith or intercultural union, a second or third marriage, a same-sex marriage, or a commitment ceremony, you can make your special day a walk down the aisle less traveled. Drawing on the author's experience designing and performing wedding celebrations, I DO is a creative, accessible guide that helps you devise a ritual that is as unique as you are. I DO explains the traditions behind the well-known elements of a wedding-the bridal veil, the exchange of rings, the cake, the vows-and then offers inspired alternatives drawn from a wide range of cultures including ancient Greece and Persia, pagan Europe, and Elizabethan England. Step-by-step instructions and planning guides are included to help you create your own personal event that incorporates the symbols and words most meaningful to you.

"The marriage union is the closest relationship that can exist between two human beings. When a man and woman decide to join together in marriage, they should do so with full realization of their responsibilities. Marriage is serious business. When two born-again believers know it is God's will for them to marry, they come together before God, a minister and witnesses to join their hearts and lives. They make a public profession of their mutual love and devotion, pronouncing vows and pledging their lives to each other. As they pronounce the marriage vows in faith, the power of God goes into operation and a miracle takes place. They are united by God and become as one in His sight. Their union is threefold: They are joined together spiritually by God, legally by the contract they enter into and physically, when the marriage is consummated. A husband and wife are joined together as Jesus is joined to the Church. It is a miraculous union. This booklet contains the wedding ceremony that I use as a minister of God. It is based totally and completely on the Word of God. As you use this ceremony, I add my faith to yours in believing God for lives of love and harmony for the couples you minister to, in Jesus' name." Kenneth Copeland

Provides the complete Common Worship marriage service, plus hymns, readings and prayers to help couples and clergy plan the service with ease. Can also be used as an order of service on the day itself.

Offers liturgical material for the journey of each individual through life. For each key element of this journey (birth, marriage, healing, death), it provides both material for key ‘public’ events and resources for ‘private’ pastoral care.

A collection of creative wedding ceremonies and helps to guide the pastor in making the wedding service a worshipful experience.