Civil Ceremony

Welcome to Guests

Hello, and welcome to all of you attending this joyous and respected event of (Groom) and (Bride).

Statement of Purpose

Minister to Bride and Groom: The step that each of you are about to undergo is one of the most important events in life that any two people can undertake. It is the entering into a union, a union between a man and a woman founded upon mutual respect and affection. Because of this unique relationship that you both are voluntarily partaking in, your individual lives will change, and, resulting from this change, your responsibilities will intensify significantly, but your joy will also intensify significantly if you are sincere with your pledge that you are about to make to one another today.

Vows (Option #1)

To Groom: (Groom), will you take (Bride) to be your wedded wife, to love her, comfort her, honor her, and keep her, forsaking all others, for so long as you both shall live?

To Bride: (Bride), will you take (Groom) to be your wedded husband, to love him, comfort him, honor him, and keep him, forsaking all others, for so long as you both shall live?

Minister to Bride and Groom: Please take each other’s hand and repeat after me.

To Groom: I, (Groom), take you (Bride), to be my wedded wife, to have and to hold, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, to love and to cherish, from this day forward.

To Bride: I, (Bride), take you (Groom), to be my wedded husband, to have and to hold, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, to love and to cherish, from this day forward.

Vows (Option #2)

To Groom: (Groom), since it is your sincere desire to become the husband of (Bride), please repeat after me:

I, (Groom), take you (Bride), to be my wife. In this moment, I promise before these witnesses to love you and care for you all of our days. I accept you with your faults and your strengths, even as I offer myself with my faults and my strengths. I promise to support you when you need support and to turn to you when I need support. I choose you as the one with whom I will spend my life.

To Bride: (Bride), since it is your sincere desire to become the wife of (Groom), please repeat after me:

I, (Bride), take you (Groom), to be my husband. In this moment, I promise before these witnesses to love you and care for you all of our days. I accept you with your faults and your strengths, even as I offer myself with my faults and my strengths. I promise to support you when you need support and to turn to you when I need support. I choose you as the one with whom I will spend my life.

Ring Exchange

Minister to Bride and Groom: Do you have rings to exchange?

To Groom: (Groom), please place the ring on (Bride) finger and say: With this ring, I thee wed.

To Bride: (Bride), please place the ring on (Groom) finger and say: With this ring, I thee wed.

Minister to Bride and Groom: Let these rings be given and received as a token of your affection, sincerity, and fidelity to one another.

Blessing

(An optional blessing can be inserted here)

Pronouncement

In as much as (Bride) and (Groom) have consented together in wedlock and have witnessed the same before this company and pledged their vows to each other, by the authority vested in me by the State of California, I now pronounce you husband and wife.

Minister to Groom: (Groom), you may now kiss your wife.