Kristin & Wendy’s Ceremony
Kristin & Wendy, You have traveled from Kentucky to the beautiful beaches of Ft Lauderdale to celebrate your unique and magical union .. Today, you honor your commitment to not just gazing at one another, but to looking outward together in the same direction. Today Kristin and Wendy you proclaim your love to the world, and we rejoice with and for you. Here, in front of G-d, and this beautiful ocean, you create a family unit, dedicated to raising Cody together, and providing a stable, loving home together.
It is no accident that you came to the beach to solidify your vows to each other. Water is the source of life. It is from water that we begin our lives, and water is the single element necessary to our existence. Water carries, and endlessly holds our intentions, and as you speak your promises to each other here today, you create an intention to be carried throughout the universe, where it will stay, and grow, throughout your lives.
It is also no accident that you are together. Listening to each of you, and reading your stories, I am convinced that you were created for each other, from the beginning of time. G-d created each of you for one another, and for Cody, as was evidenced when you first met. There was a familiarity to each other, as if you had known each other spiritually. When you are together, you create a harmonious energy that connects you, and connects you as a couple to the world.
I believe you harmonize and balance each other because of the destiny that has brought you together. I also believe that there are other forces that play a role in your coming, and staying together. Wendy, even though Kristin never met your mother, she knows she plays a very important role in your life, and in your union. You have a tremendous bond with her, and the energy from her soul shines down on this earth, and she watches over you daily. You each give and take strength from and for each other, and you put your commitment to each other’s happiness above all else, and that will follow you every day of your lives, building an even stronger partnership among you, so that your relationship grows and blossoms. Your relationship becomes a tightly woven tapestry, from the fibers that make you individuals, to a beautiful piece of artwork to share and keep you warm together as a couple.
Wendy and Kristin, in presenting yourselves here today
you perform a remarkable act of faith. This faith can grow and mature and endure, but only if you both determine to make it so. A lasting and growing love is never automatic, nor guaranteed by any ceremony.
If you would have the foundation of your union be the pure love you have for each other, not just at this moment, but for all the days ahead, then honor faithfully the statements and commitments that you bring here today. Faults will appear where now you find contentment, and wonder can be crushed by the routine of daily living. But today you resolve that your love will never be blotted out by the commonplace, obscured by the ordinary, or compromised by life's difficulties.
Stand fast in that hope and confidence, and believe in your shared future just as strongly as you believe in yourselves and in each other today. Only in this spirit can you create a partnership that will sustain all the days of your lives.
Kristin and Wendy, we are here to rejoice with you and to recount with one another that it is love that guides us on our path, and to celebrate as you begin this journey together It is in this spirit that you have come here to today to exchange these vows.
VOWS
Kristin, repeat after me:
I Kristin take you Wendy to be my partner for life/
I promise above all else to live in truth with you/
and to communicate fully and fearlessly/
I give you my hand and my heart /
as a sanctuary of warmth and peace/
and pledge my love, devotion, faith and honor
as I join my life to yours.
REPEAT FOR WENDY
RINGS
Wedding rings are made precious by our wearing of them.
Your rings say that even in your uniqueness you have chosen to be bound together. Let these rings also be a sign that love has substance as well as soul, a present as well as a past, and that despite its occasional sorrows, love is a circle of happiness, wonder, and delight.
Wendy, take Kristin's ring and put it on her finger, and repeat after me:
Just as this circle is without end/my love for you is limitless/Just as it is made of indestructible substance/
my commitment to you will never fail/
With this ring I take you to be my best friend, lover,
and partner for life.
REPEAT FOR KRISTIN
SAND CEREMONY
To symbolize your coming together as a family, we will use these 3 different colors of sand. Each color represents the individuals you were, and still are, but we blend them together, creating one new color. This new color represents the family you are creating here today. As you come together, you must remember to each retain your uniqueness. Remain steadfast in your individual identity, because marriage does not meet changing one’s self. It means committing to live harmoniously together, creating one life, from the individuals who share it. Once these grains of sand combine in their new home, as you will, they can never be separated into their previous form, as you will change as well. Here you create your new family, your new life, and your intention to bring love, commitment, and endless resolve to a harmonious life together.
PRONOUNCEMENT
Wendy and Kristin, Your lives and spirits are joined in a union of love and trust. Above you are the stars and below you the earth. Like the stars your love should be a constant source of light, and like the earth, a firm foundation from which to grow. As you have consented in this ceremony to be partners for life, I now pronounce you married and bound together body and soul.