Beach Weddings

Grateful

Let us be grateful
for the capacity to see, feel, hear, and understand.
Let us be grateful for this incredible gift of life.
Let us be especially grateful
for the ties of love which bind us together,
giving dignity, meaning, worth and joy to all our days.
This is indeed a day, which the Lord has made.
Let us rejoice in it and be glad,
and let us count our many blessings.

Blessing For A Marriage

May your marriage bring you all the
exquisite excitements a marriage should bring,
and may life grant you also patience, tolerance,
and understanding.
May you always need one another - not so much
to fill your emptiness as to help you know your fullness.
A mountain needs a valley to be complete;
the valley does not make the mountain less but more;
and the valley is more a valley
because it has a mountain towering over it.
So let it be with you and you.

May you need one another, but not out of weakness.
May you want one another, but not out of lack.
May you entice one another, but not compel one another.
May you succeed in all important ways with one another,
and not fail in the little graces.
May you look for things to praise, often say,
"I love you!" and take no notice of small faults.
If you have quarrels that push you apart,
may both of you hope to have good sense
enough to take the first step back.

May you enter into the mystery which is the awareness
of one another's presence - no more physical than spiritual,
warm and near when you are side by side, and warm and near
when you are in separate rooms or even distant cities.
May you have happiness, and may you find it making one
another happy.
May you have love, and may you find it loving one another!

- James Dillet Freeman

Wedding Prayer

Lord, behold our family here assembled.
We thank you for this place in which we dwell,
for the love that unites us,
for the peace accorded us this day,
for the hope with which we expect the morrow,
for the health, the work, the food,
and the bright skies that make our lives delightful;
for our friends in all parts of the earth. Amen

- Robert Louis Stevenson

The Prayer

Lord, make
us instruments of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let us sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is discord, union;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy;
O Divine Master, Grant that we may not so much seek
To be consoled as to console,
To be understood as to understand,
To be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

- St. Francis of Assisi

Amen

God in heaven above please protect the ones we love.
We honor all you created as we pledge our hearts and lives together.
We honor mother-earth - and ask for our marriage to be abundant
and grow stronger through the seasons;
We honor fire - and ask that our union be warm and glowing with
love in our hearts; We honor wind - and ask we sail though life
safe and calm as in our father's arms; We honor water - to clean
and soothe our relationship - that it may never thirsts for love;
With all the forces of the universe you created, we pray for harmony
and true happiness as we forever grow young together."

- Cherokee Prayer

Marriage Prayer

"Father in heaven,
You ordained marriage for your children,
and you gave us love.
We present to You _____ and _____,
who come this day to be married.
May the covenant of love they make be blessed
with true devotion and spiritual commitment.
We ask that You, God,
will give them the ability to keep the covenant they have made.
When selfishness shows itself, grant generosity;
when mistrust is a temptation, give moral strength;
when there is misunderstanding, give patience and gentleness;
if suffering becomes a part of their lives,
give them a strong faith and an abiding love.
Amen.

The Peace of God

The peace of God that passes all understanding
keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge
and love of God and of this Son Jesus Christ:
and the blessing of God Almighty,
the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,
be upon you and remain with you always.

The Lord bless you and keep you:
The Lord make his face to shine upon you,
and be gracious to you,
The Lord lift up his countenance upon you,
and give you peace.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
Amen

The Grace of the Lord

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ
and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy spirit
be with you.
Amen

Treat yourselves and each other with respect

Treat yourselves and each other with respect,
and remind yourselves often of what brought you together.
Give the highest priority to the tenderness,
gentleness and kindness that your connection deserves.
When frustration, difficulties and fear assail your relationship,
as they threaten all relationships at one time or another,
remember to focus on what is right between you,
not only the part which seems wrong.
In this way, you can ride out the storms
when clouds hide the face of the sun in your lives . . .
remembering that even if you lose sight of it for a moment,
the sun is still there.
And if each of you takes responsibility for the quality
of your life together,
it will be marked by abundance and delight.
For where two or three are gathered together in my name,
there am I in the midst of them.

Love, Joy, Understanding, Friendship, Courage

In joining your lives may God grant you both . . .
Love . . . to afford each other a special quality, of time together.
Joy . . . in the accomplishments of one another.
Understanding . . . that your interests and desires
will not always be the same.
Friendship . . . based on mutual trust.
Courage . . . to speak of a misunderstanding
and to work on a solution,
before the setting of the sun.
Compassion . . . to comfort each rainy day.
Imagination . . . to keep with you part of the child you used to be.
Mirth . . . from your sense of humor,
Awareness . . . to live each day, with the knowledge
that there is no promise of tomorrow.
May God bless you and keep you
in the Palm of His hand.