Cherokee Prayer

• "God in heaven above please protect the ones we love.
  We honour all you created as we pledge our hearts and lives together.
  We honour mother-earth - and ask for our marriage to be abundant and grow stronger through the seasons;
  We honour fire - and ask that our union be warm and glowing with love in our hearts;
  We honour wind - and ask we sail though life safe and calm as in our father's arms;
  We honour 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.
  Amen."

• [Bride's name], please face [Groom's name], and hold his hands,
  palms up, so you may see the gift that they are to you.
  
  These are the hands of your best friend, young and strong and vibrant with love, that are holding yours on your wedding day, as he promises to love you all the days of his life.
  
  These are the hands that will work along side yours, as together you build your future, as you laugh and cry, as you share your innermost secrets and dreams.
  
  These are the hands you will place with expectant joy against your stomach, until he too, feels his child stir within you.
  
  These are the hands that look so large and strong, yet will be so gentle as he holds your baby for the first time.
  
  These are the hands that will work long hours for you and your new family
  
  These are that hands that will passionately love you and cherish you through the years, for a lifetime of happiness.
  
  These are the hands that will countless times wipe the tears from your eyes: tears of sorrow and tears of joy
  
  These are the hands that will comfort you in illness, and hold you when fear or grief wrack your mind.
  
  These are the hands that will tenderly lift your chin and brush your cheek as they raise your face to look into his eyes: eyes that are filled completely with his overwhelming love and desire for you.
  
  [Groom's name], please hold [Bride's name]?s hands, palms up, where you may see the gift that they are to you. These are the hands of your best friend, smooth, young and carefree, that are holding yours on your wedding day, as she pledges her love and commitment to you all the days of her life.
  
  These are the hands that will hold each child in tender love, soothing them through illness and hurt, supporting and encouraging them along the way, and knowing when it is time to let go
  
  These are the hands that will massage tension from you neck and back in the evenings after you?ve both had a long hard day.
  
  These are the hands that will hold you tight as you struggle through difficult times
  
  These are the hands that will comfort you when you are sick, or console you when you are grieving.
  
  They are the hands that will passionately love you and cherish you through the years, for a lifetime of happiness.
  
  These are the hands that will hold you in joy and excitement and hope, each time she tells you that you are to have another child, that together you have created a new life.
  
  These are the hands that will give you support as she encourages you to chase down your dreams. Together as a team, everything you wish for can be realized.
  
  Minister:
  God, bless these hands that you see before you this day. May they always be held by one another. Give them the strength to hold on during the storms of stress and the dark of disillusionment. Keep them tender and gentle as they nurture each other in their wondrous love. Help these hands to continue building a relationship founded in your grace, rich in caring, and devoted in reaching for your perfection. May [Groom's name] and [Bride's name] see their four hands as healer, protector, shelter and guide. We ask this in your name, Amen.

• If for whatever reason you choose not to use a Unity Candle during your ceremony, the sand ceremony can be a beautiful and meaningful addition to your vows. Simply find three containers, one for you and your fiance to pour the sand into, two for each of you to pour the sand from. You can find coloured or plain sand at most craft stores. After the officiant reads the text below (or any text you choose) pour the two containers of sand into the third container simultaneously. You may wish to leave a small amount of sand in each containter to symbolize that although you are now joined as one, you each remain individuals.
  
  _______ and _______, you have just sealed your relationship by the giving and receiving of rings and the exchange of a kiss, and this covenant is a relationship pledge between two people who agree that they will commit themselves to one another throughout their lives. The most beautiful example of this partnership is the marriage relationship. You have committed here today to share the rest of your lives with each other. Today, this relationship is symbolized through the pouring of these two individual containers of sand one, representing you, _______ and all that you were, all that you are, and all that you will ever be, and the other representing you, _______, and all that you were and all that you are, and all that you will ever be. As these two containers of sand are poured into the third container, the individual containers of sand will no longer exist, but will be joined together as one. Just as these grains of sand can never be separated and poured again into the individual containers, so will your marriage be.

• Red wine and white wine in a small carafe is placed next to an empty carafe with a wineglass on a small table near the couple. The center carafe, called the Marriage Carafe is sometimes a bit larger than the two outside "individual" carafes. Alternatively there would be 2 carafes and one empty glass. If the individual carafes are carried in the Wedding Processional the Marriage Carafe or Wine Glass is already sitting on the table and only the two individual filled carafes are carried forth.
  
  When the Wine Ceremony is done music can be played or there can be no music at all.
  
  The Wine Ceremony can be divided into two parts. The presenting of the two individual carafes filled with red and white wine to be placed on the table near the larger empty carafe during the processional. Then part two the pouring of the two separate wines into the empty carafe and drinking the combined wine by the wedding couple. Part two follows the exchange of vows. The ceremony can be one part with the wine already sitting on the table and the couple just combining the wines before drinking them.
  
  Part One can take place during the Wedding Processional with one of the attendants on both sides carrying the red or white carafe and placing it on the table. Or a bit earlier the parents of the couples come forward with a bottle of wine and fill the smaller carafes already on the table just before they are seated and then the wedding processional starts.
  
  Ceremony:
  
  After the vows the Officiant announces: “We Now Shall Perform the Wine Ceremony.” The couple goes to the table and each takes the individual carafe and pours some wine into the larger carafe. The groom then takes the larger filled carafe with the combined wine and pours some in a glass for the bride. The bride then takes the Larger Carafe with the combined wines and pours some into a glass for the Groom. He may now toast his bride with,  “Now Our Lives Are One” and drinks from the glass she responds the same. They place the wineglass back and face back to the officiant. Who states:
  
  “This Ceremony represents the two individual lives are now combined like the two wines into one single life. The drinking of the combined wine signifies the commitment you now make to live your lives as one family. May you remember this day of commitment you have sealed with drinking of the new wine joining your lives as one.”
  
  He may also announce that immediately after the service others may drink the new wine of their commitment to one life if they so desire. Or Rose wine served at the reception to mark this ceremony.

• Now you will feel no rain, for each of you will be shelter for the other. Now you will feel no cold, for each of you will be warmth to the other. Now there will be no loneliness, for each of you will be companion to the other. Now you are two persons, but there is only one life before you. May beauty surround you both in the journey ahead and through all the years, May happiness be your companion and your days together be good and long upon the earth.
  
  "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, difficult 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."

• In the Rose Ceremony, the Bride and Groom give each other a Rose. Two roses are all that is necessary. The Rose Ceremony is placed at the end of the ceremony just before being pronounced husband and wife. In the old language of flowers, a single red rose always meant "I love you". The Rose ceremony gives recognition to the new and most honorable title of "Husband and Wife".
  
  "Your gift to each other for your wedding today has been your wedding rings - which shall always be an outward demonstration of your vows of love and respect; and a public showing of your commitment to each other.
  
  You now have what remains the most honorable title which may exist between a man and a woman - the title of "husband" and "wife." For your first gift as husband and wife, that gift will be a single rose.
  
  In the past, the rose was considered a symbol of love and a single rose always meant only one thing - it meant the words "I love you." So it is appropriate that for your first gift - as husband and wife - that gift would be a single rose.
  
  Please exchange your first gift as husband and wife. In someways it seems like you have not done anything at all. Just a moment ago you were holding one small rose - and now you are holding one small rose. In some ways, a marriage ceremony is like this. In some ways, tomorrow is going to seem no different than yesterday. But in fact today, just now, you both have given and received one of the most valuable and precious gifts of life - one I hope you always remember - the gift of true and abiding love within the devotion of marriage.
  
  _________ and _____________, 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 where it is difficult to find the right words. It is easiest to hurt who we most love. It is easiest to be most hurt by who we most love. It might be difficult some time to words to say "I am sorry" or "I forgive you"; "I need you" or "I am hurting". If this should happen, if you simply can not find these words, leave a rose at that spot which both of you have selected - for that rose than 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 which can not be found, and remember the love and hope that you both share today.
  
  __________ and ________, 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 which can make it a glorious union, and it is by love which your marriage shall endure."