Opening

Welcome to the marriage of Syeather!

Syd and Heather have asked you here this afternoon because each of you has touched their lives in a special way. They hold you, their family and friends, as a valued part of who they are as individuals and who they have become and how they will grow as a couple and family. They appreciate that you have traveled this far to celebrate their love and show your support on this very special occasion. Thank you.

The Charge

Syd and Heather a love like yours happens once in a lifetime. It started as a friendship that grew from trust and honesty. For you Heather, Syd is exactly what you thought a man should be. He was honest and true from the very beginning. He challenged you to be who you are. He supported your choices and asked the hard questions. He listened to your questions and answered them honestly and openly. He helpded you to see and dream about life again. He loves and accepts you and your children Michael and Felicia as part of his family. For Syd, Heather challenged you and supported who you are. She asked you the hard questions and wasn’t afraid to hear your answers. She snuck into your heart and chipped away at the wall you had built around it. She accepted, encouraged and adored everything that you are. You fell in love. You each are a part of everything you think, do and feel. Together, hand in hand everything is possible. Your marriage is a public affirmation of the love that you share and the life that you have together with Michael and Felicia.

Every experience you have ever had, everything you have ever done, everything you have learned, has brought you both to this moment when you stand before these witnesses to take each other as husband and wife. As you look to the future together, I ask you to stand by each other’s side, as you face new experiences – always growing together, honoring, respecting and cherishing each other through whatever life may have in store for you. As you stand together as one, on this your wedding day, may you forever compliment each other and be true to who you are as your love and commitment continues to deepen throughout your life together.

May the love you have for one another continue to grow and hold you close. May the hopes that you cherish, the dreams that you share, the love in your hearts and your happiness together, grow deeper and sweeter each day of your life.

A Poem

For many years I searched in vain
To understand what lovers gain.
What good was love against life’s pain?
But poets and philosophers
Taught me less than this plain verse.

Two donkeys in a manger met
The first said to the second,
My days are long, and nights alone
Are harder than I reckoned.”

The second donkey bowed her head
and shared the straw that made her bed
And by a silent nod she said,
“I have but this, and nothing more,
Yet everything of mine is yours.”

The morning next the master came,
And shoed their hoofs and braced their backs,
And drove them down a valley road
And burdened them with heavy sacks.

But just before returning home,
The second donkey struck a stone,
And fell down lame and broke a bone.
The master said, “I have a mind
To leave the broken beast behind.”

And snapping down his leather whip
He urged the other round the bend.
The donkey, though, refused to move,
And lay beside his injured friend.

He nuzzled her, and then he said,
“When I was proud, you bowed your head.
When I was cold, you shared your bed.
You had but that, and nothing more,
You gave me everything of yours.”

“I wish,” he said that I knew how
To heal your leg and let you live.
And yet, a donkey’s only gift
Is stubbornness, so this I give:

“I will not move from here beside you.
I will not let our master ride you,
Nor let the smallest harm betide you,
Nor stray from you for any reason,
Nor leave your side in any season.

I vow to stay until we die,
And then a moment longer.
For death is lord of every beast,
But love is always stronger.”

And with this vow, the donkey stayed
And down beside his love, he laid,
And never broke the oath he made.
For simple beast know simple things,
Of humble truths, the humble kinds.

They nestled in the summer shade,
And winter came, and branches swayed,
And soon enough their coats had grayed.
And when years passed, the donkeys died.
And yet they stayed there, side by side.

I found them there long, long ago,
And yet they’ll stay there longer.
For death is lord of every beast,
But love is always stronger.

Vows

Syd, please repeat after me

Heather you are the very best that ever happens to me.
My love for you is like no other.
You bring a happiness to my life like I have never imagined.
You are perfect for me
I give myself to you.
Today, tomorrow and forever

Heather,

You are the man that I dream about.
You are my future!
I will always support who you are and I trust you completely
You are perfect for me
Thank you for choosing you, and then me
I will love you with all that I am forever

Exchange of Rings

Syd, as you place the ring, a visible sign of your commitment to this marriage, on Heather’s hand, please repeat after me.

Syd:

With this ring, I promise to be your anchor in times of stormy seas, to shelter you from the winds. I promise that I shall always love and accept you exactly the way you are. We will walk together through life as partners and best friends. With this ring, I give you my heart until the end of time.

Heather, as you place the ring, a visible sign of your commitment to this marriage, on Heather’s hand, please repeat after me.

Heather:

These rings are a symbol of the unbroken circle of love. Love freely given has no beginning and no end. May these rings always remind you of the vows you have taken today and the love you share for a lifetime.

Pronouncement

Syd and Heather, in as much as you have accepted the vows that bind you as one in your love, and by the giving and receiving of rings have pledged yourselves to each other, under the authority vested in me by the state of North Carolina, it gives me great pleasure to pronounce you husband and wife.

Congratulations, you may kiss the bride!

Our Wedding Vows