Kenneth & Tara

Wed 02-13-2011

The Ceremony & Vows:

Family are those who are with you in good times and in bad. Who stand beside you when you are on your knees, who walk beside you when you don’t know the way. By blood or bond, through tears and laughter, triumphs and disappointments, family are those who encourage, support and believe in you. So it is with the greatest honor and respect to welcome you all here today, Tara and Ken’s family, to share in this most wonderful of days and to give recognition to the worth and beauty of love. Your presence shows the love in your hearts and your blessing of this ceremony which shall unite Tara and Ken in marriage.

Processional & Giving away of the bride.

Tara’s father shall escort her down the aisle. He shakes Ken’s hand and takes a step back. He remains standing until I ask, "Who gives this woman to be married to this man?" He answers with a statement, such as, "I do." I will nod, then he takes his seats.

The ideals of love and family are as universal as time itself, and the desire to spend a lifetime with the one we love transcends language and time, and it speaks to the very core of what makes us truly human.

May all of us be reminded this day, love is truly a gift to be treasured and respected.

Let us bow our heads and begin with a blessing for this marriage,

"Our hearts are filled with great happiness
on this the wedding day of Ken and Tara.
They have come before you,
pledging their lives and their hearts to one another.
Grant that they may be ever true and loving,
living together in a way that shall ever nurture
the soul of their marriage.
Temper their hearts with kindness
and help them to be sweethearts, helpmates,
friend and guide,
So that together, may they meet the cares
and problems of life more bravely.
May their home truly be a place of love and harmony
where your Spirit is ever present.
Bless their wedding day, we pray,
and walk beside them, through all their life together.
Amen"

Marriage is a promise that strives to ensure that his dreams will always be her dreams, and her dreams will always be his dreams. Tara and Ken, though the years shall bring each of you into greater age and wisdom, you will need to teach each other who you are, what you yet shall be. You will need to enable one another to know the fullness of being, for you are more than yourselves, and more than each other.

You have come today to make a promise to stand with and for each other in the times when love alone is not enough. The promises you make this day are a lifelong commitment before all those you love most in the world. The promise to love another person openly and trustingly, without limits or preconditions, for a lifetime, is perhaps the bravest thing two people will ever do.

I have adapted some passages from The Invitation by Oriah, and ask that you both, in the quiet moment of your hearts and minds, ensure you trust in yourself and one another to know and continually seek the answers anew;

Will you always risk looking like a fool for love, for your dream, for the adventure of being alive?

Have you touched the center of your own sorrow, can you sit with pain, your own or the other’s, without moving to hide it, fade it or fix it?

Can you be with joy, your own or the other’s, can you dance with wildness and let ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning to be careful, to be realistic, or to remember the limitations of being human?

Can you disappoint another to be true to yourself? Can you bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul?

Can see beauty, even when it's not pretty, every day? Can you source your own life from its presence?

Do you know what you ache for? Do you dare to dream of meeting your hearts longing?

Can you get up, after the night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done?

Will stand alone in the center of the fire with one another and not shrink back?

If you are sure of your answers, I ask each of you now,

Ken, do you take Tara to be your lawfully wedded wife? [I do] Will you cherish and continually bestow upon her your heart’s deepest devotion, forsaking all others, keep yourself only unto her as long as you both shall live?

Tara, do you take Ken to be your lawfully wedded husband? [I do] Will you cherish and continually bestow upon her your heart’s deepest devotion, forsaking all others, keep yourself only unto her as long as you both shall live?

You are both here today because you cannot imagine spending the rest of your lives with anyone else. Today, you each pledge your heart, body and soul to this marriage. Promise to support one another in all your endeavors and counsel one another when you need guidance. With an open heart and open mind, you will share thoughts, dreams, hopes and fears. You will hold one another close when you laugh and when you cry. Each of you vow to be a strong individual within a solid marriage so you may both grow in love and wisdom all the days of our lives.

As you have dreamed your whole lives of finding one another, and this dream has come true, I ask you to speak your vows.

Ken’s vow to Rosie

“Rosie

I thank God and your mommy

for bringing you into my life.

I will forever care for you and provide for you as my own.

With this flower, I give you my heart,

my strength and my support, from this day forward.”

Tara and Kens Vows.

Ken, do you have a ring for your bride? If you will please place this ring on Tara’s finger in remembrance of your vows, a forever symbol of love that is complete, beautiful, and endless between you, and say, “With this ring, I thee wed.”

Tara, do you have a ring for your groom? If you will please place this ring on Ken’s finger in remembrance of your vows, a forever symbol of love that is complete, beautiful, and endless between you, and say, “With this ring, I thee wed.”

Tara and Ken, it is with great honor and by the power of your love and commitment and the authority vested in me to now pronounce you husband and wife. Forever be together in harmony and let the winds of the heavens dance between you. Empower each other and allow your relationship to evolve to its highest purpose. Sing and dance together and be joyful. Care for one another, share your lives with one another and to unite in spirits with every fiber of your being. Bring your marriage to the foreground of your thoughts always and through all of your moments together, so that in the triumphs and trials that lie ahead, you will you will feel just as you do now, happy to be in love and married to one another. Be at peace and live more and more in the present, which is beautiful and stretches beyond the limits of the past and towards the horizons of the future.

May I present to you Mr. & Mrs. Ken & Tara Taylor!  Ken, you may kiss your bride!