A non-religious wedding ceremony script

Processional 2 min

[Guests are seated. The wedding party and the couple enter, and remain standing until the officiant invites everyone to sit.]

Welcome 1–2 min

Good afternoon, and welcome. Please, take your seats.

We’re here today for a simple and joyful reason: [Partner A] and [Partner B] love each other, and they’ve decided to build the rest of their lives together. They wanted the people who matter most to them gathered in one place to see it happen — so thank you, all of you, for being that circle today.

This is a wedding that borrows its meaning from nowhere else. Everything that makes it matter is standing right here: two people, and the promises they’re about to make in front of you, freely and in their own words.

What we mean by marriage 2–3 min

[Partner A] and [Partner B], you haven’t arrived here by accident. You chose each other, deliberately and more than once, and today you choose each other out loud.

A marriage isn’t held together by a document or a ring. It’s held together by ten thousand small decisions — to be kind when it would be easier to be right, to stay curious about a person you already know well, to build an ordinary life so full of care that it turns into an extraordinary one. [Share one true, specific thing about this couple here.]

That’s the work you’re signing up for today. And the fact that you understand it — that you’re choosing it clearly, with all these people as your witnesses — is exactly what makes the promise worth making.

A reading 1–2 min

[If there is a reading, the officiant invites the reader forward now (a poem, a passage, or a few words a friend wrote), then thanks them by name afterward.]

Declaration of intent 1 min

[Partner A], do you take [Partner B] to be your [wife / husband / partner] — to share your life openly with them, to support the person they are and the person they’re still becoming, and to keep choosing this partnership for as long as you both live?

[Partner A]: I do.

And [Partner B], do you take [Partner A] to be your [wife / husband / partner] — to share your life openly with them, to support the person they are and the person they’re still becoming, and to keep choosing this partnership for as long as you both live?

[Partner B]: I do.

The vows 2–3 min

Please face each other and take hands. [Partner A], repeat after me.

I, [Partner A], choose you, [Partner B]. I promise to be honest with you and gentle with your heart, to celebrate your happiness as my own and to carry your burdens beside you. I’ll keep building this life with you, patiently and gladly, for all the days we have.

And [Partner B], repeat after me.

I, [Partner B], choose you, [Partner A]. I promise to be honest with you and gentle with your heart, to celebrate your happiness as my own and to carry your burdens beside you. I’ll keep building this life with you, patiently and gladly, for all the days we have.

The rings 1–2 min

These rings are simply metal until you give them meaning — and in a moment you will. Worn every day, seen by everyone, an unbroken circle: let each one be a plain daily reminder of the promise you made here.

[Partner A], place the ring on [Partner B]’s hand and repeat after me.

I give you this ring as the sign of everything I’ve promised. Whenever you see it, know that I chose you — and that I choose you still.

[Partner B], place the ring on [Partner A]’s hand and repeat after me.

I give you this ring as the sign of everything I’ve promised. Whenever you see it, know that I chose you — and that I choose you still.

Pronouncement 1 min

[Partner A] and [Partner B], you’ve chosen each other in front of all of us, and made your promises freely and in your own words. And so, by the power vested in me by the [state / jurisdiction], and with the glad witness of everyone in this room, I’m delighted to declare you married.

Seal it with a kiss.

[The couple kisses, to applause. The officiant lets it crest.]

Recessional 1 min

Everyone, for the first time, please welcome [the newly married couple, announced as they wish].

[The couple leads the way back up the aisle, the party behind them, the officiant last.]