A complete wedding ceremony script

Processional 2–3 min

[Guests are seated. The wedding party enters, then the couple. Everyone remains standing until the officiant invites them to sit.]

Welcome 1–2 min

Good evening, everyone, and welcome. Please, be seated.

We’re here today for the happiest of reasons: to witness and celebrate the marriage of [Partner A] and [Partner B]. Every person in these seats was chosen. You are the people who have shaped these two lives, and they wanted your faces in front of them for this. On their behalf, thank you for being here.

A wedding is a rare thing — one of the few days a family gathers everyone it loves into a single room and asks them to hold a moment together. So let’s be fully here for it, phones down and hearts open, for these next few minutes that belong to [Partner A] and [Partner B].

On this marriage 2–3 min

[Partner A] and [Partner B], the promise you’re about to make is a large one, and you’re making it with your eyes open. Marriage isn’t the end of a love story; it’s the decision to keep writing one, together, on the ordinary days as much as the extraordinary ones.

What everyone who knows you notices is how much lighter you are together — quicker to laugh, braver, more yourselves. [Tell one short, true story from the couple’s interview here: how they met, the moment one of them knew, a small daily kindness.] That is the thing you’re protecting today, and it is worth protecting.

You’re not promising to be perfect for each other. You’re promising to be present — to choose each other again on the good mornings and the hard ones, and to build, day by day, a home the rest of us are glad to visit.

The reading 1–2 min

[If there is a reading, the officiant invites the reader forward now.]

Before [Partner A] and [Partner B] make their promises, [Reader’s name] is going to share a few words they chose for today.

[The reading is given. The officiant thanks the reader by name as they return to their seat.]

Declaration of intent 1 min

[Partner A], do you take [Partner B] to be no one but themselves — to love what you already know of them, and to stay curious about what you don’t; to stand with them in good fortune and in hard times; and to choose this marriage, on purpose, every day for the rest of your life?

[Partner A]: I do.

And [Partner B], do you take [Partner A] to be no one but themselves — to love what you already know of them, and to stay curious about what you don’t; to stand with them in good fortune and in hard times; and to choose this marriage, on purpose, every day for the rest of your life?

[Partner B]: I do.

The vows 2–3 min

Now, [Partner A] and [Partner B], you’ll make your promises to each other. Please face one another and join hands.

[The couple turns to face each other and joins hands. If they wrote their own vows, they read them now. Otherwise the officiant leads each partner through the lines below, a phrase at a time.]

[Partner A], please repeat after me.

I, [Partner A], take you, [Partner B], to be my [wife / husband / partner]. I promise to stand beside you and never in your way; to be your shelter and your adventure; to tell you the truth gently, and to listen for yours. From this day on, whatever comes, I’m yours.

And [Partner B], please repeat after me.

I, [Partner B], take you, [Partner A], to be my [wife / husband / partner]. I promise to stand beside you and never in your way; to be your shelter and your adventure; to tell you the truth gently, and to listen for yours. From this day on, whatever comes, I’m yours.

The rings 1–2 min

May we have the rings, please.

[The rings are brought forward. The officiant may hold them up briefly so the guests can see them.]

A wedding ring is a small, plain circle, and yet we hand it enormous meaning: it has no beginning and no end, and it’s worn where the whole world can see it. Each time you catch it on your hand, let it bring you back to the promise you’re making here, in front of everyone who loves you.

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

I give you this ring as a sign of my love and everything I’ve promised today. Wear it, and know that you are mine and I am yours.

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

I give you this ring as a sign of my love and everything I’ve promised today. Wear it, and know that you are mine and I am yours.

Pronouncement 1 min

[Partner A] and [Partner B], you’ve declared your intention in front of all of us, made your promises to each other, and sealed them with rings. And so, by the power vested in me by the [state / jurisdiction], it is my great joy to declare that you are now married.

You may share your first kiss as a married couple.

[The couple kisses. The officiant waits for the applause to crest before speaking again.]

Recessional 1 min

Friends and family, it’s my privilege to introduce, for the very first time, [the newly married couple, announced as they wish].

[The couple leads the recessional back up the aisle, followed by the wedding party. The officiant follows last.]