Romantic Island Vows

Welcome friends, I am ________________.

We have come together to honor Bride and Groom, and to rejoice with them as the celebrate their marriage with vows of loyalty and love.  Let us open our hearts to the beauty all around us, the pristine environment of Sun, Sand and the clear turquoise waters of the Virgin Islands and to the sacredness of this moment, as we consider the sacrament of marriage.

Marriage is more than this celebration today, more than all the days and hours that have gone before, bringing these two people together.  Marriage is all about love and acceptance, sharing, caring and devotion.  It's about dependability and interdependence, in balance with equality, growth, freedom and respect.  This is the sweetest of relationships, the deepest of friendships. It is woven of tenderness and romance; and of trust, respect, communication and laughter shared.

Timeless as the tropical sky above us and powerful as the seas is the love that underpins a true marriage.  Today we bear witness as Bride and Groom agree in love, making their sacred marriage covenant.  And so it is right that we should speak of the meaning of Love.

It is written in First Corinthians: Love is patient.  Love is kind.  Love envies no one; is never boastful, nor conceited, nor rude...Is never selfish, nor quick to take offense.  Love does not insist on its own way.  Love keeps no score of wrongs, does not gloat over another's failings, but delights in the good, the true, the beautiful.  There is nothing love cannot face.  There is no limit to its faith, its hope, and its endurance.

Love never fails.

Bride and Groom, you have chosen to marry because you belong-- not to each other, but with each other.  Marriage is built upon your ongoing commitment.  It is making choices-- every day, for the rest of your lives.  You will choose whether to be faithful, whether to be kind and patient with each other.  You will choose whether to find fault or to be accepting and forgiving, whether or not to embody that beautiful description of LOVE we found in First Corinthians... In the days and the years ahead, you will have to choose, again and again, whether or not to keep your love as the most important part of your lives.  Choice is a holy word- It is your sacred responsibility to make your choices lovingly, to select beauty and joy by the way you choose to perceive life and one another.

Thus we encourage you, Bride and Groom, to look at one another through the eyes of devotion, to support one another through the good times and the bad, to accept one another just as you are and just as you are not, and to honor the gifts you bestow upon one another with your teaching and learning, your caring, your tenderness, your enthusiasm.

Bride and Groom, be ever willing to talk "with," and not "at" your partner.  Listen well that you may learn your beloved's feelings and needs, and never assume the other can read your thoughts.  Keep in your hearts this truth- the power of forgiveness is surpassed only by the happy capacity to forgo blame.  Be truthful that you may be trusting.  Be respectful and kind to one another and to yourselves.  And keep your sense of humor!

Groom, do you take Bride to be no other than herself... 
Loving what you know of her, Trusting what you may not know...
With respect for her integrity, And faith in her abiding love for you...
Through all your years, and in all that life may bring you, do you embrace her as your wife?

Groom: I do

Bride, do you take Groom to be no other than himself...
Loving what you know of him, Trusting what you may not know...
With respect for his integrity, and faith in his abiding love for you...
Through all your years, and in all that life may bring you, do you embrace him as your husband?

Bride: I do

May I have the rings.  Bride, place your left hand in Groom's left hand.  A circle is a symbol of the earth and the sun and the universe, of wholeness and perfection and peace- an eternity symbol.  The wedding ring serves as the public and outward sign of a deeply personal and sacred inner relationship, a reminder of your covenant with one another.  Let these rings encircle your fingers, as you love encircles the wearer.

Groom, repeat after me:  Bride, accept this ring as my gift to you.  Let it be a reminder of our covenant of lifelong faithfulness and love.
Bride, turn your hands over, and his hands will be in yours.
Bride, repeat after me: Groom, accept this ring as my gift to you.  Let it be a reminder of our covenant of lifelong faithfulness and love.

Bride & Groom, as you travel through life, focus on the good and special things you discover about each other.  Keep these treasures in you minds and hearts to value every day and to use as stepping stones in those times when the ground seems to fall away from beneath your feet.  Learn to use spiritual gifts of inner strength and these stored love treasures to rebuild the path as you scramble together onto higher ground.  And maintain always, the nurture and respect for one another we see in your eyes today.

(Optional Blessing/Prayer)
We give thanks that out of this vast and wonderful world, Life has drawn together these two souls, and bound them firmly with the sweet, sure bonds of love.  Their destinies shall be woven of one design, and their perils and joys shall not be known apart.  As they increase in mutual understanding, may their joy stand victorious against the storm of circumstance which beats impartially at all our doors.  From the rich encouragement of their affection may they complete the unfinished pattern of their true selves.  Even as they have chosen one another from the world's multitudes, so let the days and years now veiled by time continue to deepen the commitment they have made and to make it abidingly true.  Amen.

Pronouncement