BETROTHAL
Originally a separate ceremony, the betrothal is now incorporated into the
wedding ceremony. The couple is asked by the chaplain to declare their
intentions. While not a legal requirement, it is the part of the ceremony where
a couple has the opportunity to include the traditional phrase, "I do."
Sample 1
_____, will you have this woman/man (or name) to be your wedded
wife/husband/partner/spouse through all of the days of your life, to live
together in constancy and devotion? Will you love her/him, comfort her/him,
honour and cherish her/him, in sickness and in health, and will you love her/him
as long as you both shall live?
Reply: I will
Sample 2
_______, do you take _______, to be your husband/wife/partner/wedded spouse
through all of the days of your life, to love him/her and to cherish him/her, to
help him/her and to honour him/her, and to give him/her understanding and
comfort in whatever the future may bring in confidence that together you are
responsible for your destiny?.
Reply: I do
Sample 3_______ and _______, as you have come here freely to give yourselves in
marriage, do you now promise that you will love and honour each other as husband
and wife/wedded partners/spouses?
Reply: We do
Sample 4
_______ and _______, to create a life together with the blessing of God
requires that you honour the divine in each other and in yourself; that you
honour the many voices of the soul--the joys, the delights, the love, as well as
the anger, the fear, the illness, and the unhealed wounds; that you not ask your
life partner to be any less than the fully powerful, proud woman/man that she/he
is; that you embrace her/him in her/his complexity--in her/his delights, in the
fullness of her/his dreams, in her/his relationship with God. This is both God's
blessing and charge to you; to live together with honour, courage, and honesty.
Are you prepared to accept this challenge?
Reply: Yes, we are.
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