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.