Houston Wedding Officiants, Houston Non-Denominational Wedding Ministers, Houston Bilingual Wedding Ministers, Houston Juez Bodas

 I, (Bride/Groom), take you (Groom/Bride), to be my (wife/husband), to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; from this day forward until death do us part.

I, (name), take you, (name), to be my [opt: lawfully wedded] (husband/wife), my constant friend, my faithful partner and my love from this day forward. In the presence of God, our family and friends, I offer you my solemn vow to be your faithful partner in sickness and in health, in good times and in bad, and in joy as well as in sorrow. I promise to love you unconditionally, to support you in your goals, to honor and respect you, to laugh with you and cry with you, and to cherish you for as long as we both shall live.

I (name), take you (name) to be my (husband/wife), my partner in life and my one true love. I will cherish our union and love you more each day than I did the day before. I will trust you and respect you, laugh with you and cry with you, loving you faithfully through good times and bad, regardless of the obstacles we may face together. I give you my hand, my heart, and my love, from this day forward for as long as we both shall live. In the presence of God and these our friends I take thee to be my husband/wife, promising with Divine assistance to be unto thee a loving and faithful husband/wife so long as we both shall live.

I, (name), take you, (name), to be my friend, my lover, the (mother/father) of my children and my (husband/wife). I will be yours in times of plenty and in times of want, in times of sickness and in times of health, in times of joy and in times of sorrow, in times of failure and in times of triumph. I promise to cherish and respect you, to care and protect you, to comfort and encourage you, and stay with you, for all eternity.

I, [name], choose you [name] to be my [husband/wife], to respect you in your successes and in your failures, to care for you in sickness and in health, to nurture you, and to grow with you throughout the seasons of life.

I, (name), take you, (name), to be my partner, loving what I know of you, and trusting what I do not yet know. I eagerly anticipate the chance to grow together, getting to know the (man/woman) you will become, and falling in love a little more every day. I promise to love and cherish you through whatever life may bring us.

After both have said individual vows, they may wish to say something in unison such as:

Entreat me not to leave you, or to return from following after you, For where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. And where you die, I will die and there I will be buried. May the Lord do with me and more if anything but death parts you from me.

I (name) affirm my love to you, (name) as I invite you to share my life. You are the most beautiful, smart, and generous person I have ever known, and I promise always to respect you and love you. With kindness, unselfishness and trust, I will work by your side to create a wonderful life together.
 
I take you (name) to be my lawful (wife/husband), to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health for as long as we both shall live.

Name, today I become your (husband/wife) and you become my (wife/husband). I will strive to give you the best of myself, while accepting you the way you are. I promise to respect you as a whole person with your own interests, desires, and needs, and to realize that those are sometimes different, but no less important than my own. I promise to keep myself open to you, to let you in to my innermost fears and feelings, secrets and dreams. I promise to grow along with you, to be willing to face change as we both change, keeping our relationship alive and exciting. And finally, I promise to love you in good times and in bad, with all I have to give and all that I am, in the only way I know how -- completely and forever.

(Name), today I take you for my (wife/husband). I promise to love you without reservation, comfort you in times of distress, encourage you to achieve all of your goals, laugh with you and cry with you, grow with you in mind, and spirit, always be open and honest with you, and cherish you for as long as we both shall live.

I (name) affirm my love to you, (name) as I invite you to share my life. You are the most beautiful, smart, and generous person I have ever known, and I promise always to respect you. With kindness, unselfishness and trust, I will work by your side to create a wonderful life together.
 
I take you (name) to be my lawful wife/husband, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health for as long as we both shall live.

(Name), I love you. You are my best friend. Today I give myself to you in marriage. I promise to encourage and inspire you, to laugh with you, and to comfort you in times of sorrow and struggle.
I promise to love you in good times and in bad, when life seems easy and when it seems hard,
when our love is simple, and when it is an effort. I promise to cherish you, and to always hold you in highest regard. These things I give to you today, and all the days of our life.

(Name), I love you. I want to be your husband/wife so that we might serve Christ together. Through all of the uncertainties and trials of life, I promise to be faithful to you and love you, so that together we may grow in the likeness of Christ and that our home may be a praise to Him.

(Name), I promise to love and care for you and I will try in every way to be worthy of your love.
I will always be honest with you, kind, patient, and forgiving. But most of all, I promise to be a true and loyal friend to you. I love you.

I (name), take you (name), to be my wife/husband, to share the good times and hard times side by side. I humbly give you my hand and my heart as I pledge my faith and love to you. Just as this ring I give you today is a circle without end, my love for you is eternal. Just as it is made of incorruptible substance, my commitment to you will never fail. With this ring, I thee wed."

(Name), with all my love, I take you to be my wife/husband. I will love you through good and the bad, through joy and the sorrow. I will try to be understanding, and to trust in you completely. Together we will face all of life's experiences and share one another's dreams and goals. I promise I will be your equal partner in an loving, honest relationship, for as long as we both shall live.

(Name), I promise to love you, to be your best friend, to respect and support you, to be patient with you, to work together with you to achieve our goals, to accept you unconditionally, and to share life with you throughout the years.

(Name), I take you to be my wife/husband from this time onward, to join with you and to share all that is to come, to be your faithful husband/wife, to give and to receive, to speak and to listen, to inspire and to respond; a commitment made in love, kept in faith, and eternally made new.

Classic Biblical Passages on Love and Marriage:

We read in Colossians 3:12, Therefore put on tender mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long- suffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things, put on love, which is the bond of perfection. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which you were called in one body; and be thankful.

We read in the first epistle of John, Let us love not in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him. For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God.... Let us love one another, for love is of God, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.... He who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.

We read in I Corinthians 13, Though I speak with the tongues of men and angels, but have no love, I have become as sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. Love suffers long and is kind. Love does not envy. Love does not parade itself, is not puffed up. Love rejoices in the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.

Song of Solomon 2:10-13
My beloved responded and said to me,
'Arise, my darling, my beautiful one,
And come along.
'For behold, the winter is past,
The rain is over and gone.
'The flowers have already appeared in the land;
The time has arrived for pruning the vines,
And the voice of the turtledove has been heard in our land.
'The fig tree has ripened its figs,
And the vines in blossom have given forth their fragrance.
Arise, my darling, my beautiful one,
And come along!'

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12
Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor.
For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion.   But woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up.  Furthermore, if two lie down together they keep warm, but how can one be warm alone? And if one can overpower him who is alone, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart.

Ruth 1:16-17
But Ruth said, "Do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God.

"Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. Thus may the LORD do to me, and worse, if anything but death parts you and me."

I John 4:7-19

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. We love, because He first loved us.

"To My Dear and Loving Husband"
by Anne Bradstreet
If ever two were one, then surely we.
If ever man were loved by wife, then thee;
If ever wife was happy in a man,
Compare with me ye women if you can.
I prize thy love more that whole mines of gold,
Or all the riches that the East doth hold.
My love is such that rivers cannot quench,
Nor ought but love from thee give recompense.
Thy love is such I can no way repay,
The heavens reward thee manifold I pray.
Then while we live, in love let’s so persever,
That when we live no more, we may live ever.

"The Bargain" by Sir Philip Sidney'
My true love hath my heart, and I have his,
By just exchange one for another given:
I hold his dear, and mine he cannot miss,
There never was a better bargain driven:
My true love hath my heart, and I have his.

His heart in me keeps him and me in one,
My heart in him his thoughts and senses guides:
He loves my heart, for once it was his own,
I cherish his because in me it bides:
My true love hath my heart, and I have his.

Scottish Wedding Prayer
Lord help us to remember when
We first met and the strong
love that grew between us.
To work that love into
practical things so that nothing
can divide us.
We ask for words both kind
and loving and hearts always
ready to ask forgiveness
as well as to forgive.
Dear Lord, we put our
marriage into your hands.

UNITY CANDLE CEREMONY:

Lighting the Unity Candle is one of the most common ceremonies and symbolizes the joining together or blending of separate lives.  It represents the coming together of two families and the merging of two individuals into one married couple. The Unity Candle is an arrangement of three candles (the center candle sometimes being larger than the other two). The two side candles are lit either before the wedding ceremony begins or just before the Unity Candle ceremony.  The side candles can be lit by the bride and groom's parents on their respective sides of the altar, or the bride and groom can light their candles.  The bride and groom each take a lit candle and simultaneously light a third larger "unity candle." You may also have your unity candle personalized with your names and the date, allowing it to be a keepsake from your wedding.
This tradition is also a great way to include your children in your ceremony and blend a family, with the bride and groom and their children each lighting a candle and then together lighting the Unity Candle. Lighting the Unity Candle normally takes place after the bride and groom exchange vows and rings.

MINISTER: The two outside candles have been lit by Your mothers since they are both here to bless your marriage, and it is fitting that they have lit the two individual candles you see here for each of  them brought you life and taught you your first lessons about love. The two outside candles represent both your lives in this moment. They are two distinct lights, each capable of going their separate ways. As you join now in marriage, there is a merging of these two lights into one light. As you each take a candle and together light the center one, you will extinguish your own candles, thus letting the center candle represent the union of your lives into one flesh. As this one light cannot be divided, neither shall your lives be divided but a united testimony in a Christian home.

ROSE CEREMONY:

In the Rose Ceremony, the Bride and Groom give each other a Rose. Two roses are all that is necessary. The Rose Ceremony is placed at the end of the ceremony just before being pronounced husband and wife. In the old language of flowers, a single red rose always meant "I love you". The Rose ceremony gives recognition to the new and most honorable title of "Husband and Wife".

Minister:
 n the past, the rose was considered a symbol of love and a single rose always meant only one thing - it meant the words "I love you." So it is appropriate that for your first gift - as husband and wife - that gift would be a single rose.
_________ and _____________, I would ask that where ever you make your home in the future - whether it be a large and elegant home - or a small and graceful one - that you both pick one very special location for roses; so that on each anniversary of this truly wonderful occasion you both may take a rose to that spot both as a recommitment to your marriage - and a recommitment that THIS will be a marriage based upon love.
In every marriage there are times where it is difficult to find the right words. It is easiest to hurt who we most love. It is easiest to be most hurt by who we most love. It might be difficult some time to words to say "I am sorry" or "I forgive you"; "I need you" or "I am hurting". If this should happen, if you simply can not find these words, leave a rose at that spot which both of you have selected .That rose says the words: "I still love you." The other should accept this rose for the words which can not be found, and remember the love and hope that you both share today

SAND CEREMONY:

Similar to the water ceremony, the bride and groom both pour different colored sand into a glass. The sand ceremony will go in place of the unity candle ceremony . You will need to get your own sand and containers. Two vessels of sand are poured together either into a third keepsake vessel, or into the wind to represent the coming together of your lives.

Minister:
Today, this relationship is symbolized through the pouring of these two individual
containers of sand one, representing you BRIDE and all that you were,
all that you are, and all that you will ever be, and the other representing you, GROOM,
and all that you were and all that you are, and all that you will ever be.
As these two containers of sand are poured into the third container, the individual
containers of sand will no longer exist, but will be joined together as one.
Just as these grains of sand can never be separated and poured again
into the individual containers, so will your marriage be.

THE BROOM JUMPING CEREMONY:

The Broom Jumping Ceremony is an African-American tradition that has its roots in slavery times when slaves could not marry. The symbol used in this ceremony is a decorated broom. Typically the family places the broom on the ground, and the bride and groom jump over it together. The  decorated broom can then occupy a place of honor in their home.  As far as the broom itself, it can be purchased as a fully decorated broom at ethnic stores, or a regular household broom will suffice. Broom sizes will vary, but it doesn't matter which you choose.  Decorating the broom is a fun activity to be done at the wedding shower or at an evening with the bridesmaids and family members. The broom looks really pretty decorated with the wedding colors and really only your imagination is the limit as to how you may personalize your broom.

Your guests and family members may also participate in this tradition by allowing them to help in the decoration of the broom by tying ribbon bows around the broom before you begin the ceremony. In order to do this, prepare a pretty basket full of ribbon bows and bring it to the ceremony site.

CEREMONY
Have your host ask family members or friends to form a circle around the couple as they stand in front of the broom on the floor.
Minister:

"Let us give our support to this new family who are formed by  the joining  and the combining of two families, and we ask there community to support the couple."
"As Mr. & Mrs _____________  jump this broom, let them look forward to a new life and home together as husband and wife." 
"The jumping of the broom is a symbol of sweeping away of the old and welcoming the new, or a symbol of a new beginning."

"Would everyone count 1, 2, 3... Jump!

We are a family now, a whole, Of which you are a part, And you are just as much my child, As any in my heart. I do  not love you differently, Nor would I give up less, Of all that life has given me, To bring you happiness.  There is no limit to my love, No boundary you might cross, No price you might be asked to pay, No need to fear its loss.  We are now one, the four of us, Windows of one home. As long as I have life and breath, You'll never be alone."

FAMILY MEDALLION CEREMONIES:
FAMILY MEDALLION®

This ceremony is designed to include your children in the wedding ceremony. The Family Medallion® provides a symbol for recognizing family relationships by adding a third circle to the two "marriage circles." During this part of the ceremony, the children come forward and form a circle with the bride and groom, who welcome the children into the family, make a verbal commitment to them, and then provide the family members with a "Family Medallion®."

An internet search for Family Medallions® will provide a variety of styles and price ranges to choose from. 
Family Wedding Certificates can also be located and purchased on-line and then completed with your certificate of marriage at your ceremony.

*Family Medallion® is a Trademark of Clergy Services of Kansas City, MO. For more information on the Medallions and candle-lighting, click here Family Medallions