Marriage and Handfasting Ceremony
for Al Reford and Kathleen Daunhauer
Friday August 6, 2010, 1 pm
Anderson Hill Park
Welcome/Introductions
Welcome to this joyous occasion. My name is Liz Graham. I am a Lay Chaplain from the First Unitarian Church of Victoria. It is my great pleasure to officiate today at the wedding of Kathleen Daunhauer and Al Reford.
Opening Words
Al and Kathleen are here today with their family and friends to declare publicly their love for one another and we are here to witness their statement of love and commitment. With love it is possible to live a life together , each seeking and encouraging the joy, the comfort , the health and the enrichment of the other.
Statement of Purpose
Al and Kathleen, you have invited us to be with you today as witnesses to your affirmation of the happiness you have found together, and to hear the pledges through which you will publicly express your personal commitment to one another.
This ceremony, of which we all are a part, marks both a beginning and a change in your relationship -- another step in a continuing process of change and growth. Growth is an essential part of marriage as it is an essential part of life. Your relationship will keep unfolding into new dimensions and, as you keep in step moving forward, your marriage will remain a source of new strength and insight.
Declarations
Kathleen and Al, we are here to witness the happiness you have found in each other. Are you ready to make the pledges through which you commit yourselves to each other in love?
Response: We are.
Commitment of the Congregation
While a marriage is above all else an intimate relationship between two persons, it also has its wider ramifications into the lives of relatives and friends, and the community at large. Do you who are assembled, pledge your support to Al and Kathleen in the commitment that they celebrate today?
Guests’ Response: We do.
Preface to the Vows
Kathleen and Al, you have carefully considered what you are about to do. In sharing these moments with this group assembled, you are making public what you have felt for quite some time. For this moment of sharing we thank you and extend to you both our hopes and aspirations, our good wishes and our blessings.
Handfasting
Handfasting, the binding of hands together, is an ancient symbol of the bonds of love and commitment that comprise a marriage. We tie the left hands for the same reason we place the ring on the left hand… it leads directly to the heart. And so they are bound -- heart to heart and hand to hand.
You are choosing to bind your lives together, to make vows and promises in the presence of those who love and support you.
Woven into this sash are all the hopes of your friends and family, and of yourselves, for your new life together. With this handfasting may your desires, love and happiness be with you both in great abundance.
(The lay chaplain loosely wraps the sash around both their wrists and makes a loose knot. Partners keep holding hands.)
Exchange of the Vows
Kathleen, please make your promise to Al.
You are my best friend, my playmate and most of all the love of my life.
You make me laugh and smile.
I commit myself to the bond and unique relationship that exists between us and pledge to keep it flourishing.
I vow to continue to grow and develop who I am and learn about myself so I have a self to share with you.
I look forward with great joy to spending the rest of my life with you.
You are the one for me.
I love you Al.
Al, please make your promise to Kathleen.
Kathleen, Since I first met you that day in 1988 in the produce section of Quadra Foods I have found you the most fascinating person and over 20 years of friendship, I have been blessed with enjoying your company. I have admired the way in which you have raised your two beautiful children. The respect and freedom you have given them ring true with my own values.
In the last 3 years we have taken ourselves to a whole new intimate level. I love who you are as a person and I love the adventures of life, love and spirit that we share together.
I promise to continue to love you with all my heart, to be present and ready to enjoy and explore wherever we decide to go together in this lifetime. I am here for you when Life is easy. I am here for you when Life is hard.
I love you Kathleen. I see you.
Lay Chaplain: Be it ever so.
You cannot always be physically joined (lay chaplain removes sash without untying it and lays it aside, onto the table holding the register), therefore you will exchange rings.
Ring Blessing
May I have the rings, please? (Veda and Jude)
You have had these rings crafted as special symbols of what you intend that your love and your marriage will mean to you. As you wear them, may your commitment to that ideal be fulfilled abundantly.
May your rings be always a symbol of the unbroken circle of love.
Ring Placement Al and Kathleen both say: I give you this ring as a symbol of my love.
Acknowledgment of Children
As Al and Kathleen have made their vows they wish to acknowledge their happiness that Kyle, Jude, Geneva and Veda are a significant and special part of their connection and their lives.
Prayers or Blessing - Al’s parents, Regina and Al, poem by Christine Greatrix
Whisper to me softly now
As gentle warm spring rain
Whisper me a melody;
My song is yours to gain.
Whisper dulcet in my ear
For we have but this hour,
Whisper words of promise sweet
And time will have no power.
Whisper my name, sigh, as soft
As winds through fields of grass.
Whisper through the sands of time
And it will come to pass.
Whisper to me your true love
Indifference will crack,
Whisper to me your true love
True love, I’ll whisper back.
Closing Words
May the life you share with one another be filled with laughter and love.
Wedding Kiss
You may now kiss.
Signing the Register: We will now sign the marriage register.
Kathleen, Al, Jude Daunhauer, Arlaine Johansen, Liz
Pronouncement
Since you have made your vows, exchanged rings and signed the register in the presence of these witnesses, you are now married.
