Sample of Wedding Vows on St. Thomas
The following ceremony was the one featured on BBC1 during July 1998. This was the wedding of Jane MacDonald to her Danish husband, Henrik. The reading can be interpreted in a number of ways, but we think it's an appropriate admonition for many couples in love. The ceremony takes around 20 minutes, and is not offensive to any religious or ethnic tradition, as far as we can tell....
"You have come here today, Henrik and Jane, because you believe that by being together your lives will be better and more productive than they would be apart.
In marriage a new perspective is created by the joining of male and female views of life and the world. Through this partnership, each partner becomes stronger, each becomes wiser, each becomes more loving.
But marriage is a garden which needs to be tended every day: the benefits we receive through marriage are not free. If we don't make time to tell our partner how much we value what we have together, we will begin to take each other for granted and lose the very special quality that we originally united to enjoy.
The importance of marriage to humans is so great, that it is the oldest rite or ritual of any kind recorded in history; its scope so great that it is virtually the only custom recognized by every human government and religion. It is into this dynamic and wonderful state of partnership that you two come, today, to be joined.
In honor of the solemn pledge you are about to make, and symbolizing its unbroken perpetuity, please join right hands.
Henrik, do you take Jane to be your lawfully wedded wife; to have and to hold from this day forward, for richer for poorer, in prosperity or adversity, to love and to cherish, so long as you both may live? Jane answers, "I do".
Jane, do you take Henrik to be your lawfully wedded husband; to have and to hold from this day forward, for richer for poorer, in prosperity or adversity, to love and to cherish, so long as you both may live? Henrik answers, "I do" and a tear rolls down her cheek.
THEN "A READING FROM THE PROPHET" by Kahlil Gibran (contact us for a copy)
May I have the rings please, and join all your hands together.
Throughout human tradition, when you make a pledge, it has been deemed good to have a token to remind you of that pledge. For this purpose you have chosen rings. They are appropriate to the task because they are circles never ending, like the promises you make to each other today. And they are made of precious metal, never to be tarnished, like the love you express before myself and these witnesses. Please place these rings, and honor each other in their giving.
Repeat after me: I Henrik, take you Jane to be my wife. I promise you love, honor and respect; to be faithful to you, and not to forsake you, until death us do part.
Repeat after me: I Jane, take you Henrik to be my husband. I promise you love, honor and respect; to be faithful to you, and not to forsake you, until death us do part.
From this day forward, may you live together in peace; may you grow each day in understanding and compassion. When you are apart, may you return to one another in togetherness. May the home you establish be a place of sanctuary, where many will find a friend. And what we have joined together, let no one put asunder.
Because you two came here today intending to marry. Because you joined hands and made solemn vows, and exchanged rings to remind you of those vows, and you are now joined as partners in mutual love and respect: according to the powers vested in me by the Territorial Court of the United States Virgin Islands, and the highest power of the land and the sea; I pronounce that your wedding vows are sealed and you may henceforth be known to all as husband and wife.
You may now kiss each other...".
Copyright © 1999 Weddings Abroad Ltd.