If either the bride or groom was raised in the Catholic faith,
Colorado Heights University Chapel was a Catholic Churh for 125 years and is now rented out to people of all faiths.
here are elements for a simplified version of a Catholic wedding ceremony. Below are Catholic texts for an entire wedding ceremony program which can be enjoyed by all guests. Please let us know if there are any excerpts below you would like woven into your ceremony.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Our help is in the Name of the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.
O Lord, hear our prayer, and let my cry come unto Thee.
The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
My dear friends: you are about to enter into a union which is most sacred and most serious. It is most sacred, because it is established by God himself; most serious, because it will bind you together for life in a relationship so close and intimate, that it will profoundly influence your whole future.That future, with its successes and disappointments, its joys and its sorrows, is hidden from your eyes. And so not knowing what is before you, you take each other for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death.
These words are also a beautiful tribute to your undoubted faith in each other, that recognizing their full import, you are nevertheless willing to pronounce them. In marriage you enter into a deeper and wider life which you share in common. The sacrifices you must make will sometimes be irksome, but love will make them easy, and perfect love will make them a joy. We are willing to give in proportion as we love.
No greater joy can come to your life than pure conjugal love, loyal and true to the end. May this love with which you join your hearts and hands today never fail, but grow deeper and stronger as the years go on. Your lives will be in the hands of God. He pledges to you the life-long support of His grace in the Holy Sacrament which you are now going to receive.
O Lord, we implore Thee, let Thy inspiration precede our actions and Thy help further them, so that all our prayers and all our deeds may ever take their beginning from Thee, and so begun, may through Thee reach completion. Through Christ our Lord, Amen.
Catholic wedding vows: _____, will you take ______, for your lawful wife according to laws of God?
_____, will you take ______, for your lawful husband according to the laws of God?
I, _____ take you _____ for my lawful wife/husband, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer , or poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part.
Catholic Wedding Ring Ceremony: Bless, O Lord, these rings, which we are blessing in Thy name, so that they who wear them, keeping faith with each other in unbroken loyalty, may ever remain at peace with Thee, obedient to Thy will, and may live together always in mutual love. Through Christ our Lord, Amen.
Now that you are sealing a truly Christian marriage, give these wedding rings to each other, saying after me:
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Take and wear this ring as a pledge of my fidelity.
I call upon all of you here to be witnesses of this holy union which I have now blessed. What God has joined together, let no one put asunder.
May the Peace of Christ dwell always in your hearts and in your home; may you have true friends to stand by you, bogth in joy and in sorrow. May you be ready with help and consolation for all those who come to you in need; and may the blessings promised to the compassionate descend in abundance upon your house. Amen.
Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy.
Lord’s Prayer
_____ and ______, as you have consented to marriage before God and this company, I pronounce that your are husband and wife, in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen.
Having been united in the holy bonds of matrimony, give thanks to the Almighty for the favors which He has bestowed upon you. Ever mindful of these duties which you owe to each other, and to those with whose welfare you may be especially charged, cherish the grace with which this day has conferred upon you; it will direct you in every difficulty; it will comfort you in the hour of trial; it will be a continual source of peace, of joy, of mutual affection on earth, and a pledge of your eternal and perfect union in heaven.
Go in peace, and may the Lord be with you always, Amen