Wedding Ceremony Idea: To the Children
Here is another great wedding ceremony idea to make your wedding more personalized and more directed towards you and your family. If either of you already has a child or children from a former marriage or together, you may wish to include them in the wedding ceremony. This is usually done after the ring ceremony. If an ex-spouse has custody, or if the children are grown, the words below may be changed to fit the circumstances; these words are applicable when the children will be living at least part of the time with the two of you:
____________ and ___________, the rings you have given to one another are symbols of your commitment to one another, but they are also more. For today you are also making a commitment to the children, __________ and ___________. Today you are pledging your love to them as well, committing to them that you will create a family together. Let the perfect circle of the wedding ring embrace ________ and _________, as well as the two of you. For our children are gifts entrusted to us. Consider these words from The Prophet: You may give them your love but not your thoughts, for they have their own thoughts. You may house their bodies but not their souls, for they dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams. You may strive to be like them, in their innocence, but seek not to make them like you. For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday. You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
We can also offer a more religious version of this part of the ceremony by adding a quote from the book of Mark:
“Suffer the little children to come unto me, for of such is the Kingdom of God…”