We have two main wedding ceremony options to choose from, a spiritual ceremony and a Christian ceremony as well as a vow renewal script. Below, you can see the full script for each option our officiants use when they perform ceremonies at Chapel in the Hollow. We also have some standard scripts for a sand ceremony and cord of three strands ceremony. (Each couple is different with unique tastes so you are responsible for bringing your own items like cords, sand, etc. for the ceremonies.) If you’d like the ceremony modified for your wedding, if you’d like to include your own vows, or if you’d like something completely different, let us know!! Each of these scripts takes roughly 7-10 minutes. To personalize your ceremony, you can add…
- Music (via our bluetooth speaker or bring a live musician)
- Your Own Vows
- Scripture
- Quotes
- Sand Ceremony
- Handfasting
- Cord of Three Strands Ceremony
- Vows to Children
Spiritual Ceremony
Welcome.
We are gathered here today, surrounded by the beauty of creation and nurtured by the sights and sounds of nature to celebrate the wedding of ___________ and ____________.
Marriage is a bond to be entered into only after considerable thought and reflection. By making this commitment today, your relationship will become stronger. Today, you demonstrate your devotion to each other by dedicating yourselves to a life together. By setting forth to honor the vows you share today, your lives which began on separate paths, will be joined as one.
Deep abiding affection, the magical impulse that makes us seek each others’ company, is among the greatest gifts of the human experience. Any of us who has been fortunate enough to find the kind of loving devotion that we are celebrating here today knows that it is an awesome and beautiful thing .Be constantly grateful for this precious person who has chosen to make a life with you. Be generous with compliments. Be observant and helpful. A happy, loving marriage is built on trust and respect . May you have many long years to delight in each other’s company, to feel gratitude for your great fortune in having found each other, and to love and be loved by your friends and family.
____________and ____________, do you present yourselves willingly and of your own accord to be joined in marriage? (We do.) Will you promise to care for each other in the joys and sorrows of life, come what may, and to share the responsibility for growth and enrichment of your life together? (We do.) Then please turn to each other, hold hands, and share your vows.
___________ , repeat after me Today I promise you that though the world may change and though we may change with it, I will always love you, always treasure you, and will share all that I am with you.
___________ , repeat after me Today I promise you that though the world may change and though we may change with it, I will always love you, always treasure you, and will share all that I am with you.
May I have the rings?
For thousands of years, rings have been exchanged as a token of vows. Let the unbroken circle of these rings be a sign that your love has a past, a present, and a future.
__________, take _________’s ring and place it on his/her/their finger and repeat after me: I give you this ring as a sign that I choose you to be my partner and my best friend until the end of my days. With this ring, I thee wed. __________, take _________’s ring and place it on his/her/their finger and repeat after me: I give you this ring as a sign that I choose you to be my partner and my best friend until the end of my days. With this ring, I thee wed.
The love already shared by your hearts has been strengthened by your vows and the rings you have exchanged. We have heard your promise to share your lives in marriage. In the honesty and sincerity of what you have said and done here today, and in accordance with the laws of the state of Tennessee, it is my honor and delight to declare you (husband/wife and husband/wife)/(partners for life). You may seal your vows with a kiss.
Christian Ceremony
Welcome.
We are gathered here today, surrounded by the beauty of creation and nurtured by the sights and sounds of nature, to celebrate the wedding of ___________ and ____________.
The ceremony of marriage in which you come to be united is one of the first and oldest ceremonies in the entire world, celebrated in the beginning in the presence of God himself. Marriage is a gift to you and your fiance in that we give ourselves totally to one another. It is a gift given to comfort the sorrows of life and to magnify life’s joys.
Marriage is the clasping of hands, the blending of two hearts, the union of two lives into one, and your marriage must stand, not by the authority of the State, nor by the seal on your wedding certificate, but by the strength and power of the faith and love you have in one another.
The word of God tells us what love is like and what love does: Love is patient, love is kind, love is not jealous. Love does not brag and is not arrogant. It does not act unbecomingly. It does not seek its own, it is not provoked, and it does not take into account a wrong suffered. It does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth, for love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things, but above all, love never fails.
____________and ____________, do you present yourselves willingly and of your own accord to be joined in marriage? (We do.) Will you promise to care for each other in the joys and sorrows of life, come what may, and to share the responsibility for growth and enrichment of your life together? (We do.) Then please turn to each other, hold hands, and share your vows.
May I have the rings?
Rings are very large in their significance. They are made of a precious metal and precious stone, and that reminds us that love is not cheap or common; but indeed love is very costly and dear to us. These rings are also made in a circle and their design tells us that we must keep love continuous throughout our whole lives even as the circle of the ring is continuous. As you wear these rings, whether you are together or apart for even just a moment, may these rings be a constant reminder of the promises you are making to one another this day.
To Groom: Will you please repeat this vow to _____________, saying after me: I _____________, take you _________________, to be my wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, I promise to love and cherish you until death do we part. This is my solemn vow.
To Bride: Will you please repeat this vow to _________________, saying after me: I ________________, take you _______________, to be my 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, I promise to love and cherish you until death do we part. This is my solemn vow.
You have come here today before us and before God and have expressed your desire to become husband and wife. You have shown your love and affection by joining hands, and have made promises of faith and devotion, each to the other, and have sealed these promises by the giving and the receiving of the rings. Therefore, it is my privilege as an officiant, and by the authority given to me by the State of Tennessee, I now pronounce that you are husband and wife. ______________, you may kiss your wife.
Vow Renewal Ceremony
Welcome.
We are gathered here today, surrounded by the beauty of creation and nurtured by the sights and sounds of nature to celebrate the vow renewal of ___________ and ____________.
Marriage is a bond to be entered into only after considerable thought and reflection. By re-affirming this commitment today, your relationship will become stronger. Today, you demonstrate your devotion to each other by re-dedicating yourselves to a life together. By setting forth to honor the vows you share today, your lives will continue on as one.
Deep abiding affection, the magical impulse that makes us seek each others’ company, is among the greatest gifts of the human experience. Any of us who has been fortunate enough to find the kind of loving devotion that we are celebrating here today knows that it is an awesome and beautiful thing. Be constantly grateful for this precious person who has chosen to make a life with you. Be generous with compliments. Be observant and helpful. A happy, loving marriage is built on trust and respect. May you have many more long years to delight in each other’s company, to feel gratitude for your great fortune in having found each other, and to love and be loved by your friends and family.
____________and ____________, do you present yourselves willingly and of your own accord re-affirm your vows? (We do.) Will you promise to care for each other in the joys and sorrows of life, come what may, and to share the responsibility for growth and enrichment of your life together? (We do.) Then please turn to each other, hold hands, and share your vows.
___________ , repeat after me. Today I promise you that though the world may change and though we may change with it, I will always love you, always treasure you, and will share all that I am with you.
___________ , repeat after me. Today I promise you that though the world may change and though we may change with it, I will always love you, always treasure you, and will share all that I am with you.
May I have the rings?
Rings are very large in their significance. They are made of a precious metal and precious stone, and that reminds us that love is not cheap or common; but indeed love is very costly and dear to us. These rings are also made in a circle and their design tells us that we must keep love continuous throughout our whole lives even as the circle of the ring is continuous. As you wear these rings, whether you are together or apart for even just a moment, may these rings be a constant reminder of the promises you are making to one another this day.
__________, take _________’s ring and place it on his/her/their finger and repeat after me: I give you this ring as a sign that I choose you to be my partner and my best friend until the end of my days.
__________, take _________’s ring and place it on his/her/their finger and repeat after me: I give you this ring as a sign that I choose you to be my partner and my best friend until the end of my days. With this ring, I thee wed.
The love already shared by your hearts has been strengthened by reaffirming your vows. We have heard your promise to continue to share your lives in marriage. In the honesty and sincerity of what you have said and done here today, and in accordance with the laws of the state of Tennessee, it is my honor and delight to declare you still (husband/wife and husband/wife)/(partners for life). You may seal your vows with a kiss.
Add-Ins
Sand Ceremony
_______________ and ______________, today you join your separate lives together. The two separate bottles of sand symbolize your separate lives, separate families and separate sets of friends. They represent all that you are and all that you’ll ever be as an individual. They also represent your lives before today. 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.
Cord of Three Strands Ceremony
Today, __________________ and ________________ have chosen to braid three strands together into a single cord. Each strand has a significant meaning. One strand represents God and His majesty. One strand represents the groom and his life. One strand represents the bride and her life. In braiding these three strands together, they have demonstrated that their marriage is more than a joining of two lives together. It is a unity with God as well. They have chosen to allow God to be at the center of their marriage, woven into every aspect of it. As Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 reads, “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up! Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.”