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Wedding Renewals
I write and officiate wedding renewals. Gift certificates are available. If five years or more have passed since you were married, this is a lovely way to observe your anniversary. My fee is $325 for customized ceremony writing and officiation. Since a renewal is not recorded at the court house and no license is needed, I can write your vows so one of your friends can read them to you. My fee is $225 for ceremony writing alone.
Frequently adult children surprise their parents on their anniversary with a renewal celebration. They submit information in advance so I can craft meaningful vows. It is desirable to see an actual wedding picture of the couple so I can envision them as their appeared on their happy day.
Following are two examples of renewals I wrote. The first is lighthearted, the second more poignant:
1.) Wedding Renewal for Jean & Fred
"Your family has come together today to surprise and honor you, Jean and Fred, on this occasion of your 50th anniversary.
A half-century ago today, you were married at Kirk-of-the-Hills in Bloomfield. Jean, you were attired in a lovely white eyelet gown with a full-gathered skirt, sweetheart neckline and short sleeves, and you wore wrist-length little white cotton gloves. You sported a waist-length veil and were dazzling in your single-strand cultured pearl necklace and pageboy hairdo.
And Dad, there you were by her side, with your tall, boyish good looks, clad in a tuxedo bought on clearance at Joseph A. Banks.
Life has brought you many blessings. Jean, from your days growing up in Grand Rapids, to the blind date set up by Fred's sister Betty, you've had a lot of fun in your life, and you hold many memories of dear friends. At Michigan State University - Go Spartans - you, Jean, joined Kappa Alpha Theta.
And Fred, you were no slacker either, with an engineering degree from the University of Michigan - Go Wolverines - and a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon.
Fred, you took on the responsibilities of helping to lead your family construction company in Detroit. Your lives have been filled with love and joy and challenges - your homes on Olivia Street and then Pickwick Lane, on Woodward Avenue in downtown Birmingham and South Shore Drive on the Shores of Crystal Lake. Through it all, the two of you have made it - together.
Your sons, Tom and David, have grow into accomplished individuals in happy, successful relationships. Scott and Jacquie are both wonderful additions to this family. You have created many meaningful legacies.
Jean, you and Fred have shared 50 years of togetherness and triumphs. Your lively spirits have supported each other and your family for a half-century.
After many disagreements - we all know Fred is strong in opinions ... AND ALWAYS IN THE WRONG ... - it's always voiced with humor, love, and concern for each other and your family. You are each one other's companion and soul mate.
We wish many others were here today to share this with you, including Fred's Mom and Dad - Fred and Beatrice, and brothers and sister to Jean's mother and father - especially Reba - who is here with us today watching down from her star in the Constellation Orion.
We are not forgetting brother Bill and his Joyce. They would be, and are, so proud of what you have both accomplished as a married couple.
And so, here in Tom's home by the beautiful Boardman River in Traverse City, Michigan, while the love of your family is around you and where blessings are in abundance, today, Jean and Fred, you will renew your vows of love and once again make a commitment to each other. Nothing is more sacred than that.
Are you, Jean, ready to renew your vows of love and marriage here today? If so, please answer “yes.”
Are you, Fred, ready to renew your vows of love and marriage here today - and book a room at the Rotunda Inn? If so, please answer “yes.”
I will do a reading for each of you. When I have completed it, you may simply respond with "I do."
Do you, Fred, reaffirm your loving, lifetime relationship with Jean, to be her partner and husband, to stay by her side secure in the knowledge that you will be Her constant friend, Her faithful partner in life, and her one true love?
Do you Jean reaffirm your loving, lifetime relationship with Fred to be his partner and wife, to stay by his side secure in the knowledge that you will be His constant friend, His faithful partner in life, and his one true love?
I know re-pronounce you Husband and Wife.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
2.) Wedding Renewal for Sheri and Curt, with their children
"Welcome, Sheri, Curt, Travis, and Kelsey. As a family who celebrates being together, as a family who embraces unity and revels in the pleasure, the sheer fun of one another‘s company in hobbies and other interests, I welcome you all here today. I feel personally blessed to be a part of this happy family occasion.
Today you have all come together to feel this connectedness to each other and to all of nature. Life has brought you many blessings, the most important being Kelsey and Travis. But the passages have not always been easy or without turmoil. Sheri entered Curt’s life at a time when desperation had rendered him nearly hopeless. And Sheri, you made him deliriously happy, so happy he surfaced from the sadness he knew, and he loves you for that. Your strength and spirit have supported Curt, indeed your family, for 15 years. And after all these years, Curt is still amazed to learn there are things about you, new things, surprises, delights, that he discovers almost daily. You are his sunshine.
Together, you share many things. You love the water, the way it glistens, smells, feels, the creatures that live in it, how the sand feels, how the waves lap on the shore and sparkle in the sun. Lighthouses, beacons, those steadfast pillars that mark our shorelines and called our mariners into safe harbor, those sturdy and enduring monuments have great meaning to both of you and arouse a passion for all things nautical in you. And you, Sheri, are the pillar in Curt life. Your beacon has called Curt into a safe harbor, and that harbor is with you.
I wish your mother were here Sheri. As your best friend, she would love to share this moment with you. She would be so glad to see the surprise in your eyes and the pleasure this moment of renewal brings. Because that is what this is. All of these years that you have worked together, building your dreams, overcoming all of the challenges that God has put before you as a couple and as a family, your role, the parts you have played to keep this act together in this great scheme has all been for the best.
And so today, here on this platform by this beautiful waterfall, while the love of your family around you and where God’s blessings are in abundance, today you and Curt are renewing your vows of love and once more making an everlasting commitment. Nothing is more sacred than that.
Are you, Sheri, ready and willing to renew your vows of love and marriage here today?
Are you, Curt, ready and willing to renew your vows of love and marriage here today?
Then please repeat after me:
I, Curt, take you Sheri, to be my lifelong partner and wife. I promise to love you forever. On this special day,
I give to you in the presence of God, Travis, and Kelsey, my sacred promise to stay by your side as your faithful husband in sickness and in health, in joy and in sorrow, as well as through the good times and the bad.
I promise to love you without reservation,
honor and respect you,
provide for your needs,
protect you from harm,
comfort you in times of distress,
grow with you in mind and spirit,
always be open and honest with you, secure in the knowledge that you will be
my constant friend,
my faithful partner in life,
and my one true love.
I promise to be faithful to you until death parts us.
Sheri, will you please repeat after me:
I, Shari, take you Curt, to be my lifelong partner and wife forever. I promise to love you.
On this special day,
I give to you in the presence of God, Travis, and Kelsey, my sacred promise to stay by your side as your faithful wife
in sickness and in health,
in joy and in sorrow, as well as
through the good times and the bad.
I promise to love you without reservation,
honor and respect you,
provide for your needs,
protect you from harm,
comfort you in times of distress,
grow with you in mind and spirit,
always be open and honest with you, secure in the knowledge that you will be
my constant friend,
my faithful partner in life,
and my one true love.
I promise to be faithful to you until death parts us.
The great medieval philosopher, Thomas Aquinas, when asked to define true love, said that is was “to will the good of the other person.” If you truly love somebody, you want their success, their happiness. Everything, that is best for them.
It is in this spirit that you are renewing your vows here this morning.
This reading is called “Two Trees”
A portion of your soul has been entwined with mine.
A gentle kind of togetherness.
- while separate we stand as two trees deeply rooted
-in separate plats of ground-
Forming a miracle of lace against the heavens.
Let us pray together:
God, who gives us the longing for love and the capability of loving, we give you thanks for Curt and Sheri, for the family they have created, their diligence, their kind hearts and willing ways.
Be with them on this joyous occasion of showing their love and remaking their vows. And be with them and their family that we may all be changed by what is said and shared here today.
The circle is a symbol of completeness, a symbol of committed love. An unbroken and never ending circle symbolizes a commitment of love that is also never ending. Whenever you look at this symbol, I hope that you will be reminded of the commitment to love each other, which you are making again here today.
Curt, please repeat after me:
I, Curt, give you Sheri, this ring, as a symbol of my ongoing commitment to love, honor, and care for you forever.
Sheri, please repeat after me:
I, Sheri, give you Curt, this ring, as a symbol of my ongoing commitment to love, honor, and care for you forever.
Sheri and Curt, you have expressed and exhibited as individuals, as partners, as parents, and as closest and dearest friends, that you wish to reaffirm a beautiful and loving union. May you continue your life’s journey together with the greatest love and happiness."
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Jacquelyn Freeman, M.A. Ordained Minister
Traverse City Area: 231-271-LOVE
Cell: 231-342-8792
Toll Free: 1-877-316-3166
Email: jacquelynfreeman@gmail.com
Web: www.andtocherish.com
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