I. Procession – Fur Elise

II. Opening Words
Celebrant: Welcome Family and Friends! Happy Halloween!
We have come together on this festive holiday to bless the marriage of Jane P. Doe and Joe C. Brown. We your family and friends are here to celebrate your love.
Halloween is Jane’s favorite holiday. In the ancient Celtic traditions, Halloween is a time between times. All laws of time and space are suspended for the evening. As the official end of summer and the turning closer towards winter, it marks an opening between our world and the spirit world. The veil between the two worlds is at its thinnest on Halloween night. Legend has it that spirits intermingle with the living. The tradition of wearing costumes is to confuse those spirits who may want to do us harm. Yet for us, this night is more about merriment, trickery and yummy goodies!
We have all had moments of peak experiences where time and space are suspended and these unusual moments takes on a timeless quality. Halloween will forever be linked to two such moments for Jane and Joe. They began this process with their engagement on Halloween. And tonight, they will deepen their bond making a sacred union whereby their hearts, their bodies and their souls shall be united as one in marriage for the rest of their days. And it is our honor and privilege to stand witness. For this blessed act, is magnificent and so tender to behold.

Jane and Joe are so grateful to all of you who have come to share this memorable occasion with them. You honor them with your presence and your support for them. At the end of the ceremony, there will be an opportunity for all of us to honor them.

III. Presenting of the Bride and Groom
Celebrant: Who presents the bride in marriage?
Bride’s Family: She gives herself and we share in her giving joyfully.
Celebrant: Who presents the groom in marriage?
Groom’s Family: He gives himself and we share in his giving joyfully.

IV. 1st Reading – Roy Croft

V. Celebrant’s Address
Celebrant: The magic and awe of this season is upon us tonight. Every Fall, it seems as if this season has been the most spectacular one that we could possibly remember. The leaves have made a fiery and bold display of the world around us. The chilly and crisp air fills our lungs with hints of the season to come. We feel invigorated, yet calm and ready for the winter months ahead.

The beauty, awe and timelessness of this moment transcends even the most spectacular displays of fall foliage. For here, we have two souls standing before us to join their lives together.

Jane and Joe, you have that spirit in your relationship and in your lives. Spectacular, magical, calm, bold, fiery and invigorating are all aspects of your lives as individuals and together. These aspects will prepare you for the seasons of marriage to come. In the midst of winter, please remember the silence and calmness of the season and take time to rest. In the spring, please remember the magic of rebirth and regeneration and begin something anew. In the summer, please remember the fiery and awesome moments and spice up your lives together. And in the fall, please remember the spectacular and invigorating aspects of who you are together and who you wish to become.

You have a perfect blend of all that is needed in a relationship. You support each other, listen to each other and respect each other. You both understand that the other is a gift, a precious gift. Yet, this gift is not yours alone but one that is shared with the entire world. In your love for each other, may you find yourselves becoming more than what either of you could be alone. In your support, the other becomes stronger, more complete. In your listening, the other is so fully heard that there is peacefulness. And in your respect, the other is so fully appreciated that they shine so brightly. Your love for each other becomes a gift unto this world and all who come into contact with you.

Jane and Joe, you are the result of the love of thousands. Today would not be possible without the love of your parents, grandparents, siblings, extended family and friends. Today we witness the circle of life. All that was extended to both of you; stability, love, support and nourishment, will now be extended beyond yourselves and into the world.

In the spirit of Halloween, we wish to take a moment now to honor all ancestors and those who could not be with us here today. There are those who could not make the trip. Some have left us long ago. There are those ancestors that are unknown to us, who have been the forbearers of the two now before us. Please bring to mind any and all of your loved ones. With our thoughts, we can add them to our gathering.
Parents, you have given your children immortal gifts. The light of this marriage would not be possible without you. Emerson defined success in this way: It is to leave the world a better place, by virtue of a redeemed social condition, a patch of a garden or by way of a child. We congratulate you on your success! You have brought forth life. You have brought forth love. It is most important on your children’s wedding day that we thank you and bless you.

Jane and Joe, put your relationship on the altar of your lives and dedicate yourselves to it. Remember, as long as you have this, you have everything. Beauty and youth fade away, money comes and goes, but your love is irreplaceable. Love is eternal.

VI. Declaration of Intent
Celebrant: Since it is your intention to join in marriage, kindly join your hands and with your hands your hearts.

Jane and Joe, as you share these gifts together, you drink from a single cup and eat from the same table signifying that you are becoming one blood, one family and one kin.

(Celebrant holds cup of wine)
The years of life will have some hardships and disappointments, of which this bitter wine is a symbol, remember to forgive the frailties of one another. Bear together life’s adversities and be confident that the good will always return.
(Couple sips wine together)

(Celebrant holds chocolate in a dish/plate)
The years of life have indeed, much happiness, joy, hope, healing and goodness, of which this sweet chocolate is a token. We ask that you eat of it together, and as you do, earnestly seek the power and wisdom to use all the pleasure and prosperity that may come to you, with gratitude, modesty, and sympathy for all those less fortunate than yourselves.
(Couple eats chocolate together)

As you have shared the wine and chocolate, so may you share your lives. May you find life’s joys heightened, its bitterness sweetened, and all of life enriched by a constant love.
(have a linen on hand for faces and fingers!)

IX. Rings - Blessing & Exchange
Celebrant: Rings are the ancient symbol, blessed and simple. Round like the sun, like the eye, like the arms that embrace. Circles, for love that is given comes back round again and again. Therefore, may these symbols remind you that your love, like the sun, illumines; that your love, like the eye, must see clearly, that your love, like arms that embrace, is a grace upon this world.
Couple: As this ring encircles your finger from this day forward, year in and year out, so will my love forever encircle you. Wear this ring as a symbol of this love.

X. 2nd Reading – On Marriage – Kahlil Gibran

XI. Ritual – Jumping the broom
Celebrant: In the ancient world, the most magical times were the between and betwixt times. These are the times that were neither day nor night, inside nor outside but a time in between times. These are the threshold moments and they carry with them great significance.

We end this ceremony with a Celtic and African tradition of jumping the broom. Traditionally in the Celtic household, the broom was placed on the threshold of the house and the couple who wished to be joined, jumped over the broom into their new life together. In the African tradition, the families would gather in the evening and the eldest and honored woman of the community would step forward and perform the ritual for the couple who were choosing to be joined.

This event today marks the beginning of making a home together. It symbolizes sweeping away the old and welcoming the new. It is also a call of support from the entire community. We invite Aunt Sandy and Aunt Kaye to step forward.
Please clear away any negativity with a sweep of the broom and create a threshold for the couple to cross over into their new life together.

Aunt Sandy: I sweep away all negativity and traces of your past life apart. May you begin your new life together with a clean sweep. (Aunt sweeps.)
Aunt Kaye: As you jump, you leave your old lives behind and begin a new life together. May your all your journeys in your new life together be smooth and easy. (Aunt lays the broom.)
Both Aunts: In honor of this ritual we issue a hope and a prayer of sweeping away barriers between people of different religions or cultures. May these vows and this marriage be blessed.
(Couple walks over the broom. )

XII. Closing Blessing – Pronouncement
Celebrant: Do all those assembled affirm this marriage and give it your blessing? Please answer, “We do!”
Congregation: We do!
Celebrant: I ask that everyone together please repeat after me, “We, your family and friends, now pronounce you married.”
Congregation: We, your family and friends, now pronounce you married.

XIII. Kiss
Celebrant: It is said that when the one man loves the one woman and the one woman loves the one man. The very angels desert heaven and sit in that house and sing for joy.
You may kiss.

XIV. Recession