Sample script
Welcome
No invocation. Start with the people in the room.
Welcome. You are here because Alex and Maria decided to marry, and they wanted witnesses who actually know them. There is no creed to agree to. There is a promise to hear.
If you have a blessing you say privately, keep it. What we say together will be in ordinary language.
Their story
Alex moved to the city for a job that ended in eight months. Maria had lived there her whole life and still got lost south of the river. They met because a mutual friend was late, and the two of them waited outside a restaurant that had lost their booking.
The part they asked me to include is smaller than that. On the third date, Maria’s mother called, and Alex did not perform being impressive. He washed the dishes while Maria talked. That is the story they wanted in the record.
A short reading
These lines are original sample words. Replace them with a poem you have the right to read, or skip them.
A marriage is not a mood. It is two people keeping a list of practical mercies: who sleeps closer to the door, who knows the name of the neighbor’s dog, who tells the truth when the day went badly.
We do not ask the sky to sign this. We ask Alex and Maria to say it, and we ask you to remember that you heard them.
Vows
Face each partner when you ask. Do not rush the answer.
Alex, will you marry Maria, and will you keep choosing the ordinary work of that: the dishes, the hard phone calls, the days you would rather be right than kind?
Wait for: I do.
Maria, will you marry Alex, and will you tell him the truth when it would be easier to keep the peace, and stay when the peace is worth keeping?
Wait for: I do.
Rings
The rings are a reminder, not a spell. Wear them on the days the promise feels obvious, and on the days it does not.
Alex, the ring. Maria, the ring.
Pronouncement
You have said the words in front of the people who know your real voices. You are married. You can kiss.
Close
Thank you for standing here without a script of your own. There is food, and there is time. Go tell them something specific you noticed, not just that it was beautiful.