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Captain's
Ceremony
Good
morning( afternoon, evening), family and friends. We are gathered
here aboard the Party Boat on beautiful Lake Tahoe, to unite ______________&
_________________ in marriage and to witness the celebration of
their inner love and devotion towards one another.
Who
is giving this woman to be married to this man? (Response). You
may kiss the bride and be seated.
The
ceremony of marriage is one of the oldest ceremonies in the world,
just as these ancient glaciers, mountains and this lake are given
to us to be treasured, so is the gift of marriage that will unite
you two as one. When you look at the characteristics of love, you
see that they are very similar to those of nature: love is compared
to the lake, constant but ever-changing, love is similar to the
wind, rapturous and all encompassing, love is like the earth, solid
and firm. Yet your love extends beyond the lake, wind and earth.
It is more powerful than your past and the foundation of your future.
It has brought you here today to become one in the eyes of your
family and friends, for all the days to come. Your love is the essence
of your life together.
Having
this kind of love in your hearts for one another, you have chosen
to exchange rings as the sign and seal of the promises you are making
to one another. These rings are made in a circle and their design
tells us that we must keep love continuous throughout our lives
just as the circle of the ring is continuous.
Your
love should be an endless melody, yet an ongoing harmony similar
to the ever-changing patterns of water in this beautiful lake. Marriage
is a commitment to life - to the best that two people can find and
bring out in each other. It offers opportunities for sharing and
growth that no other human relationship can equal. A physical and
emotional joining that is promised for a lifetime. You both have
dreams of your future and your tomorrows. Today as you two set out
in this world to make a difference in it, cherish that you will
have a partner by your side to challenge and encourage the promises
that you have made today.
I
would like to share with you a ceremonial wedding prayer given to
us by our native Washoan Indians, the original inhabitants of this
beautiful land and lake we know as Tahoe:
"Now
you feel no rain…..for each of you will be shelter to the other.
Now you will feel no cold…. for each of you will be warmth to the
other. Now there is no more loneliness for you. You are still two
bodies but there is only one life before you. Go now and enter into
your days of togetherness, and may your days be good and long upon
this earth.
Do
you ______________take_________________as your wedded wife and promise
with all your heart to love honor and keep her through good times
and bad, forsaking all others, keeping thee only unto her so long
as you both shall live? (Response)
And
do you _____________take_______________as your wedded husband and
promise with all your heart to love, honor and keep him through
good times and bad, forsaking all others, keeping thee only unto
him so long as you both shall live? (Response)
Then
please repeat after me, I __________________take you_______________
To be my loving wife, to have and to hold from this day forward,
for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in
health, to love and to cherish forever.
Then
please repeat after me, I __________________take you_______________
To be my loving husband, to have and to hold from this day forward,
for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in
health, to love and to cherish forever.
Now,
by the power vested in me by the United States Coast Guard, as master
and captain of this vessel, I now pronounce you husband and wife.
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