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 Free resources and information related to the wedding ceremony  
 

       

 

 

       
       
Wedding Prayers
       
       

"... May their love for each other be strong, beautiful, energizing, and resplendent
for as long as they shall live."

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Formal Wedding Prayers

Personal (Informal) Wedding Prayers

Other Wedding Prayers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

About Wedding Prayers
by Mariano Tomaszewski

Copyright © 2006. All rights reserved.

 

There are a variety of wedding prayers, different classifications and distinctive contexts in which these prayers may be either formally enunciated or privately offered.  This website focuses on Catholic wedding prayers, Christian wedding prayers, wedding dinner prayer, and other spiritual utterances that fit into a Judeo-Christian or a non-denominational wedding environment. 

 

The major distinction between various wedding or marriage related prayers might be seen in their formal or personal character.  Formal or official wedding ceremony prayers are those expressed by the officiant, that is, a priest, minister, rabbi.  Certainly, wedding officiants may improvise or write a unique prayer or prayers for a specific wedding ceremony.  Depending on the degree to what your church, or officiant is “traditional” or “conservative,” wedding prayers might be read from liturgical texts of a particular denomination.  For example, in Roman Catholic churches wedding prayers, whether there is a full wedding Mass or just a nuptial ceremony are fixed and adopted to various moments of the celebration.  Thus, there are formal Catholic wedding prayers at the beginning of the ceremony, at various steps during the ceremony, and the conclusive prayer at the end.  Wedding Mass involves several prayers that strictly speaking belong to the celebration of the Mass and some prayers specifically composed for the celebration of a Catholic marriage.  Among these formal prayers are the Opening Prayer, Prayer over the Gifts, Prayer after Communion, the Blessing of the Rings, Nuptial Blessing, the Lord’s Prayer, Final Blessing, etc.  In its formal aspect Catholic wedding prayers resemble wedding prayers officially pronounced in other major Christian denominations on the occasions of marriage (e.g., Anglican, Episcopal, Methodist, Lutheran, Presbyterian, etc.). 

 

Wedding Ceremony Center offers several examples of formal wedding prayers.  One might ask what is the use of listing them if it is the officiant who pronounces these prayers?  Clergy members either know these prayers by heart or have them in their wedding books.  Yet, you as the future bride or groom may also benefit from having a look or even scrutinizing these prayerful texts.  First of all, after reading and briefly reflecting on various official wedding prayers you will get a sense of what the Christian (Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox, etc.) understanding of the sacrament of marriage is, the meaning of matrimony, the depth and the beauty of love that need to accompany the formal commitment, and the ideal of God’s love for his people that should be reflected in the love of husband and wife on their journey of married life.  Secondly, inspired by these official wedding prayers, you may write you own formal wedding ceremony prayers and submit them to your officiant requesting that these prayers be used during your wedding. 

 

Besides formal wedding and marriage prayers there are private or personal thoughts or writings that individuals direct to God on occasion of either their own or someone else’s wedding day.  Even though these are personal prayers they may be expressed publicly and audibly during the ceremony or other moments during the wedding day.  Prayers of the bride and the groom (prayers of the spouses) and various prayers for the spouses or on their behalf are the most popular among these informal wedding prayers. 

 

Wedding Ceremony Center, in addition to English, offers wedding prayers, both formal and informal, in Spanish (wedding prayers in Spanish, Spanish Catholic wedding prayers) and Italian (wedding prayers in Italian, Italian Catholic wedding prayers). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Copyright © 2006 by Mariano Tomaszewski.  All rights reserved under U.S., and international law.
Except for Public Domain texts or quotations from other sources none of the Contents or Structure of this website may be copied or reproduced
without the expressed written permission from the WeddingCeremonyCenter.com administration. 
Any violation of this copyright will be vigorously pursued in a court of law.  Violators' sites will be tracked and shut down.

 

       
       

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