Ceremony of Roses by Neale Donald Walsch

Officiant: Kenzu and Hooi Lin have come here tonight to make public their love for each other; to declare their choice to live and partner and grow together – out loud and in your presence, out of their desire that we will all come to feel a very real and intimate part of their decision, and thus make it even more powerful.
They’ve also come here tonight in the further hope that their ritual of bonding will help bring us all closer together. If you are here tonight with a spouse or a partner, let this ceremony be a reminder – a rededication of your own loving bond.
Kenzu and Hooi Lin have told me their reason for getting married. Now, I want to ask them one more time, so they can be certain of their understanding and firm in their commitment.

(Officiant gets two roses from table…)

This is the Ceremony of Roses, in which Hooi Lin and Kenzu share their understandings, and commemorate that sharing.
Now Hooi Lin and Kenzu, you have told me it is your firm understanding that you are not entering into this marriage for reasons of security…..
…that the only real security is not in owning or possessing, nor in being owned or possessed…
…not in demanding or expecting, and not even in hoping , that what you think you need in life will be supplied by the other…
…but rather, in knowing that everything you need in life… all the love, all the wisdom, all the insight, all the power, all the knowledge, all the understanding, all the nurturing, all the compassion, and all the strength… resides within you…
…and that you are not each marrying the other in hopes of getting these things, but in hopes of giving these gifts, that the other might have them in even greater abundance.
Is that your firm understanding tonight?

Kenzu and Hooi Lin: It is.

Officiant: And Kenzu and Hooi Lin, you have told me it is your firm understanding you are not entering into this marriage as a means of in any way limiting, controlling or restricting each other from any true expression and honest celebration of that which is the highest and best within you – including your love of life, your love of people, your love of creativity, your love of work, or any aspect of your being which genuinely represents you, and brings you joy. Is that still your firm understanding tonight?

Kenzu and Hooi Lin: It is.

Officiant: Finally Hooi Lin and Kenzu, you have said to me that you do not see this marriage as producing obligations, but rather as providing opportunities…
… opportunities for growth, for full Self-expression, for lifting your lives to their highest potential…
…that this is a journey through life with one you love as an equal partner, sharing equally both the authority and the responsibilities inherent in any partnership.
Is that the vision you wish to enter into now?

Kenzu and Hooi Lin: It is.

Officiant: I now give you these red roses. Give these roses now to each other as a symbol of your sharing of these agreements and understandings with love. (Hooi Lin and Kenzu give one each other the roses.)
What symbols do you bring as a reminder of the promises given and received today?

Ringbearer: (brings the rings)

Officiant: Now, Kenzu and Hooi Lin, please take these rings you wish to give, one to the other.

Kenzu and Hooi Lin: (takes each other’s rings.)

Officiant: Kenzu, please repeat after me.
I, Kenzu…ask you, Hooi Lin…to be my partner, my lover, my friend, and my wife…I announce and declare my intention…to give you my deepest friendship and love…not only when your moments are high…but when they are low… not only when you are acting with love…but when you are not…
I further announce…before those here present…that it is my intention…to be with you forever…that I will love, honour and cherish you…all the days of my life.
(The Officiant turns to Hooi Lin.)
Hooi Lin, do you choose to grant Kenzu’s request that you be his wife?

Hooi Lin: I do

Officiant: Now, Hooi Lin., please repeat after me.
I, Hooi Lin…ask you, Kenzu…to be my partner, my lover, my friend, and my husband…I announce and declare my intention…to give you my deepest friendship and love…not only when your moments are high…but when they are low…not only when you are acting with love…but when you are not…
I further announce…before those here present…that it is my intention….to be with you forever…that I will love, honour and cherish you…all the days of my life.
(The Officiant turns to Kenzu.)
Kenzu, do you choose to grant Hooi Lin’s request that you be her husband?

Kenzu: I do.

Officiant: Please then, both of you, take hold of the rings you would give each other, and repeat after me: With this ring…I thee wed…I take now the ring you give to me…
(Kenzu and Hooi Lin exchange rings)
…and give it place around my finger
(they place the rings around their fingers)
…that all may see and know…of my love for you.

Officiant: And so now, inasmuch as you, Hooi Lin, and you, Kenzu, have announced the truths that are already written in your hearts, and have witnessed the same in the presence of these, your friends and loved ones – we observe joyfully that you have declared yourself to be…husband and wife.
Kenzu and Hooi Lin, out of this world, you have found one another. Your destinies shall now be woven into one design, and your perils and joys shall not be known apart.
May your home be a place of happiness for all who enter it; a place where the old and the young are renewed in each other’s company, a place for growing and a place for sharing, a place for music and a place for laughter, a place for kindness and a place for love.
May those who are nearest to you be constantly enriched by the beauty and the bounty of your love for one another, may your work be a joy of your life that serves the world, and may your days be good and long upon the Earth.
Kenzu, you may now kiss your bride….

Master of Ceremony: Next, the Bride and the Groom will light a Unity candle. May we invite the mothers of the Bride and the Groom to come forward so that they can be part of the ceremony.
(Both mothers are given the tapers who then hand over the candles to the wedding couple)

Officiant: Now Kenzu and Hooi Lin, The flame of this candle, symbol of your own lives, will no longer burn as two separate flames but as one flame, symbolizing your unity and oneness with each other.
May this flame now burn strong and forever bright in your lives.

Master of Ceremony: We wish to now invite the newly wedded couple to have their first dance.