2016 Wesleyan Discipline:5680

B. Marriage Ceremony - Shorter Form

5680. (At the day and time appointed for the solemnizing of matrimony, the persons to be married standing together, the man on the right hand of the woman, the minister shall say:)

My friends, the ordinance of marriage was instituted by God himself in the garden of Eden, and is one of the most solemn and binding of obligations, because it involves the sacred relations of the home and the family. Your happiness for the future will largely depend upon the faithfulness with which the marriage vows are cherished and kept. There must be mutual affection the one for the other, and the marriage covenant must be kept in purity of spirit, as well as in actual word and deed, if you would reap the full fruition of happiness in your marriage.

If, with full and free consent, and thoughtful determination to keep the marriage covenant, you desire to enter the holy estate of marriage, you will acknowledge the same by taking the other by the right hand.

(With their hands joined, the minister shall address the man by name, and ask:)

Will you have this woman to be your wedded wife, to live together after God’s ordinance in the holy estate of matrimony? Will you love her, comfort her, honor and keep her, in sickness and in health; and forsaking all others, keep yourself only unto her, so long as you both shall live?

(The man shall answer:)

I will.

(Then the minister shall address the woman by name, and ask:)

Will you have this man to be your wedded husband, to live together after God’s ordinance in the holy estate of matrimony? Will you love him, comfort him, honor and keep him, in sickness and in health; and forsaking all others, keep yourself only unto him, so long as you both shall live?

(The woman shall answer:)

I will.

(Then the minister shall place a right hand upon their joined hands and say:)

Since they have taken the marriage covenant before God, and in the presence of these witnesses, by the authority committed unto me as a minister of the church of Jesus Christ, I declare that ____________ and ____________ are now husband and wife, according to the ordinance of God and the law of the state, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Those whom God has joined together let not man put asunder. Amen.

(Then the minister shall offer an appropriate prayer.)