Covenant of Marriage and Life Partnership
At Trinity Memorial United Church, we are open to performing Weddings for couples who are part of the Congregation or from the Community. As well we do not judge your love and welcome same-gender couples.
For Christians, our relationship with God, and with each other, is rooted in our understanding of the Covenant. We know God as faithful, loving, compassionate, and just. We are called to embody this in our own relationships with each other. Relationships cannot thrive and grow in isolation. They need the encouragement, nurture, support, and accountability of the Community. Thus, the Covenants of Marriage and Life Partnership are public. In the Church, we celebrate such covenants in the context of the public worship of God. Relationships grounded in inclusivity, openness, respect, and equality will be caring and loving.
When one person turns to another and promises to love them, there is an opportunity to feel the Divine mystery and presence. By promising to live in a faithful human covenant with another, there is potential to know, in part, God’s faithful Covenant with all God’s people.
Our expectation is that our Minister will preside. We also have a Wedding Service Coordinator that works with the couple to assure everything goes smoothly. We expect the couple to meet with the Minister at least twice and with the Wedding Coordinator as necessary. We strongly encourage couples to participate in a marriage preparation program or counselling session. This can be discussed when meeting the minister for the first time. It is the couple's choice on whether to have music - our Organist is available if needed. We do have a CD and PA system for recorded music.
Our Fees for a weddings
The fees and honoraria schedule for weddings at Trinity Memorial is different for participating couples and non-participating couples. A participating couple is defined as one of the couples who is active in the life of the congregation or directly related to active participants in the congregation (e.g. parents).
Participating Couples:
- Organist fees $125
- Wedding Service Coordinator: $125
- Total $250
Non-Participating Couples: $175
- Wedding Coordinator: $125
- Organist fees: $125
- Sanctuary and Administration fees: $150
- Total: $575
After approval by the Minster, your date can be reserved with a $100 deposit.
We require the marriage licences in our Administration Office at least one week before the date of the wedding. After the Ceremony, the signed licenses are sent to Vital Statistics in Victoria. The government will issue a marriage certificate; however, at the ceremony, a wedding certificate signed by the Minister and two witnesses will be provided.
We are an inclusive Church.
Here is a sample generic wedding service
Prelude
Words of Welcome Procession
Greeting
The love of God, the peace of Christ, and the joy of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Friends, let us love one another because love is from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. If we love one another, God lives in us, and God’s love is perfected in us.
Statement of Purpose
We have come together in the presence of God to witness and celebrate a covenant between Bride and Groom, and to pray God’s blessing upon them now, and in the years ahead. The union of two people in heart, body and mind is intended for their mutual comfort and help, so that they may know each other with delight and tenderness in acts of love.
In this covenant before God, they give themselves to each other, to care for each other in good times and in bad (They are linked to each other’s families, and they begin a new life together in the community). It is a way of life that all should respect, and none should lightly undertake. We acknowledge that because of human frailty and sin, the gladness of the covenant can be overcast. Yet the God who brings light out of darkness can turn our grief into joy. We rejoice that marriage is given by God, blessed by Jesus Christ, and sustained by the Holy Spirit.
Questions of Impediment
These two persons have come here to become one in this holy union.
Bride and Groom, have you come here freely and without reservation to join together in a covenant of marriage?
I have.
Declaration of Intent
By coming before God and all of us here, you express your desire and intention to enter into this covenant.
Groom, will you love, comfort, honour and keep Bride, and forsaking all others, be faithful to her as long as you both live? Response: I will.
Bride, will you love, comfort, honour and keep Groom, and forsaking all others, be faithful to him as long as you both live? Response: I Will
Affirmation by Families and Congregation
To the families: Do you give your blessing to Groom and Bride and promise to do everything in your power to uphold them in their marriage?
We give our blessing and promise our loving support.
To the Congregation:
Will all of you witnessing these vows do everything in your power to uphold Bride and Groom in their marriage? “We will, with God’s help.”
Hymn Prayer of Approach
Let us Pray: God of life and love, we rejoice in your love which has filled creation from the beginning, and which calls all life into being. We praise you for Jesus Christ who reveals most fully your loving purpose for all people. We bless you for your Spirit who draws all humanity into the circle of loving commitment. Grant us your presence here today as we witness the love of Groom and Bride, that our worship and their vows may be a true reflection of your love, in Jesus Christ; in whose name we pray. Amen
The Word of God
Scripture reading. (We will have suggestions for you)
Hear what the Spirit is saying to the church.
Thanks be to God.
Gospel Readings: John 15: 12-16
This is the Gospel of Christ
Praise to Christ, the Word.
Message
Hymn
Prayer -
Let us pray for Bride and Groom as they make their vows. Gracious God, from the beginning you made us live in a loving relationship with each other. Fill Bride and Groom with your Holy Spirit, as in your name they pledge themselves to one another in vows of love and faithfulness. Let your love be in them, as their hope is in you; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Marriage Vows
This is my solemn vow: Bride, I commit myself to be with you in joy and adversity, in wholeness and brokenness, in peace and trouble, living with you in love and fidelity all our days. Groom, I commit myself to be with you in joy and adversity, in wholeness and brokenness, in peace and trouble, living with you in love and fidelity all our days.
Or Bride (Groom), I choose you to be my husband/wife/partner; in joy and in sorrow, in plenty and in want, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish as long as we both shall live.
Exchange of Rings
Let us pray: Bless, O God, the giving of these rings, that those who wear them may live in faithfulness and love all their days, through Jesus Christ. Amen. I give you this ring as a sign of our covenant. With all that I am and all that I have, I honour you.
Announcement of Marriage
Bride and Groom have made a covenant of marriage before God and in the presence of all of us. They have confirmed their life-long covenant by the joining of hands and the exchange of rings. I declare them to be husband and wife. Those whom God has joined together, let no one separate. Blessed be the God of covenant love, now and forever. Amen
The Kiss - Sign of Peace
Intercessionary Prayer
Faithful God, Source of love, pour out your blessing on Groom and Bride, that they may faithfully live together to the end of their lives; that they may be patient and gentle, ready to trust each other and to face together the challenge of the future; that they may pray together in joy and in sorrow, and always give thanks for the gift of each other; that you may be with them through hardship or all their happiness, and that your joy may be in them, and their joy may be full.
Bless Bride and Groom that they may be strengthened in every time of trouble, to bear each other’s burdens, to recognize and acknowledge their faults, to ask each other’s forgiveness and to know your mercy and love. May their home be a place of peace and welcome, and its happiness freely shared, and, if they should enjoy the gift and heritage of children, may they be wise and loving parents, and grow together to be a loving family. We pray through Jesus Christ, our Saviour. Amen
The Lord’s Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will done on earth, as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, Forever and ever. Amen
SENDING FORTH
May God bless, preserve and keep you; may God look upon you with favour; may God fill you with all blessings and give you grace; that in this life you may live together in joy, and in the world to come, have life everlasting. Amen.
Go forth with the blessing of God. Thanks be to God.
Signing of the Register
Announcement:
Recessional Postlude