 Click to view ceremony Pagan Wedding Ceremony Script With A Handfasting Welcome everyone. Thank you for being here today as we celebrate the love of Bride Groom. This is a beautiful day celebrated by family and friends and made special by all of us gathering here today, on your family’s land. As part of the their wedding ceremony today, acknowledging their Irish-Celtic heritage, Bride and Groom have chosen to honor the power of this land along with the earth and its elements. Your family has lived here for generations and you are connected to this land. The land is one of the things that connects you all together. This is a safe, loving sacred space for all of you and it is fitting that you all gather here today as your family grows with the marriage of Bride and Groom. I’m sure living in a rural area, you are all familiar with as the power of the elements - air, fire, water and earth, and the power they can have over your daily life. Sometimes you can harness them and use them, other times you can do nothing but allow them to run their course. One thing is for sure, we all live together as one with the elements and our powers intermingle. We have much to learn from the elements when we honor their power as divine. We do not harness their power, we work in harmony with them. When we choose to work in harmony there is a spiritual connection. Marriage is not only the connection of two people, but it is is a spiritual connection of the two souls that embody them. As Bride and Groom choose to join their lives in marriage today they also acknowledge the connection of not only their souls but their connection with All That Is. We are acknowledging All That Is in the embodiment of these earthly elements of air, fire, water and earth and ask their blessings. At this time we want to formally acknowledge the power of the elements that encircle us all and ask that they may be in harmony with all of us, and especially Bride and Groom as they begin their marriage. We look to the east, and acknowledge the element of air. With it comes the powers of knowledge and wisdom. We ask that Groom and Bride gain knowledge and practice that knowledge throughout their marriage and that they may develop wisdom to give their lives meaning. “We ask the spirits of Air to keep open the lines of communication between Bride and Groom. May their future be as bright as the dawn on the horizon. As Air flows freely to and from and through us all, may their hearts and minds and souls come to know the world and each other in this manner. Seeing not only with their eyes, may they together grow wise with wisdom.” We look to the south and acknowledge the element of Fire. With it comes the powers of energy and will. We ask that Bride and Groom may trust the energy that connects us all and allow it to connect them, weaving the two of them together in love. May they develop a trust in that energy and bend their wills to one another that they may live in harmony. Spirits of Fire, we ask that Bride and Groom’s passion for each other and for life itself remain ever strong and vital, fortifying each day with a vibrancy rooted in boldness, and courage. As Fire clears the way for new growth, may they know that this power is theirs: to create change and bring about the richness and quality that comes with a true love of life.” We look to the west and acknowledge the element of water. With it comes the power of passion and emotion. We ask that Groom and Bride may live lives filled with passion and that they may be passionate about their marriage and relationship. May they learn to harness the power of their emotions to drive their passions for a life well lived. We ask the Spirits of Water, that their love for each other and the comfort of loved ones, like the serenity of the deep blue ocean, be the oasis that forever surrounds Bride and Groom. May they be well loved, and love well, letting the surety with which Water makes its journey to the sea, flowing over rocks or around trees, even turning into vapor and riding a cloud, ever serve as a reminder that with love all is well and will endure. We look to the north to acknowledge the power of the earth. With it comes endurance and strength. May Bride and Groom each be grounded in the earth to be strong within themselves, that they may bring that strength into their marriage that they may endure, together, all that life together may bring and prosper. Spirits of Earth, we ask that you give unto those you see standing before you this day, the rock solid place to stand and fulfill his destiny. May their journey mirror the vast plains and fertile fields, expansive and alive. May they find the right seeds to sow to ensure a bountiful harvest. And when they look up at the Northern Star, may they know that it is as bright and constant as their love for each other as well as the love of the divine is for them. Let us pray Father in heaven, whose presence is felt in all things and at all times we ask your continued blessings upon this couple, upon their union and upon their family and friends who have gathered here to celebrate this joyous event with them. May they become one in truth and forever revel in the magik that is love. Amen Now that we have acknowledged the divine in the world around us, we acknowledge the divine within Groom and Bride. There is a God and Goddess within them that connects them with the divinity within themselves. May they connect together through their divine nature bringing the best they have to offer each other both physically and spiritually ever reminded that as above, so below. Let us pray with Bride as she prepares herself to enter into this marriage. Bride, I ask you to call upon all that is divine within you, Let it come forth and shine. In you dwells the essence of the Great Mother and the divine feminine principle of the Universe You are She who has been worshiped and adored for centuries and throughout the ages You are wife, mother, lover, friend, prophet, and confidant In you is everything that any one could ever aspire to be and more. In you is strength and wisdom, perfection and peace. Shine dear one and show your true nature as Goddess. Great Mother, touch with your grace and fill this woman with your beauty and strength in the unending cycles of growth and change that are the years and seasons of lives spent together in love and wonder. Share with her your fertile nature from which all abundance flows. Amen Now, let us pray with Groom as he prepares himself to enter into marriage. Groom, I ask you to call upon all that is divine within you, Let it come forth and shine. In you lives the essence of the Gods The active force that has sparked and powered all life You are He who has been worshiped and adored for centuries and throughout the ages You are husband, healer, protector, visionary, friend, and confidant In you is everything that any one could ever aspire to be and more. In you is strength and wisdom, perfection and peace. Shine mighty one and show to all the God within. Lord of light and life, touch with your power and fill this man with your knowledge and wisdom to guide him in this divine alchemy which is the union of two souls. Share with him the secret union of heart and mind upon which this union known as marriage must be based. Amen Bride and Groom, is it your choice to be married today? You respond: It is Let us start by blessing your rings. You’ve both chosen to wear rings as a reminder of the promises you are making today. People often say wedding bands are a perfect circle, with no beginning and no end. But these rings did have a beginning. The stones were formed a long time ago deep with the earth. Eventually, a series of lucky events caused them to rise to the surface, where someone dug them up. Metal was then liquefied in a furnace at a thousand degrees — molded, cooled, and painstakingly polished. Something beautiful was made from raw elements. Love is like that. It comes from humble beginnings, and through a combination of serendipity and effort, imperfect beings shape it into something extraordinary. It’s the process of making something beautiful where there was once nothing at all. As you look at these rings over the years, I hope you remember that. You’ve created something invaluable, and just as I know you’ll protect these rings, I’m confident you’ll protect the commitments you’ve made to one other today. Father and Mother in heaven, Bless these rings and this couple who shall wear them. Keep them safe through adversity forever supported by your eternal blessing. Amen The ring finger of the left hand, the side of the body that holds the heart, has been used for the wedding band because for centuries people believed that there was a vein that ran directly from that finger to the heart. They also believed that the words that were spoken during the placing of the ring would resonate over and over, like the circumference of the band itself, through to the heart and soul of both giver and receiver of the most monumental promise of all, the promise of a lifetime as husband and wife. Groom, as you place the ring on Bride’s finger, please repeat after me. Bride, with this ring I thee wed. I take you as my friend, my lover, my wife from this day forth and into the fullness of time where we will meet and remember and love again. Bride, as you place the ring on Groom’s finger, please repeat after me. Groom, with this ring I thee wed. I take you as my friend, my lover, my husband from this day forth and into the fullness of time where we will meet and remember and love again.” The two of you have also chosen to exchange pendants you have created for each other. Here, you can exchange vows or your thoughts with each other, if you want, as you place the pendants around each other’s necks. One thing that Bride and Groom have in common is their Irish background. That is why we are performing and earth-based pagan wedding ceremony in the tradition of the Celts. Part of the Celtic wedding traditions is a handfasting. This is how they agree to their wedding vows. They have chosen this chord, colored like ivy, with the tree of life on both ends. We will, loosely, bind their hand together to symbolize this binging commitment. Is it also your wish today that your hands be fasted in the ways of old? Bride and Groom answer: It is. Remember then as your hands are fasted, these are not the ties that bind The role already taken by the song your hearts share shall be now be strengthened by the vows you take. All things of the material world eventually return to the Earth unlike the bond and the connection your spirits share which is destined to ascend to the heavens. Officiant binds hands with the chord The questions are asked: Do the two of you seek to share each other’s pain and alleviate it? We do. Will you share each other’s laughter and look for the positive in one another We will. Will you share each other’s burdens so your so your spirits may grow in this union? We will. Will you share each other’s dreams? We Will. Will you take the heat of anger and use it to temper the strength of this union? We Will. Will you honor one another as an equal in this union? We Will. Bride and Groom, as your hands are bound together now, so your lives and spirits are joined in a union of love and trust. The bond of marriage is not formed by these cords, but rather by the vows you have made. For always you hold in your own hands the fate of this union. Above you are stars and below you is earth. Like stars your love should be a constant source of light, and like the earth, a firm foundation from which to grow. May these hands be blessed this day. May they always hold each other. May they have the strength to hang on during the storms of stress and the dark of disillusionment. May they remain tender and gentle as they nurture each other in their wondrous love. May they build a relationship founded in love, and rich in caring. May these hands be healer, protector, shelter, and guide for each other. Remove Chord May you be forever as one in the passion and fire of you You are now as your hearts have always known you to be, Husband and Wife. You may kiss the bride!” I do not claim to be the original author of this script. I am sharing it like this to make it easier for anyone to use. 
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