NAIC Sample Simple Wedding Vows2

Native American Indigenous Church

SAMPLE SIMPLE NAIC WEDDING VOWS
Please remember that a marriage ceremony represents a legally binding commitment between two people and must be treated with dignity, sincerity, and respect. To solemnize a marriage, you should follow this general procedure:

• The bridal couple must obtain a valid marriage license from the county clerk’s office (or from the designated issuing authority in their jurisdiction) and present it to the Officiant before the marriage ceremony.

• The Officiant performs the marriage ceremony; an example of a simple ceremony is included below. The ceremony may be personalized to meet the bridal couple’s preferences, and they may even write and exchange their own vows as long as those vows reflect their intentions to make a legally binding commitment to each other.

• The Officiant is responsible for completing the certificate portion of the marriage license and returning it to the proper issuing authority within the legally stipulated timeframe after solemnizing the marriage. Please read the marriage license instructions before the ceremony.

SAMPLE SIMPLE CEREMONY

Following the welcome and the opening prayer or homily (Bible reading any), the Officiant begins the ceremony by stat­ing, “Dearly beloved, friends and family, we are gathered here this day to join this couple in [holy] matrimony.

• EXCHANGE OF Vows
Officiant asks SPOUSE1, “[SPOUSE l’s NAME], do you take [SPOUSE 2] to be your marriage partner, to live together in [holy] matrimony, to love, honor, comfort and keep in sickness and in health, forsaking all others, for as long as you both shall live?11 (SPOUSE 1 responds, “I do.”)

Officiant asks SPOUSE 2, “[SPOUSE 2’s NAME], do you take [SPOUSE 1] to be your marriage partner, to live together in [holy] matrimony, to love, honor, comfort and keep in sickness and in health, forsaking all others, for as long as you both shall live?11 (SPOUSE 2 responds, “I do.”)

Officiant states to SPOUSE 1, “Please repeat after me: I, [SPOUSE 1], take you [SPOUSE 2], to be my marriage partner, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, for as long as we shall live. 11

To SPOUSE 2: “I, [SPOUSE 2], take you [SPOUSE 1], to be my marriage partner, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, for as long as we shall live. 11

• EXCHANGE OF RINGS
The NAIC LCHT officiant asks SPOUSE 1 to place the ring on SPOUSE 2’s finger and repeat, “I give you this ring as a token and pledge of our constant faith and abiding love.” (Repeat the same for SPOUSE 2.)

• PRONOUNCEMENT
The NAIC LCHT officiant asks the couple to join hands, then declares, “By virtue of the authority vested in me by the Native American Indigenous Church Tribal Organization (N.A.I.C. Inc.), and in accordance with the laws of the state of

[STATE NAME], it is my honor to now pronounce that you are married to each other. You may now kiss each other to seal your vows.”

CLICK HERE for a longer and more formal suggested wedding ritual for N.A.I.C. Officiants.