calling all atheist/non religious brides and wives.

My sister had a non-religious wedding where God was not mentioned once. The officiant, who was a minister, but was also a friend of the couple, read basic vows (love, trust, honor, support, etc), my sister and her husband wrote their own individual vows, and there were two readers who read poems.

My officiant is actually agnostic himself, but we haven't quite decided exactly what he will be saying. I have two readers. One is reading a Shakespearian sonnet and the other is reading a bible verse, mostly for the benefit of his parents and my parents who are very religious. We're getting married outside, so there won't be any churchiness there. Really, there are tons of ways to make the wedding special and intimate without making it religious.

We had a non-religous ceremony, my grandpa officiated and our orginal officiant who cancelled emailed me the basic ceremony she uses. I wrote ours based off that that, If I remember coreectly it was kind of like this :

Officiant: How presents this woman to marry this man?

FATHER: Her mother and I

father gives bride away.

Officiant: welcome family and friends, BRIDE & GROOM invited the nearest and dearest in their hearts to share in their special day and they thank you for doing so. The couple asked experts to describe what love is, and the brides sister will read the responses.

READING

OFFICIANT: No matter what form love comes in it's the greatest gift to give and recieve.

Do you Groom take Bride to be your wife, and with it, the promise of patinece, and unconditional love, if so, please say I DO

GROOM: I do

OFFICIANT: Do you Bride, take Groom, to be your wife, and with it, the promise of patinece, and unconditional love, if so, please say I DO

BRIDE: I DO.

CONT

I can't say that I'm non religious as I'm Pagan but were are errring on the careful side as many of our guests are christian.... I'm doing a beach wedding, the officiant is sticking to funny and letting us write our own vows and we are doing the sand ceremony as that's not about beliefs but the blending of ourselves and family.

I was able to go online, and piece together about 5 different ceremonies, and my officiant thought it was great, and there was no mentioning of god, and it was more of a one of a kind since I pieced so many together. Perhaps talk to your officiant and see what they are willing to say.

We're in the same boat...sort of. I'm atheist.. FH and his family are Lutheran, my dad is Catholic and mom is Wiccan. So to avoid offending anyone, we are having a non-religious ceremony. We're not doing any sort of sand or candle rituals or reading our own vows. But we are going to expect that our officiant talks more about love and commitment than the religious stuff. And then jump into the "do you? do you? good! done" 20 mins max!

OFFICIANT:

Groom, repeat after me, (insert legal wording here)

Bride, repeat after me (insert legal wording here)

Can we have the rings please?

groom, repeat after me, I, NAME take you NAME to be my wife. (I can't remember our vows now! YIKES!)

bride (same thing)

I know rponounce you husband and wife, you may kiss the bride!

signing of marriage licence

Presentation of couple, (my grandpa also like a reading about marriage in the book he recieved after being certified, so he read it, he also added that there was no receiveing line and that we look forward to seeing everyone at cocktail hour)

I just want to mention, that if you are having a non-religous officiant and want a biblical reading ro such, PLEASE make sure you are legally allowed to. Where I am, you cannot legally perform a 'non-religous ceremony' what has religous readings involved.

My FH isnt religious at all and Im what I call a Pagan Jew. Our officiant is a Pastor and a friend/coworker of FH. He is reading just as we want.

Dearly beloved, we are gathered here in the presence of nature, and before these friends and family, to join together this man and this woman in Matrimony, which is an honorable and beautiful estate, and therefore is not to be entered into unadvisedly or lightly, but instead with love, respect, friendship, and honor. Into this estate these two persons present come now to be joined. etc, etc

There is also no mention of any god or related figure.

Mrs Schmidt, where did you find what legally had to be said in the ceremony?

I'm atheist and FH is well...apathetic. So, I don't want any mention of God, after life, fate, heaven spirit etc. When exactly did you sign the license? Right after the ceremony, or up there on stage?

@ Kiera, it was n teh Alberta government site and included with the booklet my grandpa recieved after being certified to marry us. I also had the ceremony wrote before we had an officiant, lol so I emailed to our orginal officiant to make sure it was 'legal'

I found a book of ceremony ideas and am piecing together our wedding ceremony. We didn't want religion brought into ours at all and his cousin(a pastor) is marrying us. I want to have a full script ready for him and my FH is explaining to him that it is a non-religous ceremony. The book I found is called "The Wedding Ceremony Planner" by Judith Johnson. It has both religous and non-religous options for vows, poems, etc. Plus I have found many things online.

One example of wedding vows from the book:

I,_____, choose you,______,

as my wife/husband.

I will love you tenderly,

I will with you and cry with you

through the trials and triumps to come.

_____, I stand before our families and friends as your lifelong partner.

There are about 10 or so more vow options that have no mention of god. They also have gathering words for the beginning instead of a prayer and many poems. There is also a whole sample ceremony with no mention of god and no sand or candle cermony.

It has the following:

Gathering words

Declaration of support

wedding vows

ring exchange

Final blessing(Oops I fibbed the final blessing they have does mention god but can be switched out for one that doesn't or ommitted)

Thanks guys! I don't want to be given away. So that idea is out, but thanks everyone! You've been very helpful. Mrs. Schmidt. There won't be any religious references so I don't have to worry about it I'm gonna read these again when I get home and start thinking about what poems and stuff. Thanks again girls

I'm Deist, meaning I believe in God but not religion, so it was important to be to leave anything biblical out. And to stay totally non religious, and as to not offend anyone (except those who are offended by non religious stuff) I found a whole bunch of readings about the meaning, importance, and wonder of love, and that took up most of the ceremony. Our vows stated we would love, care for and respect each other, we did the ring exchange with a reading about them being a symbol of love, and at some point, I think the beginning, we thanked everyone for their presence there. I think it lasted about 10 minutes total.

I read everything over again carefully . Thanks again. I know I want us to write our own vows, but I want our officiant(his brother)to say stuff too. Though he will probably want to come up with alot of his own stuff. How long is normal for a ceremony? I don't want it long, but I don't want it to feel rushed either.

I wish i could help you out! me and my fiance are both christian

We found a ceremony, online, that was non-religious, for my daughters wedding.