aaron & Tania Ceremony 11/21/14 - 1

OPENING
Officiant: Good evening and welcome. Before we begin
Id like to ask you all to make sure your cell phones and
handheld devices, are on silent. Tania and aaron are so
glad to have you here on this beautiful autumn day and
are grateful to each of you for the sacrifices you made to
be here and celebrate with them. In return, I want to
acknowledge on behalf of all gathered here how grateful
we are for the invitation to help you celebrate and affirm
your love.
ADDRESS
Officiant: Love is a miraculous gift, and we celebrate
that gift today. We recognize as you celebrate fifteen
years of loving each other, that there is already a deep
union and connection that exists between you and that
today is about that deeper commitment being formalized
and witnessed by those who love you. We are gathered
together to be overjoyed for, and with, aaron and Tania,
who are so wonderfully suited to one another.
This ceremony marks not the beginning of a relationship,
but a transition. Promises made have become promises
kept. We know that you have been awake and present in
your partnership and we wish to usher you into this next
phase with that same alertness and presence to the love
you have for one another, the love that is created in your
union, and the love that exists in the support of your
community.
We give thanks for the love that has brought us here
today, those who love and have supported Tania and

aaron & Tania Ceremony 11/21/14 - 2

aaron along the way who could not be here, those

gathered together in this place, and especially for the
beautiful, heartwarming love that aaron and Tania have
chosen this day to honor through their public
commitment to each other.
For all the beauty that you have bestowed upon them we
give great thanks, for their open hearts and loving spirits,
for their wisdom in choosing to love, for their willingness
to walk on the path of true love, with all its joys and
burdens and lessons. Bless them now with your joyful
abundant radiance, so that the words they say, the
feelings that beautifully transform them in these
moments, and the dreams that they dare to dream can
be lived out in the rest of their lives together.
WORDS OF WISDOM/BLESSING
Officiant: And now Tania and aaron have asked Jim
Johnson and Barry Magee to share some words of wisdom
or advice to inspire and guide them. [Barry and Jim share
their reflections.]
ADDRESS, CONTINUED
Officiant: As the writer Richard Bach has so beautifully
stated, A soul mate is someone who has locks that fit our
keys, and keys to fit our locks. When we feel safe enough
to open the locks, our truest selves step out and we can
be completely and honestly who we are; we can be loved
for who we are and not for who were pretending to be.
Each unveils the best part of the other. No matter what
else goes wrong around us, with that one person were
safe in our own paradise. Our soul mate is someone who
shares our deepest longings, our sense of directionOur

aaron & Tania Ceremony 11/21/14 - 3

soul mate is the one who makes life come to life.

aaron and Tania have decided today to celebrate the 15
year relationship that has allowed them to discover the
best parts of themselves and each other. That has helped
them to find their sense of direction and the choice they
exercise each day to make their lives together.
That is because in relationship we promise to love not
only as we feel right now, but also as we intend to feel. In
committing to each other we say not only, I have loved
you these past 15 years, and I love you today, but
also, I promise to love you tomorrow, the next day, and
always.
Enfolded in joy, inhabited by hope, bathed in the infinite
spectrum of light that is love, may you always be infused
with it and beautifully illuminated by it. May every desire
you have for your love be fulfilled, and may you be given
the vision with which to clearly behold one another, the
listening with which to perceive one another most
genuinely, and the endless generosity of spirit with which
to nourish one anothers soul and sweetly keep the
promises you make here today.
aaron and Tania, I remind you that marriage is a precious
gift, a lifelong dedication to attend to those things that
nourish and sustain your love for one another and for life.
EXPRESSION OF INTENT
Officiant: This Union was created by friendship, respect,
love, humor, and a commitment to justice. Of all the

aaron & Tania Ceremony 11/21/14 - 4

people you know, you have chosen each other as life

partners. Tania and aaron are you now ready to share
your commitments and intentions with each other?
Tania and aaron: We are.
Officiant: On this special day, in the presence of family
and friends as witnesses, will you aaron always intend to
be with Tania as your beloved, knowing in your heart that
you will be a faithful friend, and a loving companion?
aaron: I will.
Officiant: On this special day, in the presence of family
and friends as witnesses, will you Tania always intend to
be with aaron as your beloved, knowing in your heart that
you will be a faithful friend, and a loving companion?
Tania: I will.

Our Commitments

Officiant: Please share your commitments with your

friends and family and with each other.
[Tania and aaron alternate reading commitments.]
We commit to being truthful and open in our
communication.
We commit to do our best to live in congruence
with our values and to support each other in doing
so as well.

aaron & Tania Ceremony 11/21/14 - 5

We commit to always being open to new

adventures together and to encourage each other
in seeking our own.
We commit to working together to create a family,
community and society that is affirming,
respectful, intentional and purposeful.
We commit to creating a home that is a sanctuary
not only for us, but for our loved ones.
We commit to being partnersyour beloved, your
biggest supporter, your confidant, your
cheerleader and your friend.
We commit to supporting each other in our
individual interests and growth both personally
and professionally.
We commit to taking care of our own wellness so
that we can be our best for each other.
We commit to facing each experience in life
together with a heart full of love, gratitude and
patience.
We commit to be present in and nurture our
relationship by always making time for us.
We commit to always hold firm the commitment to
social justice that helped us to find each other and
to continue to work everyday in ways that help
bring us closer to a more just world.

aaron & Tania Ceremony 11/21/14 - 6

WORDS OF WISDOM/BLESSING
Officiant: And now Tania and aaron have asked Kate
Kruckemeyer and Cathy Spath to share some words of
wisdom or advice to inspire and guide them. [Kate and
Cathy share their reflections.]
CEREMONY OF THE WATCHES
Officiant: Tania and aaron are two people who, with eyes
wide open, choose one another. Though our society
might make it look like love is some accident that we fall
into love and more specifically, commitment, is not
some accident it is a choice. An every second, every
minute, every hour, every day, every month, every year
and a lifetime choice. To have aaron and Tania say to one
another that they are choosing the other for this lifetime
of awake and alert love - it is a radically courageous act.
It is an act that recognizes that there will be joys and
there will be pains.
It is an act that recognizes that there will be moments of
good and there will be moments of challenge. It is an act
that acknowledges that all things in life are not always
rosy, and to have someone along for the journey is a
powerful testament to the souls wisdom and search for
connection.
In this recognition of choice, in this declaration of their
choice, aaron and Tania have chosen to exchange
watches, as an external and visible sign of the internal
and spiritual bond of love which unites them.
The watches they exchange today are the watches they
first exchanged 14 years ago when they expressed to

aaron & Tania Ceremony 11/21/14 - 7

each other their intention to live committed to each other.

They gift the same watches today, publically, a
recognition of the time they have already shared loving
each other and the time they look forward to sharing
together.
May they serve as a seal of the commitments Tania and
aaron have made to one another. Bless these watches,
bless the couple who give them and wear themmay
they ever live in harmony, unity, love, and happiness
from this day forward.
Tania, please repeat after me:
aaron, I choose you every second, every minute, every
hour, every day, every month, every year and for a
lifetime. I give you this watch as a symbol of our love and
wholeness in partnership.
aaron please repeat after me:
Tania, I choose you every second, every minute, every
hour, every day, every month, every year and for a
lifetime. I give you this watch as a symbol of our love and
wholeness in partnership.
BLESSING FOR THE COMMUNITY
Officiant: None of you is here by accident. Tania and
aaron have chosen you as their community. The
individuals they look to for love and support. Who
challenge and inspire them to be better as individuals
and as a couple. Their love for each of you has deeply
influenced their love for each other.

aaron & Tania Ceremony 11/21/14 - 8

bell hooks states, The moment we choose to love we

begin to move towards freedom, to act in ways that
liberate ourselves and others. That action is the
testimony of love as the practice of freedom. Love is a
transformative force in the world and by you committing
your love and support to this union, you not only
transform yourself and transform Tania and aarons
partnership, you transform the world. For when we
choose to love, we choose to move against fear, against
alienation and separation and towards community. The
choice to love is a choice to connect, to find ourselves in
the other.
If you agree with the following commitments as witness
to this union, I invite you to emphatically and with love
respond, Yes! We Will!
Do you who know and care for Tania and aaron and give
them your blessings now as they enter into this
commitment, and do you promise in the days and years
ahead to give them your deepest love, understanding and
support during both good times and challenging times?
Crowd responds: Yes! We Will!

Officiant: Will you who are present here today, surround

this couple in love, offering them the joys of your
friendship? Will you stand by them, and support them,
celebrating with them, and encouraging their dreams?
Holding them accountable to the commitments they have

aaron & Tania Ceremony 11/21/14 - 9

made today? Will you as a community share this

responsibility?
Crowd responds: Yes! We will!
Officiant: And as an opportunity to celebrate the power
of community to change the world, will you remember to
celebrate your own families and communities by speaking
kind words of love, embracing both their gifts and their
flaws, and delighting in each other everyday?
Crowd responds: Yes! We will!
Officiant: Thank you!
PRONOUNCEMENT AND KISS
Officiant:
By the power youve invested in me as your officiant,
By the life that fills and surrounds us and that causes us
to reach toward one another and yearn for connection
By the love of friends and family that honor and support
this loving relationship
And by the delight and hope you have found in each
other
I say that you are united in a courageous life of love and
justice.
May all respect the bond of your union.
aaron and Tania, you may now kiss!