Dalton and Caitlyn 6.11.2022
DALTON. CAITYLN. Welcome to your wedding day. And I want to welcome both friends and family here to witness and celebrate your wedding day. THIS PLACE IS BEAUTIFUL. TODAY know without a doubt your families and friends are thrilled to celebrate your happy new beginning. TODAY IS THE DAY!
Here we are at start of your life together as husband and wife. Let’s pray.
(PRAYER)
At the beginning of anything let alone your wedding day there is an air of promise and a joy. You may have wondered about the weather, the circumstances of getting to the location, but not the act of marrying your best friend–this IS AS EVIDENT AS THE SUN SHINING ON YOU NOW.
YOU each have brought your best today to give one another today, you’ve written vows, you’ve thought about your values, and the fact that doing life together is the only way forward. You both value honesty, and putting God first. So today, “LOVE FROM THE CENTER OF WHO YOU ARE; don’t fake it, LOVE EACH OTHER WITH GENUINE AFFECTION, AND TAKE DELIGHT IN HONORING EACH OTHER. These are words from Romans 12. These are words to live by. Caitlyn you look beautiful. DALTON you are making the right choice! And her happiness is so real. You are standing face to face giving an incredible promise to each other. Today love not only holds your hand but holds your future. AND GOD himself is here, making these promises today with you. HE is here to start and finish this race, this marathon of love.
As you say yes to the commitment of unfailing love, know that your source is not yourselves. DALTON AND CAITLYN understand this is the gift of a love that doesn’t leave. It is powerful. DALTON with God you can bear the weight of whatever comes. Caitlyn with God you can love and know it is completely pure and forever faithful. Know this today and from now on DALTON has love you can rely on because Christ is and and will be sustaining the promises you are about to make.
From that first exhilarating thought, “I found the one I’m gonna marry” to your most challenging day so far you have still chosen each other. AND as we look ahead you both are pledging to continue to say “yes, I chose you”, a commitment in a formal way cementing all the natural development and supportive trust you’ve built so far.
Small commitments add up, and we know they didn’t just start here. It started on your first summer together and what a life changing summer that was—all those conversations that began with Dalton saying, “wanna go on a boat” and continued with “let’s go horseback riding” and you Caitlyn saying “I do!” and then transitioned into plans you made together—conversations springing from sincere efforts to be close to one another. God was paving a path to “someday” and a future “I DO” all those promises you’ve made along the way are becoming real today. Today is your best “I DO” day ever.
Your conversations were filled with plans of your life together, of how to love well, and more, they even now are woven into the substance of this wedding. They brought you both to this day, you chose HER, HE CHOSE YOU. He believed you would come and give yourself to him. And you, CAITLYN believed he would offer you his name, his arm, his future, his heart, his body his all. After today you shall say to the world and to one anther—“This is my husband.” “This is my wife.”
When you are leaving Costco with enough wine for a wedding or enough food for a reception it’s an embarrassment of volume. Bottles and bottles. Or the bill at the end of this night, the way it adds up. There is so much abundance it’s more than one person can eat or drink. It’s the same with love. It’s so much more. It’s noticeable to all who stand here today- the love you share. I’ve seen it on Saturday’s and over zoom, the affection is so real. It’s so much more than a month of love, or year of love YOURS is life long and we can tell. This love marks you. It changes the whole direction of your life. You can no longer go forward without one another. It’s obvious you are in love DALTON and CAITLYN. All who know and support you share in your happiness as you pledge yourselves to each other.
CAITLYN this is the whole point of doing life together; a shared happiness, shared sorrows, shared joys, making it your intention to continue to make DALTON feel like he has it all. WHO YOU ARE is exactly what drew him to you. GIVE him your continual admiration and respect. Outside the home it’s a battle for honor and respect, but in your home let each other know how freaking amazing they are! LEAVE NO DOUBT. You will develop a shared history with one another. In the days, months, and years ahead never forget you complement each other’s strengths and weaknesses. And this strong man you are pledging to love is irreplaceable. DALTON’S love for you is your future, your very life is built on this love. Love is patient and kind. ( 1 Cor 13) And it’s not like we love perfectly, ask any long time marriages you know, it’s just the same decision over and over again. TO KEEP MAKING THE CHOICE YOU MAKE TODAY. CHOSE DALTON.
Patience serves as a protection against wrongs as clothes do against cold, for it you put on more clothes as the cold increases, it will have no power to hurt you. Leonardo Da Vinci
LOVE IS PATIENT.
DALTON this beautiful bride before you is wild crazy in love with you she believes the best of you. She is where you go I’ll go, you are my family, your future– my my future, she’ll have it all. You have won her heart. CAITLYN is here for it all, the easy, the difficult, the highlights you never want to forget and the days of challenge. She is yes, to the whole of your life, her commitment is as natural as breathing.
So take just one breathe, stop take in this moment, drink it in like championship won. Today you are giving CAITLYN your best gift, you. You are and will be her longest and best friend, her favorite dance partner at every wedding, her go to life collaborator, her most constant text recipient, and you will be the first person she wakes up to tomorrow morning. You give her so much value when you listen. When she needs grace, continue to offer it freely. You provide her shelter when you trust in God have faith in his constant care. She is home.
CAITLYN, DALTON is WITH YOU now and will be WITH YOU every day after. And this love is where you belong. Believe it and rely on it.
Love when it’s easy and when it’s hard. Hold on to each other in faithfulness. This is the one person you want to come home to. Of all the people to understand you, let it be Dalton. Let it be Caitlyn. Everyday make an effort to connect. Connection over all else. Home is his heart. Home is his arms. Live there.
DALTON make her laugh and help her find light way of looking at hard things.
You have only begun to bless one another. Today Christ wants to bless you both.
He wants to bless you with his presence, and his word, which he will keep. He promises to be gracious to you.
Numbers 6:24-26 “The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.”
He is kind, expect his kindness. He is merciful, expect his mercy. He is forgiving and ultimately He is the unfailing love you can rely on. HE IS MEEK, HIS IS NOT PROUD, HE IS HUMBLE. LOVE THIS WAY. The Greek word for ‘meek’ means ‘gentle’, ‘considerate’, ‘unassuming’. God in his meekness gave himself for us, love one another with this same meekness.
God gives you his peace in the midst of the trouble and his protection. He defends you from evil and wandering away from him. His desire from your first breath to your last is to bless you. With all that you are given by God, you are now given one another. In this moment your marriage is the most incredible gift, you will ever receive besides God himself and your children.
CAITLYN AND DALTON you have before you today all these blessings from God and a charge as well, to strengthen one another, believe in the presence of GOD to never leave or forsake you. Trust HIM.
Pray together. Forgive quickly and without holding back. And when love is worn thin because life deals us days like that remember yours is a love that endures and remains. GOD IS NOT WORN THIN. Your love is founded and given by God, blessed by God. God is faithful and He will ever be faithful to you. Delight in the gift of LOVE and MARRIAGE. GET SO EXCITED ABOUT WHAT GOD will build. In his word he says it’s beyond all you can hope ask or imagine. Build with GOD.
By taking the vows you’re about to take, you’re declaring that the very foundation of your life together is a promise more precious than any riches. The ground that you walk on, the roof over your heads, the walls that surround you—the raw material for all of it is a love that is both rich and enriching. It’s an embarrassment of riches.
Here’s my charge to you: Live in the grace you’ve been given. Jonathon Rogers
VOWS
DALTON
Caitlyn you are my best friend.
The day I fell in love with you, we were running around barefoot in a creek bed in the mountains swimming at waterfalls like little kids. It was then I started realizing our love for all of God’s creations would be a sacred bond.
You’re beautiful as a summer sunset- warm like a camp fire- loving in the same way a cow loves her calf. Your soul is deep, rich, pasture soil-abundant with nutrients and life. You’re a life giver. Your love for the Creator is sturdy and strong as granite mountain range, and your morality is rooted in your love for God. I can’t imagine a better woman to start a family with.
I promise to always lead you, protect you, always bring home the “real” bacon, and to love you no matter how short the grass gets or how many border collies, horses, goats or pigs you bring home.
CAITLYN
Dalton,
Gods timing with us was pretty special. Over the last six years we’ve linked up but either I wasn’t ready or you weren’t. We both had a lot of growing up to do. It was like he was up there saying “wait, wait, ok now!”
Ever since that day you called to go boating we haven’t looked back. I knew from then on you were the person I wanted to spend life with and raise a family with. You’re kind, genuine, hard-working, adventurous, funny, funny again because we never stop laughing, a good communicator, a terrific father and most importantly a man of God. It’s a good thing too because you’re going to need God in a house full of girls. I promise to always remember everything you forget, and set the clocks ahead so you’re always on time. I promise to keep bringing animals home because I know how much you love it. My biggest promises to put God first always and to be by your side even on the days where the love has faded. You are the perfect piece to the puzzle and we are so thankful to have such a loving man to lead our family. I love you more.
FORMAL
“Do you DALTON, take CAITLYN to be your lawfully wedded wife, promising to love her, support her, believing in her, through joy and sorrow, sickness and health, and whatever challenges you may face, for as long as you both shall live?”
HE SAYS I DO
“Do you CAITLYN, take DALTON to be your lawfully wedded husband, promising to love him, be supportive of him, believing in him, through joy and sorrow, sickness and health, and whatever challenges you may face, for as long as you both shall live?”
SHE SAYS I DO
RING Exchange
Wedding rings are symbols of your vows made today. Your rings say you belong to one another and are bound together. When you are apart your ring remains as a token of promise and belonging. Wear it and remember the giver of this ring is both lover and strength.
DALTON, please take CAITLYN’S left hand, and repeat after me:
“With this ring, I marry you and bind my life to yours.”
CAITLYN, please take DALTON’S left hand, and repeat after me:
“With this ring, I marry you and bind my life to yours.”
To honor their commitment of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ the couple will partake in COMMUNION. This bread and wine symbolize the body of Christ given to them. It is Christ’s faithfulness and the vitality of Spirit of God by which they will be sustained in love. God our Father has been, is, and will be the forged strength of their covenant today. His love endures forever. We welcome you to pray for them as they partake.
Before we finish, I want to remind you of a quote that you might be familiar with. The context is different—but the intent still rings true: “To love another person is to see the face of God.” Victor Hugo
The ability to love and be loved is an incredible one, and seeing the two of you rise to this commitment is not only beautiful it gives us a glimpse of God.
And now we’re here: and I am honored to announce you two as husband and wife:
You may KISS YOUR BRIDE.
I now pronounce to you for the very first time, MR. AND MRS. DUNCAN!
