Dustin and Kate Duminsky Wedding

Processional

Processional

We are here today as family and friends, in the presence of God, to celebrate with Dustin Duminsky and Kate Cressley on their wedding day.

Marriage is a beautiful union of two souls in love, who are bound to one another by their commitment to love one another for the rest of their lives.

Prayer

Please join me as we begin in prayer:

Father God, we are so grateful that you, the creator of heaven and earth, love us, care about us, and listen to our prayers. Lord, we ask that you would bless Dustin and Kate today and every day in their marriage. Help them to start today and always keep you as the foundation of their marriage, and to love one another in good times and bad. We ask all this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Giving Away of Bride

Who gives this woman to this man?

Father of the Bride: Her mother and I.

You may be seated.

Declaration of Intent

Dustin and Kate, it is time for you both to declare your intentions.

Kate, do you take Dustin to be your husband? And do you promise to love him, honor him, and be faithful to him as long as you both live? If so, please say, "I do."

Kate: I do.

Dustin, do you take Kate to be your wife? And do you promise to love her, honor her, and be faithful to her as long as you both live? If so, please say, "I do."

Dustin: I do.

Scripture Reading

Dustin and Kate have asked me to read from the Bible.

This is the word of God as written by the Apostle Paul.

1 Corinthians 13 NLT

If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing. Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! But when the time of perfection comes, these partial things will become useless. When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely. Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.

Mini Wedding Message

As a pastor, I have the joy of being a part of many wedding ceremonies.

I get to sit down with couples and hear all about how they met, fell in love, and how their lives have been changed through their love for one another. And it is easy to see that Dustin and Kate do love each other.

But what is love?

Love is a very common word. We use it in many different ways. We say, "I love you," to the person we care about most in the world, but we also say, "I love chocolate."

Certainly, we don't love our significant other the same way that we love chocolate. Yet, we have no better words to express ourselves.

So what is love, really?

As we heard in , love is patient, kind, and forgiving among many other things.

Notice we don’t see the Bible declaring, “Love is a feeling.”

Most people, when thinking about love, think about the emotion - the romance of falling in love and the desire to share every moment, and learn everything about this other person. We think of the kind of love we see in movies that usually end with a wedding like this.

But love is far more than an emotion. Emotions are fleeting. They are here one moment and gone the next.

Anyone who has been married longer than a day knows that the feeling of love comes and goes. Marriage is not easy because true love is more than a feeling; it's a choice.

If you want your marriage to be strong and to last, you must choose every day to love the other.

If you choose to do this, your marriage will be one of the most fulfilling, rewarding, and fruitful parts of your entire life.

The perfect example of love is found in Jesus, who sacrificed everything and humbled himself by taking on the form of a man, coming down from heaven to earth to die for us.

He chose to give up his life so that all who believe in him could have life.

Jesus' sacrifice was out of his great love for us. There is no greater love than to lay down your life for another.

In the same way, my hope is that you, Dustin and Kate, would lay down your lives for one another—giving of yourself to the other in the same way that Jesus gave his life for you.

Dustin, each day choose to love Kate by putting her desires ahead of your own.

Kate, each day choose to love Dustin by putting his desires ahead of your own.

This feeling of your wedding day will fade in time, and in those moments, you both must choose to love.

Prayer for Love

Personal Remarks

Vows

Please face each other and join hands.

(Option 1: Traditional Vows)

We will start with you Dustin. Repeat after me.

Please face each other and join hands. We will start with you (GROOM). Repeat after me.

Dustin: I Dustin – take you Kate – to be my wife – To have and to hold – From this day forward – For better, or worse – For richer, or poorer – In sickness, and in health – To love and to cherish – All the days of my life

Kate please repeat after me.

Kate: I Kate – take you Dustin– to be my husband – To have and to hold – From this day forward – For better, or worse – For richer, or poorer – In sickness, and in health – To love and to cherish – All the days of my life

Exchange of Rings

Dustin and Kate will now exchange rings as a symbol of their commitment to each other.

May I have the rings, please.

These rings are to be a reminder of the promise you have made today. Notice the circle of the ring has no beginning and no end. It is an eternal circle meant to represent your life-long vow to love each other.

The ring is also made from purified precious metals, symbolic of the purity of your promise to remain faithful to each other.

Kate, please put this ring on Dustin's finger and repeat after me:

With this ring - I marry you - and bind my life to yours - with all of my heart - and all of my soul.

Dustin, please put this ring on Kate’s finger and repeat after me:

With this ring - I marry you - and bind my life to yours - with all of my heart - and all of my soul.

*Kate and Dustin go to the cord table and I talk*

Triple Braided Cord

*Flow right into the triple braided cord*

To symbolize today’s commitment, Dustin and Kate have chosen to make a triple braided cord.

Triple Braided Cord

Today, Dustin and Kate have chosen to braid three strands together into a single cord.

The Marriage Braid symbolizes the joining of one man, one woman, and God into a marriage relationship.

The Marriage Braid symbolizes the joining of one man, one woman, and God into a marriage relationship.

The Marriage Braid (also known as the Cord of Three Strands) symbolizes the joining of one man, one woman, and God into a marriage relationship. A good marriage has love as its foundation. Since we believe that love is a gift from God, it is fitting to symbolize that divine involvement at the very center of this new union. Following the exchange of vows and rings, the bride and groom braid the three strands together. The groom holds a small metal ring with three attached strands. The bride then braids the strands together, symbolizing the union of God, husband and wife. A reading such as the following while the braiding is accomplished helps to explain the meaning of the ceremony to your guests.

A good marriage has love as its foundation.

Since we believe that love is a gift from God, it is fitting to symbolize that divine involvement at the very center of this new union.

Today, Dustin and Kate have chosen to braid three strands together into a single cord.

The triple braided cord symbolizes the joining of one man , one woman, and God into a marriage relationship.

Each strand has a significant meaning.

The gold strand represents God who has given the gift of love.

The purple strand represents the groom and his life.

The white strand represents the bride and her life.

In braiding these three strands together, Dustin and Kate are demonstrating that their marriage is more than a joining of two lives together.

It is a unity with God as well. They have chosen to allow God to be at the center of their marriage, woven into every aspect of it.

Ecclesiastes 4:9–12 NLT

Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble. Likewise, two people lying close together can keep each other warm. But how can one be warm alone? A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken.

Pronouncement of Marriage

Ruth 1:16 NLT

But Ruth replied, “Don’t ask me to leave you and turn back. Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God.

You have come before us and before God and have expressed your desire to be husband and wife.

You have come before us and before God and have expressed your desire to be husband and wife.

You have come before us and before God and have expressed your desire to be husband and wife.

You have shown your love and affection by joining hands, have made promises of faith and devotion to each other, and have sealed these promises by the giving and receiving of rings.

You have symbolized your union together with Christ with a triple braided cord..

What God has joined together, let no man separate.

May God bless you and keep you and give you his peace. Amen.

says, “...Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God.”

What God has joined together, let no man separate.

Dustin and Kate, I now pronounce that you are husband and wife. Dustin, you may kiss your bride!

Ladies and gentlemen, it is my privilege to present to you for the very first time, Mr. and Mrs. Dustin Duminsky!!!