Cara & Ken
Wedding Ceremony of Cara Gilleland & Ken Kuhl

Carolyn: Who gives this bride in marriage?

Mike: Her mother and I.

Carolyn (to attendees):

On behalf of Cara and Ken, I would like to welcome you here today and thank you for sharing this special day with them. Your presence here shows your love and respect of their decision to be joined in marriage.

Carolyn (to Cara and Ken):

Marriage is an honorable estate. Therefore it is not to be entered into lightly or unadvisedly, but discreetly, soberly, and with true love.

Marriage can be described as the greatest relationship which can exist between a man and a woman. Marriage combines your love and trust into a single growing energy. An energy which can go on to embrace many others as you share your lives.

A good marriage is never being too old to hold hands.

It is remembering to say, “I love you” at least once a day.

It is never going to sleep angry.

It is having a mutual sense of values and common objectives; it is standing together facing the world.

It is forming a circle of love that gathers in family and friends.

It is speaking words of appreciation and demonstrating gratitude in thoughtful ways.

It is having the capacity to forgive and forget.

It is giving each other an atmosphere in which each can grow.

It is finding room for the things of the spirit.

It is a common search for the good and the beautiful.

It is not only marrying the right partner, it is being the right partner.

No other human ties are more tender, nor vows more sacred than those which you are now about to assume. And so, in the presence of family and friends, I ask you to state your intentions.


Please join your hands and face one another.

Carolyn: Do you, Ken, take Cara to be your wife?

Ken: I do.

Carolyn: Will you love her, comfort her, honor and keep her, in sickness and in health, and forsaking every other, keep to her only, so long as you both shall live?

Ken: I will.

Carolyn: Do you, Cara, take Ken to be your husband?

Cara: I do.

Carolyn: Will you love him, comfort him, honor and keep him, in sickness and in health, and forsaking every other, keep to him only, so long as you both shall live?

Cara: I will.

Since it is your intention to enter into marriage, you may declare your consent before these witnesses.

Ken: I, Ken, take you, Cara, to be my wife, 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 till death do us part.

Cara: I, Cara, take you, Ken, to be my husband, 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 till death do us part.

Ken, place the ring on Cara’s finger and repeat after me:
This ring is a symbol of my promise/ that I will always love you/ that I will always cherish you and honor you/ for all the days of my life.

Cara, place the ring on Ken’s finger and repeat after me:

This ring is a symbol of my promise/ that I will always love you/ that I will always cherish you and honor you/ for all the days of my life.


And so your two lives are now joined. May you both continue to grow in acceptance, understanding, and compassion.

Whatever trials you face in the future may you trust each other always. Walking together may you find far more joy in life than either of you would have found walking alone.

Having pledged yourselves each to the other, I do now, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the State of California, pronounce you, Ken, and you, Cara, to be husband and wife, lovers and friends for life.