I arrived at my friend Karin’s wedding a little late and the ceremony had already begun. I’ve been to a lot of civil ceremonies, but it had been a while since I’d attended a religious one. They had asked a minister to officiate.
When I arrived, Karin and her fiancé, Jan, were standing in front of the church.
Minister: we are gathered here today to join Jan and Karin in holy matrimony. If there is anyone here who knows of a reason why these two should not be joined in marriage, speak now or forever hold your peace.
Fortunately, no one said anything.
Minister: Jan and Karin, please face each other and join hands.
Minister: (To Jan ) do you, Jan Casanova, take Karin Valentine, to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, to love and to cherish, for better and for worse, for richer and for poorer, in sickness and in health, till death do you part.
Jan said, “I do,” and the minister asked Karin the same question, and she said, “I do,” as well.
Minister: May I have the rings? (To Jan) please place this ring, a symbol of your love, on Karin’s hand and say, “with this ring, I thee wed”
Jan put the ring on the fourth finger of Karin’s left hand. Karin said the same thing and put a ring on Jan’s finger.
Minister: I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss the bride.
Jan and Karin kissed and we all applauded.
Minister: Ladies and gentlemen, it is my great honor to present to you for the very first time the happy couple, Jan and Karin.
In this episode we are at a wedding what we would call a traditional wedding, it may also be called the church wedding that you will see in a Christian church, of course those another religious traditions we have a somewhat different wedding, but this is the sort of wedding that you will see in the movies, a traditional church wedding. The woman in the story says that she arrive at her friend Karin’s wedding a little late. The wedding of course is the ceremony, the act of getting married when two people get married. The person in the story says that she has been to a lot of civil ceremonies, but it had been a while since I’d attended a religious one. There are two ways of getting married in the United States, one is to get married by a recognized priest, minister, led by a religious leader. The other way is by a civil ceremony, “civil” here means government, it is not a religious ceremony. You are married not by a priest, or minister but by a justice of the peace. This is a judge or someone who is legally recognized to have the power to marry you. Every state is different in term of the laws and rules, but all states have the option, the availability of getting married just by the government. Now if you get married in the church in the United States, or other religious organization, you still have to get a license from the government, but you don’t have to have two different weddings, a church wedding and then a government or civil wedding. The government recognizes church wedding as legal. As long as you get a license from the county where you are living in the state in which you are living. Most weddings are church weddings in the United States, about 30 or 40 percent of all weddings are civil ceremonies with the justice of the peace of judge marrying you often in a government building but not necessary, you can get married anywhere. In this case the wedding has a minister and the minister is officiating at the wedding. A minister is a religious leader in a Christian church usually similar to a priest. To “officiate” means to lead the wedding, to be in charge of the wedding ceremony.
When she arrives, Karin and her fiancé, Jan, were standing in front of the church. Your “fiancé” is the man or woman that you are going to get married to. if it’s a man it is spelled “fiancé” with a accent over the “e”, it’s a French word originally. If it’s a woman there are two “e” at the end of the word “fiancée”. So your fiancé is the person that you are engaged to, the person that you are going to marry.
The minister begins the ceremony in a very traditional way, using the expressions that you will hear in the movies sometimes. We are gathered here today to join Jan and Karin in holy matrimony. “To join” in this case means to bring two people together, to marry them. “Holy matrimony” is another word for marriage, “holy” means secret, blessed by God. “Matrimony” is another word for marriage. So “holy matrimony” is a marriage approved by or blessed by God. If there is anyone here who knows of a reason why these two should not be joined in marriage, speak now or forever hold your peace. Again this is a very traditional wording, “speak now” means to say something now. to “hold your peace” means never to say anything about something, to remain quiet about your feelings or thoughts about this subject. Again this is a traditional expression that you hear at weddings “speak now or forever hold your peace”. Fortunately, no one said anything. No one ever says anything, only in the movies though someone says” no, they can’t be married, I’d love her” something like that.
The minister says “Jan and Karin, please face each other and join hands.” To “face each other” means to turn and to look at each other, you are looking into each other’s eyes. Then the minister says to Jan “do you, Jan Casanova, take Karin Valentine, to be your lawfully wedded wife” “lawfully” just means legally, “wedded” is another word for married. So do you take her to be your lawfully wedded wife, do you agree to have her as your wife? The minister continues “to have and to hold”, “to have and to hold” means to own, to possess, to keep. He continues” to love and to cherish”, “to cherish” is to love, to take care of something. “for better and for worse, for richer and for poorer, in sickness and in health” so he is saying good times, bad times, if you are richer, if you are poorer, if you are sick, if you are healthy, it doesn’t matter, she will be your wife. The final part of the expression is “till death do you part” till means the same as until, to part means to separate, so the expression “till death do you part” means until one of you dies, after you die then you don’t have to worry about being married. Some people say you die when you get married, but I am not saying that. Jan says “I do,” that is what you say when the minister, priest or the justice of the peace asks you this question, you say” I do,” you don’t normally say “yes,” you say “I do.” The minister then asks Karin the same question, and she says” I do.”
The minister then says” May I have the rings?” in the traditional wedding, the man and the woman each have a ring on the finger that signifies that they are married. The minister says to Jan “please place this ring, a symbol of your love, on Karin’s hand.” a “symbol” is a thing or image that represents something else, so the ring is a symbol of your love. The minister tells Jan to say to Karin “with this ring, I thee wed” “thee” is an old word meaning you, to wed means to marry, again this is an old traditional expression of phrase “with this ring, I thee wed” I am marrying you and I am giving you this ring as a sign or symbol of that. Jan puts a ring on Karin’s left hand on her fourth finger. Karin says the same thing to Jan and puts it on his finger.
The minister then says” I now pronounce you husband and wife.” “I now pronounce” means I am now saying, I am announcing, I am making it true that you are husband and wife. The more traditional expression that you may hear also is” man and wife”, “I now pronounce you man and wife”, the more modern version would be” husband and wife”. the minister says to Jan” You may now kiss the bride” and that is again a traditional thing and if a woman in old-fashioned wedding is wearing a veil, something that covers your face, she will lift that up and then they would kiss and everyone would applaud, to applaud or to clap is to put your hands together.
The minister at the end says” Ladies and gentlemen, it is my great honor to present to you for the very first time the happy couple, Jan and Karin.” “Great honor” means something that I am proud of. It’s also possible for the minister to say” Mr. and Mrs. Jan Casanova” if the woman is going to take the last name of the man and almost all women in the U.S do take her husband’s last name when they get married, not all however but the majority do.
