Wedding Day Prayers & Blessings

Everything about your wedding needs to be perfect, especially the words you say.

Marriage Prayer

Lord,
help us to remember
when we first met
and the strong love
that grew between us.
To see the good
within the other,
and find answers
to all our problems.
Help us to say kind
and loving words,
and make us big enough
to ask forgiveness
of the other.
We put our marriage
into Your hands,
Amen.

During your wedding service, it is sometimes a nice touch to have some of the friends and family pray or bless the union between the new husband and wife.

Each of you will have to decide for yourselves if you want to have prayers and/or blessings in your wedding service, with an increase of civil weddings, couples may wish to keep the ceremony a strictly non religious affair, which is fine, each service must reflect the couple.

An alternative to prayers could be poems or readings from favourite passages, used as a statement of how the couple feel about each other, or friends or family giving the couple advice through poems or readings.

Christian Wedding Prayers

During more religiously centred services, friends and family invite the Holy Spirit into the lives of the couple by praying across the couple’s hands. This joining of hands and praying over them, is as a sign of the bond between the couple and theirs with God.

If you do not wish to have friends and family pray over you and instead stand at the front while you sit and kneel may be preferable to you. Friends and family can either make up their own prayers or blessings, or can read out some more traditional blessings.

Wedding Dinner Prayer

Heavenly Father, we ask you to bless this food and those who prepared it and those who will serve it. We also ask your blessing on [bride's name} and [bridegroom's name] who have come to you this day to unite themselves to you in love and sacrament, and upon their families. In Jesus' love. Amen

Wedding Prayer

Lord, behold our family here assembled.
We thank you for this place in which we dwell,
for the love that unites us,
for the peace accorded us this day,
for the hope with which we expect the morrow,
for the health, the work, the food,
and the bright skies that make our
lives delightful;
for our friends in all parts of the earth.
Amen

~ Robert Louis Stevenson

A Wedding Prayer

If you will always place each other first
Then yours will truly be
A marriage "Made in Heaven"
A shining example for all to see.
So build your home on care and love
Treat the other as the best
Then God watching from above
Will take care of all the rest.
Store the happiness in your heart
From this day as you are wed
Draw from it when there are sorrows
As you travel life's road ahead
Congratulations and
May you have many happy tomorrows.

Irish Wedding Prayer & Blessings

Traditionally speaking these prayers and blessings will come after the vows so that the newly married couple can be blessed in their lives together.

Famous Irish wedding toasts and blessings are immensely popular:

Irish Wedding Blessing I

May the road rise to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face, the rains fall soft upon your fields.
May the light of friendship guide your paths together.
May the laughter of children grace the halls of your home.
May the joy of living for one another trip a smile from your lips, a twinkle from your eyes.
And, when eternity beckons, at the end of a life heaped high with love,
May the good Lord embrace you with the arms that have nurtured you the whole length
of your joy filled days.
May the gracious God hold you both in the palm of His hands.
And today, may the spirit of Love find a dwelling place in your hearts.

Irish Wedding Blessing II

May God be with you and bless you;
May you see your children’s children.
May you be poor in misfortune,
Rich in blessings,
May you know nothing but happiness
From this day forward.

Irish Wedding Blessing III

May your mornings bring joy and your evenings bring peace.
May your troubles grow few as your blessings increase.
May the saddest day of your future
Be no worse than the happiest day of your past.
May your hands be forever clasped in friendship
And your hearts joined forever in love.
Your lives are very special,
God has touched you in many ways.
May his blessings rest upon you
And fill all your coming days

Irish Wedding Blessing IV

May the raindrops fall lightly on your brow
May the soft winds freshen your spirit
May the sunshine brighten your heart
May the burdens of the day rest lightly upon you
And may God enfold you in the mantle of His Love.

Irish Grace

May this food restore our strength, giving new energy to tired limbs, new thoughts to weary minds. May this drink restore our souls, giving new vision to dry spirits, new warmth to cold hearts. And once refreshed, may we give new pleasure to You, who gives us all.

Wedding Ceremony Prayer

Some couple prefer a more traditional English Prayer such as:

God of love, ever gracious and kind,
We pray for Jane & John as they make the promises of marriage.
Let them know you
As the God of mercy and new beginnings,
Who forgives our failures and renews our hope.
May the grace of Christ
Be poured into their wedding
For celebrations and for joy,
God of love, ever present and faithful, know that their marriage is
Your delight and will.
May the promises they make govern their
Life together,
As your presence surrounds them,
And your Spirit strengthens and guides them;
Through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Catholic Wedding Prayer

If you are Catholic then a prayer like this may be used:

Father, you have made the bond of marriage a holy mystery,
a symbol of Christ's love for his Church.
Hear our prayers for N., and N.
With faith in you and in each other they pledge their love today.
May their lives always bear witness to the reality of that love.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Lord,
Bless this special couple as they are wed.
May they find security and peace in
their commitment to You and each other.
Grace them with your wisdom as they
make decisions.
Give to them thankful hearts in good
times and faithful hearts in hard times.
Grant them a never ending desire to love
each other as You love them.
May they bring out the best in each
other and draw strength from their
unity with each other and with You.
May their happiness grow in depth and
become genuine witness of Your love.

Prayer of Husband and Wife

Keep us, O Lord, from pettiness. Let us be thoughtful in word and deed
Help us to put away pretense and face each other in deep trust
without fear or self pity. Help us to guard against fault finding,
and be quick to discover the best in each other and in every
situation. Guard us from ill temper and hasty
judgement; encourage us to take time for all things,
grow calm, serene and gentle. Help us to be
generous with kind words and compliments. Teach
us never to ignore, never to hurt, never to take each other for granted.
Engrave charity and compassion
on our hearts.

Our Wedding Prayer

May we love, even when the other is unlovely.
May we multiply each other's joys and divide each other's sorrows.
May our home be a haven of peace in the midst of the storms of life.
May we be patient and understanding, especially when the other needs it most.
May kindness be imprinted upon all our words and deeds.
May goodness and righteousness be our mark, even when it is unpopular.
May wisdom be a light unto our way and a lamp to guide our path.
May we delight in our beloved and be forever caprivated by the love of our youth.
May self restraint and faithfulness be our guide in the midst of life's temptations.
May health and prosperity follow us wherever we may go.
May laughter and friends and family always fill our home.
May forgiveness and graciousness be freely given and humbly accepted.
May we live to see our children's children, and may they rise up and call us blessed.
May we seek the Lord's guidance in all that we do and in all that we say.
And may we dwell in God's grace and under the shelter of His wings
As long as we both shall live.

Our Wedding Prayer

My promise to you is simple,
I'll endure until the end.
I'll be your one and only,
Your lover and your friend,
I'll listen and I'll nurture,
I'll fight and I'll be true.
I'll do my equal share and I
will never give up on you.
I'll try to do my very best, to
fulfill your every need.
I'll walk beside you hand in hand,
I'll help you to succeed.
I'll be your constant equal,
I'll give you room to grow,
I'll tend to you when you are sick,
build you up when you are low.
I stand before these witnesses,
And I say unto you,
No matter what hard times we face,
Our love will make it through.
Amen

Your Wedding Day - Your Personal Choice

To a certain extent whatever you choose, the basic message is one of placing the marriage before God and asking that good things happen to the couple as they go into marriage.

It is also to ask God to bless the love that the couple have for each other. Not only that but it is a chance for the couple to ask God to guide their hearts.

It is also an opportunity for the friends and family to give their blessing of the marriage.