Richard & David
May 27th, 2007

Overture
Duet cues entrance of Danny and Peter,Dhyanna , Breanna & Taylor
Then Richard & David
David & Richard light white tapers and take places in front of Danny(Music ends)
Welcome to the friends and families of David and Richard. We have been invited here to see the two of them joined together in a public commitment of their love.
Richard and David grew and formed in the cultures of their families. They bring the values of those families with them today. Those values are the importance of family, the importance of the group, the tribe above the needs of the individual.
They grew to be men in the company of men. They learned how the values that formed them applied to a new kind of family, a new group to which they belonged as though they were born to it, because, of course, they were.
And now, after finding each other, and growing closer thorough recognition and acceptance, work and playfulness, affection and intimacy, they come before us all, from the families of their origin and the families they created to surround them as men, to create a new family. A family of two people committed to each other in love, until they are parted by death.
David and Richard are unique individuals, and the qualities that make them should be mentioned today.
They have both taken the talents, the strengths that they posses and given them to the community, David’s support of and participation in the arts, in both avocation and vocation are worth all our respect.
Richard, also a performer, has worked in support of healing and caring for others throughout his adult life. This is not only his profession, but also the focus of his personal life in his father’s last years.
These two men are each deserving of the love, care and support they have shared with the world. But this is a different kind of devotion. This is a committed, exclusive, passionate love. We call this arrangement a marriage.
Richard- Do you agree to this commitment to David? To love, honor and keep yourself only for him, as long as you both shall live?
David- Do you agree to this commitment to Richard? To love, honor and keep yourself only for him, as long as you both shall live?
To mark the occasion of this marriage, the partners will light a unity candle.
Richard and David, the two lighted candles symbolize your separate lives, your separate families and your separate sets of friends.
I ask that you each take one candle and that together you light the center candle.
The individual candles represent your individual lives before today.
Lighting the center candle represents that your two lives are now joined to one light,
and represents the joining of your two families and sets of friends to one. David and Richard will now extinguish their own candles,
thus letting the center candle symbolize the union of their lives. As one light cannot be divided, neither will their lives be divided.
Return here.
Happiness in marriage is not something that just happens;
a good marriage must be created.
And it is created in the following ways:
It is never too old to hold hands
It is remembering to say I “I love you” at least once a day
It is at no time taking the other for granted
It is having a mutual sense of values and common objectives
It is standing together facing life
It is forming a circle of love that gathers the whole family
It is doing things for each other not in the attitude of duty or sacrifice
but in the spirit of joy
It is speaking words of appreciation and demonstrating gratitude
It is not looking for perfection in each other
It is cultivating flexibility, patience, understanding, and a sense of
humor
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 establishing a relationship in which independence is equal,
dependence is mutual, and obligation is reciprocal
It is not only marrying the right partner, it is being the right partner
Will you exchange rings? ( Peter hands me the rings)
I name the significance of these rings to be the unending circle of affection, respect and support which marriage embodies.
Richard, place this ring on David’s finger and repeat after me ”as this ring is pure and endless, so will my love be for you. With this ring, I thee wed.”
David, place this ring on Richard s finger and repeat after me ”as this ring is pure and endless, so will my love be for you. With this ring, I thee wed.”
Please join me as we bless this union with the Apache wedding prayer:
Now you will feel no rain, For each of you will be shelter to the other.
Now you will feel no cold,For each of you will be warmth to the other.
Now there is no more loneliness, For each of you will be companion to the other.
Now you are two bodies,But there is one life before you.
Go now to your dwelling place,To enter into the days of your togetherness.And may your days be good and long upon the earth.
Aho, Amen
Now, by the power vested in me, I pronounce you to be partners for life.
You may now kiss your partner!
Recessional & Exit