Minister & Ceremony...

Each couple is treated as a unique meeting of minds and souls.  We make a serious effort to avoid the "cookie-cutter" ceremonies you get through cruise lines and hotels. We do not want you to have the same ceremony in St. Thomas you would have in Cancun.

One thing all our weddings have in common is JOY. Wedding are joyous occasions that bring everybody together. In recent years, we have done most of our weddings outdoors here in the lovely Virgin Islands, which only makes them that much more joyous and enjoyable.

Cheryl would like you to have the most special and personal wedding experience she can provide, so we prepare a personalized ceremony for each couple and give you a copy. If you have special vows or promises you would like to make, or special readings you would like us to do, we will be happy to incorporate them into your ceremony, so far as possible. We might  also pass along a little wisdom, if you let us.

Many of our wedding officiants are non-denominational. However, if you prefer, we can arrange for clergy from most major denominations: Jewish, Baptist, Lutheran, Episcopal and Reformed (Presbyterian). We also work closely with the Faith Christian Fellowship for Christian Fundamentalists. Cheryl will even arrange for a Catholic church wedding at one of the charming local parishes, if you like. In that case the usual Catholic strictures apply.

Here is an example of a fairly basic civil ceremony we do. The reading can be interpreted in a number of ways, but I think it\'s an appropriate admonition for many couples in love. The religious ceremonies have prayers and Bible readings, but rely on much the same structure. They all take 15 to 20 minutes, and none are offensive to any religious or ethnic tradition, as far as I can tell. 

“You have come here today, Rob and Michelle, because you believe that by being together your lives will be better and more productive than they would be apart. 

In marriage a new perspective is created by the joining of male and female views of life and the world. Through this partnership, each partner becomes stronger, each becomes wiser, each becomes more loving.

But marriage is a garden which needs to be tended every day: the benefits we receive through marriage are not free. If we do not make time to tell our partner how much we value what we have together, we will begin to take each other for granted and lose the very special quality that we originally united to enjoy.

The importance of marriage to humans is so great, that it is the oldest rite or ritual of any kind recorded in history; its scope so great that it is virtually the only custom recognized by every human government and religion. It is into this dynamic and wonderful state of partnership that you two come, today, to be joined.

In honor of the solemn pledge you are about to make, and symbolizing its unbroken perpetuity, please join right hands.

Rob/Michelle, do you take Michelle/Rob to be your lawfully wedded wife/husband; to have and to hold from this day forward, for richer for poorer, in prosperity or adversity, to love and to cherish, so long as you both may live?

A READING FROM THE PROPHET
by Kahlil Gibran

ON MARRIAGE–

You were born together, and together you shall be forevermore.
You shall be together when the white wings of death scatter your days.
Ay, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God.
But let there be spaces in your togetherness,
And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.
Love one another, but make not a bond of love:
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.
Fill each other\'s cup, but drink not from one cup.
Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf.
Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone,
Even as the strings of a lute are alone,
Though they quiver with the same music.
Give your hearts, but not into each other\'s keeping.
For only the hand of life can contain your hearts.
And stand together yet not too near together:
For the pillars of the temple stand apart,
And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other\'s shadow.

May I have the rings please, and join all your hands together. 

Throughout human tradition, when you make a pledge, it has been deemed good to have a token to remind you of that pledge. For this purpose you have chosen rings. They are appropriate to the task because they are circles never ending, like the promises you make to each other today. And they are made of precious metal, never to be tarnished, like the love you express before myself and these witnesses. Please place these rings, and honor each other in their giving.

Repeat after me: I [groom]/[bride], take you [bride]/[groom] to be my wife/husband. I promise you love, honor and respect; to be faithful to you, and not to forsake you, until death us do part.

From this day forward, may you live together in peace; may you grow each day in understanding and compassion. When you are apart, may you return to one another in togetherness. May the home you establish be a place of sanctuary, where many will find a friend. And what we have joined together, let no one put asunder.

Because you two came here today intending to marry. Because you joined hands and made solemn vows, and exchanged rings to remind you of those vows, and you are now joined as partners in mutual love and respect: according to the powers vested in me by the Territorial Court of the United States Virgin Islands, and the highest power of the land and the sea; I pronounce that your wedding vows are sealed and you may henceforth be known to all as husband and wife.

You may now kiss...