CELTIC HANDFASTING CEREMONY (QOR) Wedding Guests: This Celtic Handfasting Script has been adapted for Meridian but it reflects the darker nature of Qor. Hail friends and welcome. I ask you to please remain silent for the duration of the ceremony. May the place of this rite be consecrated before Qor for we are gathered together here in their embrace to witness as [BRIDE] and [GROOM] unite their lives in sacred matrimony. Who has the honor of giving [BRIDE'S] hand in marriage to [GROOM]? [GROOM], turn to [BRIDE] and take her left hand in yours. Are you ready to bind your hearts and your lives together, to share your joys and burdens, to walk together through life and death so long as you both shall live? [Both should answer: We are.] This cord binds your hearts and hands together. It is woven in colors of red, green, and gold: red for the passion and malevolence of Qor, green for life and the forces of nature from Faren, and gold for permanence and strength from Kraanan. This cord may stretch but is never broken; it connects you through life and death. Should you ever wish to be released from this bond, you must both cut the cord. [EMOTE] binds the cord around [BRIDE] and [GROOM'S] left wrists. Do you, [GROOM], take [BRIDE] to be your wedded wife? To stand by her in prosperity and adversity, in peace and turmoil, holding her above all others? Do you, [BRIDE], take [GROOM] to be your wedded husband? To stand by him in prosperity and adversity, in peace and turmoil, holding him above all others? [BEST MAN] stands with [GROOM] as his attendant. [BEST MAN], please present to me [GROOM'S] token for his bride. [M-HONOR] stands with [BRIDE] as her attendant. [M-HONOR], please present to me [BRIDE'S] token for her groom. Here are the rings that symbolize your union. You will give them to each other as an outward sign of the handfasting knot that joins you today. The circle is also a symbol of the earth, the sun, the universe. It is the symbol of completeness and continual renewal. In these rings are symbolized your basic unity. The love, goodwill, and trust you gladly give to each other will be with you each on all your future ways. May the spirit of Qor bless these rings and may they be a true symbol of the love of the one who gives it, and of the one who wears it. [GROOM], please place your ring on [BRIDE'S] finger and repeat after me... "I, [GROOM], take thee [BRIDE] to be my wedded wife, from this day and for all the days to come. In plenty and in want, in sorrow and in joy, to respect and to trust, to amuse and delight, to love and to cherish, for as long as we both shall live. This do I swear before Qor and these witnesses." [BRIDE], please place your ring on [GROOM'S] finger and repeat after me... "I, [BRIDE], take thee [GROOM] to be my wedded husband, from this day and for all the days to come. In plenty and in want, in sorrow and in joy, to respect and to trust, to amuse and delight, to love and to cherish, for as long as we shall live. This do I swear before Qor and these witnesses." The wedding is not over, it has just begun. Not once and forever, but again and again shall the mystery of two people, together, move one another and touch the world. For marriage is not something said and done, but a promise, whose fulfillment is acted out in time. Truth remains elusive, death a secret, love a challenge; life goes on neither more nor less incidentally than before, but one's hand is strengthened, one's way brightened, and one's load if not lightened, is made easier to bear. Forasmuch as [GROOM] and [BRIDE] have consented together in matrimony, and have witnessed the same before Qor and this company, And thereto have given and pledged their troth each to the other, and have declared their intentions by the fasting of hands, and the presenting and receiving of rings, I hereby pronounce them husband and wife. Let them seal their union with a kiss. All Hail [BRIDE] and [GROOM]!!!