Your love contains the power of a thousand suns.
It unfolds naturally and effortlessly as does a flower,
And graces the world with its blooming.
Its beauty radiates a transforming energy that enlivens all who see it.
Because of you, compassion and joy are added to the world.
That is why the stars sing together
Because of your love.

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O, no! It is an ever fixed mark,
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken.
Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle’s compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
       If this is error, and upon me prov’d,
       I never writ, nor no man ever lov’d.

You were born together, and together you shall be forevermore.
Aye, 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.

Karen’s vows to Charles:

I, Karen, cherish you, Charles for being all that you are.

I promise before our family and friends to commit my love to you, to respect your individuality, to be with you and support you through life’s changes and to nurture and strengthen the love between us day by day.

Because you deserve no less than the best of me, I will also strive to be more fully my true self.

I choose to live a healthy, happy, joy-filled, magical marriage.

I choose you to be my husband.

Charles’ vows to Karen:

I, Charles Bernard Olson,
  choose you,
    Karen Marie Senffner,
      to be my wedded wife,
        my woman.

You are a vast ocean of love.
  You are a great gift from the universe to itself.
    You are a miracle and a mystery.

To you I pledge
  To love you,
    I pledge to respect you, which is a form of love
      I pledge to listen to you, which is a form of love
        I pledge to be available for you, which is a form of love
          I pledge to help you, which is a form of love
            I pledge to protect you, which is a form of love
              I pledge to care for you, which is a form of love
                I pledge to wrestle you, which is a form of love
                  I pledge to inspire you, which is a form of love

This I pledge freely and with joy.

Thus to love, to love, and to love.

I choose you to be my wife.

Chalice goes around the circle and ends with Karen & Charles

O Divine, which is in each of us and all of us and everything,
please protect the ones we love.
We honor you as we pledge our hearts and lives together.
We honor Mother Earth – and ask for our marriage to be abundant and grow stronger through the seasons;
We honor Fire and ask that our union be warm and glowing with love in our hearts;
We honor Wind and ask that we sail through life safe and calm as in our father’s arms;
We honor Water – to cleanse and soothe our relationship, that it may never thirst for love;
With all the goodness of the universe, we pray for harmony and true happiness as we forever grow young together.

As a group we step 7 times towards the center of the circle holding hands and building energy toward the altar.

1^st That we may strengthen our love, peace, and happiness each day.

2^nd That we may create a healthy, happy, beautiful, healing home together for our family and all those who enter.

3^rd That our health and wealth may prosper for the benefit of ourselves, our family and our larger community.

4^th That we may help one another grow more fully into our true potential so that our divine light may shine brightly in the world.

5^th That we may welcome with open arms any other beneficent beings who wish to enter our life and that we may create a healthy, happy family together.

6^th That we may find our path of service in the world to the best of our talents, abilities and blessings.

7^th That magic, adventure, passion, health, happiness and spontaneity be deeply present in our life together.

So be it.

Alison explains the symbolism of jumping the rope, and gives instructions: