When deciding on the wording of your civil partnership there are two points to consider. Do you want to use a set text provided by the registrar, or do you want to personalise the ceremony in some way? In either case you need to remember that because a civil partnership registration is an entirely secular process there are certain declaratory and contracting words that you must use.
Registrars can however provide you with a choice of text which you can use to soften what you may consider to be a rather impersonal civil ceremony. You can also add your own wording in the form of poems and readings, making your civil partnership ceremony as personal and special to you as possible.
Wording
Here are some examples of wording you can use to create a really meaningful civil partnership ceremony.
[Registrar]
“______ and ______, the purpose of a civil partnership is that you may always love, care for and support each other through all the joys of your life and cope with the sorrows. Entering a civil partnership means making a commitment to life and loving each other, to developing and maintaining co-operation, friendship and mutual respect. It calls for trust, understanding and encouragement.”
Declaratory Words
[Registrar]
“______ and ______ wish to affirm their relationship and to offer to each other the security which comes from vows, sincerely made and faithfully kept.
“However, if any person here present knows of any lawful impediment to this civil partnership then he or she should declare it now.
“Repeat after me…
“I ______ pledge to share my life openly with you. I promise to cherish and tenderly care for you, to honour and encourage you. I will respect you as an individual and be true to you through all the good times and bad.”
Or…
“I ______ hereby pledge to share my life openly with you ______. From this moment on I ask you to be with me on our journey, to share our dreams, go forward together and to be my companion along the way.”
Contracting Words
“I ______ take you ______ to be my civil partner under law. I make this pledge freely, with honesty and sincerity and with a commitment that will grow deeper and stronger as the years pass.”
Poems and Readings
I Promise, by Dorothy R Colgan
I promise to give you the best of myself and ask of you no more than you can give.
I promise to respect you as your own person and to realise that your interests, desires and needs are no less important than my own.
I promise to share with you my time and my attention and to bring joy, strength and imagination to our relationship.
I promise to keep myself open to you, to let you see through the windows of my world into my innermost fears and feelings, secrets and dreams.
I promise to grow old along with you, to be willing to face changes in order to keep our relationship alive and exciting.
I promise to love you in good times and in bad, with all I have to give and all that I feel inside in the only way I know how.
Completely and forever.
Extract from Les Misérables, by Victor Hugo
You can give without loving, but you can never love without giving. The great acts of love are done by those who are habitually performing small acts of kindness. We pardon to the extent that we love. Love is knowing that even when you are alone, you will never be lonely again, and great happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved. Loved for ourselves and, even loved in spite of ourselves.
Guest post by Lester Gethings
Image from Bonnie Jenkins Photography
