Prayers For Weddings
Nuptial Blessing Shorter
Be appeased, O Lord, by our humble prayers, and in Your kindness
assist this institution of marriage which You have ordained for the
propagation of the human race; so that this union made here, joined
by Your authority, may be preserved by Your help. Through the same
our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, Who lives and reigns with You in
the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, world without end. Amen.
Nuptial Blessing, Longer
O God, by Your mighty power You made all things out of nothing.
First, You set the beginnings of the universe in order. Then, You
made man in Your image, and appointed woman to be his inseparable
helpmate. Thus You made woman’s body from the flesh of man, thereby
teaching that what You have been pleased to institute from one
principle might never lawfully be put asunder. O God, You have
sanctified marriage by a mystery so excellent that in the marriage
union You foreshadowed the union of Christ and the Church. O God,
You join woman to man, and You endow that fellowship with a blessing
which was not taken away in punishment for original sin nor by the
sentence of the flood. Look, in Your mercy, upon this Your handmaid,
about to be joined in wedlock, who entreats You to protect and
strengthen her. Let the yoke of marriage to her be one of love and
peace. Faithful and chaste, let her marry in Christ. Let her ever
follow the model of holy women: let her be dear to her husband like
Rachel; wise like Rebecca; long-lived and faithful like Sara. Let
the author of sin work none of his evil deeds within her; let her
ever keep the Faith and the commandments. Let her be true to one
wedlock and shun all sinful embraces; let her strengthen weakness by
stern discipline. Let her be grave in demeanor, honorable for her
modesty, learned in heavenly doctrine, fruitful in children. Let her
life be good and innocent. Let her come finally to the rest of the
blessed in the kingdom of heaven. May they both see their children’s
children to the third and fourth generation, thus attaining the old
age which they desire. Through the same our Lord Jesus Christ, Your
Son, Who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, world without end. Amen.