Woman:
In creating this marital partnership with you today, I wish to declare that from this point forward, everything that I come to own belongs equally to you. I acknowledge that our lives have become intertwined in such an intricate number of ways that the words "yours" and "mine" no longer have any true meaning. In taking you as my husband I also wish to proclaim to my family, friends, and community that all I achieve in the coming years, I will achieve in part because of the constant nurturing and support I receive from you.

Man:
Today I stand in front of this gathering to say that I wish to take you as my wife. In so doing, I declare that everything that I come to own in the coming years belongs equally to you. I also declare that, as my partner, all my accomplishments are yours as well, for it is only through sharing my life with you that I draw the strength and sustenance to achieve my goals and dreams.

Officiate:
This community recognizes the right of every individual to enter into a marital partnership of his/her own choosing. This community also recognizes an individual's right to terminate a marital partnership in the event that he/she concludes the marriage has reached a state of incompatibility, and is no longer capable of meeting his/her needs. As a representative of this community, I need to ask each of you to pledge, as you enter this marriage, that if you ever decide to sever this union you will do so with due respect for one another. I need to also ask you to promise that if you divorce you will participate in a termination process so that both of you are able to come to an understanding of why the relationship is no longer workable.

Officiate:
______ do you hereby publicly declare that if you ever decide to sever this bond of marriage you will treat ______ with honesty and respect during that process?

Woman:
With all of you as witnesses, I pledge that, if I ever find it necessary to terminate this marital relationship, I will treat ______ with fairness, honesty and due respect through the process of separation.

Officiate:
______ do you hereby publicly declare that if you ever decide to sever this bond of marriage you will treat ______ with honesty and respect during that process?

Man:
______ I will always care about you as a person. If ever we should decide to divorce I would give you my full respect during that process.

Woman:
______ and I would like to state to our family and community that we have promised one another that we will work very hard, even through the difficult times, to make our marriage a success. We ask all of you to challenge us if you see us getting out of touch with the commitments we have made here today, so as to help us rediscover and renew the vibrancy of our love.

Man:
We ask you to help us confront our fears, overcome our impatience, and overcome the obstacles inherent in any relationship.

Woman:
However, we also ask that, if in the future, you come to see that we have grown so incompatible, that we are no longer able to meet one another's needs as husband and wife, that you help us to come to grips with this realization. We would ask that you help us to heal the pain of that transition.

1 If you disagree with the idea of totally communalizing your resources in marriage, it is very important that you state that clearly in your pre-nuptial agreement. You should then summarize the terms of your pre-nuptial agreement as part of the wedding ceremony. For example:

Officiate:
______ and _____ wish to create a marriage with more independent financial arrangements than traditionally practiced in our culture. They would like to make a public statement to that effect, with you, their family and friends, as witnesses.

Man:
We, as two very independently oriented people, wish to have our marriage legally recognized by the State, however, we do not wish to totally communalize our resources. We have drafted a prenuptial delineating the ways in which we desire to retain independent ownership of our personal resources in our marriage.

Woman:
We wish to announce to you, our family and friends, that we intend to honor this contract between ourselves in lieu of having the State separate our marital estate for us in the event of divorce.