Skip to the main content
Get Unposed

Free tool

Wedding ceremony script generator

Type the names and pick a style, and get a whole ceremony script written for a friend or relative officiating for the first time. What you type stays on this page.

Style

Warm and plain, with no religious wording.

Vows
Pronouncement
Parts to include
Which reading

Sonnet 116, by William Shakespeare

Your script

About 6 minutes

Ceremony script

Processional

[The officiant stands at the front. Music plays as the wedding party walks in, then Partner A and Partner B.]

[The music ends. Partner A and Partner B stand together at the front.]

Welcome

Welcome, everyone. Partner A and Partner B are so glad you're here.

We're here to celebrate Partner A and Partner B as they make a promise to each other. Each of you is here because you've been part of their lives, and they wanted you close when they say it out loud.

Thank you for coming, some of you from a long way away. Let's begin.

Reading

Partner A and Partner B chose a reading for today.

[The reader comes up. If there is no reader, the officiant reads it.]

Let me not to the marriage of true mindsAdmit impediments. Love is not loveWhich 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 cheeksWithin 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 be error and upon me proved,I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

Sonnet 116, by William Shakespeare

[The reader goes back to their seat.]

A few words

A marriage isn't made in one day. It's made in the ordinary days that follow: the mornings, the errands, the hard weeks and the good news. Today Partner A and Partner B say out loud what they already know, that they want to share all of those days with each other.

[Optional: tell a short story about the couple here, like how they met or something you've seen them do for each other. Keep it to two minutes.]

Partner A and Partner B, keep choosing each other. Be patient on the hard days, make room for each other on the busy ones, and keep being the first person the other one wants to tell everything to.

Declaration of intent

Partner A, do you take Partner B to be your partner in life, to love, respect and stand by, from this day on?

Partner A: I do.

Partner B, do you take Partner A to be your partner in life, to love, respect and stand by, from this day on?

Partner B: I do.

Vows

[Partner A and Partner B face each other.]

Partner A, please repeat after me.

[Read one line at a time and wait for Partner A to repeat it.]

I, Partner A, take you, Partner B,

to be my partner in life.

I promise to love you,

to listen to you

and to stand by you,

on the easy days and the hard ones.

I will be honest with you,

and I will keep choosing you

for as long as we both live.

Partner B, please repeat after me.

[Read one line at a time and wait for Partner B to repeat it.]

I, Partner B, take you, Partner A,

to be my partner in life.

I promise to love you,

to listen to you

and to stand by you,

on the easy days and the hard ones.

I will be honest with you,

and I will keep choosing you

for as long as we both live.

Rings

Rings are a small thing to wear and a big thing to promise. May I have the rings, please?

[The ring bearer or a friend hands over the rings.]

Partner A, place this ring on Partner B's finger and repeat after me.

[Partner A slides the ring onto Partner B's finger. Read one line at a time for Partner A to repeat.]

Partner B, I give you this ring

as a sign of my love

and of everything I promised today.

Partner B, place this ring on Partner A's finger and repeat after me.

[Partner B slides the ring onto Partner A's finger. Read one line at a time for Partner B to repeat.]

Partner A, I give you this ring

as a sign of my love

and of everything I promised today.

Pronouncement

Partner A and Partner B, you've made your promises in front of the people who love you most. With joy, I now pronounce you married.

The kiss

You may now kiss.

[Partner A and Partner B kiss.]

Presentation

Everyone, please join me in celebrating, for the first time as a married couple, Partner A and Partner B!

Recessional

[Music plays. Partner A and Partner B walk back up the aisle together, and the wedding party follows.]

[After the ceremony, the couple, the officiant and any witnesses sign the marriage license.]

Keep the "Do you take" question and the pronouncement, because most states expect both in some form, and check your county's marriage license rules. The time is an estimate at 130 words a minute.

Want every guest's photos of the ceremony?

Every guest sees the ceremony from a different seat. Unposed makes a sign to print, and its code opens a camera on each guest's phone, with nothing to install. Every guest gets a roll of 36 shots by default, and every shot lands in one gallery that opens at the reveal, when you choose. Free for up to 10 guests.

See how it works

Watercolor of a folded ceremony booklet tied with a lavender ribbon, beside a fountain pen.

How to officiate a wedding for the first time

  1. Read it aloud twice

    Read the whole script out loud at least twice before the day, once with a timer. You'll find the sentences that trip you up and the places to slow down.

  2. Print it in large type

    The Print script button prints the script alone, in type you can read at arm's length. Keep the pages in a plain folder, which looks better in photos than loose paper.

  3. Let the couple approve it

    Send the script to the couple a few weeks ahead and change anything that doesn't sound like them. Ask how to say every name, and whether any topic or person should be left out.

  4. Check the license rules

    Who may officiate, what must be said and who signs the license depend on the state and the county. Ask the county clerk who issues the license, and find out who returns it and by when.

To keep guests busy after the ceremony, make a free wedding photo scavenger hunt. To collect their photos of the whole day, read How to get wedding photos from guests.