Stately Words for a Modern Couple

From The Living Church-

Wedding couples, even royal couples, at times compose their own wedding prayers. In the British tradition of royal weddings, however, it seems that Prince William and Catherine Middleton are the first to do so:

God our Father, we thank you for our families; for the love that we share and for the joy of our marriage.

In the busyness of each day keep our eyes fixed on what is real and important in life and help us to be generous with our time and love and energy.

Strengthened by our union, help us to serve and comfort those who suffer. We ask this in the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Amen.

The prayer helps sum up the prince and his bride, a Facebook-generation couple described by Archbishop Rowan Williams as “deeply unpretentious people” who steered away from an “all-singing, all-dancing extravaganza.”

They “wanted something simple and clear and also wanted something with tradition, roots and associations,” he added.

This wedding was in its essentials the same as anyone might expect in any country parish church, enhanced by Westminster Abbey’s exquisite acoustics and its musical resources. The couple chose the 1966 Series One liturgy, which closely resembles the 1662 Book of Common Prayer Liturgy, and a proposed Book of Common Prayer revision in 1928, though the bride did not undertake to “obey.”

More here-

http://www.livingchurch.org/news/news-updates/2011/4/29/stately-words-for-a-modern-couple