Here are some sample vows for you to look over, please feel free to personalize. Aloha, Rev. Chanti
Hawaiian Ceremony #1
Minister: O keia no ka la (This is the day)
Ka haku i hanai (That was created for us)
E Hauole Kakou (Let us be happy)
Ae lealea ilaila (and rejoice)
Na Mea Maikai loa (For all Good things)
Minister: Exchange of Leis - In Hawaii, leis are presented at all ceremonial occasions. The old Hawaiians used the plant materials and flowers in their surroundings to express their appreciation and love for one another and for this precious earth. They represent for us the joy that comes in the present moment as we celebrate the union of these two beautiful people today.
Minister to Groom: Please turn to your bride as you hold your lei and looking into her eyes, repeat after me: “I give you this lei of love, my beloved, with all the Aloha in my heart. With this, I join my life with yours.”
Minister to Bride: Please turn to your groom as you hold your lei and looking into his eyes, repeat after me: “I give you this lei of love, my beloved, with all the Aloha in my heart. With this, I join my life with yours.”
It is a great joy to be gathered here in this magnificent splendor of Hawaii, to join and in Holy Matrimony. Love is a miraculous gift and it is your great love for one another that has brought you to this sacred moment to embrace one another as beloved companions and friends. Therefore, this sacred vow is entered into with much consideration, love, respect and joy. We who participate bind ourselves as witness to this vow of love that you state here today.
and, you are here today to declare openly through marriage the love and oneness you feel in your hearts. May you have patience to listen and to hear, the wisdom to understand, the capacity to support each other and the joy to laugh and celebrate. May your communication be loving and honest. May your commitment to seeing and nurturing the best in each other be unwavering. May you bask in the joy of giving. May the brightness of your love shine so as to dissolve all obstacles to loving. And may your love for one another insure and strengthen you both.
Minister: I now ask you both to share with one another, the special qualities and strengths of character that make you want to pledge yourselves to one another.
Couple’s Personal Sharing: (This can be spontaneous or the couple may share their own personal written sentiments)
Minister: Now that you understand of what you are about to partake, are you ready to make the promises of marriage? If so, please say, “yes we are”.
Couple: Yes, we are.
Minister: Do you, want to marry, to happily hold her above all others and have her as your wife?
Groom: I do.
Minister: Do you, want to marry, to happily hold him above all others and have him as your husband?
Bride: I do.
Minister: Please repeat after me:
Groom: From this day on, I choose you, my beloved, to be my wife, to love and to support you and to laugh with you; to be a joy to your heart; to bring out the best in you and to be loyal to you all the days of my life.
Bride: From this day on, I choose you, my beloved, to be my husband, to love and to support you and to laugh with you; to be a joy to your heart; to bring out the best in you and to be loyal to you all the days of my life.
Presentation and Blessing of Rings:
Minister: These rings are a symbol of the love, unity and devotion that exists between you. May they always evoke gratitude for and appreciation of the commitment you make here today. When you look at these rings, please remember always the fullness in your hearts at this time and the beauty of this day on Maui.
Groom: with this ring, I promise to grow with you and to build our love, to speak openly and honestly, to listen to you and to love and cherish you for all our days ahead. From this day forward, you shall not walk alone. My heart will be your shelter and my arms will be your home.
Bride: with this ring, I promise to grow with you and to build our love, to speak openly and honestly, to listen to you and to love and cherish you for all our days ahead. From this day forward, you shall not walk alone. My heart will be your shelter and my arms will be your home.
Joining of the Couple's Hands with Maile Leaf Lei
The couple's joined hands are draped and entwined with another maile green-leaf lei - they didn't have rings in the old days so the draping and wrapping of the couples hands signified their eternal joining together as one. (Note: If the couple wishes to have this particular portion of the ceremony, they must order a maile lei for this purpose)
Minister: and, we hope that your life together brings you peace of mind and constant, unbounded love. May you have the power, patience, understanding, good humor, affection and courage to express and expand your love for one another and to all. May you nurture and strengthen one another in times of difficulty. When differences arise, may you be able to find in those differences deeper understanding of each other and greater love. In the face of challenges, may you have the courage to reveal your inner selves to one another and to call forth what is real and true. May you support one another by turning sorrow to loving kindness and problems to creative opportunities. May you have fun and enjoy fully the miracle of life and the glory of marriage.
The Ancient Hawaiian Greeting -Honi
Now, please turn to one another and place your foreheads together, touching noses. Look into one another’s eyes, each other’s souls, and inhale softly together in the sharing of your sacred breath of life - your ha - as I declare you as wed and belonging only to one another.
The Pronouncement:
and, in the words of an old Hawaiian marriage chant, “This is the sight for which I have longed. Now that you have come, love has come with you.”
and you have declared your sacred vows in the presence of those gathered here and in the presence of that which we know as God in Hawaii, Ke Akua. And now, with the powers vested in me by the state of Hawaii, it is my great pleasure to pronounce you both with eyes and hearts fully open to one another as husband and wife. Aloha e Aloha e Aloha e
Aloha pumehana e ho’omaika’i
You may seal your vows with a kiss.
Hawaiian Ceremony # 2
Aloha and welcome to you both. Now that you are here, I invite you to observe this beautiful day, to look around you at this beautiful aina (this earth) and give thanks for all the life here and for the fact that you have found one another to love. Please think of the moment when you first met one another and deeply appreciate that moment.
There are many places in the world to be married. Other places with palm trees, and beaches and beautiful sunsets. So what it is it about Hawaii that makes it such a lovely place to be married? It is the "aloha" of the original people of this place, the native Hawaiians, who so imbued this earth with the love of family and their spirit of aloha. The spirit that says: “E komo mai, come in and please be welcome, come and sit, tell me your stories, tell me about your family, please share what I have. “ That strong spirit of aloha lives on in this earth and it is that spirit that draws people to this island in the Pacific.
Here we are, in the outdoor cathedral of Hawaii, where our stained glass windows are the green palm trees against the sky and the sound of the waves sing for us. Feel the warm sand under your feet and offer up your own prayer for this earth.
In that spirit, I invite you both to bestow leis upon one another, in a traditional greeting of humble respect and in honoring one another. Leis are beautifully woven together as your lives will be woven together over time. They are made by hand and offer us the fragrance of heaven and the tender appreciation for all natural things of the land.
Please repeat after me: "I give you this lei of love, with all the aloha in my heart. With this, I join my life to yours"
As the old Hawaiian marriage chant says, "This is the sight for which I have longed. Now that you have come, love has come with you." We are here today to celebrate your union and the happy circumstances of your meeting, coming to love one another and this joyous moment of joining you both together as lifelong partners, friends and lovers. You have seen that there is no one else with whom you would share your lives. That being together is as natural as breathing.
This marriage ceremony is far more than the giving of rings and the making of solemn pledges to one another. It is the open recognition and honoring of the marriage that has already taken place in your hearts. Long before this moment, standing here together on Maui, you came to the realization that your bond was more deep than you could have imagined.
Today, with hearts and eyes fully open, you are to declare that you are truly wed, that you wish the world to know and recognize that which you both know in your hearts to be true. The marriage ceremony is a door through which you enter and emerge, having made your vows in full awareness, with hearts full of appreciation and gladness.
And so I ask now of you, (groom), do you wish to take into your life completely this lovely woman, (bride), to always love, respect and cherish her with your whole heart and soul?
Groom: I do
And to you, (bride), do you wish to take into your life completely this wonderful man, (groom), to always love respect and cherish him with your whole heart and soul?
Bride: I do
Please repeat after me:
I, choose you, to be my wife. I promise to love, honor and cherish you for as long as we both shall live and offer all that I have and all that I am to you completely. Thank you for loving me.
I, choose you, to be my husband. I promise to love, honor and cherish you for as long as we both shall live and offer all that I have and all that I am to you completely. Thank you for loving me.
Presentation and Blessing of the Rings: I ask each of you to bless your beautiful rings with me.
Let us take a moment to appreciate your rings, remembering how carefully you considered and chose them. See that they are round and represent the eternal bond between you. Closing your eyes, place into these rings all that you know of love, thanking all from whom you have learned about loving well. And place into these rings all of your wishes and hopes and dreams for your wedded life together. All blessings on your rings, all blessings for your beautiful marriage. May you live a long time and in great happiness and harmony together. Amen.
Minister to Groom: Please repeat after me: With this ring, I welcome you, as my lifelong partner in marriage, as the wife of my heart and my soul. I promise to be loyal to you and to withhold nothing in my love for you. From this moment on, you shall not walk alone. My heart will be your shelter and my arms will be your home.
Minister to Bride: Please repeat after me: With this ring, I welcome you, as my lifelong partner in marriage, as the husband of my heart and my soul. I promise to be loyal to you and to withhold nothing in my love for you. From this moment on, you shall not walk alone. My heart will be your shelter and my arms will be your home and, all happiness be yours in your lives together. May love blossom and grow ever stronger as the years go by and may you embrace one another as beloved companions and friends more profoundly. May you enjoy all the pleasures of life together, holding to one another in times of challenge, in times of sorrow and in times of joy and celebration. May you laugh together often, kiss one another every chance you get, awake each morning with the realization that it is a blessed day because you have one another to love. May your love enrich your lives and those of everyone around you. Let your home be one that all may come and be greeted by loving and compassionate hearts. May you have lots of fun together, enjoying fully the miracle of love and the glory of marriage together. and, inasmuch as you have declared yourself to one another in the presence of those gathered here today and with the exchanging of your promises and in the bestowal of your rings, it is my great pleasure, with the powers vested in me by the state of Hawaii, to pronounce you both as Husband and Wife
You may seal your vows with a kiss.
Our Hawaiian Wedding Ceremony Sample #3
Minister: Traditional Hawaiian Greeting Celebration & Welcome ~ Oli Aloha
Onaona I ka hala’ me ka lehua
E hale lehua’ no ia na ka noe O kau no ia’ e anoi ne
E halia nei’ hoi o ka hiki mai
A hiki mai no olua’ a hiki pü nö me ke aloha’
Aloha e! Aloha e! Aloha e!
The Oli Aloha is a chant that offers a word of greeting. It says in part,
"This is the sight for which I have longed.
Now that you have come, love has come with you.
Aloha and welcome!"
Minister: Exchange of Leis - In Hawaii, leis are presented at all ceremonial occasions. The old Hawaiians used the plant materials and flowers in their surroundings to express their appreciation and love for one another and for this precious earth. They represent for us the joy that comes in the present moment as we celebrate the union of these two beautiful people today.
It is a great joy to be gathered here in this magnificent splendor of Hawaii , to join and in Holy Matrimony. Love is a miraculous gift and it is your great love for one another that has brought you to this sacred moment to embrace one another as beloved companions and friends. Therefore, this sacred vow is entered into with much consideration, love, respect and joy. We who participate bind ourselves as witness to this vow of love that you state here today.
and, you are here today to declare openly through marriage the love and oneness you feel in your hearts. May you have patience to listen and to hear, the wisdom to understand, the capacity to support each other and the joy to laugh and celebrate. May your communication be loving and honest. May your commitment to seeing and nurturing the best in each other be unwavering. May you bask in the joy of giving. May the brightness of your love shine so as to dissolve all obstacles to loving. And may your love for one another insure and strengthen you both.
Minister now shares with everyone, some of the qualities they both admire in one another. And talks about the importance of being good friends in their marriage.
Minister: Now that you understand of what you are about to partake, are you ready to make the promises of marriage?
Couple: We are.
Minister: Do you, want to marry, to happily hold her above all others and have her as your wife?
Groom: I do.
Minister: Do you, want to marry, to happily hold him above all others and have him as your husband?
Bride: I do.
Minister: Please repeat after me:
Groom: From this day on, I choose you, my beloved, to be my wife, to love and to support you and to laugh with you; to be a joy to your heart; to bring out the best in you and to be loyal to you all the days of my life.
Bride: From this day on, I choose you. my beloved, to be my husband, to love and to support you and to laugh with you; to be a joy to your heart; to bring out the best in you and to be loyal to you all the days of my life.
Presentation of Rings:
Minister: These rings are a symbol of the love, unity and devotion that exists between you. May they always evoke gratitude for and appreciation of the commitment you make here today.
Groom: with this ring, I promise to grow with you and to build our love, to speak openly and honestly, to listen to you and to love and cherish you for all our days ahead. From this day forward, you shall not walk alone. My heart will be your shelter and my arms will be your home.
Bride: with this ring, I promise to grow with you and to build our love, to speak openly and honestly, to listen to you and to love and cherish you for all our days ahead. From this day forward, you shall not walk alone. My heart will be your shelter and my arms will be your home.
Joining of the Couple's Hands with Maile Leaf Lei
The couple's joined hands are draped and entwined with another maile green-leaf lei - they didn't have rings in the old days so the draping and wrapping of the couples hands signified their eternal joining together as one.
Minister: and, we hope that your life together brings you peace of mind and constant, unbounded love. May you have the power, patience, understanding, good humor, affection and courage to express and expand your love for one another and to all. May you nurture and strengthen one another in times of difficulty. When differences arise, may you be able to find in those differences deeper understanding of each other and greater love. In the face of challenges, may you have the courage to reveal your inner selves to one another and to call forth what is real and true. May you support one another by turning sorrow to loving kindness and problems to creative opportunities. May you have fun and enjoy fully the miracle of life and the glory of marriage.
and you have declared your sacred vows in the presence of those gathered here and in the presence of Ke Akua (God) And now, with the powers vested in me by the state of Hawaii, it is my great pleasure to announce you as husband and wife.
Aloha pumehana e ho’omaika’i
(congratulations and warm wishes of Aloha)
You may seal your vows with a kiss.