Captain's Ceremony Vows

Good morning( afternoon, evening), family and friends. We are gathered here aboard the Party Boat on beautiful Lake Tahoe, to unite ______________& _________________ in marriage and to witness the celebration of their inner love and devotion towards one another.

Who is giving this woman to be married to this man? (Response). You may kiss the bride and be seated.

The ceremony of marriage is one of the oldest ceremonies in the world, just as these ancient glaciers, mountains and this lake are given to us to be treasured, so is the gift of marriage that will unite you two as one. When you look at the characteristics of love, you see that they are very similar to those of nature: love is compared to the lake, constant but ever-changing, love is similar to the wind, rapturous and all encompassing, love is like the earth, solid and firm. Yet your love extends beyond the lake, wind and earth. It is more powerful than your past and the foundation of your future. It has brought you here today to become one in the eyes of your family and friends, for all the days to come. Your love is the essence of your life together.

Having this kind of love in your hearts for one another, you have chosen to exchange rings as the sign and seal of the promises you are making to one another. These rings are made in a circle and their design tells us that we must keep love continuous throughout our lives just as the circle of the ring is continuous.

Your love should be an endless melody, yet an ongoing harmony similar to the ever-changing patterns of water in this beautiful lake. Marriage is a commitment to life - to the best that two people can find and bring out in each other. It offers opportunities for sharing and growth that no other human relationship can equal. A physical and emotional joining that is promised for a lifetime. You both have dreams of your future and your tomorrows. Today as you two set out in this world to make a difference in it, cherish that you will have a partner by your side to challenge and encourage the promises that you have made today.

I would like to share with you a ceremonial wedding prayer given to us by our native Washoan Indians, the original inhabitants of this beautiful land and lake we know as Tahoe:

"Now you feel no rain…..for each of you will be shelter to the other. Now you will feel no cold…. for each of you will be warmth to the other. Now there is no more loneliness for you. You are still two bodies but there is only one life before you. Go now and enter into your days of togetherness, and may your days be good and long upon this earth.

Do you ______________take_________________as your wedded wife and promise with all your heart to love honor and keep her through good times and bad, forsaking all others, keeping thee only unto her so long as you both shall live? (Response)

And do you _____________take_______________as your wedded husband and promise with all your heart to love, honor and keep him through good times and bad, forsaking all others, keeping thee only unto him so long as you both shall live? (Response)

Then please repeat after me, I __________________take you_______________ To be my loving wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish forever.

Then please repeat after me, I __________________take you_______________ To be my loving husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish forever.

Now, by the power vested in me by the United States Coast Guard, as master and captain of this vessel, I now pronounce you husband and wife.