Order of Celebrating Matrimony

[FrGareth]

I've just received my new copy of the Order of Celebrating Matrimony. It doesn't include the Eucharistic Prayers so has to be used together with an altar missal - though it does have the embolisms for EP1, 2 and 3 so you can have the embolism alongside the Missal rather than an awkward page turn there and back during the prayer.

There are lots of options and duplicated texts, so I have made a chart of what's in it. Am sharing it here https://www.dropbox.com/s/4pputxteqskxle9/2016%20Pathways.pdf?dl=0 in case it's helpful to others. Have fun!

[JW]

Played for a wedding yesterday. From memory, the revised texts didn't sound too bad apart from too many subordinate clauses and the use of thee/ thou in the vows.and blessing of the rings. A slight improvement on what we had before.

Oh and there's reference in the nuptial blessing to the woman as a helpmate with no similar reference for the man. That jarred.

[JW]

Have just checked out the texts and I see that 'thou' is optional for the vows and that it isn't mentioned in the blessing of rings. That jarring note about the woman being a helpmate is in the Nuptial Blessing though. I have to give credit to the way the priest proclaimed the complex prayers so that they could be understood.

[Southern Comfort]

Thank you, Gareth, for a most helpful resource!

Have just checked out the texts and I see that 'thou' is optional for the vows and that it isn't mentioned in the blessing of rings

"Thou" was always optional. Back in the early 1990s, a registrar was asked if "You" language could be used instead of thee and thou. The answer was yes, no problem. Just as long as you both say "I, NN, do take you, NN, to be my lawful wedded ...." That's all that's needed for civil validity. The intent to marry is clear, whether you use the 2nd person singular or plural.