A Prayer for a Wedding

Father, thank You for this day. Thank You for two lives that started in different places, crossed paths at just the right time, and are now becoming one story.

Bless this couple as they make their vows. Let the words they speak today be more than words — let them become the daily habit of a lifetime: to choose each other in the morning, to forgive each other by nightfall, and to keep no record of wrongs.

Give them love that is patient and kind, love that does not keep score, love that outlasts the flowers and the photographs and grows stronger in ordinary kitchens than it ever was in candlelight.

Bless them in the seasons we can see coming — first homes, new jobs, full tables — and in the seasons no one can see: the lean year, the hospital waiting room, the grief that visits every long marriage sooner or later. When those days come, hold them together. Let hard times press them toward each other, never apart.

Teach them to laugh easily and apologize quickly. Make their home a place where friends are welcome, where children — if You give them children — feel safe, and where Your name is spoken without embarrassment.

And Lord, be the third strand in this cord. Two alone can fray; three are not quickly broken. Stay woven into this marriage from today until one of them holds the other's hand for the last time — and even then, do not let go.

In Jesus' name, Amen.

When to Pray This

Pray this at a wedding ceremony or reception — it works read aloud as a toast or blessing — or privately for a couple you love on their wedding day. Married couples also return to it on anniversaries.

A Verse to Hold On To

"And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken." — Ecclesiastes 4:12 (KJV)