Wedding Prayer

You might think that you've come here as individuals, but hoping to be made one.
And so, if your vows are true, you will be.
But you aren't just individuals:
you are every man and woman.
So when you become one, every man and woman are made one,
and those watching here aren't just present because they love you,
but as representatives of all men and of all women.
In your becoming one, they are made one.
This day is yours, but not yours alone,
it belongs to all humanity, living and dead.
Don't think that this makes you less important:
it makes you more.
You are individuals, and nothing is taken from that.
Your love, and your need to be married, are admired by everyone here;
and everyone here is grateful to you as well;
to you as individuals,
willing, by your love today, to join all humanity together,
in the eternally renewing and mysterious unity that is our species.