This is what was read at my wedding. I'm not a very traditional person. Neither is my SO. We were happy with a short, sweet civil ceremony at city hall. No fuss, no muss
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"While they had known each other online for some time previously, Lydia and Drew met in person one year ago tomorrow when Drew visited Lydia after attending a Universalist conference near her home in Ohio.
While both Lydia and Drew consider themselves to be Christians, they also consider themselves to be Freethinkers who do not generally accept the status quo, and as such have requested that I say a few words about their wedding and marriage. Lydia and Drew would like to announce that their wedding today and their continuing marriage shall not be construed as an endorsement of matrimony as an historically unjust institution, nor as a sanction of any remaining marital laws which might still be unfair.
Lydia and Drew will each retain their respective birth names, and prefer to avoid the labels "husband" and "wife" as much as is possible and practical. Lydia and Drew are peers, friends and lovers; and neither of them wishes to be a manager of the other, as the term "husband" implies, or the property of the other, as the term "wife" has been used.
Lydia and Drew wish it to be known that they are appreciative of your presence here today. A wedding is a public testimony for the sake of family and friends, society and legality. But a marriage is a very personal thing.To Lydia and Drew, a marriage is an affectionate agreement between equals, a loving contract between peers that requires no blessing above or beyond the mutual respect, admiration and trust of two individuals who cannot imagine not spending the rest of their lives together.
Anyone who knows Lydia and Drew as individuals knows that neither of them is apt to sacrifice their individuality for any reason; but you also know that as a couple united in love and common goals, they most often find themselves thinking and acting "as one," in harmony. Both of them know that you cannot give or receive love unless you love yourself first. Marriage is not an institution in which the self is lost: it is a place where the self is found. Lydia and Drew have found themselves, with each other, "at home." "