9 Prayers to Say on Your Wedding Day

A Prayer for the Bride and Groom as They Get Ready

For the Groom

Holy Father,

Thank you for the groom. Thank you for giving him a heart that beats for you, and is committed to pursuing a relationship in a way that brings You honor and glory. Lord, we ask that You have Your hand of protection over him as he begins the next chapter of his life. Fill him with wisdom, strength, and affection for his bride. Help him to live a life that is truthful, virtuous, and bold for the Gospel. Make him a godly, servant leader in his home and in his community. Help him to grow in the Fruits of the Spirit, and to be conformed to the image and example of Christ.

Lord, we ask that you teach him how to love his wife as You love your church. Build him up in knowledge, so that he can be the spiritual head of his house. We also ask that you fill him with compassion, empathy, and true love for his wife, and that he will delight in her for the rest of their days. May he and his wife keep You at the forefront of their life, always.

In the name of Jesus Christ we pray,

Amen.

For the Bride

Holy Father,

Thank you for the bride. Thank you for leading her to her groom. We thank you that You helped her stay focused on the things of God, and that she will continue to do so. Lord, please protect the bride as she starts her new life. Fill her with love and respect for her groom as they embark on this new adventure called marriage. Help her to have integrity, goodness, and to stand firm in the truths of the Bible. Help her to lead by example both in her household and in her community. We want to see her grow closer to you in her marriage, and that she will continue to grow more like Jesus Christ every day.

Teach her how to be an industrious, loving wife who is submitted to her husband when he is doing your will, and able to speak truth to him when he is not. Grow her in grace, so that she may always represent you and her family well. We also desire to see her have compassion, empathy, and true love for her husband, so she may find peace and delight in him for the rest of their days. May she and her husband keep You at the forefront of their life, always.

In the name of Jesus Christ we pray,

Amen.

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Opening Prayer for a Wedding Ceremony

Holy Father,

Thank you for instituting this wonderful gift called marriage. It is humbling and exciting that You invite us to use our lives, our love, and our bodies as a picture of Your great, inexhaustible love for the world. Lord, as this bride and groom approach the altar before You and their community to commit themselves in covenant to one another, we ask that You be sovereign in their lives. Bind them together in love, faithfulness, and mutual admiration. Let this ceremony communicate the truth of the Gospel, and may their lives do so from this day forward. Guide their steps, carry them when they stumble, and may they both be open to the voice of the Holy Spirit so they can both grow more like Your Son every day.

In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray,

Amen.

Prayer for Joy in Marriage

Holy Father,

We bring before you today this bride and this groom, who wish to pursue holy matrimony. We are thankful they wish to pursue love as You set it out in Your Holy Bible. It is an encouragement, but we also know this world is full of hardships, trials, temptations, and that we have an enemy who wishes to see marriages fail. Lord, we ask that you protect this marriage from the difficulties of life by providing true joy in the relationship. We know there will be pain, sorrow, and disagreements, but we also know that if they seek true joy in You and in their marriage, they can overcome those hardships. Help them to cling to one another in the hard times, and to rejoice at all times. Give them sweet times, good memories, strong bonds, and true joy so they may glorify you.

In the Name of Jesus Christ,

Amen. 

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Prayer for Patience in Marriage

Holy Father,

Thank you for being with your people and for loving them enough to bless them with the opportunity to spend life building a unique relationship with one other person. Lord, we ask for you to bless this man and this woman with patience. We ask that they be patient with each other, with any future children if that’s Your will, with their circumstances, and with others. Without the Holy Spirit, we know that patience is difficult for us humans to exercise, so please bless them uniquely for the life You will give them with patience, as well as the other Fruits of the Spirit.

In the Name of Your Son Jesus Christ, we pray,

Amen.

Prayer for Long-Lasting Love in Marriage

Holy Father,

Thank you for being eternally loving and unchanging. We thank you for the model of love You gave us through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, that we may strive to live with perfect love, and that You pick us up when we inevitably fail. Lord, this couple has come together in love to be joined in matrimony. We know that You ordained marriage as a way for people to express and explore the many kinds of love You enable us to feel. Lord, we pray that You will sustain the love between these two, that they will learn to love one another more deeply every day. We pray that You will bless their romantic love, their personal love, their appreciation for one another, and help them to understand one another more greatly and more dynamically. 

In the name of Jesus, I pray,

Amen.

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Prayer for Children

Holy Father,

We know that part of why You implemented marriage is for the purpose of having children. We also know that You bless families according to Your will. Lord, if it is Your desire to bless this couple with children, we pray that You will do so, and that You will help them to provide for their family. If it is Your will for them to adopt, open up their hearts to the right child or children who they can bring into their home. If it is not Your will for them to have children, then please fill their life with the ministry to which You want to call them. Lord, no matter how You bring children into their lives, please use them to bless others and to be examples for the next generation about what it means to love and live like Jesus Christ.

In the name of Jesus Christ,

Amen.

Prayer That the Marriage Will Glorify God

Holy Father,

Thank you for creating humanity, for loving us before we were created. We know that part of why we exist is to glorify You. Lord, please bless this couple and their marriage so they can spend their time glorifying You with their lives. Help them to remember that marriage is meant to represent the love between Christ and His church.

Guide this man in love toward his wife, that he will love her like Jesus loves the church. Lord, please help him to live in a way that inspires deserved admiration and respect in his bride.

Guide this woman to love her husband and to respect him. Help her to live a life that inspires care and protection in her husband. Help them both to prioritize their marriage, keeping it healthy, and keeping you at the forefront. Please use their marriage for the salvation of others, for the care of one another and the church, and ultimately for Your glory.

In the name of Jesus Christ,

Amen.

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Prayer to Close the Ceremony

Holy Father,

Thank you for the institution of marriage, and thank you for this couple who have just made a covenant before You and Your church to live out this precious relationship You intended. Bless their love and their lives, and continue to sanctify them so they may be better for one another and be more like Jesus Christ. Thank you for bringing them together, and we lift them up to You. Please bless them with more love, more joy, stronger walks with You, and a marriage that will have eternal rewards. May this groom always love his bride, and may this bride always love her groom through the power of Your Spirit.

In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray,

Amen!

Verses about Weddings in the Bible

“The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said, ‘This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.’ Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh” (Genesis 2:20-24).

“Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth! For your love is better than wine; your anointing oils are fragrant; your name is oil poured out; therefore virgins love you. Draw me after you; let us run. The king has brought me into his chambers” (Song of Solomon 1:2-4).

“If you do not know, O most beautiful among women, follow in the tracks of the flock, and pasture your young goats beside the shepherds' tents. I compare you, my love, to a mare among Pharaoh's chariots. Your cheeks are lovely with ornaments, your neck with strings of jewels” (Song of Solomon 1:8-10).

“But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate” (Mark 10:6-9).

“Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous” (Hebrews 13:4).

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