A Quaker wedding is very simple, in keeping with the Quaker tradition. The marriage usually takes places during a regular worship meeting where all in attendance meditate silently while the bride and groom enter and join those already seated. Then, after the traditional Quaker silence, the bride and groom rise, join hands, face each other and repeat these vows:

    "In the presence of God and these our Friends I take thee to be my wife / husband, promising with    
  Divine assistance to be unto thee a loving and faithful wife / husband so long as we both shall live."    
       
    The groom speaks his promises first, then the bride. The bride is not given away, nor does a third person pronounce them married, for the Friends believe that only God can create such a union.