"We therefore affirm that our Monthly Meeting will hold marriages and ceremonies of commitment under our care, following traditional clearness and approval procedures, and offering continued nurturance for both opposite gender and same gender couples, when one or both partners participate in our community and share our religious experience."

approved 20th day, 9th month, 1998
Herndon Friends Meeting

Friends are united in the belief in "that of God" or "inner Seed or Light" within each individual.  The belief, that each possesses something of the Divine, became the basis for most Friends testimonies, including the testimony on equality.  

The evolution of marriage practices among Friends grew out of such testimonies.  Examples of marriage traditions are speaking vows out of the silence of unprogrammed worship (or reciting identical vows out of the silence as is often done now) and avoiding ostentation and extravagant expenditure.  

In the mid-seventeenth century, George Fox admonished:  Friends should be married "as though they were not," i.e., they should not be possessive of one another, but leave each other "free for God's work."

First, a small committee of Friends is appointed to meet with the couple for clearness.  then, Friends make use of an oversight committee to encourage reverence and dignity during the ceremony and to promote marriage as a spiritual, not merely a physical, union.  Refer to the Faith and Practice of Baltimore Yearly Meeting, page 65 of the 1988 edition.