>> I lay hands upon each graduate in turn and pray for them silently with
>> the parents.  The we bless them, and commend them to God.  No one makes any
>> promises, we just give thanks and pray for them.
>
A very dignified and worthy gesture.  Very wise!  

A good example is why do we
>liturgically ritualize weddings, but not engagements. 

Its no longer part of our culture.  Engagements were ritualized in the
Middle Ages and in many parts of the West even to this century.  In many
parts of the world there are still rituals of committment, etc., but the
Western world has abandoned most of these practices precisely because
ritual is NOT valued in much of Western civilization - a point which I have
tried (futilly) to make more than once.

This is simply re-inventing the wheel.  For excellent (and dignified)
rituals and celebrations of almost every imaginable aspect of life and
engagement with God, one only need to do some cursory research into the
various traditional rituals of Orthodoxy and Catholicism.

The decision to travel
>together towards marriage is in many ways a bigger turning point for the
>couple than the wedding itself, so why is it so often only marked with a
party
>and maybe a token prayer on Sunday morning?

re: my previous comments.  All this sort of thing was tossed with the
advance of the Reformation as meaningless ritualistic nonsence and
superstition.  Now its being revived (I've even seen Evangelical churches
in the American Southwest with Stations of the Cross and images of Mary).
What goes around, comes around, I guess.

George



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