Vows

26 May 09

Chris and I wrote our own vows. For obvious reasons, we both considered the vows to be the most important part of the whole ceremony. They were/are extremely personal and important to us (not that either of us finished writing them more than a day before the ceremony). When we said them, we said them to each other, and we meant every word.

Part way through saying our vows someone, ahem, said loudly, “We can’t hear you.”

To which Rev Nurya responded, “They’re not talking to you.”

This has been repeated to me more than anything else as guests’ favorite part of the wedding.

We’ve been considering putting the vows up here, and we will continue to consider it. For now, though, they’ll remain just between us. That is, until one of us gets around to typing them all out. They’re currently handwritten and living in our memory book, where they have been since the wedding.

Second Reading

Boo honored us with Oh the Places You'll Go by Dr Seuss

He had to borrow Rev Nurya's copy because his got so wet that it disintigrated. The other groomsmen were even trying to hold the sheets very delicately out for him. He was also annoyed that we picked a little bit of a tongue twister.

Congratulations!
Today is your day.
You're off to Great Places!
You're off and away!
You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself
any direction you choose.
You're on your own. And you know what you know.
And YOU are the couple who'll decide where to go.
You'll look up and down streets. Look 'em over with care.
About some you will say, "We don't choose to go there."
With your heads full of brains and your shoes full of feet,
you're too smart to go down, any not-so-good street.
And you may not find any
you'll want to go down.
In that case, of course,
you'll head straight out of town.
It's opener there
in the wide open air,
Out there things can happen
and frequently do
to people as brainy
and footsy as you.
And when things start to happen,
don't worry. Don't stew.
Just go right along.
You'll start happening too.
OH! THE PLACES YOU'LL GO!
You'll be on your way up!
You'll be seeing great sights!
You'll join the high fliers
who soar to great heights!
You won't lag behind, because you'll have all the speed.
You'll pass the whole gang, and you'll soon take the lead.
Wherever you fly you'll be best of the best.
Wherever you go, you will top all the rest.
Except when you don't.
Because sometimes, you won't.
You'll get mixed up of course,
as you already know.
You'll get mixed upwith so many strange birds as you go.
So be sure when you step.
Step with great care and great tact
and remember that Life's a Great Balancing Act.
Just never forget to be dexterous and deft.
And never mix up your right foot with your left.
And will you succeed?
Yes! You will indeed!
(98 and ¾ percent guaranteed.)
KIDS, YOU'LL MOVE MOUNTAINS!
So, be your name Buxbaum or Dowrie or Bass
or Mordecai Ali Van Allen O'Shea,
you're off to great places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting.
So … get on your way!

First Reading

Liz honored us with the first reading:

From James Dillet Freeman, a Blessing for a Marriage

May your marriage bring you all the exquisite excitements a marriage should bring, and may life
grant you also patience, tolerance, and understanding.
May you always need one another - not so much to fill your emptiness as to help you to know
your fullness.
May you need one another, but not out of weakness.
May you want one another, but not out of lack.
May you entice, but not compel one another.
May you embrace, but not encircle one another.
May you succeed in all important ways with one another, and not fail in the little graces.
May you look for things to praise, often say, "I love you!" and take no notice of small faults.
If you have quarrels that push you apart, may both of you hope to have good sense enough to
take the first step back.
May you enter into the mystery which is the awareness of one another's presence - no more
physical than spiritual, warm and near when you are side by side, and warm and near when
you are in separate rooms or even distant cities.
May you have happiness, and may you find it making one another happy.
May you have love, and may you find it loving one another.

Do You?

Do you Chris, take Amanda to be your wife, to love her, comfort her, honor and keep her, in sickness and in health, in sorrow and in joy, and to be faithful to her, as long as you both shall live?


I do.


Do you Amanda, take Chris to be your husband, to love him, comfort him, honor and keep him, in sickness and in health, in sorrow and in joy, and to be faithful to him, as long as you both shall live?


I do.