The Wedding
This is the first wedding I officiated. Renee is the sister-in-law of one of my oldest friends. The ceremony I performed was written just a few hours before the ceremony, hence the lack of memorization and the constant reference to the printed copy.
The bride and groom asked for something short and entertaining. They also asked for the Princess Bride intro. Based on the feedback I (and they) got from wedding guests, it appears it went over very well.
Here's (more or less) what I said:
[Said in that all too well known Clergyman voice]Marriage is what brings us together today., Marriage, that blessed arrangement, that dream within a dream.... (and if you are true to it) then love, true love, will follow you forever...
For those of you who don’t recognize that little bit of dialog, it’s from a movie called The Princess Bride. A bit of a fairy tale about Wesley, a lowly stable boy, and Buttercup, a princess, who fall in love, get separated by strange circumstances, and through a series of equally strange adventures, come together again.
Every great love story starts out with a “Once Upon A Time...” This is true of reality as well as fairy tales.
Like Wesley and Buttercup, Mike and Renee have had some adventures and gathered a unique crew of characters together to help them in their journey through unknown and perilous territory.
There have been ups and downs, and they even have their own ROUS (Rugrat of Unusual Sweetness), Kylie, to add to the challenges and joys of a life together.
Storybook love obviously exists in the real world. It may not always look as pretty or sound as poetic as what we see on the screen, but it’s the feeling that counts. Most of you know the bride and groom much better than I do, but I think we can all agree that they’ve got that special something that fairy tales are made of.
It comes through in their eyes when they look at one another. In their laughs when they joke. In that light touch after a hard day at work.
And this fairy tale love isn’t just between the two of them--it is among all three of them: Renee, Kylie and Mike. That makes it even more special and even more inspiring for the rest of us.
A lot of people toss around the word Love without much concern for what it can actually mean. Most of the time, it leaves me musing: “They keep using that word, but I do not think it means, what they think it mean.”
But here, before you today, you see what real love looks like.
The fairy tale is real.
Their love is real.
And now we make it as real in the eyes of the law as it has been in their hearts for some time.
Assuming, of course, there are no evil princes, black knights or dragons who would have any objections to such a perfect union. If there are, they should step forward now so they can be justly smited by he happy couple.
Do you have the rings?
Do you Mike take Renee to be your lawfully wedded wife and promise to treat her with the respect, caring and understanding that you have already proven yourself to be capable of, until the end of your story?
Do you Renee take Mike to be your lawfully wedded husband and promise to treat him with th erespec, caring and understanding that have already proven yourself to be capable of, until the end of our story?
With this exchange of rings and promises, you are now man and wife--free to be king and queen of your own domains, with a love that will inspire all around you.
Since the invention of the kiss there have been five kisses that were rated the most passionate, the most pure.
You can show us one that will make them all pale in comparison... or we can skip to the good part and storm the castle.
Or, you can just watch the video:
Please excuse the shaky nature of the video... my friend who was handling the camera was also juggling a still camera (and my cheap DV cam isn't that great to begin with... I'm particularly annoyed with the audio pickup and tight field of view on the lens).
All in all, quite the successful day. It made me very happy to be a part of it.
