Text
of Our Wedding Ceremony
(or: what we planned to say, not necessarily how it actually came
out!)
All links from this page will open in a new window, to
help you keep your place in the ceremony. To read about the
symbolism in our wedding ceremony, click
here.
[Processional
– “Seasons of Love,” Ahmie and Garvin pick up attendants along
path to their mothers.
Order on Ahmie’s side is Matthew, Possum, Mike, Shelli, and
Andrew (Melissa and Jennifer are with her from the start).
Order on Garvin’s side is Dras, Bryce, Emily, Bill S., and
Bill L. (Marvin is with him from the start).
About 50 feet before the ceremony space, the bride/groom’s
mother meets the group.
All attendants drop the bride/groom’s arm, the honor
attendant(s) stand behind the bride/groom and the remaining attendants
stand in a line behind the honor attendants.]
Mother’s
Greeting (spoken by Shirley and Cindy simultaneously): When you were
born, I nourished you first, with my love and my milk.
Now I greet you on the day you wed the person who nourishes
your soul.
I offer you this drink of milk as a sign of my ongoing love for
you and blessing of your marriage.
[Mothers
lead their child to the fathers, who greet their child and walk with
the bride/groom to the ceremony space with the mother on the other
side – mothers on lake side of child, fathers on building side.
Honor attendant(s) follow the bride/groom to the ceremony space
and remain behind them throughout the ceremony.
Other attendants follow markers around to form semi-circle
behind ceremony area (between ceremony space and building)]
Opening
of the ceremony (spoken by the clergyman): we gather here today to
celebrate the marriage of Ahmielleah Amy Danielle Polak and Garvin Hin-Wing
Yeung.
Before we proceed, the couple has something they would like to
say.
Ahmie:
Each one of you here with us today has shaped our lives and our
selves in some way. In acknowledgement of that, you have been asked to
bring beads that you feel represent one of us in some way.
Garvin:
We will string beads you into a necklace now, if you will bring
them forward. Thank you!
(guests
bring forward beads while “When You Wish Upon a Star” plays)
Clergy:
into some of our lives come stories that fit our experiences
and shape our thinking.
Ahmie and Garvin have found such a story in “Cupid and
Psyche” and so I shall share it with you now (clergy then reads text
of “Cupid and Psyche” while junior clergy shows the pictures while
Ahmie and Garvin string beads... click here to read text of
story or click here to order it from
amazon.com)
(after
story is over, and necklaces are finished, bride and groom speak)
Ahmie:
Garvin, I stand before you as someone who is very squirrelly,
like this bead.
I have been through a lot of illness – often feeling like a
squirrel that’s been hit by a truck, all the while I have struggled
to be the best person I can be at all times, and I have stepped on a
lot of toes in those struggles.
Despite all this, you continue to love me.
You always make me feel safe, even when I am feeling small, and
you lend me strength when I am weak.
You’re my best friend, and you have shown me what
unconditional love can be like.
For all this, you are my treasure.
Can I keep you? (Garvin responds and Ahmie puts her necklace on
his neck)
Garvin:
what I am today before you symbolized by this bead of an emerging
chick – young, curious, like the chick emerging from the protective
shell of my youth.
I am exploring the adult world about me.
Still young, I am both excited and cautious, easily scared by
the world around me.
You are my friend, my home, my lover.
You make me laugh when I am down; you shelter me and give me
strength when the world rains on me.
Your beauty and passion keeps my soul warm with the blaze of
love.
For all this, you are my treasure.
Can I keep you? (Ahmie responds and Garvin puts his necklace on
her neck)
Clergy:
the two of you have accepted one another for who the other
really is.
You are now ready to enter into the maturest form of your
relationship.
Before you exchange your vows, have a drink of this water, to
cleanse your insides as you focus on the commitment you are about to
make. (pours water into goblets and offers it to Ahmie and Garvin, who
drink)
(Marvin
and Jennifer ask the junior clergy for the rings)
Ahmie:
with this ring, I thee wed, to have and to hold, from this day
forward, for better or worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and
in health, to love and to cherish, for as long as we both shall exist.
(places ring on Garvin’s finger)
Garvin:
with this ring, I thee wed, to have and to hold, from this day
forward, for better or worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and
in health, to love and to cherish, for as long as we both shall exist.
(places ring on Ahmie’s finger)
Clergy:
as a physical symbol of the bond now between you, the parents
will now bind your wrists.
As their wrists are bound, those of you who can please join
hands to show your support of this marriage and this couple. (Paul,
Shirley, Henry, and Cindy bind Ahmie & Garvin’s wrists together,
with the goblets now joined, held between Ahmie & Garvin’s
hands).
Clergy:
Red wine symbolizes the blood that flows in your veins, the
passion of your love, and the responsibilities of adulthood.
Drink it now and imbibe these qualities, and may you share them
throughout your marriage. (Melissa pours the wine into the goblets,
Ahmie and Garvin take turns drinking from their own goblet, then turn
the goblet and finish the drink from the other’s side)
Clergy
(unbinding Ahmie & Garvin’s wrists): the physical bond between
you is now removed, but the spiritual and emotional one remains.
(when the cord is off, attendants start walking from behind the
ceremony to behind the guests, to assist them in getting to the group
picture, and take some of the chairs to be stood on in the picture) I
now pronounce you Husband and Wife.
You may kiss.
("These Are Days" plays as Ahmie, Garvin, the entire wedding party, and all the guests walk up the path toward the reception hall.)