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.)