Today, I'm delighted to share with you our ceremony! Cue the music....
The entire wedding party came down the aisle to Soulful Strut, by Young-Holt Unlimited. We chose this song because Hal used to say back in the day, there's no way to not look cool walking to it! It really does give you a natural swagger.
While the girls and I were waiting in the garden, the boys lined up next to Brian, our officiant, one of Hal's best buds since high school who got ordained online just to marry us.
Then came the children's parade. Cannon got shy and froze, so his pops carried him down the aisle and waved the flag for him!
Since the aisle centered around a fire pit which couldn't be moved, we stuck dahlias into the ashes to pretty it up. Later in the evening, the flowers were pulled out to build a bonfire.
Then the band began to play my song. My favorite love song of all time. One Hand, One Heart, from West Side Story. I found the most beautiful brass quintet version and asked the band director of Route 66 to learn it for my entrance.
As you can tell, it was a long descent! I walked down the entire length of the yard. But I loved having this time with my dad. We giggled the whole way down.
By the time I got down to the water, my emotions got the best of me. Hearing my song. Seeing so many happy faces. I just couldn't believe this was happening. I locked eyes with Hal and lost it. Almost forgetting to hug my dad goodbye.
Brian acknowledged Hal's father, Hal's adoptive father, and my grandfather. All of whom have all passed on, but were with us in spirit and forever in our hearts.
One of my best friends and freshman year college roomie, Carrie, was supposed to be a bridesmaid. But she got an amazing opportunity to work in Africa for a year, helping mothers in childbirth. I was so proud of her, yet selfishly heartbroken she wouldn't be at the wedding. A few weeks before the big day, she pooled her flight miles with Eddie, a mutual friend of ours, and flew to Gig Harbor from Africa! I was over the moon. She didn't have any wedding attire, so my sponsor, Ruche, kindly shipped us the chiffon mint dress from their bridesmaid collection.
I asked Carrie to do a reading. Keeping things light-hearted and playful, we chose passages from nostalgic story books...
A Lovely Love Story by Edward Monkton
The fierce Dinosaur was trapped inside his cage of ice. Although it was cold he was happy in there. It was, after all, his cage.Then along came the Lovely Other Dinosaur.
The Lovely Other Dinosaur melted the Dinosaur’s cage with kind words and loving thoughts. “I like this Dinosaur,” thought the Lovely Other Dinosaur. “Although he is fierce he is also tender and he is funny. He is also quite clever, though I will not tell him this for now.”
“I like this Lovely Other Dinosaur,” thought the Dinosaur. “She is beautiful and she is different and she smells so nice. She is also a free spirit which is a quality I much admire in a dinosaur.”
“But he can be so distant and so peculiar at times,” thought the Lovely Other Dinosaur. “He is also overly fond of things. Are all Dinosaurs so overly fond of things?”
“But her mind skips from here to there so quickly,” thought the Dinosaur. “She is also uncommonly keen on shopping. Are all Lovely Other Dinosaurs so uncommonly keen on shopping?”
“I will forgive his peculiarity and his concern for things,” thought the Lovely Other Dinosaur. “For they are part of what makes him a richly charactered individual.”
“I will forgive her skipping mind and her fondness for shopping,” thought the Dinosaur. “For she fills our life with beautiful thoughts and wonderful surprises. Besides, I am not unkeen on shopping either.”
Now the Dinosaur and the Lovely Other Dinosaur are old. Look at them. Together they stand on the hill telling each other stories and feeling the warmth of the sun on their backs. And that, my friends, is how it is with love. Let us all be Dinosaurs and Lovely Other Dinosaurs together. For the sun is warm. And the world is a beautiful place.
We asked Helen, my dear family friend and neighbor since childhood, to read the second passage from a classic book we all know and love...
The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams
‘What is REAL?’ asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. ‘Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?’
‘Real isn’t how you are made,’ said the Skin Horse. ‘It’s a thing that happens to you. When someone loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.’
‘Does it hurt? Asked the Rabbit. ‘Sometimes,’ said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. ‘When you are Real you don’t mind being hurt.’
‘Does it happen all at once, like being wound up,’ he asked, ‘or bit by bit?’ ‘ It doesn’t happen all at once,’ said the Skin Horse. ‘You become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in your joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.’
‘I suppose you are real?’ said the Rabbit. And then he wished he had not said it, for he thought the Skin Horse only smiled. ‘Someone made me Real,’ he said. ‘That was a great many years ago; but once you are Real you can’t become unreal again. It lasts for always.’
For our final reading, we asked my cousin Kassia's cherub children, Sawyer and Miles. They are brilliant beyond their years. And c'mon, those dimples! Each line of the poem alternated between the two boys...
Me Without You by Lisa Swerling
Me without you is like...
Sky without blue
Hair without do
Ghost without boo
Kung without fu
Peak without view
Biker without tattoo
Cow without moo
Dove without coo
Eskimo without igloo
Party without yahoo
Clock without cuckoo
Harry without you-know-who
Fisherman without canoe
Kanga without Roo
Foot without shoe
Picnic without loo
Rainbow without hue
Shoobee without doo
How without do-you-do?
Rebel without a clue
Mowgli without Baloo
Cock without a doodle-do
Panda without bamboo
Show without queue
Sneeze without atchoo
Yacht without crew
Potty without poo
A picture that's skew
A knot I can't undo
Me without you?
What would I do?
Phew!
At the end of their poem, their little identically-dressed brother, Teague, ran out of the crowd to join them! It was the cutest thing ever. I guess he was used to being around his older brothers while they rehearsed at home.
Then it was time for Hal and I to recite our personally written vows. My wedding anxiety dreams about not having my vows ready in time prepped me well.
Hal has requested that I keep his vows between me, him and our guests. But I don't mind sharing my own with you...
I'm not sure how I got through them with the lump in my throat.
Day 1, I loved you before I knew I loved you. Because I already knew you. Because you didn't know that I already knew you. But maybe you knew all along.
Month 2, I loved you because you'd laugh, and I'd laugh because you were laughing, and it'd go on like that until we could physically laugh no longer.
Year 3, I loved you because you'd ask me to talk, but I couldn't. So you'd ask me again. And again. And again, until I talked. You never gave up. Even when I began to talk too much.
Year 6, I loved you because it wasn't just me who loved you. My friends loved you. Their men loved you. Strangers loved you. The world was charmed by your charm.
Year 8, I loved you because you left behind your known life to share an unknown life with me. This might be why I loved you most of all.
Long after we chose this date to get married, I came across a poem by Pablo Neruda that reminds me of our relationship. Strangely enough, it's called, September 8th:
Today, this day, was a brimming cup,
today, this day, was the immense wave,
today, it was all the earth.
Today, the stormy sea lifted us in a kiss
so high that we trembled in a lightning flash
and tied, we went down to sink without untwining.
Today our bodies became vast,
they grew to the edge of the world
and rolled melting into a single drop of wax or meteor.
Between you and me a new door opened
and someone, still faceless,
was waiting for us there.
To me, this poem is about evolution. Our evolution. And our growth. You were always there. Squeezing my hand like a gentle reminder. Leading us here. To this day. Today.
Year 10, Month 9, Day 8. Because I loved you. Because I love you. I promise to love every moment with you. To Year 60 and beyond.
For our ring exchange, we recited the vows from West Side Story, alternating lines...
I, Hal, take thee, Shannon
I, Shannon, take thee, Hal
For richer, for poorer
In sickness and in health
To love and to honor
To hold and to keep
From each sun to each moon
From tomorrow to tomorrow
From now to forever
Till death do us part
With this ring, I thee wed.
With this ring, I thee wed.
Mozel tov! Hal is half-Jewish, so we included the breaking of the glass. Traditionally, the groom does it, but I felt left out of the fun and wanted to stomp on the glass too. Hal ended up stepping on my toe and I let out a little scream.
"I NOW PRONOUNCE YOU HUSBAND AND WIFE!!"
The kiss. Or a few!
Cue exit music. We chose More Today Than Yesterday, the cheesy one-hit-wonder by Spiral Starecase. Because really. It doesn't get more joyful than this. Before the ceremony began, we marked the wedding party's places with vintage percussion instruments.
As soon as the song came on, they grabbed their cowbells, tambourines and triangles for a sing-a-long celebratory exit! Feeling quite foolish, I might add. But that was partly the point.
Instead of following our friends up the aisle, Hal and I hung back for our post-ceremony row boat ride. We danced down the steps to the makeshift dock and waved to our guests who gathered around the edge of the bank above. Bon voyage!
NEXT WEEK... we're ON A BOAT.
{Images by One Love Photo}
