Our programs for the ceremony. People never believed that our program, which looks so beautiful, only came together at the last minute a few hours before our rehearsal began. It looks so well put together. And, granted, there were a lot of hours of design work put into that program, those hours just all came right on top of each other at the 11th hour.
But enough of that! It's time for me to recap our ceremony!
When last we talked, my bridesmaids had just taken their places after the processional, and Mishka and I had made our way up to the altar to begin the ceremony.
Our officiant began the ceremony with his opening words (a joke he had also used at the rehearsal dinner the night before ;) ). He mentioned that he had known my family forever, and that I looked beautiful :). He talked about how much he cares for Mishka and how grateful he was to be the one doing our wedding ceremony. And while I remember every word, you'll notice Mishka and I aren't paying the closest attention... In fact, we were much more wrapped up with each other.
We looked like this for more of the ceremony than I'd like to admit. In fact, many people have since commented that Mishka and I were chatting to each other for almost the entire ceremony. But really, can you blame us? We were so excited, and had so much love and emotion to share with each other. And to be honest, some of it was more practical. "Can I borrow a tissue?" or "Oh my god, I can't believe we left ______ out of the program!" (yeah, there were more than a few typos in that program...).
Anyway, so the ceremony got fully underway...
My dad read the first reading. It was Song of Songs 2:8-10, 14,
16a; 8:6-7a, a beautiful piece of biblical poetry about the love two people can have for each other.
My FIL gave the second reading. It was Corinthians 12:31–13:8a, the conventional "Love is patient, love is kind..." I know it's been done to death at weddings, but for us, we wanted our ceremony to celebrate love. And you really couldn't ask for a better reading.
Our 2nd officiant, Fr. Bob, read our gospel: Matthew 5:1-12a. The beatitudes seemed like the perfect gospel, because in a way, it is the "ultimate" married life advice.
Our friends and family following along with our programs. We wanted our programs to be so comprehensive that those who never attend mass, or are of different faiths could participate with us in our wedding as much as possible.
This is a shot of our cantor, another one of the people who made our ceremony so special. We ended up with her, totally by accident. I requested one cantor that we liked, and our music minister misunderstood so we ended up with a surprise on the wedding day! But it turned out to be all right because she was even more amazing than I could have ever hoped.
And here's the other half of our music making team. We only hired one extra musician. We figured a violinist worked best because I was walking up the aisle to 'Canon in D' and it could not be more beautifully accompanied than by the strings of a violin.
Now we get to the fun stuff:
Yup! Mishka and I say our vows!
First we stepped onto the ceremonial ryshnik and our officiant explained that it symbolized the shared journey we take in marriage.
Then, our officiant tied our hands together with another ceremonial ryshnik. We were literally linked as we spoke our marriage vows to each other.
And speaking of which....
Mishka said his vows to me...
"Ang, today and for the rest of my life, I take you for my wife. I vow before God and our family and friends here to be faithful to you in good times and bad times, in sickness and in health. I pledge my life and love to you for all of my days."
Then I said my vows to him...
"Mishka, today and for the rest of my life, I take you for my husband. I vow before God and our family and friends here to be faithful to you in good times and bad times, in sickness and in health. I pledge my life and love to you for the rest of my days."
One of the things I loved most about our Catholic wedding was that, according to the Catholic faith, we are not married by our officiant. We marry each other. That is why we read from the ceremonial scripture. The officiant blesses and witnesses, but it is the two of us who are actively binding our lives together. I love that.
And that's it for part one! Sorry to cut away in the middle of the good stuff, but I have to keep you coming back for more ;).
Next up: The Ceremony (part 2)
No comments:
Post a Comment