- PARTICIPANTS
-
Bride - Gunilla Birgitta (Williams)
Groom - Thomas Van Ness Leavitt
Best Man - Joshua Jasper
Maid of Honor - Jennifer Jasper
Jr. Bride's Maid - Lynnaea Williams
Jr. Bride's Maid - Lynessa Williams
Giving away the bride - Robert De Forest, Gunilla's longest standing friend in this country.
Ministers - Rev. Lori Blaauw, Rev. Andrew Edelstein
Music - Susan Kessey
Sound/Video - Noel Murphy
Landscaping/Decorations - Cobra, Sandy
Catering - Staff of Life, Santa Cruz, CA.
Cheese - Andrea London World of Cheese
Jen and Josh enter.
Thomas enters.
Gunilla enters with Robert and the girls. Funeral march as she walks out, then wedding
march processional. Lynnaea and Lynessa step on the veil (twice), Gunilla adjusts it
at the altar.
- GIVING OF THE BRIDE
-
Rev. Lori: Who gives this woman to be wed?
Robert and girls: "We do." Robert sits.
- OPENING WORDS
-
Rev. Andrew:
"Mawaig. Mawaig is what bwings us togethaaah, today. *laughter from the audience*
Wove, that bwessed awaingment, that dweem withIN a dweem..."
Pause...
- OFFICIANT'S REMARKS AND READINGS
- Rev. Lori:
"Marriage is a deep commitment and shouldn't be undertaken lightly...
It is a step that you choose to make with someone with the intention
of a full life bonding. It is something you do with someone who makes
you happy, who completes you, who is a partner on all levels. It is
done with someone you can live with, love with, laugh with, be strong
and happy with. That someone should help make you whole. Your chosen
partner should be someone who can stand by your side and walk with you,
someone you can support, but who does not need you to carry them.
Someone you should help make whole as well.
Marriage is an agreement between each other and with your community.
You are saying to each other, and to us all, your world, that "I want
THIS person by my side and I will cherish, nurture and support them as
we go about this business of life."
We, your community, understand this and know to recognize your bond
together.
For you both, it is a series of smaller agreements, daily agreements,
all grouped together for the larger agreement. You both will be called
upon to make compromises, to agree when you don't want to agree for
the sake of a bigger dream.
Remember this.
Marriage is for the bold, not the coward. Living and loving together
isn't easy, and you may find that this marriage is one of the hardest
undertakings you have ever attempted. Like a roller coaster ride, it
can be scary and thrilling, secure and dangerous all at the same time.
A wise man once said that marriage was one of those unique activities
whereby the more you do it the less you know about it, but that the
more you put into it the more you got out of it.
There may be times in the years ahead of you when you feel that the
commitment is a burden and too heavy to carry any longer. That is the
time to stop, and rest, and revisit all of the reasons you chose to be
here today and make the commitment. That is the time to remember the
commitment, to take each other's hand and go forward from there
together.
And finally, marriage is a living creature. It requires constant
attention to keep it healthy and alive. The initial excitement of
beginning a life together wears off and soon the mind wanders. Work,
family, other endeavors can demand and divide attention. Don't make
the mistake of thinking that after today, you are tied together and
that no further effort need be put towards the creation of this
marriage. Pay heed when your partner requests your attention - as this
is a symptom of neglect. Instead, look to your marriage with eyes open
and anticipate what is needed and wanted before it becomes apparent.
As time goes on you may find that inertia sets in, and you may need to
put extra effort in keeping it growing. Be willing to go there.
This marriage will be whatever you both decide it will be, as only those deeply involved in it can make it beautiful.
It can be your foundation.
It can be your greatest strength.
It can be your greatest joy.
Your love for each other is a starting point only.
Now comes the work.
I wish you well in your adventure."
Rev. Andrew:
"Friends, Thomas and Gunilla have invited us here today to celebrate
with them the next step in their evolving relationship with life, with
each other, with all of us, and to bear witness to the loving union of
their two separate lives.
Today is a day that Thomas and Gunilla will long remember. It is the
first anniversary of their meeting. It is also six months from Thomas'
birthday. Gunilla believes these two coincidences mean Thomas might
actually remember their anniversary in future years. Gunilla: good
luck!
*laughter from the audience*
Neither Thomas nor Gunilla, nor most of their friends could be
described as 'conventional.' It is therefor ironic that the ceremony
which Gunilla selected and Thomas agreed is so rife with 'traditional'
elements. Even as non-conformists, they don't conform to anyone's
expectations. And thus do we love them."
Maid of Honor:
1 Corinthians, 1-2, 4-7
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels,
but have not love,
I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
And if I possess prophetic powers,
and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge,
and if I have a faith that can move mountains,
but have not love, I am nothing.
Love is patient and kind;
love is not jealous or boastful;
it is not arrogant or rude.
Love does not insist on its own way;
it is not easily angered;
it keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices in the truth.
Love bears all things,
believes all things,
hopes all things, and
endures all things.
Rev. Andrew:
"We're all familiar with the opening words of Elizabeth Berret
Browning's famous poem on love:
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height my soul can reach
when feeling out of sight for the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of everyday's most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use in my old griefs and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I assumed to lose with my lost saints,
I love thee with the breath, smiles, tears, of all my life!
and if God choose, I shall love thee better after death."
Best Man:
(Shakespeare's Sonnet MXVI)
"Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments.
Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come:
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved."
Rev. Andrew:
"Elizabeth Berret Browning also wrote:
If thou must love me,
let it be for naught except for love's sake only.
Do not say "I love her for her smile, her look,
her way of speaking gently,
for a trick of thought that falls in well with mine,
and certes brought a sense of pleasant ease on such a day"
For these things in themselves, Beloved, may be changed,
or change for thee.
and love, so wrought, may be unwrought so.
Neither love me for thine own dear pity's wiping my cheeks dry:
A creature might forget to weep, who bore thy comfort long,
and love thy love thereby."
- VOWS
-
Susan:
Sings "Blessing Song"
(Text unavailable at this time)
Rev. Lori:
"It is appropriate that you, the family and friends of this couple, are
here to participate in this wedding.
The ideals, the understanding and the mutual respect these two bring
to their marriage have roots in the love, friendship and guidance with
which you have provided them.
Will you, who have nurtured these two, bestow your blessing on their
union and promise them your love and support in fulfilling the
commitment they are about to make to each other?
If so, please signify by responding "We will."
Guests respond: "We will"
Rev. Andrew:
"Thomas and Gunilla have chosen to ad-lib their vows.
Thomas will go first.
Thomas:
"Gunilla,
I promise to love and honor and cherish you, and Lynnaea, and Lynessa, for all
the days of my life. You've brought me such an incredible amount of joy...
*here he pauses while choking up from emotion, making many an eye in the
audience well up with tears*
and happiness. You've truly made my life complete, and I promise
to do everything in my power to make your life complete as well."
Gunilla:
hands her bouquet over to the Maid of Honor, brushes off her hands, and holds
Thomas' hands in hers, pausing for a moment to gaze up at the trees. She clears
her throat, and begins:
"One of the first times I ever came to this house, you showed me this gorgeous
redwood cathedral in the back and I remember you said: "One day I wanna have
a wedding back here!".
*laughter from the audience*
And, I'm pretty certain you didn't think it was gonna be your own,
but I'd lie if I say I didn't get ideas...
*more laughter*
so... with all that I am, and with all that I ever will be, I will always love you.
I will be there to take care of you, to listen to you, to honor you, to feed you
(here Rev. Andrew broke in and added "and others", which made people laugh again :)
to let you vent and anything else that you may need. I love you."
Susan:
sings "Sunrise, Sunset" from "Fiddler on the Roof" as requested by Joanne Leavitt, Thomas' mother.
Is this the little girl I carried?
Is this the little boy at play?
I don't remember growing older
when did they?
When did she get to be a beauty?
When did he grow to be this tall?
Wasn't it yesterday when they were small?
Sunrise, Sunset
Sunrise, Sunset
Swiftly flow the days.
Seedlings turn over night to sunflowers
blossoming even as we gaze
Sunrise, Sunset
Sunrise, Sunset
Swiftly fly the years
One season following another
Laden with happiness and tears
What words of wisdom can I give them?
How can I help to ease their way?
Now They must learn from one another
Day by Day
They look so natural together
Just like two newlyweds should be
Is there a canopy in store for me?
Sunrise, Sunset
Sunrise, Sunset
Swiftly flow the days.
Seedlings turn over night to sunflowers
blossoming even as we gaze
Sunrise, Sunset
Sunrise, Sunset
Swiftly fly the years
One season following another
Laden with happiness and tears
- UNITY CANDLE, LEO'S SONG
-
Rev. Andrew:
"As Thomas and Gunilla light the Unity Candle, Gunilla has requested a
traditional Swedish wedding song, performed by her late step-father,
Leo Kuhlberg."
(Music begins softly while Revs. Andrew and Lori light Thomas' and
Gunilla's candles, respectively, fades up as Rev. Andrew speaks.)
"They bring the flames of their separate candles together to jointly
light the Unity Candle, just as they bring the flames of their
separate lives together into a union of love."
(Thomas & Gunilla light the Unity Candle together while Leo sings. Gunilla
weeps softly.)
- RINGS, STATEMENT OF INTENT
-
Rev. Andrew:
"The wedding ring is a visible symbol of marriage. It is an unbroken
circle, having no beginning and no end, symbolizing your everlasting
love for each other.
(This is the legal part required by the state. Actual words by Gunilla)
Rev. Lori:
"Gunilla, place the ring on Thomas' finger and repeat after me:
"I give you this ring as a symbol of my love and to show the world
that I take you as my husband.""
Rev. Andrew:
"Thomas, place the ring on Gunilla's finger and repeat after me:
"I give you this ring as a symbol of my love and to show the world
that I take you as my wife.""
- DECLARATION OF MARRIAGE
-
Rev. Andrew:
"Thomas and Gunilla, you have agreed to join together in marriage, have
promised to love and support each other by these vows, by the lighting
of the candle and the exchange of these rings. By the authority
granted us by the State of California, and the permission of our
friends here gathered, we pronounce you husband and wife.
You may kiss the bride."
(Thomas and Gunilla kiss. For a *while*)
Rev. Andrew:
Friends, we present Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Leavitt.
- FINAL BLESSING
- Rev. Andrew:
- We end with this Native American wedding blessing.
- Rev. Lori:
- Now you will feel no rain,
For each of you will be shelter to the other.
- Rev. Andrew:
- Now you will feel no cold,
For each of you will be warmth to the other.
- Rev. Lori:
- Now there is no more loneliness,
For each of you will be companion to the other.
- Rev. Andrew:
- Though you are two persons,
There is but one life before you.
- Rev. Lori:
- Go now to your dwelling place
To enter into the days of your togetherness.
- Together:
- And may your days be good and long upon the earth."
-
(Thomas and Gunilla exit, stepping over Joshua and Andrew's crossed swords.
Recessional plays.)
Rev. Andrew:
"Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bride and Groom request that you join them
on the front porch for a group photo. Afterwards we will adjourn to
the back yard for the reception."
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