Linnea & Jerry- Favorite Ceremonies

So many great memories came out of Linnea & Jerry's wedding ceremony! The walled-garden at Mellon Park with it's glorious fountain, the a capella group singing in delicious harmonies, the fantastic coordination of Soiree by Souleret, but first and foremost was Linnea and Jerry themselves. 

They're a quirky pair, those two. They wanted things mostly non-traditional, but with some traditional leanings. They were realists at heart, but true romantics in spirit. They wanted to express themselves and their love to their families and friends, yet still have the day focus on their love for each other. They wanted an experience for all involved, not just a ceremony and a party. And they love games of all types. And so, that's what we did. They wrote some amazing things on their questionnaires (you'll see quotes from them throughout the ceremony that I used as I saw fit in the moment), but they were also doing personal vows. I never like stepping on a couple's toes, so I invented a little trivia game instead of a personal minister's address. It was perfect for them, and really got the crowd warmed up for their personal vows!

Also, this ceremony features an awesome take on the Rock Ceremony (aka Stone Ceremony, Pebble Tradition). It was a great moment of interaction between the couple and their guests.

The Wedding of Linnea Warren & Jerry May

June 22nd, 2013

Note: Silent presentation

Welcoming Words

Whoever you are, wherever you’re from, whatever you believe and whomever you love, Jerry and Linnea want to welcome you to this celebration of their love for one another. Each of you has given something special to their lives. Your love and encouragement will forever be appreciated. Thank you coming from distances near and far to share in one of life's happiest moments with them. May you be as important a part of their tomorrow as you are of their today.

All seated

In Memoriam

At this time, we would also like to honor those who could not be with us today. Our thoughts are especially with those who have passed and those who could not make it today. Although they are not here with us physically, we feel blessed they are with us in spirit on this beautiful day.

Community Vow

Marriage is the promise of hope between two people who love each other, who honor each other as individuals, and who wish to unite their lives and share the future together. In this ceremony, they dedicate themselves to the happiness and well-being of each other, in a union of mutual caring and responsibility. Therefore, it is all the more important that those of you here with Linnea and Jerry may stand as witnesses to the happiness which they have found together, and to the promises they have made to each other. As they join their lives in marriage, they also bring you together in a new relationship, creating new bonds of trust and ties of affection. Will all of you by God’s grace, do everything in your power to preserve this marriage? Will all of you, who have supported these two in friendship and love, now bestow your blessing upon them? If so please show them your support by saying, "We will”

Charge to the Couple

Linnea and Jerry, you have made a very serious and important decision in choosing to marry each other today.
You are entering into a sacred covenant as life partners.
As in tending the flowers in a garden, the quality of your marriage will reflect the effort you put into nurturing this relationship.
You have the opportunity to go forward from this day to create a faithful, kind, and tender
relationship.
It is up to you to keep the blessings flowing each and every day of your lives together.
We wish for you the wisdom, compassion, and constancy to create a peaceful sanctuary in which you can both grow in love.

Reading

Sonnet XVII, Pablo Neruda

Reader: Meredith Stewart, friend of Jerry and Linnea

I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz,
or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off.
I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,
in secret, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that never blooms
but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers;
thanks to your love a certain solid fragrance,
risen from the earth, lives darkly in my body.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.
I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride;
so I love you because I know no other way

than this: where I does not exist, nor you,
so close that your hand on my chest is my hand,
so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep.

Officiant’s Address

The best gift we can give other people is our whole selves in truth. By doing so we give them a true and accurate mirror that allows them to see themselves. We also give ourselves the best opportunity to grow. As Danny Kaye once said, “Before we can give ourselves to the world, we must first accept ourselves.” Or as my dad used to say “A man who can give himself a hug every day truly has the arms of an orangutan”

Of course, you give each other precious gifts everyday- your friendship, humor, vulnerability, sensitivity, and kindness.

Anyone who knows the two of you can see for themselves how much you love and like each other and how well you know each other.

But I’d like to find out how well you actually do know each other.

I know your mutual love of games so I’ve devised a little trivia game for you. Each of you has written some wonderful things about the other, so I am going to preface each question with something wonderful that you wrote.

Keep in mind, you are not playing against each other, you are playing for each other. If you get the majority of these questions correct I will permit you to smooch each other at the end of the ceremony. Less than that, and you will have to smooch me. Jerry, you have a lot to lose.

To Linnea, She has a sense of humor that is simultaneously unique and perfectly tuned to my own; I never met someone with more wit- it's what got me hooked in the first place!

What is Jerry’s favorite color?

To Jerry, I think he is adorable and is the type of guy I always pictured myself with--tall, blue eyes, sweet smile... He is confident in his personality, but at the same time slightly self-deprecating and humble. It’s no wonder he is loved by everyone he has ever met.

In what year was the 13th Amendment to the US Constitution ratified and what does it make illegal?

Linnea, She makes me feel that nothing can go wrong when I am with her. Not only the sense of being organized and well-planned, but in the sense of making every circumstance happier by her presence.

What is Jerry’s shoe size?

Jerry,  Everyone always teases Jerry that he is pretty much already a dad, his jokes are so cheesy. While we’re still a FEW (many few) years away from that, I can picture our family so clearly--it is full of fun and love and laughter and part of me can’t WAIT. (But the other parts of me definitely can! :)

What is the full name of the State of Rhode Island?

Linnea, Jerry says that Every time he looks at you, thinks about you, tells a story about you, he can't imagine how he could be so lucky to spend his life with a woman of your beauty and unmatched character.

If you could spend the rest of your life with just one person, who would it be?

Jerry, is my best friend and has been the most amazing partner through all of the things we’ve been through over the past 6 years: College, graduation, moving to North Carolina, grad school, new jobs, new friends, planning a wedding, transitions. I cannot think of a more understanding, compassionate, and adventurous partner for anything that comes our way.

More than Michelle Branch and other girly pop-rock artists, who is the one person you love above all others?

“We don't want anyone else, and I know I can't wait to show the world: Look who I have! I win!”

Declaration of Intent

Linnea and Jerry, today I ask you to make a promise:
That whatever happens, you shall never walk alone;
That your hearts will be shelter to each other and your arms will be your
home;
That you’ll stand side by side and sleep in each other’s arms:
That Jerry, you’ll watch over Linnea and keep her from harm;
That Linnea, you’ll be the joy in Jerry’s heart and the food for his soul;
May you feel deeply loved for indeed you are; through your brightest days and your darkest
nights.
And so I ask, will you take each other into your hearts and pledge your love for this moment and forever?

Reading

May Our Friendship Last Forever, Nicholas Gordon

Reader: Tom Hutchinson, friend of Jerry and Linnea

May our friendship last forever;
May I sail upon your sea.
May we go through Life together,
May there always be a "we."
May I be your endless sky;
May you breathe my gentle air.
May you never wonder why
each time you look for me I'm there.
May we be for each a smile
like the warm, life--giving sun;
Yet when we're in pain awhile,
May our suffering be one.
May we share our special days,
the happiness of one for two;
And if we must go our separate ways
let my Love remain with you

Personal Vows

Jerry Reads his vows.

"Linnea, hearing the words spoken by your beloved Jerry, do you take this man to be your husband?"

I do.

Linnea reads her vows.

"Jerry, hearing the words spoken by your beloved Linnea do you take this woman to be your wife?"

I do.

Ring Vows

Rev. Mark will ask for the rings.

Your rings are circles and a circle is the symbol of the sun, the earth, the universe, of wholeness, perfection, peace and unity. Like circles, your rings have no beginning and no end and in the sacred tradition of marriage rings have come to symbolize eternal love and the endless union of body, of mind, and spirit.
These rings will be worn by Linnea and Jerry to show to the world their love and commitment to one another. May the presence of these rings always remind you of the eternal love you have pledged and devotion you willingly share with one another from this moment on.
Let each of us in his own way, may it be prayer, may it be by a thought, whatever you and I would wish for this couple, let's pray or have our own thoughts as a blessing upon these rings. Let us pause at this time for these silent blessings. (Pause)

These rings, now blessed are a symbol of love and faithfulness. They seal the vows of marriage and represent a promise of forever love.

Jerry:

With this ring, I thee wed. And with this heart, I promise you
all that I am, and all that I hope to become.

Linnea:

With this ring, I thee wed. And with this heart, I promise you
all that I am, and all that I hope to become.

Unity Ceremony

(Each guest has been told to bring a stone with them.]

Before you met, your lives were on different paths with different destinations. But love has brought you together and joined these separate paths into one. Each one of your friends and family here today has brought with them a stone that represents their unique individuality and their presence at your wedding today. You also each brought a stone of your own that symbolizes your previous separate lives, separate sets of friends, separate families and the different life's journeys you once traveled.I will now ask that everyone please take out the stone you have brought and pause to make a wish or blessing for happiness and good will for the couple for the future of their marriage.

[Everyone pauses to make their wish.]Music begins, nice and low

Now, we will collect the stones. Please come to the front and place your stone in the vase. Jerry and Linnea will then add their individual stones to the container as well.

(Guests are asked to come forward row by row to greet the couple and place their stones in the vase)
[The couple adds their stones to the container.]

With the combining of these stones, you have now symbolically joined your once separate lives. As the stones have been combined with love into one container, so now are your friends and family joined, through you, into one. And your once solitary life's paths are also now one. All that was once separate is now shared, and in this sharing you both will find new strength and joy as together you forge a new life's path and destination.

Music ends

Declaration of Marriage

It was Linnea and Jerry’s hope that all of you would leave here today knowing how
much they love you; that you would have learned more about their love for each other
and that you would realize that you are not here merely to bear witness to their
marriage, but to celebrate it with them.
Marriage creates from two committed spirits one beautiful tree of life. Its roots are the
trust and devotion that underlie each action, thought and motive. Its branches are
experiences shared, hopes realized, and dreams pursued. And its blossoms are the
kisses, gentle words, and tender sighs that decorate each day and beautify the union of
two loving hearts.
Linnea and Jerry, may your love grow like a beautiful tree, sending roots deep and
branches high, with new beauty every season of your life together.
May you find constant reward and challenge as you pursue the ongoing adventure of
learning who you are and where you want to go.
May you always have a special sense of your mission in life together, and may you never
tire of the endless possibilities of exploring your shared existence.
And long, long years from now, may you look at one another and be able to say, “With
you, I have lived the life I always wanted to live – with you, I have become the person I
always longed to be.”

Apache Benediction

Now you will feel no rain,
For each of you will be shelter to the other.
Now you will feel no cold,
For each of you will be warmth to the other.
Now there is no more loneliness,
For each of you will be companion to the other.
Now you are two bodies,
But there is only one life before you.
Go now to your dwelling place,
To enter into the days of your togetherness.
And may your days be good and long upon the earth.
Amen.

And now it is my great pleasure to pronounce that Jerry and Linnea are husband and
wife.

Kiss

“The night Jerry and I first kissed, it was a surprise party for his 22nd birthday. I had left his apartment and was walking up to my dorm room when I got a call from him “Wait there!”. I was not in a part of North Oakland that one should really wait in near midnight, but it sounded important. I shifted from foot to foot in the cold until Jerry finally sprint-lumbered up the hill to meet me. He told me that I “left something at the party” and then kissed me for the first time. The line was as cheesy as they come and we were both freezing at night in late November. But it was just so sweet, I can’t help but get a little misty thinking about it.”
Celebrant (to Linnea and Jerry): You may kiss each other