As I began to write this post about my ceremony I realized I completely left out a part that both Mr Frenchie and I found important, so I would like to rewind here...
Papa Frenchie and I have just made it down to Mr Frenchie and
our officiant, Leanne.
Leanne greeted everyone and started the ceremony with a prayer:
Gracious God, You are always faithful in Your love for us. Look mercifully upon Jason & Allison, who have come seeking Your blessing. Let Your Holy Spirit rest upon them so that with steadfast love they may honor the promises they make this day, through Jesus Christ our Lord & Savior. Amen.
After the prayer, was the Declaration of Intent (which Leanne read to us each individually, but I've combined them for you):
Miss/Mr Frenchie, will you have Mr/Miss Frenchie to be your husband/wife, to live together in the covenant of marriage? Will you love him/her, comfort him/her, honor and keep him/her, in sickness and in health, and forsaking all others, be faithful to him/her, as long as you both shall live?
We of course answered "I Will"!
Now comes the part I was super bummed I forgot to tell you about, The Affirmation of the Congregation:
Will you who witness this covenant between Allison and Jason, respect their marriage and sustain them with your friendship and care?
For us it was very important to involve our guest in our ceremony, even just a little bit. I mean, we did ask them to go to the wedding for a reason, right?
This whole time Papa Frenchie was still standing to my left, you may think that is a long time, Mr Frenchie did, but it past in a flash! Before I knew it Papa Frenchie was 'giving me away' on behalf of himself and Mama Frenchie and sitting down.
Next, my cousins on Mama Frenchie's side read Corinthians 13:1-13:
If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.
Corinthians 13:1-13, is probably to most read scripture at weddings but it has been my favorite scripture since I memorized it in grade school and no-one was going to talk me out of using it on our wedding. We made up for it with a unique second reading... keep reading it's coming up ;-)
“The first stage is to believe that there is only one kind of love. The middle stage is to believe that there are many kinds of love and that the Greeks had a different word for each of them. The last stage is to believe that there is only one kind of love.
The unabashed eros of lovers, the sympathetic philia of friends, agape giving itself away freely are all varied manifestations of a single reality. To lose yourself in another’s arms, or in another’s company, or in suffering for all men who suffer, including the ones who inflict suffering upon you – to lose yourself in such ways is to find yourself. Is what it’s all about. Is what love is.
Of all powers, love is the most powerful and the most powerless. It is the most powerful because it alone can conquer that final and most impregnable stronghold which is the human heart. It is the most powerless because it can do nothing except by consent.”
Leanne, recapped
our first date and told the story of the first time she met Jason. She poked fun at how much we love food based on conversations we had in our meetings with her and the sheets she had us fill out. Apparently, in talking about something we wanted in our marriage we both said:
"...trust, support and reliability are key. That you are challenged and encouraged to be the best you can be, all that God has created you to be. You each want to make the other happy. That you can grow old with and cook with as often as you can!
It got a few laughs.
That's Mama Frenchie's I'm-trying-not-to-laugh-too-much-this-is-serious face
After we all giggled, it was time for the Getting Married part! This is when I realized I was still wearing my engagement ring on my left ring finger. I turned away from our guests to hand my sister my bouquet and on my way back I switched it to my right hand. VERY crafty, if I do say so myself, because no-one noticed (as far as I know), not even Sister Frenchie!
We repeated the following vows, we chose from a list Leanne had given us:
"I, Miss/Mr Frenchie, in the presence of God, take you, Mr/Miss Frenchie, to be my husband. All that I am I give to you, and all that I have I share with you. Whatever the future holds, I will love you and stand by you, as long as we both shall live."
Leanne blessed our rings...
"Rings are a sign of the never-ending love of God toward us and the kind of love we should seek for one another as well as the value and worth of our spouse. Love endures as we grow together in Christ’s love."
"Bless, O Lord, this ring, that he who gives it and she who wears it may abide in Your peace and continue in Your constant love throughout their lives. Amen."
We repeated...
"Miss/Mr Frenchie, I give you this ring as a sign of my love and faithfulness."
Following our vows and the exchanging of our rings, SIL Frenchie read excerpts from
Sandol Stoddard Warburg's "I Like You".
I like you and I know why
I like you because you are a good person to like
I like you because when I tell you something special, you know it's special
And you remember it a long, long time
You say, Remember when you told me something special
And both of us remember
When I think something is important
you think it's important too
We have good ideas
When I say something funny, you laugh
I think I'm funny and you think I'm funny too
Hah-hah!
I can't remember when I didn't like you
It must have been lonesome then
Even if it was the 999th of July
Even if it was August
Even if it was way down at the bottom of November
I would go on choosing you
And you would go on choosing me
Over and over again
And that's how it would happen every time.
That may sounds familiar because it was also a
reading in the Candy Corn's wedding and
Miss Scissors also recently posted about reading at their wedding. I wanted to read the WHOLE book, but Mr Frenchie was nervous about having to stand in front of all those people that long, so we just chose some of our favorite parts.
Mr Frenchie later admitted the ceremony went by much faster than he thought it would, before he knew it were were repeating the Lord's Prayer.
And being pronounced as Husband and Wife!
"Inasmuch as Jason and Allison have made their solemn vows to each other before God and in the presence of this congregation, and have pledged their faithfulness to one another and have confirmed their covenant by the giving and the receiving of rings; and by virtue of the authority vested in me as a Minister of the Word and Sacrament, and by the laws of this state, I now pronounce you husband and wife. Therefore, what God has joined together let no one separate. In the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit."
Which is my favorite part of every wedding. Hearing "...I now pronounce you husband and wife. Therefore, what God has joined together let no one separate..." for us, WAS AWESOME!
Then is was kissing time...
"May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face to shine upon you and give you peace, shalom, wholeness, fullness of life, both now and forevermore. Amen."
"You may kiss the bride."
Because we weren't going to a new venue for our reception, we decided to have Leanne announce us for the first time. We also LOVE Leanne, and no offense to
our awesome MC, we felt like it would mean more coming from her.
"Ladies and Gentlemen: it is with great pleasure that I present to you for the first time Mr. and Mrs. Jason and Allison Frenchie."
Is your groom (or you,
Miss Pug *cough*) trying to make to ceremony shorter to avoid standing in front of all those people for too long?
Up Next: The biggest 'Oops' of the Day
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The church I've attended since age 7, started singing this song at the end of every service when I was in Jr High. Plus, when I went to Scotland 7 years ago with the church choir we sang this at the end of every performance. As you can see this song has special meaning to me, so I really wanted to sing it at the end of our wedding ceremony. The plan was to sing the song standing up front and then at the "Amen" part, Mr Frenchie and I would walk back down the aisle while our guest tossed rose petals at us. Sounds good, right?
The church I've attended since age 7, started singing this song at the end of every service when I was in Jr High. Plus, when I went to Scotland 7 years ago with the church choir we sang this at the end of every performance. As you can see this song has special meaning to me, so I really wanted to sing it at the end of our wedding ceremony. The plan was to sing the song standing up front and then at the "Amen" part, Mr Frenchie and I would walk back down the aisle while our guest tossed rose petals at us. Sounds good, right?
At first I was totally bummed the song didn't work out, but then I realized no-one really cared but me and I moved on. Mainly, I was just so excited the toss worked and we were married!
After the ceremony we spent a little time just us letting it all soak in. We had to take pictures immediately following the ceremony, so we didn't get to go off to a room and send sometime together like I would have liked. But our friends were really respectful and didn't bother us off in our little corner for a few minutes.
