This is our ceremony as we originally wrote it. We then turned it over to our officiant, Rudi, who added his own benediction section (which we don't have in here) and made minor modifications. This was exported from MS Word; may not look pretty in all browsers.
The Wedding Ceremony of Lilly Tao and Landon Dyer
August 19, 2001
Prelude
Trio: Haydn London trio performed by Fan-Chia Tao, brother of the bride on violin, Tara Kazak, sister-in-law of the bride on flute, and Jerry Huang, uncle of the bride.
A song by 7 of 8, an a cappella group that Lilly co-founded.
“Rise Up”
Processional
Music: March of the Bowmen from the Robin Hood Suite by Frederic Curzon. Recorded music provided by Fan-Ching Tao
Rudi goes up.
Jack goes up.
Landon and parents process up.
Sharon goes up.
Lilly and parents process up.
Rudi stands in center, facing audience. Lilly and Sharon stand to left, facing Rudi on a diagonal. Landon and Jack stand to right symmetrical to women. (try this out in rehearsal, whatever works)
Welcome and Introduction
Rudi:
Family and friends of Lilly and Landon, welcome (if people are standing add: please be seated). We are assembled here today to celebrate the decision of two people to join their lives together in a special partnership. I am Rudi Diezmann. I introduced Lilly and Landon to each other in the lobby of Austin-Hayne over two years ago. I am honored to be officiating at their marriage.
Marriage is Lilly and Landon’s means of expressing to each other and their surrounding community their commitment to love, respect, and care for each other. They are sharing this important milestone in their relationship with those they care about, their families and friends, those who have supported them through their lives, through joyous times and difficult times. It is most important to them that you are here today to share in this celebration and witness their vows. They want to thank all of you for being here, those who have traveled far and made time for this event. You have helped to create who Lilly and Landon are today, and by sharing this special day with you, they hope they are in some way thanking you for all you have done for them in the past.
Two joining themes in Lilly and Landon’s lives are their shared love for the written word and music. So it is most appropriate that their wedding celebration consist of these two elements. They have asked some of their friends and family to participate in this ceremony by providing words and music to define and seal their marriage.
Rudi,
Sharon, Jack, Lilly, Landon sit in chairs to one side, facing outwards, but
able to see center.
Jen's Reading (theme "a reading from childhood")
The Owl and the Pussycat
by Edward Lear
The Owl and the Pussy-Cat
went to sea
In a beautiful pea-green boat:
They took some honey, and plenty of money
Wrapped up in a five-pound note.
The Owl looked up to the stars above,
And sang to a small guitar,
"O lovely Pussy, O Pussy, my love,
What a beautiful Pussy you are,
You are,
You are!
What a beautiful Pussy you are!"
Pussy said to the Owl, "You
elegant fowl,
How charmingly sweet you sing!
Oh! let us be married; too long we have tarried:
But what shall we do for a ring?"
They sailed away, for a year and a day,
To the land where the bong-tree grows;
And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood,
With a ring at the end of his nose,
His nose,
His nose,
With a ring at the end of his nose.
"Dear Pig, are you willing
to sell for one shilling
Your ring?" Said the Piggy, "I will."
So they took it away, and were married next day
By the Turkey who lives on the hill.
They dined on mince and slices of quince,
Which they ate with a runcible spoon;
And hand in hand on the edge of the sand
They danced by the light of the moon,
The moon,
The moon,
They danced by the light of the moon.
Toni's Reading:
selections from "The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood" (she
put this together herself so we don't have a written copy here; the theme
was "deciding to marry")
Andrea's Reading (theme "sustaining a marriage")
On marriage from The Prophet
by Kahil Gibran
Then Almitra spoke again
and said, "And what of Marriage, master?"
And he answered saying:
You were born together, and together you shall be forevermore.
You shall be together when white wings of death scatter your days.
Aye, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God.
But let there be spaces in your togetherness,
And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.
Love one another but make not a bond of love:
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.
Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup.
Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf.
Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone,
Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.
Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping.
For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.
And stand together, yet not too near together:
For the pillars of the temple stand apart,
And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow.
*Trio: Sonata in C Minor, Andante Moderato by Johann Joachim Quantz
Pam's Reading (theme "what marriage is")
A Marriage
by Michael Blumenthal
You are holding up a ceiling with both arms. It is very heavy, but you must hold it up, or else it will fall down on you. Your arms are tired, terribly tired, and, as the day goes on, it feels as if either your arms or the ceiling will soon collapse.
But then, unexpectedly, something wonderful happens: Someone, a man or a woman, walks into the room and holds their arms up to the ceiling beside you.
So you finally get to take down your arms. You feel the relief of respite, the blood flowing back to your fingers and arms. And when your partner's arms tire, you hold up your own to relieve him again.
And it can go on like this for many years without the house falling.
Leslie's Reading (theme "why love")
L o v e
by Roy Croft
I love you,
Not only for what you are,
But for what I am
When I am with you.
I love you,
Not only for what
You have made of yourself,
But for what
You are making of me.
I love you
For the part of me
That you bring out;
I love you
For putting your hand
Into my heaped-up heart
And passing over
All the foolish, weak things
That you can't help
Dimly seeing there,
And for drawing out
Into the light
All the beautiful belongings
That no one else had looked
Quite far enough to find.
I love you because you
Are helping me to make
Of the lumber of my life
Not a tavern
But a temple;
Out of the works
Of my every day
Not a reproach
But a song.
*Song: “Vita de la Mia” ("Life of My Life") Text by Torquato Tasso, Music by William Hawley
Lisa and Fred's Reading (closing readings)
Love is more thicker than
forget
by E.E. Cummings
Love is more thicker than
forget
More thinner than recall
More seldom than a wave is wet
More frequent than to fail
It is most mad and moonly
And less it shall unbe
Than all the sea which only
Is deeper than the sea
Love is less always than
to win
Less never than alive
Less bigger than the least begin
Less littler than forgive
It is most sane and sunly
And more it cannot die
Than all the sky which only
Is higher than the sky
Epithalamium Beginning with
the Letter W
By John Stone, MD
W is for the wedding
of this woman and this man
Let your twoness be as one
as much as twoness can
though let your one be also
two.
And let the letter W stand
for all it came from to:
may you begin, as it began,
a double you.
Marriage is the joining of two lives, the mystical, physical, and emotional union of two human beings who have separate families and histories, separate tragedies and destinies. It is the merging of two life stories. Each person has, in a sense, read the past life story of the person they are about to marry, tried out some trial co-authorship for a few passages, and has formed a magnificent hunch that, as time goes on, this other person will create with them an even more wonderful story.
Marriage is more than a sentimental formalization of a feeling. It is a vote of confidence, of conviction, that this feeling of love will be enlarged and expand, bringing out the best of its participants, and thereby transforming them into who they were meant to be.
Lilly and Landon will now speak their vows to each other and their gathered witnesses.
Lilly
gives Sharon her bouquet to hold. Lilly
and Landon face each other.
Vow pieces:
I Lilly/Landon take you Landon/Lilly to be my husband/wife. To be my partner in life through good times and bad. To be my friend and my beloved. I promise to respect who you are and help you grow into who you want to be. I will do my best to listen to and to understand you. I will support you and love you, and laugh with you as long as we live.
Rudi:
Lilly and Landon have chosen to exchange and wear rings as a visible symbol of their bond to each other.
Lilly/Landon take this ring, a perfect circle of precious metal, as a symbol of my never ending love and the incalculable worth of your love to me. Wear it as a reminder of today.
Rudi:
[says something benedictish and wise]
It is with great happiness that I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss!
Music: Camille Saint-Saens Symphony #3 in C Minor, "Organ", Maestoso
Lilly and Landon process out together.
Followed by Sharon and Jack together.
Then Rudi.
Then everyone.
