H-Dad and I arrived at the altar, and our ceremony began.
Friends, we are gathered together in the sight of God to witness and bless the joining together of Mr. Hyena and Miss Hyena in Christian marriage. ...
Miss Hyena, will you have Mr. Hyena to be your husband, to live together in holy marriage? Will you love him, comfort him, honor and keep him, in sickness and in health, and forsaking all others, be faithful to him as long as you both shall live?
I will!
Mr. Hyena repeated the words to declare his intent, then H-Dad delivered his line, gave me away and took his seat next to Mom Hyena.
Before we continued with the ceremony, Pastor Jason lifted up a prayer.
The Lord be with you. And also with you. Let us pray.
God of all peoples, you are the true light illuminating everyone. You show us the way, the truth and the life. You love us even when we are disobedient. You sustain us with your Holy Spirit. We rejoice in your life in the midst of our lives. We praise you for your presence with us, and especially in this act of solemn covenant; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
I was really distracted in the first few minutes of our ceremony. I was trying so hard not to have a panic attack with everyone watching me. I tried to keep myself as calm as possible, but you can tell in our wedding video how hard I was trying to breathe deeply and relax. I put my head on Mr. Hyena's shoulder, and he held onto me to make sure I wasn't going to pass out.
SIL Hyena came up to deliver our Scripture reading, Philippians 4:4-9. This verse has been near and dear to my heart for several years. I call it my "stop sign" verse, and I always go back to it when I'm feeling anxious or nervous, so it was absolutely perfect in that moment.
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me — put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
Jason delivered a short marriage address, noting that Mr. Hyena should continue to be a calming presence to me, and I should continue to be uplifting to Mr. Hyena. Then, it was time to recite our vows.
In the name of God, I, Mr. Hyena, take you, Miss Hyena, to be my wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, until we are parted by death. This is my solemn vow.
With those words, any nervousness I had been feeling completely evaporated. Mr. Hyena started to get teary while he said his vows, and I whispered to him, "You can do it." Then it was my turn to repeat those vows, which I did grinning ear to ear.
We had been told that after we repeated those vows, we were officially married and the rest of the ceremony is just details. As soon as I had finished repeating the vows, Jason said more things but I don't know what they were, because I immediately grinned at Mr. Hyena and whispered, "WE'RE MARRIED!"
We exchanged rings...
Mr. Hyena, I give you this ring as a sign of my vow, and with all that I am and all that I have, I honor you; in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Mr. Hyena and I had wanted to include communion in lieu of a unity candle or other unity ceremony. Jason blessed the bread and wine, and invited the congregation to come forward to receive the sacrament. Then he handed me the bread, and gave the cup to Mr. Hyena.
The two of us serving communion together as our first act as a married couple was one of my favorite parts of the ceremony.
It gave us a chance to see many of our guests before the reception, and I loved being able to serve beside my husband (!!!).
This was the only place we had something go wrong in the whole ceremony. As communion was winding down, Jason came up to the front, and I made the — incorrect — assumption that he wanted me to give him back the loaf of bread so we could wrap up the ceremony. So I handed him the loaf, and he looked confused. "I wanted to receive," he said, and the reality dawned on me. So I snatched the bread back and broke off a piece of it for him. Our guests got a good laugh!
With that, the ceremony was almost over.
Are you including communion or any type of unity ceremony in your wedding?
all photos by Danny Boyle Photography
Previously on A Life Full of Laughter:
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