My Experience With Weddings

I attended a few weddings as a child. To be honest, at the time, I found the wedding ceremonies performed in churches to be a bit long and boring. In college I was a witness in both the weddings of my two sisters. Their courthouse weddings were nice and short and we still got to have cake. Bought one of my sisters cheesecake from the grocery store to be sure of it and my other sister had plenty of food at her reception in a community hall that she reserved for the occasion.

As an adult, weddings began to feel more meaningful to me. I started to understand what all this talk about love was about. When I was ready to get married, my now husband and I interviewed a couple of officiants. Some of the officiants were willing to let us write our ceremony ourselves but we were seeking some guidance. We agreed that the Unitarian Universalist minister was the best. She worked with us to put together a lovely wedding ceremony script.

My husband and I got married outside underneath a cottonwood tree on the summer solstice. It was a warm day, but the shade and a cool breeze made the weather tolerable for guests. (My maid of honor, her kids, and I also made fans out of colored construction paper and we made sure water was available.) Our minister talked about love and marriage with an underlying theme of nature-based spirituality. To get more important people involved, my beloved's uncle read "Union" by Robert Fulghum and one of my cousins read "The Apache Marriage Blessing."

Nowadays, I enjoy attending the weddings of friends and family. Love is beautiful. It's interesting to see how different people celebrate getting married in ways that match their personalities. What works for some people doesn't work for others. At some weddings, the couple wears cowboy boots, at others they wear sandals, sneakers, or get married barefoot on the beach. I wore shoes I could dance in.

With our third wedding anniversary approaching, I'm even more excited about weddings. I want to officiate weddings for a few different reasons. Though it's been a few years since I was a teacher, I got used to speaking in front of small groups and would like to keep my public speaking skills fresh. I have some experience writing and editing, so that helps with tailoring wedding ceremony scripts for unique couples. Most of all, I want to help people who love each other and are ready to commit their lives to one another get married. Yay, weddings!