Skin

Wednesday 4 December 2013

Falling For You: I Wanna Hold Your Hand (Ceremony, part 2)

After Father C delivered the homily, he invited us to join him on the altar, along with our two witnesses, MOH Long Legs and Best Man Tequila. 
"My dear friends, Miss Waterfall and Mr. Waterfall, you have come together in this chapel, so that the Lord may seal and strengthen your love in the presence of your family, your friends, and the Church. Christ abundantly blesses this love. He has already consecrated you in baptism and now, he enriches and strengthens you by a special sacrament so that you may assume the duties of marriage in mutual and lasting fidelity, And so, in the presence of your families, your friends, and God, I ask you to state your intentions." 
- Miss Waterfall and Mr. Waterfall, have you come here freely and without reservation to give yourselves to each other in marriage? 
- We have.
- Will you love and honour each other as man and wife for the rest of your lives? 
- We will.
- Will you accept children lovingly from God, and bring them up according to the law of Christ and his church? 
- We will. 
"Since it is your intention to enter into marriage, join your hands and declare your consent before God and his Church. But before you do, we will pray for you and bless your hands". 

"These are the hands of your best friend, young and strong and full of love for you, that are holding yours on your wedding day, as you promise to love each other today, tomorrow, and forever. These are the hands that will work alongside yours, as together you build your future. These are the hands that will passionately love you and cherish you through the years, and with the slightest touch, will comfort you like no other. These are the hands that will hold you when fear or grief fills your mind. These are the hands that will countless times wipe the tears from your eyes; tears of sorrow, and tears of joy. These are the hands that will tenderly hold your children. These are the hands that will help you to hold your family as one. These are the hands that will give you strength when you need it. And lastly, these are the hands that even when wrinkled and aged, will still be reaching for yours, still giving you the same unspoken tenderness with just a touch." 
I'm so glad that Father C agreed to incorporate the blessing of the hands into our ceremony. I can't remember the first time I saw it (probably right here on Weddingbee), but after that moment, I just knew it was perfect for our ceremony! In the months leading up to the wedding, I read the blessing to Mr. W so often (and sobbed every single time) that I was afraid that it wouldn't make me emotional on our actual wedding day. Clearly, I was wrong.
After the blessing of the hands, it was time for our vows. Mr. Waterfall and I decided to go the traditional route for a number of reasons. For starters, he was afraid that our vows wouldn't have the same tone, or that he would go too sappy with his, and I just knew that there was no way that I could recite long, elaborate vows without crying my eyes out. In the end, going the traditional route was perfect for us, and there was something really beautiful in making the same promises to my husband as my grandparents had made before me. The one little thing I tweaked was having our vows be bilingual. The idea of saying the vows back and forth and Spanish and English just came to me one night, while we prepared our ceremony, but it worked beautifully. In our relationship, we have blended both of our cultures very seamlessly, and it seemed fitting to do the same with our vows. It was one of the only things that we did exclusively "for us", but many of our guests commented on how much they liked that little touch. 
"I, Mr. Waterfall, take you, Miss Waterfall to be my wife. Prometo serte fiel en las alegrias y en las penas, in sickness and in health. Amarte y respetarte todos los dias de mi vida."
"Yo, Miss Waterfall, te tomo a ti, Mr. Waterfall como mi esposo. I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, en la salud y en la enfermedad. I will love you and honour you, all the days of my life". 
After our vows, Father C blessed the rings: "Lord, bless and consecrate Miss Waterfall and Mr. Waterfall in their love for each other. May these rings be a symbol of true faith in each other and always remind them of their love. We ask this through your son, Jesus Christ". Funny story, Best Man Tequila was terrified of dropping the rings the whole time; and when Father C sprinkled them with holy water, all BM Teq could think was "Great... pour water on the rings, that won't make them more slippery!". I think his face says it all...
I had also switched my engagement ring to my right hand before the ceremony, unbeknownst to Mr. W, so he initially tried to place my wedding band on the wrong hand. Oops!
As he placed the ring on my finger, he said, "Miss Waterfall, take this ring as a sign of my love and fidelity. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." and I repeated back to him, "Mr. Waterfall, take this ring as a sign of my love and fidelity. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit."  
After the rings, Father C blessed the arras: "Dios todo poderoso, bendice estas arras, que son signo de la preocupacion y de la dedicacion que Mr. Waterfall va a tener por Miss Waterfall. (God almighty, bless these coins which are a sign of the care and dedication that Mr. Waterfall will take for Miss Waterfall)". Since this is a Spanish custom, we decided it to do it in Spanish. I also don't have any pictures to show you, but you can see a close up of the arras at 3:26 of our wedding trailer! 
Mr. W then placed the thirteen coins in my hands and said, "Miss Waterfall, recibe estas arras como un signo de mi amor y dedicacion por ti. (Miss Waterfall, receive these coins as a symbol of my love and dedication for you)". 
"Mr. and Miss Waterfall, you have declared your consent before God, your family, your friends, and myself. May the Lord in his goodness strengthen your consent and fill you both with his blessings. What God has joined, men must not divide. And now, I declare you husband and wife for the rest of your lives. Mr. Waterfall, you may kiss your wife!"
Everyone started cheering and clapping, and Mr. W and I high-fived right on the altar! We were officially married! Our amazing photographers really did an amazing job of capturing the joy in the room.
But of course, since it was a full catholic mass, there was still some more kneeling and praying to be done. Stay tuned for the conclusion of our ceremony!

 Did you have any special "ceremonies" in your wedding?

Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)