Whenever we try to be formal, we associate that with perfect. But, no matter how much we try to be perfect at formal events, none of us are perfect. Weddings are prime examples. Most of what happens at a wedding is practiced the night of the rehearsal and everyone knows what is coming next. But, there are always a few things that we don’t practice at rehearsal. The flower girl dropping the flower petals is one of those unrehearsed things that can mess up the “perfection” of a formal wedding.
I performed a wedding a while back where the flower girl was just the right age. The young lady looked like a princess as she walked down the aisle perfectly, was dressed perfectly, and had real perfect flower petals in her real basket. The ushers had flawlessly unrolled the white runner (another act that can go horribly wrong) and all the wedding party walked that aisle with precision.
But as she elegantly proceeded, she threw those flowers like she was pitching a softball! Instead of dropping gracefully on the white carpet before the ensuing bride, the colorful petals went high in the air and all directions. Everyone smiled and most chuckled or laughed out loud. The perfect ice-breaker for a tense situation.
Tags: humor, wedding
Several years ago I was officiating at a wedding in our church. This was a fairly formal wedding and we were doing a Unity Candle service after the vows and ring exchange. At that point, the bride and groom lit the unity candle as prescribed and then proceeded to blow out their separate candles.
The problem was, they were standing just at the right angle, and blew just hard enough, that they blew out the unity candle at the same time. Fortunately, there were lighters on the table and they quickly relit the unity candle.
I believe it is possible for us to blow out our own marriage unity candle. Because marriage is an attraction of two opposite personalities, sparks tend to fly from the beginning. In a healthy relationship, we work through those difficulties. But we have all seen people stay too focused upon their own needs and ignore the needs of the one they love. That’s blowing out your own candle.
Fortunately, there’s always a source nearby where we can relight our candle. Keep it burning brightly!
Tags: light, marriage, wedding
Many funny things have happened over the years in weddings. Because weddings are formal events, we expect everything to go perfectly. Therefore, anything not perfect and according to plan seems extra funny.
On one occasion the couple were trying to light the Unity Candle. This part of the wedding ceremony is a visual of two separate lives becoming one. The mothers had officially lit the separate candles at the beginning of the ceremony, signifying their roles in bringing the bride and groom into the world.
At the appropriate time in the ceremony, the bride and groom walked up to the Unity Candle, lifted the separate pre-lit candles and, together, attempted to light the Unity Candle. But it wouldn’t light. Everyone was watching in anticipation as they struggled to get the larger candle to take the flame.
Finally, in desperation, the groom took his pre-lit candle and mashed it onto the top of the Unity Candle. Because the wax had been softened by the two pre-lit candles, it stuck! Everybody chuckled and the ceremony continued. Now that’s a story of stubborn fortitude; a determination to make this happen no matter what.
May you have the same stubborn persistence in your relationships.
Tags: determination, persistence, stubborn, wedding
A couple of years ago I performed a wedding at a rural home. The family had worked really hard to set things up nicely in the front yard. They had about 50 chairs set up and a nice small white canopy. They had set up a small arch where the ceremony occurred.
But in their attempt to make this a really nice wedding, they purchased a carpet runner. When I first started doing weddings in the 1970s, carpet runners were cloth and came on a metal runner with handles. Today they are lightweight plastic around a cardboard tube and a short twine to pull it with. Not ideal for an outside wedding.
As the ushers attempted to unroll the plastic runner across the grass, the gentle breeze blew under it through the grass and rolled that runner. No matter what they tried to do, the runner would not stay in place.
The wedding went just like we planned, but the rolling carpet runner became the memory of the day. What plans have you made that have gone awry and what did God teach you through it?
Tags: trouble, wedding, wind
Two weeks ago our son, Adam, got married to Layna Houser. It was a great ceremony and not much went wrong. But, it is the unplanned that makes the memories.
Our four year old grandson, Reuben, got a little confused with his words. He couldn’t say, “tuxedo,” and kept saying “Texas” instead. “I’m wearing my Texas”, he was heard saying.
Reuben was the ring bearer. However, my wife hid the pillow with the fake rings so it wouldn’t get lost, and no one thought to ask her where the pillow was. So, Reuben had to walk in without the pillow. So he held the hands of Nathan, the best man, and Isaac Houser, the bride’s brother. Half-way through the ceremony he began to do the “potty dance” and asked them both to help him, to which they both said, “Not now.”
After squirming for awhile, his eyes got real big and he ran down to his parents sitting in the third row. “I pee-peed in my Texas”, he reported. Now that’s a memory for the books.
Tags: humor, wedding
A couple of years ago I officiated at a “green” wedding at the Fort Wayne Botanical Gardens. The couple were both college graduates and were all about getting back to nature, thus an outside wedding at the Gardens. However, Mother Nature didn’t cooperate very well. A heavy downpour began 4 minutes before the wedding was to begin and everyone ran under the reception tent.
Then violent winds kicked up and tornado sirens went off in downtown Fort Wayne. Everyone ran into the building. Then a security guard came in and ordered everyone to the basement, where there was no air conditioning. When the all clear signal came, it was still raining, so we performed the wedding ceremony in the lobby of the Botanical Gardens building. All that chaos made for great memories.
But the positive spin came when all was over and we looked out the window to the east and saw a brilliant rainbow stretching from the sky down to a cross atop the neighboring church steeple. That made it all worthwhile and was like God got one up on Mother Nature. I’ll never forget that wedding.
Tags: nature, rainbow, wedding
Years ago I officiated at a wedding in our church. The bridal couple each had about five attendants stand up with them. About half way through the wedding ceremony there was a commotion as the largest guy in the wedding party passed out and fell to the floor. Although everyone gasped, we just left him there and continued on. He later awoke, thoroughly embarrassed, and rejoined us before the recessional began. He really got ribbed over that.
Several years later he was again standing up with another couple in that same family, when I was officiating in a different church, and he did the same thing! Flat on his back. Since this was the same family, everyone just smiled and let him lay there. They were anticipating it this time.
I smile every time I think about it. Why is it always the big guys that fall down? Perhaps there’s a spiritual lesson in that story. If there is a lesson, what would it be?
Tags: fall down, humor, wedding