I was blessed with 2 weddings today :)Matthew & Helena are artists, and they met at art school 9yrs ago. Their studios were near each others, and admiration of each other's art work led to their meeting, courtship, and marriage.
They were married in Brooklyn in DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan and Brooklyn Overpass) at DAC--The Dumbo Arts Center: a nice, big open space with hardwood floors, exposed beams in the ceilings, easily converted to meet the needs of the wedding celebration. We had white folding chairs, tables with red, purple, and wild flowers, a wide paper runner, bar area to the back, and buffet catering on the side.
Helena & Matthew are unique & creative, and we adopted a wedding ritual from 2006 bride Andrea's wedding: flowers were placed on the chairs in the back of the room, and everyone *passed the flowers forward* giving them their love & blessings. As the flowers reached the front, they were gathered and tied with ribbon, and became Helena's bridal bouquet. Collaborative, personal, and romantic!Matthew expresses himself like a poet, and when we met this Spring he told me he admires the Transcendentalists. This delighted me, as I lived in Boston for 5yrs and loved to take "literary day trips"--
to Lowell, to walk in the steps of Kerouac, and to Concord to visit Louisa May Alcott's Orchard House, and Emerson & Thoreau. We used some Emerson quotes in the ceremony, and they set the tone beautifully:
“He wh
o is in love is wise and is becoming wiser, sees newly every time he looks at the (object) beloved,
drawing from it with his eyes and his mind those virtues it possesses” --Emerson
"Give all to love. Obey thy heart." --Emerson
Matthew & Helena held hands throughout the ceremony, and chose this reading for their wedding day.
This was the 1stX I've read it in a ceremony:
A New Beginning, Gwen Frostic
On this earth there is a oneness
A rhythmic flow through everything that lives
The things with roots and stems and leaves
The things with shells and fins and furs
The things with wings with which to fly
The things that crwal and those that walk
Each thing must eat and breath and rest
Each thing must seek and each is sought for
Each has a birth, a purpose to fulfill
To each an end and then a new beginning.
A tender, quiet, beautiful ceremony with family & friends. I enjoyed a glass of Prosecco after the wedding, said my goodbyes, and got on the F train to 42nd Street to walk to Tudor City Greens near the UN for:
I pronounced them husband & wife, "mari & femme," and left them to enjoy and celebrate this beautiful summer night!
Congratulations to both Helena & Matthew, and Muriel & Jean-Paul today! Many blessings!
With love, Rev. Annie
