Sonia & Greg

When Sonia first contacted me about her wedding ceremony, she mentioned that she already had some words and poems picked out and wondered if I could incorporate them into the ceremony. Carl Seaburg, a Unitarian Universalist Minister, was like a grandfather to her before his death in 1998. As part of his legacy he left a book of collected poems and readings called “Great Occasions: Readings for the Celebration of Birth, Coming-of-Age, Marriage, and Death”. Sonia wanted to include some of these words, so I got to work! It ended up being more difficult than I expected to make Carl’s selections flow smoothly with my own words, primarily because the language in most of the readings was very formal, which is not my usual style, but I worked and reworked some things until I felt confident that we had a ceremony that was meaningful and graceful, but not overly stiff and formal.

The second element that made Sonia & Greg’s ceremony extra-special was their vows. The couple chose to write their own vows, and they were both personal and tender. But the real icing on the cake was a surprise that Sonia had planned: vows for Greg’s kids. Sonia came into their lives five years ago, and stepped up with dedication and perseverance to become a mother to them. On the day of the ceremony she hadn’t told either Greg or the kids that she would be reading them vows, so when I announced it and handed her the sheet of paper with the vows written on it it was the first they knew of it. And it was one of the sweetest vow-readings I have witnessed. The kids were clearly touched, and any guests who had managed to make it through Sonia and Greg’s vows to each other dry-eyed had to pull out the tissues now.