Processional (Thomas and Radha play when Jeremy cues them)
Greeting (Rachel)
Welcome, family and friends.
We are here today to celebrate the love that Madhavi and Jeremy have for each other.
If you ask most couples who have a strong and abiding love what they like most about their partners, usually they will say that they don't have to pretend to be anything other than what they are. They are able to express themselves without fear of being judged or rejected. There is room in the relationship for both of them to be unique individuals. They are free to surrender to the possibility of profound intimacy-to be known and loved without condition.
It is a relationship to be entered into deliberately, lovingly, and with respect.
Knowing and embracing this, Madhavi and Jeremy have invited all those present to offer your love and support to this union, and to allow them to start their married life together
surrounded by the people dearest and most important to them.
Reading (Yvona) - excerpt from “Gift from the Sea" by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
When you love someone, you do not love them all the time, in exactly the same way, from moment to moment. It is an impossibility. It is even a lie to pretend to. And yet this is exactly what most of us demand. We have so little faith in the ebb and flow of life, of love, of relationships. We leap at the flow of the tide and resist in terror its ebb. We are afraid it will never return. We insist on permanency, on duration, on continuity; when the only continuity possible, in life as in love, is in growth, in fluidity - in freedom, in the sense that the dancers are free, barely touching as they pass, but partners in the same pattern.
The only real security is not in owning or possessing, not in demanding or expecting, not in hoping, even. Security in a relationship lies neither in looking back to what was in nostalgia, nor forward to what it might be in dread or anticipation, but living in the present relationship and accepting it as it is now. Relationships must be like islands, one must accept them for what they are here and now, within their limits - islands, surrounded and interrupted by the sea, and continually visited and abandoned by the tides.
Song (Pete) excerpt from "We Belong Together" by Gavin DeGraw
We belong together,
like the open seas and shores.
wedded by the planet force, we've all been spoken for.
The hammer may strike,
be dead on the ground.
a nail to my hand,
a cross on his crown.
we're done if, who we're undone,
finished if who we are incomplete.
as one we are everything,
we are everything we need.
We belong together,
like the open seas and shores,
wedded by the planet force,
we've all been spoken for
What good is a life,
with no one to share,
the light of the moon,
the honor of a swear.
we can try to live the way in which you speak,
taste the milk of your mother earth's love,
spread the word of consciences you see,
we are everything we need
We belong together,
like the open seas and shores.
wedded by the planet force,
we've all been spoken for.
Poem (Ragini) - excerpt from "I Like You" by Sandol Stoddard Warburg
I like you and I know why.
I like you because you are a good person to like,
I like you because when I tell you something special, you know it's special
And you remember it a long, long time.
You say, Remember when you told me something special
And both of us remember.
When I think something is important
You think it's important too.
We have good ideas.
When I say something funny, you laugh
I think I'm funny and you think I'm funny too
Ha ha!
That's because you really like me
You really like me, don't you
And I really like you back
And you like me back and I like you back
And that's the way we keep on going every day
If you go away, then I go away too,
Or if I stay home, you send me a postcard.
You don't just say Well see you around sometime, bye.
I like you a lot because of that.
If I go away, I send you a postcard too.
And I like you because if we go away together
And if we are in Grand Central Station
And if I get lost
Then you are the one who is yelling for me.
And I like you because when I am feeling sad
You don't always cheer me up right away
Sometimes it is better to be sad
You can't stand the others being so googly and gaggly every single minute
You want to think about things
It takes time.
I like you because if I am mad at you
Then you are mad at me too
It's awful when the other person isn't.
They are so nice and hoo-hoo you could just about punch them in the nose.
If you find two four-leaf clovers, you give me one.
If I find four, I give you two.
If we only find three, we keep on looking.
Sometimes we have good luck, and sometimes we don't.
I like you because I don't know why but
Everything that happens is nicer with you.
I can't remember when I didn't like you
It must have been lonesome then.
I like you because because because
I forget why I like you but I do.
So many reasons.
On the fourth of July I like you because it's the fourth of July.
On the fifth of July, I like you too.
Even if it was the 999th of July
Even if it was August
Even if it was way down at the bottom of November
Even if it was no place particular in January
I would go on choosing you
And you would go on choosing me
Over and over again.
That's how it would happen every time.
I guess I just like you because I like you.
Song (Jesse)
Speech (Natalie)
Song (Thomas & Radha)
Rachel: (excerpt from Robert Fulgham)
Madhavi and Jeremy, you have known each other from the first glance of acquaintance to this point of commitment. At some point, you decided to marry. From that moment of yes, to this moment of yes, indeed, you have been making commitments in an informal way. All of those conversations that were held in a car, or over a meal, or during long walks – all those conversations that began with, “When we’re married”, and continued with “I will” and “you will” and “we will” – all those late night talks that included “someday” and “somehow” and “maybe” – and all those promises that are unspoken matters of the heart. All these common things, and more, are the real process of a wedding. The symbolic vows that you are about to make are a way of saying to one another, “You know all those things that we’ve promised, and hoped, and dreamed – well, I meant it all, every word.”Look at one another and remember this moment in time. Before this moment you have been many things to one another – acquaintance, friend, companion, lover, dancing partner, even teacher, for you have learned much from one another these past few years. Shortly you shall say a few words that will take you across a threshold of life, and things between you will never quite be the same. Madhavi and Jeremy, we come now to your vows. Will you now please turn and face each other, and hold hands.
Rachel to Jeremy:
Jeremy, please repeat after me:
Madhavi, I choose now to stay this path with you,.......
Wherever it leads, whatever the outcome;.............
To travel with you through the adventures of life,...........
Loving you at my side, in all that we will find,...........
I pledge my friendship, my faith and my love...............
Please put the ring on Madhavi's finger.
Rachel to Madhavi:
Madhavi, please repeat after me:
Jeremy, I choose now to stay this path with you,............
Wherever it leads, whatever the outcome;.........
To travel with you through the adventures of life,........
Loving you at my side, in all that we will find,........
I pledge my friendship, my faith and my love...........
Please put the ring on Jeremy's finger.
Rachel:
We will now bless the couple with a custom called "The Seven Steps," used traditionally in Hindu wedding ceremonies. The bride and groom take a step in symbolic affirmation of each blessing. [Rachel says each blessing, then M+J step after]
1. May this couple be blessed with an abundance of resources and comforts, and be helpful to one another in all ways.
2. May this couple be strong and complement one another.
3. May this couple be blessed with prosperity and riches on all levels.
4. May this couple be eternally happy.
5. May this couple be blessed with a happy family life.
6. May this couple live in perfect harmony, true to their personal values and their joint promises.
7. May this couple always be the best of friends.
We come now to the Jewish custom of the breaking of the glass. There is an ancient teaching which suggests that life itself is like a vessel into which there pours, at different times, varying amounts of joy and sadness. But at the time of a wedding, there is such an abundance of love and laughter, and of hopes and dreams, that no vessel is considered large enough to contain them all.
Jeremy, as you break this glass on your behalf and Madhavi's, those fragments, those sparks of love, laughter, hopes, and dreams, rush forth to touch everyone who is privileged to be here today. Madhavi and Jeremy, with the breaking of the glass, I declare you husband and wife.
[Jeremy breaks the glass, M+J kiss, and on cue, Alo Brasil breaks into batucada at which point M+J go back up the aisle hand in hand]
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