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Officiant Statement:
:
I
believe in marriage. Marriage, with or without (mutual) religious
convictions, nurtures the soul and provides the bulwark against the
adversities inherent in life. I believe that successful and enduring
marriages require a lifetime of mutual love, not the falling-in-love
kind of love that often initiates the relationship, but the love
that focuses on identifying and cherishing the partner's wonderful
qualities. This ability to focus on a partner's inherent good
qualities, especially when one is confronted with displays of our
inevitable lapses into less-than-desirable qualities, often takes
practice but may be the key to a lifetime of mutual happiness. As a
wedding Officiant, I want to encourage couples who are ready to make
a formal and public commitment to love each other for a life time
within the context of marriage to do so with a wedding ceremony that
reflects their readiness to be married and speaks to their desire to
seek the love and support of their families and friends. It has
distressed me for years that many of the couples for whom my husband
has officiated came to us because no priest, minister or rabbi of an
established church or synagogue would agree to officiate at their
wedding because one or both did not belong to their house of
worship. I believe that the willingness of a couple to devote their
lives to each other's happiness and sustenance supersedes the often
required obligation for them to accept the dictates of one religion
over another. |
