Our pseudo-ceremony

You guys know we had a civil ceremony and are having a reception August 7th right? 

Well as far as i'm concerned, it's a wedding reception and will be treated as such. Our reception will be treated as if we just finished our ceremony and cocktail hour and just came in. We'll have cutting of the cake, first dance etc. The only difference is that we'll have a 10 minute pseudo- ceremony right at the very beginning. This is what I have in mind.
When we are announced and come in, our guests will throw petals on us. Those petals will be in the aqua cones that I made. Our DOH will pass them around right before our entrance.

Good Evening Ladies and Gentlemen

We are all here tonight to celebrate the very happy occasion of Jem and Mr. Muscle's marriage.  As we all know they were married in a civil ceremony and I would like you to please join me in saying CONGRATULATIONS!

I think it’s fitting here as I’m sure you will agree that we commemorate their union with a few words.

Each of us knows that a marriage is not created by a law or a religion, but in the hearts of two human beings. It grows out of loving, caring, and sharing ourselves with another.

Marriage is a bold step into an unknown future. It is risking who we are for the sake of who we can be. In marriage, two lives are intimately shared; and the blending of the two must not diminish either one. Rather, it should enhance the individuality of each partner.

The lord works in mysterious ways and sometimes we look at our lives and wonder how we found this person who just seems to match us perfectly. Who is all we hoped to find in a life partner and we know it’s God’s hand at work and for this we are immensely grateful. Thank you Father.

Ladies and gentlemen let’s all bow our heads as we lift our hearts to God to thank him for this blessed occasion.

(Prayer inserted  here.)

I know you must have done this in your civil ceremony but it can’t hurt to do it again. 

Mr. Muscle,  please kiss your bride.

Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. and Mrs. Muscle.

to which I expect lots of applause. Mr. Muscle's cousin is an almost pastor so he will be presiding. I decided to write everything because he said he was a little nervous and he would do it any way I wanted.

I again stole borrowed alot of this from Miss Fancy Pants. She found most of it online so I guess this came from a lot of different sources. I tweaked it and added a little here and there to make it my own. I ran it by Mr. Muscle and he seems to like it but then again it was during a yankee game so he may have just said that to get rid of me.


My SIL wanted to do a reading in the original ceremony so I thought she could still do it so I wrote something for her:
Love
You are born and cocooned by the love of your family
You then grow up and there comes a time when you shed that cocoon to seek a life partner
That's not to say that when you find that person, life is going to be perfect
Nothing is
But you will find someone who is matched to you in spirit and makes your heart sing
Someone who who you can't imagine your life without
Someone who you're drawn to even from across the word
And your heart rejoices
That is when you know you've found LOVE.
I ran it by Mr. Muscle and he seems to like it but then again it was during a yankee game so he may have just said that to get rid of me.

Either way, this is it.

JEM.