Prelude
Procession
Kalevala
Canon in D
Jesu, Joy Of Man's Desiring
Ritual - Native American calling in of the directions
Welcoming - Minister Mary Ann Neevel from Plymouth Church
Parent Blessing - Where we honored our parents for helping us become the people we are and where we asked for their blessing
Readings - Following an arch from a "call to action" for the heart to the rules of a good relationship to the community's blessing of the union
Excerpt from Ode To A Couple by Pablo Neruda Read by Dick Silberman
Complete yourself, man or woman, let nothing intimidate you. Somewhere, even now, someone waits for you. Get up, light is trembling on the bells, poppies are opening, you must live and mold your life with clay and light. If snow falls upon two heads, the heart is sweet, the house is warm. If not, in the storm, the wind asks: where is the woman you loved? and nipping at your heels will press you to seek her. Half a woman is one woman and one man is half a man. Each lives in half a house, each sleeps in half a bed. I want lives to blend together, kindling kisses unknown until now.
Excerpt from Gift from The Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh Read by Joanne Kopischke
A good relationship has a pattern like a dance and is built on some of the same rules. The partners do not need to hold on tightly, because they move confidently in the same pattern, intricate but gay and swift and free, like a country dance of Mozart's. To touch heavily would be to arrest the pattern and freeze the movement, to check the endlessly changing beauty of its unfolding. There is no place here for the possessive clutch, the clinging arm, the heavy hand; only the barest touch in passing. Now arm in arm, now face to face, now back to back-it does not matter which. Because they know they are partners moving to the same rhythm, creating a pattern together, and being invisibly nourished by it.
Apache Prayer Read by Eric Heid
Now you will feel no rain, for each of you will be shelter for the other. Now you will feel no cold, for each of you will be warmth to the other. Now there will be no loneliness, for each of you will be companion to the other. Now you are two persons, but there is only one life before you. May beauty surround you both in the journey ahead and through all the years. May happiness be your companion and your days together be good and long upon the earth. Treat yourselves and each other with respect, and remind yourselves often of what brought you together. Give the highest priority to the tenderness, gentleness and kindness that your connection deserves. When frustration, difficulties and fear assail your relationship, as they threaten all relationships at one time or another, remember to focus on what is right between you, not only the part which seems wrong. In this way, you can ride out the storms when clouds hide the face of the sun in your lives -- remembering that even if you lose sight of it for a moment, the sun is still there. And if each of you takes responsibility for the quality of your life together, it will be marked by abundance and delight.
Celebrant's Address - Maybe the only time a Hemi has been mentioned in a wedding ceremony (that did not also have mullets)
Buddhist Declaration of Intent
Officiant: I now ask if you pledge to nourish yourselves and each other by living by the following five precepts. Will you, in every way you can, allow your deepest self to appear?
Anne & Joel: We will.
Officiant: Will you take full responsibility for your own life in all its infinite dimensions?
Anne & Joel: We will.
Officiant: Do you trust in the honesty and wisdom of your own bodies which, with your love and reverence, always show you the true way?
Anne & Joel: We do.
Officiant: Are you committed to embrace all parts of yourselves, including your deepest fears and shadows, so that they can be transformed into light?
Anne & Joel: We are.
Officiant: Will you keep your hearts open, even in the midst of great pain?
Anne & Joel: We will.
Vows
Joel: Anne, I come to you today with an open heart, full of joy. Your presence in my life grounds me, making me a better person and inspiring me to strive for my highest, best self. I promise to always treat you with tenderness and respect. I will not rely on you for my happiness, yet I will be joyful because you are in my life. I pledge and bring my whole self to you-the gold and the shadow-and I promise to see your complete self and love all of you unconditionally. I am grateful and blessed that you have chosen me and today, here and now, in this sacred space, surrounded by our loved ones, I vow to be yours, an equal partner in this marriage.
Anne: Joel, I come here today in front of all of our family and friends, to join our lives in marriage. You've shown me the meaning of true love and how important honesty and openness are in a relationship. I pledge to be by your side in good times and in times that may challenge us. And as we continue to grow as a family, I promise that my love for you, and Rose, will continue to grow as well.
Officiant: Tender words said to one another are stored in the secret heart of Heaven. One day like rain they will fall and spread, and your mystery will grow green over the world. (author: Rumi)
Ring Exchange
Officiant: Wholeness is the state where nothing is missing and everything is possible. Let these rings therefore represent wholeness. Let them remind you of a coming around of an eternal cycle-from want to plenty, from despair to joy, from failure to possibility, from loneliness to love. The I Ching states most beautifully: When two people are at one in their innermost hearts, they shatter the strength of iron or even of bronze. And when two people understand each other in their innermost hearts, their words are sweet and strong like the fragrance of orchids.
Joel: Anne, with a free and unconstrained soul, I give you all I am and all I am to become. Take this ring, and with it my promise, patience, and love, for the rest of my life.
Anne: Joel, with a free and unconstrained soul, I give you all I am and all I am to become. Take this ring, and with it my promise, patience, and love, for the rest of my life.
Taoist Blessing & Pronouncement
Officiant: Anne & Joel, in accepting each other as husband and wife, you wholeheartedly join together to become one. This beautiful marriage shall be fulfilled by the witness of your family and friends. I pronounce you husband and wife, and sanctify your marriage to become a perfect union.
(Time out for kiss)
Cherokee Prayer - read by all present
All: God in heaven above please protect Anne & Joel as they pledge their hearts and lives together. We honor all you created as we witness this pledge. We honor mother-earth, and ask for this marriage to be abundant and grow stronger through the seasons. We honor fire, and ask that this union be warm and glowing with love in their hearts. We honor wind, and ask that they will sail through life safe and calm as in our father's arms. We honor water, to clean and soothe their relationship that it may never thirst for love. With all the forces of the universe you created, we pray for harmony and true happiness as they forever grow young together.
Family Blessing - Where we honored Rose and gave her a necklace
Shinto Blessing
Officiant: Bless them as unmoving and eternal. May their lives flourish like luxuriant trees. May they, bride and groom, together with heaven and earth, with the sun and the moon, continue to give out light and radiance. Thus we do reverently pray.
All: May the sun bring you energy by day. May the moon softly restore you by night. May the rain wash away your worries And the breeze blow new strength into your being And all the days of your life may you walk gently through the world and know its beauty.
Closing Ritual - Releasing the directions called in earlier
Recession
Feels Like Home by Randy Newman
Parents: Emil & Carita Heid
Parents: Jack & Ginny Kopischke
Maid of Honor: Karolyn Wolkos, friend
Bridesmaid: Katherine Juchemich, friend
Junior Bridesmaid: Rose Spice-Kopischke, daughter
Best Man: Alan Kopischke, brother
Groomsmen: Chris Kringel & Jamie Johns, friends
Flower Girls: Anya & Justine Kopischke, nieces
Little Flower Girls: Annalise & Addyson Heid, nieces
Ring Bearer: Alex Heid, nephew
Reader: Dick Silberman, friend
Reader: Joanne Kopischke, sister-in-law
Reader: Eric Heid, brother
Ushers: Scott Kopischke & Steve Heid, brothers
Officiant: Bob Bickner
Plymouth Church minister: Mary Ann Neevel
Musicians: Jay Kummer & John Tamburello