‘Tis the Season…to be married!
After more than a year of lockdowns, restrictions, and public health regulations, happy couples are running, not walking down the aisle. Brides are blushing again and grooms are getting groomed for the big day.
Love is certainly in the air.
We’ve attended three weddings in the last week alone, with the pleasure of officiating two of them and being invited guests at a third.
In our line of work, we often get to witness nuptials from opposite ends of the aisle – as officiants standing front and centre or as guests watching from a distance.
It’s always interesting to watch and listen to our fellow officiants perform the wedding ceremony.
Whether it’s in a church or chapel, in an indoor or outdoor venue, the officiant makes it a priority to ensure that the wedding ceremony is meaningful and memorable for the couple, their families, and their guests.
While we’re all bound to specific guidelines outlined in the Marriage Act, each officiant still has a structure and style that is unique to their personalities and experiences.
We learn and grow by seeing each other in action, and even borrow the occasional joke or gesture. After all, “imitation is the highest form of flattery.” Our own mentor, Rev. Janine Plotkin, has been a source of inspiration and encouragement.
Love: A Tale as Old as Time
For us, officiating a wedding has always been more than speaking the words, signing the paperwork, and facilitating the formalities. For us, it’s always been about telling a story.
Every good story has a beginning, a middle, and an end. We like to walk with our couples from their “once upon a time” and make sure they take the right steps towards their “happily ever after.”
That’s why, prior to their big day, it’s important for us to get to know our couple. To do so, we schedule our signature JaM (Jason and Mike) Session™ – an informal meeting and relaxed conversation that allows both of us to connect with the couple and learn about their beginnings. It also gives us a sense of where each of them is coming from and where they see themselves going, as individuals and in married life.
While only one of us will end up officiating the wedding ceremony, we use this as an opportunity to discover whether or not there is a chemistry between us and the couple; a mutual connection that will make it easier to solicit and share their story. In a way, we gauge whether it’s “love at first sight” and “a match made in heaven” between officiant and couple.
“When two souls which have looked for each other for so long in the crowds have finally found each other, their union is fiery and pure as they themselves are. Their love begins here on earth and continues forever. This union is true love.”
The classic works of literature encourage us to be the main characters in our own stories.
Some chapters of our life stories will tell of suffering, disappointment, and loss. Other chapters will reveal moments of discovery, growth, and triumph. When our story collides with that of another, a new page is turned, a new chapter begins, and a new adventure awaits.
The Marry Men are thrilled to tell those stories.
During that initial session, we meet two individuals who have led separate lives, have had personal experiences, and lived their own unique stories. We also see two people who have a deep love for one another and have expressed their desire to come together and write a new story; two lives that will be lived as one.
Author Victor Hugo knew all about telling great stories. His epic Les Misérables stands as a testament to struggle, injustice, redemption, and love. In a letter written to his lover in 1851, Hugo observes,