Miss Onion, NYC/Burlington, VT
Age and Occupation: 26, PR & Marketing and Jazz Singer
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 27, Data Analyst
Engagement Date: April 2, 2006
Wedding Date: September 2007
Blogging Since: July 11, 2007
Venue: Restaurant in Burlington
About Me: I didn't think I'd be "that girl," but I am having so much fun planning our wedding (mostly by myself). I'm a PR and Marketing Director for a major jazz festival and camp by day, and by night, a romantic jazz singer and bride-to-be! I hope all my research can help other brides in their planning.
Onto The Vows And More!
March 23rd, 2008 @ 10:31 am by Mrs. Onion
After our readings and lovely song came the rest of the ceremony. Our minister gave a declaration of intention about what marriage means, then she asked our family and friends for a pledge of support — to support us and share with us…and to babysit someday! It got a laugh for sure. Then it was on to the vows.
First it was Mr. Onion’s turn. He was so calm and eloquent (yes we read them from a paper our minister had for us — we didn’t want to add memorizing them to the mix of nerves).
Then it was my turn. Mr. Onion and I and read the same vows to each other and worked hard on making them our own. Remember when I said everyone cried except the bride…well that was true until the very end of the vows. When I got to “I give you my hand, my heart and my love from this day forward for as long as we both shall live,” I got a little teary but it was really sweet.
Next up, the ring exchange. First Mr. Onion placed my ring on my finger.
And then it was Mr. Onion’s turn. At this point I couldn’t believe how fast the ceremony was going — I was so happy to be there!
After the ring exchange we had another musical interlude. This time it was a solo guitar by Brendan Burns that he learned just for us - “Better Together,” by Jack Johnson.
And our youngest attendee was keeping himself occupied during the song! I love that our photographer caught this moment.
Our minister was so open to our ideas for the ceremony. One of the personal touches we added was a hand ceremony which was a wonderful. I got to hold Mr. Onion’s hands (nice to connect after looking at each other all that time) as she read.
I just loved this part of the ceremony — here is the last phrase of the hand ceremony: “And lastly, these are the hands that even when wrinkled and aged, will still be reaching for yours, still giving you the same unspoken tenderness with just a touch.”
And finally, “You may now kiss the bride!”
Hooray! Look how happy we are!!
This was hilarious! The last part of the ceremony was an apache blessing. While our minister was trying to read, there began a series of fire engine sirens. She got through it — then immediately there was another round so loud you could hardly hear her. What a great way to lighten the mood — as you can see I was dying laughing.
And off we go to greet our friends and family outside the church.
Stay tuned for the hugs, smiles and walk up the Church Street Marketplace with all our guests!
Photos: Daria Bishop Photography
All flowers: Fresh Floral Design Studio
Location: First Congregational Church, Burlington, VT
My Dress: Romona Keveza from Mark Ingram’s Bridal Atelier
My Veil: Two tier elbow length from Rose’s Bridal, NYC
Mr. Onion’s suit: Alan David Custom
BM Dresses: Ann Taylor Celebrations Collection
10 Responses to “Onto The Vows And More!”
Your vows sound so moving… and I got choked up reading the part about the hands ceremony. It looks like such a lovely, heartfelt ceremony overall.
I love love love the last picture. You look stunning in that dress and the veil - i want one that looks just like that, perfect length . . where did you get it?
xoxo
Marla
What a beautiful ceremony! Would you mind sharing some details about the hand ceremony and the apache blessing? eg. where did you find the info, how did you decide to incorporate it, etc? Thanks so much for the lovely post!
maude - thanks so much! we worked really hard to make it heartfelt but not too long. the entire ceremony was about 30 minutes long.
marla — awe, thanks! my veil was a two teir elbow length that i got at rose’s bridal in nyc.
jennifer - thanks. i posted prior to the wedding about our ceremony plans (including the hand ceremony) - see here: http://tinyurl.com/2qwqlq and here: http://tinyurl.com/38bvfy (with some links to on-line research). the only change was my mother read a different poem than i’d first picked out — she read “tin wedding whistle” by ogden nash (see it here: http://tinyurl.com/2ka9v7).
and here is the apache blessing: http://tinyurl.com/2q5kxq. we liked this because it wasn’t very religious but still said all the things we wanted in a parting prayer.
we asked our minister for ideas, readings, prayers etc. we got a basic structure for the ceremony from her then filled it out with our own ideas — songs, prayers, vows, etc. hth!
Thank you *so* much for sharing the info with me!
How were you able to use “secular” music at your ceremony when it was in a church? I have so many songs in mind that I’d like to use but my priest said that we have to have all music approved and it sounded like it needed to be the typical church music. I don’t want that because it’s sooooo not me, so did you have a hard time getting your music approved? How did you discuss it with your minister? Were you at a Catholic church? Not sure if that makes any difference (my ceremony is at a Catholic church).
@Adrienne:
I had a Catholic ceremony, too. You can’t use secular music in a Catholic ceremony…that’s just the way it is. However, you might be surprised at what is considered “religious” music.
Most popular classical music is okay to use (such as most anything by Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven) and the popular Cannon in D by Pachabel is also considered religious.
If you are worried about it sounding like typical “church” music see if you can have a string quartet play it instead of an organist. I think some Catholic churches will allow that.
((Sorry to hi-jack the comments here Onion))
Radish — no worries! Thanks for answering the question as I wouldn’t have been able to. And I love the laughing photo too — it just shows you REALLY can’t plan for everything!
Adrienne - we were married in a Congregational Church and our minister was really open to anything we wanted to do, so it was no struggle at all.
[…] we came down the isle as husband and wife, we had an impromptu receiving line. We didn’t plan a formal receiving line, […]
