Weddingbee Blog

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After the love letter and wine box ceremony, we moved onto the heart of the civil ceremony. Recall that we had written the first draft of our vows as gifts for our last dating anniversary a couple months before our wedding. Again, here’s the script for you with my thoughts and notes in parentheses.

Now, Mr and Miss Hot Wings will exchange the vows that they have written to one another.

(The next couple photos are of us listening to each other. The photos of us saying our vows look kind hideous. There’s something about catching someone mid-speech that doesn’t look very cute in photos. So, enjoy these instead.)

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Excerpt of Mr Hot Wings’ vows:

I offer myself to you knowing fully of my own strengths and limitations…I will give you whatever I am capable of giving because you are the person I choose to spend the rest of my life with… From this day forward, your hopes are my hopes and your dreams are my dreams.

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Excerpt of Miss Hot Wings’ vows:

Without hesitation and with absolute and unwavering belief in our love, Mr Hot Wings, my friend and my beloved companion, today and every day, I choose you to be my husband. I accept and honor you as you are, loving what I know of you, and trusting what I do not yet know… I promise to respect you as an individual, a partner, and an equal, to delight in our happiness, making your plans and dreams as important to me as my own… Today and every day, I join my life with yours so that we may be strong as individuals and stronger yet together… Today, I choose you to be my husband, and I happily become your wife.

(I love this photo of Hottie of Honor during our vow exchange. Isn’t she a good friend? She’s so happy for us. Love her!)

Ring Exchange

Mr and Miss Hot Wings will now exchange rings. Best Man, may I please have the rings?

Mr Hot Wings, as you place this ring on Miss Hot Wings’ finger, please repeat after me.

Miss Hot Wings, with this ring, I choose you to be my wife. I joyfully enter into this marriage knowing and accepting its obligations. The promises that I have made to you today in the presence of our family and friends are valid and binding. From this day forward, we are family.

Miss Hot Wings, as you place this ring on Mr Hot Wings’ finger please repeat after me.

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Mr Hot Wings, with this ring, I choose you to be my husband. I joyfully enter into this marriage knowing and accepting its obligations. The promises that I have made to you today in the presence of our family and friends are valid and binding. From this day forward, we are family.

(We wanted to make sure our civil ceremony was indeed a legal ceremony. We had clearly thought of our tea ceremony as a cultural ceremony and our civil ceremony as a legal ceremony. We wanted to make sure everyone understood that aspect of our wedding. Therefore, we chose to make the marriage license signing part of our ceremony. It was also a great way to include our besties in the ceremony.)

Signing of the License

We will conclude the ceremony by signing the marriage license.

Mr and Miss Hot Wings, who are your two witnesses?

Mr Hot Wings: Best Man N

Miss Hot Wings: Hottie of Honor L

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Best Man N and Hottie of Honor L, please step forward. By signing this document, you bear witness to this marriage. Please sign.

(The story behind the above photo: Mr Hot Wings leaned over to me and said, “See, I told you it was a good idea to show everyone exactly where on the form they needed to sign before the ceremony.” And he was right. If you include the certificate signing as part of the ceremony, make sure everyone signing has already seen the form and knows where their signature goes. It helped to make this process easy and clear. Clearly, you can see how smart Mr Hot Wings thought he was.)

(And here, Mr Hot Wing says, “Oh wait, what the heck are they doing? That’s what I told them.” Too funny.)

As the Deputy Marriage Commissioner, I will also now sign the license, making this ceremony official and legal. Mr and Miss Hot Wings, you have both already signed this license, indicating your intention to legally marry one other. However, at this time, I will ask you to formally state this intention.

Mr Hot Wings, do you take Miss Hot Wings to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, as long as you both shall live?

Mr Hot Wings: I do.

Miss Hot Wings, do you take Mr Hot Wings to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, as long as you both shall live?

Miss Hot Wings: I do.

Declaration

Then, by virtue of the authority vested in me as the Deputy Commissioner of Civil Marriages in and for the County of San Diego, I have the honor of pronouncing you husband and wife.

Kiss!

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Friends and family, I have the distinct pleasure of announcing to you for the first time as husband and wife, Mr and Mrs Hot Wings.

(Then I almost started walking back down the aisle when Mr Hot Wings reminded me to turn and get my bouquet from Hottie of Honor. By the time I got my bouquet back, our recessional music hadn’t started yet. Oh, I didn’t mention we did DIY music using an MP3 player and Lil’ Bro Hot Wing’s Girlfriend as the “DJ”? Yeah, pros and cons, right? I was nervous and wanted to just start walking back up the aisle, but Mr Hot Wings held me back. Our DOC Brenda had told us to take it slow and not to rush. Mr Hot Wings took it to heart. You can see my reaction to waiting for the music here.)

(And then our recession began! The Throne Room/End Title from Star Wars Episode IV composed by John Williams. We could not have started our lives off in any other way!)

Please follow the wedding party for the best man’s and woman of honor’s toasts.

*All photos by the ever fab Hanssie Trainor unless noted otherwise*

Do you need to catch up with the hotness?

• Spilling the Beans on Our Recaps (wedding video)
• With this Wing: Let the Recaps Begin
• With this Wing: Welcome to Our Wedding Weekend
• With this Wing: Let’s Practice
• With this Wing: Street Taco Rehearsal Dinner Details
• With this Wing: Wedding Eve
• With this Wing: Make Me a Hottie (Women getting ready)
• With this Wing: The Wingmen Clean Up Well (Groomsmen get ready)
• With this Wing: Tea Ceremony Prep
• With this Wing: Tea Ceremony Details
• With this Wing: Tea Ceremony Processional Gifts
• With this Wing: Tea Ceremony Processional
• With this Wing: First Family Lunch
• With this Wing: Wedding Party Gifts
• With this Wing: Wingmen Poses
• With this Wing: Family Poses
• With this Wing: The Little People
• With this Wing: First Look (Again)
• With this Wing: Hottie Women Strike a Pose
• With this Wing: Wedding Party
• With this Wing: Civil Ceremony Details
• With this Wing: Getting the Jitters Out
• With this Wing: Aisle Me Baby (Processional)
• With this Wing: Civil Ceremony Part I
• With this Wing: Love Letter & Wine Box