Weddingbee Blog

After the readings were read and the homily was said, it was time to say I do, or so we thought. During the rehearsal, I realized we never actually said “I do,” instead, we said “yes.” So, as the ceremony was about to start, the priest asked us how we were doing and if we were ready. I asked if we’d get to say, “I do.” No luck—we never actually said “I do.”

I’ve waited seven years to say “I do” to Mr. Starfish, and it never happened. I guess I always just assumed we’d be saying it!  Regardless of my crazy fascination with this, the ceremony was lovely. Mr. Starfish knows I get nervous, so he took notice when I wasn’t on our wedding day. While we waited for the blessing of the rings he noted this little fact by saying to me, “you’re doing great.” This made me laugh because I totally forgot about this until we watched the video and there’s complete silence, and all you hear is him telling me that I was doing great. After some positive reinforcement from Mr. Starfish, it was time to exchange the rings and say our vows. We went with traditional Catholic vows.

“Mr. and Miss Starfish, have you come here freely and without reservation to give yourselves to each other in marriage?”

“Yes.”

“Will you honor each other as man and wife for the rest of your lives?”

“Yes.”

“Will you accept children lovingly from God, and bring them up according to the law of Christ and his Church?”

“Yes.”

Priest: Since it is your intention to enter into marriage, join your right hands, and declare your consent before God and his Church.

Mr. S: I, Mr. Starfish, take you, Miss Starfish to be my wife. I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I will love you and honor you all the days of my life.

Miss S: I, Miss Starfish, take you, Mr. Starfish to be my husband. I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I will love you and honor you all the days of my life.

Mr. S: Miss S, take this ring as a sign of my love and fidelity. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Miss S: Mr. S, take this ring as a sign of my love and fidelity. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Our friends and family looked on as we became husband and wife. Our priest announced our union and introduced us as Mr. and Mrs. Starfish. It was then that we had our first kiss as husband and wife.

We then gave a hug to each of our parents and wedding party.

I guess we should have warned them about this because I had a real awkward moment with BIL Starfish when I went to hug him and he just stared at me. The audience got a laugh and instructed him on what to do.

We then sat for the prayers of the faithful. This was one of my few disappointments on the wedding day. We had asked Mr. Starfish’s cousin to read prayers we wrote and had included in our programs, which we had given to the church the previous day. As the ceremony was happening, the priest started saying the traditional prayers of the faithful. Mr. S and I looked confused, but assumed he was doing these before the personalized ones. But, he never called up our cousin and then the mass ended. We never asked him about this, so we aren’t really sure why these were skipped—I think it was an oversight. The rest of the ceremony was perfect, but I felt bad that our cousin wasn’t included. I was at least happy they were included in the program, so people knew what we wanted to have had said. After the prayers of the faithful, the priest gave our nuptial blessing.

Then we weren’t quite sure what to do. Our priest signaled the dismissal by announcing “Thanks be to God,” but we were in our own world and forgot this signaled the dismissal. We looked at each other and asked “Are we done? Do we go?” The priest had a good laugh and let us know it was time for the recessional.

Our recessional started off a bit confused…

But quickly turned to complete happiness. Our recessional was to “Salve Regina,” a tribute to the place we met. Although I have no idea if it was actually played, since I was so excited. I don’t actually remember any music as we left the church. It’s funny, because this is one of the things I was most excited about.

We headed to the trolley with our closest friends and parents, and started to celebrate!

All photos by David Bibeault