Weddingbee Blog

As the ceremony continued, King Hippo and I listened intently to what the minister was saying:

“Marriage is not just about finding the right person; it’s about being the right person. In a moment you will exchange your vows, making promises to each other intended to be for a lifetime. Keeping those promises requires being the right person, no matter what. Some of the best advise there is about what it means to be the right person in a marriage can be found in the best selling book of all time, the Bible, where it says, ’Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you have against one another. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them together in perfect unity.’

There will be plenty of opportunities ahead for you to exercise compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. And it will not be easy. But if you are willing to forgive each other in love, these virtues will give you the very best chance at a lifetime together that is mutually satisfying and fulfilling.”

OK, King Hippo was listening intently. I was apparently checking out King Hippo!

Our minister then read “The Art of a Good Marriage” by Wilford Arlan Peterson, which tied in perfectly with his remarks. I absolutely love this reading (as do Mrs. Gloss and Mrs. Elephant), and I’m so glad that we included it in the ceremony. We decided to read our vows from a card instead of memorizing them. I knew from my years in theater, that I would be fine memorizing them, but I really just didn’t want to add another thing to my to do list or be thinking about or rehearsing my vows the days leading up to the wedding. It just wasn’t worth the stress to me, and King Hippo would have really been stressed out about it. We really tried to make an effort to look up from the card as much as possible.

I know I’ve mentioned our vows before, but I love them so much I can’t help but mention them again. King Hippo started and then I followed, repeating the same vows to him, which were from the poem “I Promise” by Dorothy R. Colgan:

I promise to give you the best of myself and to ask of you no more than you can give.

I promise to respect you as your own person and to realize that your interests, desires and needs are no less important than my own.

I promise to share with you my time and my attention and to bring joy, strength and imagination to our relationship.

I promise to keep myself open to you, to let you see through the window of my world into my innermost fears and feelings, secrets and dreams.

I promise to grow along with you, to be willing to face changes in order to keep our relationship alive and exciting.

I promise to love you in good times and bad, with all I have to give and all I feel inside in the only way I know how. Completely and forever.

We then had a good friend (who happens to be one of the bridesmaids’ husbands) play the acoustic guitar, accompanied by up and coming artist Mary Walker. We totally lucked into this, as Mary is completely amazing and just happens to be a family friend of the guitarist and Bridesmaid Angela. We chose Joshua Radin’s song Today. They had been rehearsing together in Dallas while we were in New York, so we hadn’t had a chance to hear them until we were at the ceremony. They were awesome.

It was then time to exchange rings and the minister reminded us that they “had been warmed by the love and support of your families and friends,” which was incredibly touching. Now, our officiant had told us on at least two separate occasions that if our rings didn’t fit or were hard to get on during the ceremony, not to worry about it. He had seen many ceremonies where people had swollen fingers from stress or eating too much salt or whatever, and the rings wouldn’t easily slide on. He told us to just push it up as far as it would go, and just let the other person push the ring on the rest of the way later. So, when it came to put King Hippo’s ring on, I had this running through my head. I also had King Hippo’s voice running through my head ’cause he had just joked at breakfast that morning that his ring wasn’t going to fit ’cause we had our fill of Tex-Mex at the rehearsal dinner the night before.

For some reason, struggling to slide his ring on made me crack up! The only problem was that I was laughing as I said, “I give you this ring as a sign of my vow. And with all that I am, and all that I have, I honor you.” I pulled it together pretty quickly, but it is a moment I will always remember, and I’m glad our photographers captured it. King Hippo is constantly cracking me up, and it’s so very us to be laughing through life, and apparently the wedding ceremony was no exception.

With our vows spoken and rings exchanged, it was official. We were married! We sealed the deal with a kiss, but my lipstick and gloss ended up all over King Hippo. I had my great-grandmother’s handkerchief on hand and immediately rectified the situation.

I love our minister’s face in this photo.

“I present to you, Mr. and Mrs. King Hippo!”

And with that, we left smiling from ear to ear as husband and wife.

Miss a Hippo Recap?

• We finished up our last minute projects and hung out with the family.
• The ladies met up for lunch.
• We rehearsed for the big show.
• We had an amazing rehearsal dinner.
• The girls got their hair did, and I put on my face.
• I get all bridal.
• I take bridal portraits and pictures with the ladies.
• The guys get ready and take photos.
• We get a sneak peek of the reception venue.
• The wedding party warms the rings.
• Our guest warm the rings.
• The wedding party makes their grand entrance.
• We get hitched (part 1).