Weddingbee Blog

From the start, Mr. Genie wanted to get married in a church, although neither of us has strong ties to a particular religious affiliation. I was hoping for a church that encouraged an openness in spirituality. I come from a family of mixed faiths and didn’t want anyone to feel excluded. When reading about Wayfarers Chapel, a Swedenborgian church, I felt that we had not only found a beautiful place to get married, but also a place where we would feel comfortable promising our lives to each other.

In the weeks before our wedding, we met with Reverend Dan Burchett to outline our ceremony. And we were immediately put at ease with having our ceremony there. He was understanding of our changes and gave us suggestions when we needed them. And this led to our very short, but sweet, ceremony.

Now, it gets tricky. We didn’t have a videographer, and since we’ve moved a bit since we got married, I can’t find the actual transcript of our ceremony. I’m so sorry that I don’t have the exact wording of our ceremony to share with you, but I will do my best to give you an idea of what our ceremony entailed.

Reverend Burchett in his call to celebration welcomed everyone and said some nice words about love and ended with the reading from 1 Corinthians. After that, he had us face our guests and explained that we had invited them because we love them and wanted to make our commitment in front of them. He then asked if they gave their blessing. And they responded, “We will.”

Again, trying not to cry

Once we turned back around, Reverend Burchett made sure we wanted to get married (Will you, Mr. Genie, take Miss Genie to be your wife…) to which we each, in turn, responded, “I will.”

We exchanged fairly traditional vows that I wish I had on hand with me to share with you! And then, we exchanged rings. The wording for the ring ceremony was probably my favorite part of the ceremony. In a traditional wedding, the bride and groom give each other rings and say something about giving the ring to the other. But in our ceremony, we talked about receiving the ring. I promise once I find that box, I will share the ceremony word for word, even if I am a long forgotten bee by then.

Reverend Burchett then followed with the Lord’s Prayer, which is etched in the stone at Wayfarers Chapel. We had one more thing to share with our guests before kissing and running off into the sunset.

All throughout wedding planning, I was trying to plot a way to incorporate choral music into our ceremony. Choir has always been a huge part of my life, and I even got Mr. Genie interested in it in high school and college. I originally wanted all of our music to be choral. But, in the interest of time, I asked four of my friends to please offer only the benediction, “The Lord Bless You and Keep You” by Lutkin.

It was my little surprise to most people, including the hive. And I’m so glad we chose to do this! My friends pulled this together with only one rehearsal before the ceremony. They received many compliments, and I was so happy to have them involved. Since I was just so happy and in the moment, I am blissfully unaware of any imperfections, and think it was the perfect way to end our ceremony, except for our kiss, of course!

When we were pronounced Mr. and Mrs. Genie and Genie Genielastname, all I felt was a sense of relief and happiness. I turned around to smiling faces and waving wands, and some of my favorite pictures of the day.

We made it! Married!

Oh my gosh! They’re actually waving the wands!

You couldn’t wipe that goofy smile off my face.

Will you be having a traditional religious ceremony? Or will you be having an original ceremony that you wrote? Married bees, were you just as relieved as I was when the ceremony had just ended?