mr & mrs

It's official!

The first order of business was the ketubah signing. We wrote our own ketubah and it was quite a stretch from the original, traditional wording. Instead of saying... "on blah blah day, we are signing this in the presence of blah blah blah" and it would have gone on to say the bride would get this or that. That is traditional, but totally not "us". Instead our wonderful rabbi Naomi suggested that we consider the attributes of our relationship that we would like to keep and grow. So, instead of the traditional wording we wrote a letter to our future selves to remind us of all that good, mushy stuff. Lukas's cliff notes version, "we like sweets and get lost frequently."

I was going to read it, but only made it through the first few words before I got completely choked up. And then there was no stopping the tears. Lukas took over and did splendidly and I was able to get ahold of myself.

We mingled a bit with our guests after signing the ketubah. This was great because we got to relax and see everyone. Then after the wedding we weren't mobbed as much because we'd gotten a chance for hugs and such before.

Then the wedding started. I walked in with both my parents. See, my mom's not crying too much yet.

Under the chuppah Rabbi Naomi and her son Bernie {who I went to Hebrew School with} sang us a beautiful love song. It was filled with gorgeous harmonies and such great emotion.

Afterwards Lukas whispered to Naomi, "That was good!" Her reply made us smile, "We practiced." They were good!

Following the love song my dad sang a song he had written with the help of my sister - Yehi Shalom. He explained the song as "there will be peace." And not just peace when everyone is getting along, but peace when we are all doing what we are meant to do to make the world a better place. We love to sing this song with my parents on Shabbat when we're up there.

Bernie played and sang along with Otis the violinist. Wow! It was great. Towards the end of the song Otis played a solo and it was amazing. I think he hadn't even heard the song until that moment. That kid was amazing!

We exchanged rings and it only took me two tries to get through the vows. More crying. At the end everyone came up to me and told me that once I started crying they cried too. Glad I wasn't alone in my tears.

Naomi blessed us. She gave us the sweetest words, but already they've faded from our memories. Still the intention is there.

And then...

We did it!