The weekend before Thanksgiving was warm and sunny. I had spoken to my bride, who planned to surprise her husband of ten years with a vow renewal. She explained that her wedding had been a whirlwind. She was painfully shy, and there had been 250 people in the audience. (This can be a crippling problem shy brides often don’t think about when they plan their splashy, dream wedding. If one of you is painfully shy, you really should consider a small ceremony. The rewards will be great.)
This particular bride suffered terribly as 250 people in the audience stared at her on her wedding day. She couldn’t even look up into her beloved’s eyes during the ceremony. She wanted to make it right, so after ten years of marriage, she got down on one knee and asked her husband if he would do it all over again. He cried and said yes.
I promised to put my heart and soul into the ceremony if she would promise to fasten her eyes on her beloved throughout the ceremony. We both kept our word, and the ceremony was intensely personal and beautiful. They have two beautiful, athletic children and three pets they left at home when they flew from Texas to celebrate the ceremony. My bride waxed poetic about Lake Tahoe. It was their very first time at the lake.
“I didn’t even know a place this beautiful existed,” she said. “We’ve never seen such a place.”
She’d asked about renewal fashion, and I told her she might find a temperature in the forties chilly. (In Texas, coats appear when it’s in the sixties.) Boots were perfect for walking in the sand. My bride wore a beautiful coat, and my groom wore a pea coat.
Kathryn, my photographer, and I both felt celebratory after the ceremony. Sharing a glass of wine, we agreed that the ceremony had transformed the couple. There was a shift, and they walked away joyfully, and more in love than when they’d arrived. Life is good!
Happiness to all!
Pamela Camille, Reverend
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