Hello!
Welcome to the Wine in the Pines. This site is dedicated to document the adventures of the Mare & Mustang through their journey of travel, dining and weekend adventures!
Welcome to the Wine in the Pines. This site is dedicated to document the adventures of the Mare & Mustang through their journey of travel, dining and weekend adventures!
Introduction
Thoughts
Vows
Blessing
Declaration
Family and Friends - thank you for joining us today to celebrate the marriage of Ms. Mare and Mr. Mustang. Today they will make official the sharing of their love, as they have come to this point through the love which we have already shared with them. Love is like a flame - when two flames merge, you can no longer separate the original source of either, only see the combined flame shine all the brighter. They ask for your blessing, encouragement, and life long support for their decision to become husband and wife. Without family and friends beside them in joy as well as in sorrow, this new family would miss some of the greatest joy that life has to offer.
Weddings don’t make marriages - people do. Ms. Mare and Mr. Mustang - through this point, you have built a relationship; starting with a small connection, opening your hearts, building trust, and nurturing your affection, through listening, through understanding, through compromise. This wedding is a recognition and a celebration of that relationship; a way of adding formality to the existing commitments you’ve made to each other.
Until now, you’ve made promises and plans with an informal commitment towards the future; conversations in car rides or over meals or during long walks, full of “when we’re married,” or “some day,” or “we’ve got time.” Today you make a promise to turn those eventualities into realities, a promise of a lifetime. All these commitments are the real process of a wedding.
Look at one another and remember this moment. Before this, you’ve been many things to each other - acquaintance, friend, companion, and even teacher. Today you make a spoken vow which will redefine your relationship to each other, as a spouse. No matter the demands on your time, your lives will now be defined by your love and commitment to each other.
A fulfilling married relationship does not absorb the two people, but rather allows them to be their own selves, a unique partnership customized to who they are, growing together from each others’ experiences. These changes allow for continual rediscovery, your favorite vista through new eyes. You must accept that marriage is like an island—surrounded and interrupted by the sea, visited and abandoned by the tides—shaped by the here-and-now, but continually changing. Love is a seed that can flourish there, providing an endless bounty of riches.
When you love someone, you cannot love them all the time, or in exactly the same way, from moment to moment, and yet this is so often the expectation from a marriage. Marriage is knowing that the other person will always be with you regardless of what happens, through the ebb and flow of life—missing the other person when they are away, but keeping them near in our hearts. It offers us security, allowing us to face fear and uncertainty with courage. Love is being honest with yourself and recognizing when you are the ebbing tide; not taking the other for granted but continuing your courtship through all the years. Love is having the capacity to forgive and forget these missteps, realizing no person is perfect and bringing your own tide in to wash out the others’ stumbles. Love is the fury of the storm, the calm in the rainbow. Love is the source of passion.
Happiness in marriage is not just something that happens; a good marriage must be created. The little things are, many times, the big things. It is never being too old to hold hands. It is remembering to say "I love you" every day, because you can't bear not to. It is having a mutual sense of values and common objectives. It is standing together facing the world. It is forming a circle of love that includes the whole family. It is doing things for each other, not in the attitude of duty or sacrifice, but in the spirit of joy and love for each other. It is speaking words of appreciation and demonstrating gratitude in thoughtful ways, not out of obligation, but because it is heartfelt. It is cultivating flexibility, patience, understanding and a sense of humor. It is a common search for the good and the beautiful. Most importantly it is not only marrying the right partner; it is being the right partner, and bringing out the best in each other.
By our presence today, we affirm our support of your life together, and our commitment to celebrate with you in times of happiness, and to support you in times of struggle; Ms. Mare and Mr. Mustang, we ask that you share with us these moments through your days and years of marriage. Surrounded by family and friends, I ask you now to publicly make the vows upon which your marriage will be based.
Ms. Mare/Mr. Mustang, do you take this man/woman to be your lawfully wedded husband/wife,
To love him/her without reservation and to care for him/her as you care for yourself,
To be your constant friend and your faithful partner, giving him/her your best possible self,
Laughing with him/her in the good times and showing solidarity through the difficult,
Respecting him/her in his/her successes and supporting him/her through his/her failures,
Being open as you continue to grow, and trusting him/her through this.
Communicating through differences and changes as your lives unfold,
To stand together with and to be faithful to him/her always, as long as you both shall live?
From the earliest times, the circle has been a symbol of completeness, a symbol of committed love. An unbroken and never ending circle symbolizes a commitment of love that is also never ending. As often as either of you looks at this symbol, I hope that you will be reminded of the commitment to love each other which you have made today.
As I place this ring on your hand,
may the endless circle represent
my endless companionship
and my caring
through a lifetime of love and partnership.
Awed by the meaning of this hour and overjoyed by its promises, we all hope that these words stay with you through the days and years of your marriage. Whatever trials and obstacles may come:
May you need one another, but not out of weakness.
May you want one another, but not out of lack.
May you embrace one another, but not hold the other back.
May you be generous with each other, sharing your patience and your strength.
May you each focus on the small things for the other, while overlooking the others’ small faults.
May you trust each other completely, for without such trust marriage is a mockery.
May you understand each other, for without understanding there is neither acceptance nor forgiveness.
If you have quarrels that push you apart, may both of you find the presence to take the first step back.
May your home be a haven of peace, full of warmth from your passion when the world outside is cold.
And may you truly love each other, for without love marriage is only an empty shell.
May the years deal gently with you, so that walking through life together you experience far more than either of you would have experienced alone.
Today you have declared to each other, “I love you, not only for what you have made of yourself, but for what you are making of me.” Love, it is often said, makes the world go round. However, without doubt, it is friendship which keeps our spinning existence on an even keel. True friendship is the mortar which holds together the bricks of marriage; protecting you when the world outside seems cold and chaotic. Ms. Mare and Mr. Mustang came together as friends. Today they pledged to each other not only their love, but also the strength, warmth, and most importantly the fun of true friendship.
Hand in hand you go, along the uncharted roads of your future, ready to risk, to dream, to dare. Remember the road in life is a journey to be enjoyed, not a burden to be endured and escape from. Together you have learned some of the lessons of life and the gifts of love. You will learn many more as your life unfolds together as husband and wife.
Ms. Mare and Mr. Mustang, the presence of your families and friends is a testament to the esteem in which they hold both of you. I ask them now to tell you directly of their support for your marriage, for today you are entering one of the most rewarding yet most difficult adventures any two people can enter together. You bring to your marriage all the many years of nurturing and encouragement that your family and friends have given you.
Your need for affection and support will continue as you begin your new adventure. So I have an important question for all who have gathered here this day to witness your marriage covenant.
Do you, the family and friends of Ms. Mare & Mr. Mustang, pledge to them your ongoing love and support through all the years? And will you give to this new family your encouragement, trust, and especially your love?
Then, by the powers vested in me, I now pronounce you to be married. Ms. Mare and Mr. Mustang, please share your first kiss as husband and wife.