May Day!: Rings and Roses

After we said our vows, Houdini continued with the ceremony, by asking Groomsman M to do our second reading. He, like Sister Goodlaff, was shanghaied into helping out at our rehearsal dinner the night before:

Miss Goodlaff and Mr. Goodlaff have chosen a poem to share with you entitled "Love" by Roy Croft.

Groomsman M - if you will.

 Love (a poem by Roy Croft)
 I love you
 Not only for what you are,
 But for what I am
 When I am with you.
 I love you,
 Not only for what
 You have made of yourself,
 But for what
 You are making of me.
I love you
 For the part of me
 That you bring out;
I love you
 For putting your hand
 Into my heaped-up heart
And passing over
 All the foolish, weak things
 That you can't help
 Dimly seeing there,
 And for drawing out
 Into the light
 All the beautiful belongings
 That no one else had looked
 Quite far enough to find.

I love you because you
 Are helping me to make
 Of the lumber of my life
 Not a tavern
 But a temple.
 Out of the works
 Of my every day
 Not a reproach
 But a song.
I love you
 Because you have done
 More than any creed
 Could have done
To make me good. 
And more than any fate
 Could have done
 To make me happy.
 You have done it
 Without a touch,
Without a word,
 Without a sign.
 You have done it
 By being yourself.

 After the second reading was finished, it was time for the rings.

Houdini continued: Wedding rings are made precious by our wearing them. Your rings say that even in your uniqueness you have chosen to be bound together. Let these rings also be a sign that love has substance as well as soul, a present as well as a past, and that, despite its occasional sorrows, love is a circle of happiness, wonder, and delight. May these rings remind you always of the vows you have taken here today.

Mr. Goodlaff turned and got my ring from his best man, Brother Goodlaff:

May this ring be blessed so he who gives it and she who wears it may continue in love until life’s end.

Then, Mr. Goodlaff slipped the ring on my finger and said: With this ring, I thee wed. Wear it as a symbol of our love and commitment.

I turned to get Mr. Goodlaff's ring from Sister Goodlaff, and Houdini said: May this ring be blessed so she who gives it and he who wears it may continue in love until life’s end.


With this ring, I thee wed. Wear it as a symbol of our love and commitment, I repeated, as I slipped the ring on Mr. Goodlaff's finger.

We had our rings, and it was time for us to do a very special piece of our ceremony--the Rose Ceremony.

After the exchanging of rings, your first gift to each other, as husband and wife, is a single rose.
The rose is a symbol of love so it is appropriate that it is your first gift. It began as a tiny, tightly closed bud and blossomed into this perfect rose that opened with the warmth of the sun, just as your love for each other has grown in the warmth of your souls.

 Please exchange your first gift as husband and wife.

Miss and Mr. Goodlaff, in remembrance of this day, as a reaffirmation of your love and of the vows you have spoken here today please give each other a single red rose each year on your anniversary. In the best of marriages there are difficult times. There are times of hurtful words, times of neglect, times when we must wait patiently to be together again. Those may be times when the words you really need to speak are difficult. I ask that you remember this moment and that when words fail you, that you place a single rose on your spouse's pillow as a way to say, "I remember our vow," and "I love you". Let this exchanging of roses be the beginning of a lifelong tradition of unspoken love.

 After exchanging our roses, we passed them off to our attendants, and continued on to the end of our ceremony.

The Rose Ceremony was something I stumbled across in my searched for wedding ceremony help, and I fell in love with it. I showed it to Mr. Goodlaff, and he agreed that it was really a perfect element to incorporate into our ceremony. Many of the examples we came across were too long-winded, or wordy, so we spent some time whittling it down to the paragraph you see above, and it turned out lovely.

We even saved and dried our roses, so we will always have that very first gift that we gave to each other.

What special elements are you incorporating in your ceremony?

Miss something? Catch up here:

We Vow
Getting Hitched
Here Comes the Bride
First, We Walk
An Interlude
The First Look that Almost Wasn't
It's All About Me
Sharp Dressed Men
Girls, Girls, Girls
My Chariot Awaits
Dress Success
Beginning the Bridal Transformation
Painting Faces
Perfectly Coiffed
Calm Before the Storm


All photos by Niki Ross Photography