I’ll never forget Teri and Don, a couple married for fifty years and still able to surprise each other.

When I was asked to officiate at their vow-renewal ceremony, they told me they had some personal vows they’d written for each other. I gotta tell ya, I love when couples do that; it’s always fun to watch a couple share what’s really inside their hearts with each other.

When the time came at their ceremony for their vows, Teri brought out a set of little cards, with little-tiny printing on them, and got through them, with just a little tearing up. The moment was unforgettable…

When Don’s turn came around, he fumbled around in his pockets for a moment; I panicked, thinking he’d forgotten to bring his cards with him.  Aaggh!

But, it turned out he was just faking; after a few moments of faux pocket-searching, he simply took Teri’s hands in his, looked her straight in the eye, and recited his vows perfectly, word-for-word. Everyone watching (including me) was left breathless.

Afterwards, Don told me, “I wrote those vows months ago, and memorized them.  I wasn’t about to depend on little cards…”

… And I got to watch it up-close.  (I am not kidding when I say I have the best job in the world.)

(One of my favorite ministry stories is in two parts.)

Chapter I – A Curious Gift.

When Nathan and Alea got married a few years back, one of their ‘thank you’ gifts to all their guests (including me) was a nifty little chrome-plated bottle opener, where the ‘business end’ of the tool was shaped like a heart:

[clearboth] At the time, I remember thinking, “This is beautiful, and I’m grateful, but – this is the Age of Twist-Offs; who the heck needs a bottle opener anymore?”

I put the opener in a display case in my office, with all the other little tsotchkes I’ve gotten from my couples over the years.  Over time, I kinda forgot about it…

[clearboth]Chapter II – A Blast from the Past.

A few years after that, Jeff and Camille were sitting down with me, to plan their upcoming wedding ceremony. As we chatted, Camille told me of a Valentine’s Day gift she made for Jeff when they were first dating: a simple bottle of Orange Crush, where she decorated the top with a little flower made out of pipe cleaners.  Jeff told me he kept that, from the moment he received that gift, he kept the bottle on his desk at work, to constantly remind him of her. [clearboth]

I’m always thinking about making wedding ceremonies unforgettable, so I asked them if they wanted to open that bottle on their Wedding Day, and use it to toast their new marriage as I pronounced them Man and Wife.  “Oh, that’d be so cool!”, they told me, “But, we’re gonna need a bottle opener; it’s an old-school bottle…”

I stopped for a second, as a vague memory bubbled to the surface…

And that’s how I got my reputation for bring a minister whose sideline is ‘Johnny On The Spot’!

PS, in case you’re wondering: Yes, the Crush (just like any good marriage) still had some ‘fizz’ in it!

 

 

I always tell my couples, “every wedding has a story”; every wedding has that one perfect moment that you never forget. Here’s one of them:

Allison and David got married a few years ago in the woods above Malibu, and their mothers added a perfect touch during the proceedings; midway through the ceremony, they released a whole flock of Monarch butterflies and, and they filled the sky above us – fantastic!

The part I remember most, though, happened just as the reception was getting underway; as Allison danced with her guests, one of those butterflies decided to crash the party, flying in to the room and landing right on her dress, just in time for us to snap the picture!

[clearboth] What’s a perfect moment you remember from a wedding?

Out of all the hundreds of weddings I’ve performed, some stand out in my mind a LOT more than others.

Brandi and Josh got married a few years ago at a Temecula winery. The winery agreed to escort all of its daytime guests out by 6:00, so we could start the ceremony around 6:15, no problem. The weather was perfect for an evening wedding, and we started on time (yay!) with a string quartet playing perfectly as Brandi walked down the aisle…

Halfway through the ceremony, though, I heard giggles from the audience; a quick glance around, and I couldn’t see anything amiss. I figured it was just some people having a private joke, so I ignored it. It happened again a few moments later, but the three of us were super-focused on the ceremony, so we kept on going.

At the end, as I was pronouncing them ‘man and wife’, we turned toward the guests, only to see that someone had crashed our party!

[clearboth]

We found out afterward that, every night after the winery closed, its owner (who lived onsite) gave his dog free reign over the grounds for the rest of the day.  Once the ceremony started, the Golden Retriever heard the music, so he came down the hill to check out the situation.

Apparently, he spent a few moments sitting in front of the string quartet just staring at them (causing the giggles we heard earlier). But after a few minutes, he got bored, and so decided to walk away, down the aisle and off into the distance – at exactly the right time!

Lesson to be Learned?  If you want a wedding ceremony that will hold everyone’s attention, you better have a Milk Bone in your pocket, too!

I’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback since I launched this new Website; many thanks!

Out of all the notes I’ve gotten, though, one question keeps popping up: “What’s the deal with that picture on the home page, of the bride and groom pouring (is it anti-freeze?) into a bucket?”Here’s the whole story:

At the time we met to plan their wedding ceremony, Eric and Cindy were both ‘motorheads’; if I remember correctly, one of them worked as a mechanic at a car dealership, and the other one worked for a custom-motorcycle manufacturer.

When Cindy and I started talking about a ‘Sand Ceremony’ at their wedding, Eric had no earthly idea what we were talking about.  “The idea is to mix two sets of sand together,” I explained, “to show how two things – like the two of you – can mix together so completely, so thoroughly, that they can never be taken apart ever again.”  Eric thought about that for a moment, and said, “I just had an idea – but it’s a stupid one.”

“No idea is stupid,” I replied.  ‘Whatcha got?”

“Well,” he said, “if you mix synthetic anti-freeze and glycol-based anti-freeze together, they chemically bond, and they can never come apart again.  I thought that would be more ‘us’ than just sand… but, nah, that’s a dumb idea.”

“No,” I said, “you’re going to have to talk me out of doing that – that’s the coolest idea I’ve ever heard!”

And so, on a lovely evening a few months later up in San Dimas, Eric and Cindy ‘did their thing’, their guests were delighted, and we all got a wedding moment we will never forget!