Christopher Slavik

’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe . . .

Nothing to beware here. Good afternoon and welcome. Today we gather to celebrate joy and the love of J&L, to witness and proclaim their joining together in marriage.

A true marriage begins well before the wedding day, and the efforts of marriage continue well beyond the ceremony. It takes a lifetime of love, commitment, and compromise to make marriage durable and fulfilling. It will require effort and unending respect. A marriage thrives when each partner chooses to value the other: for everything they are, and for everything they’re not. I know you know this. There is no limit to what a partnership can accomplish when trust and admiration flow abundantly.

It was in a landmark 2015 civil rights decision that Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote this: “No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice, and family. In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than once they were.”

Thus today’s wedding is not the beginning, but a celebration of the next chapter in J&L’s life together. It’s been 13 or so “fortunate, extraordinary” years, and your love has developed and grown deeper and “grounded.” You have learned, struggled, shared many joys—far-flung travels and very New York moments, desserts, cats, fancy dresses, photographs, art. You have made one another’s lives richer, “happier.”

Declaration of Intent

I invite you to pause, take a breath, look at each other, “be present,” and remember this moment. We are going to seal this chapter with the declarations that will unite you two in marriage.

L, do you take J to be your wife? Will you love and respect her? Will you be honest with her always? Will you stand by her through whatever may come?

I will.

J, do you take L to be your wife? Will you love and respect her? Will you be honest with her always? Will you stand by her through whatever may come?

I will.

Vows

For one human being to love another—that is perhaps the most difficult of all our tasks, the ultimate, the last test and proof, the work for which all other work is but preparation.

Rilke wrote that, not I.

J&L, having heard that it is your intention to be married, I now ask you to declare the marriage vows that you have chosen to promise to each other. Jessica, please repeat after me.

I, J, take you, L, to be my wife.

I will share my life with yours,

and build our dreams together,

support you through times of trouble,

and rejoice with you in times of happiness.

I promise to give you respect, love, and loyalty.

This commitment is made in love,

kept in faith, lived in hope,

and made new every day of our lives.

And L, please repeat after me.

I, L, take you, J, to be my wife.

I will share my life with yours,

and build our dreams together,

support you through times of trouble,

and rejoice with you in times of happiness.

I promise to give you respect, love, and loyalty.

This commitment is made in love,

kept in faith, lived in hope,

and made new every day of our lives.

Pronouncement

J&L, the love already shared by your hearts has been galvanized by the promises you have made here today and the rings you have exchanged. Already “best friends and the loves of your lives,” now you have become something greater than once you were.

I, for one, wish you every happiness in your future together.

So, having witnessed the vows of your love and commitment to each other, and by the power vested in me, I pronounce you, J&L, married. You may kiss the bride!

“O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!”