Kimberly D Keller

WELCOME

Welcome everyone! Kate and Abby have brought us together here on the beautiful coast of Lake Michigan for an occasion of great joy. They have chosen each one of you to be here with them to witness their wedding vows as they join together in marriage and would like to thank all of you, their family, friends, coworkers, and teammates who have made it a priority to join in their celebration. Marriage is a bold step into an unknown future. It is risking who we are for the sake of who we can be. In marriage, two lives are intimately shared; and the blending of the two must not diminish either one. Rather, it should enhance the individuality of each partner.

I was listening to music a while back and a certain Brandi Carlile lyric made me think about the love shared between Abby and Kate. It goes, and I promise I'll spare you from having to hear my singing voice: “Wherever is your heart I call home.” These two have found home in each other.

Home is a place of refuge and comfort. It’s where we can be our most authentic selves. It’s a feeling of safety, like a place we belong to and are at peace with. Home reflects who we are and how we choose to live our lives. It’s where memories lie and dreams blossom. Home grounds us.

Kate and Abby’s relationship has all of those qualities. They’re unafraid to share their opinions and have hard conversations, knowing that the other will always be on their team. Wait I take that back. I don't know how many of you have played board games with them, but all bets are off when it comes to teamwork then! But that might be their one exception! They love and accept each other without judgement. They communicate better than any couple I’ve ever been around. While other couples were fighting during quarantine and lockdown, these two were off refining their baking skills. They dream about their future together while staying rooted in their shared values. The home they have found in each other is what we’re celebrating and building on today.

Oh and I would be in trouble if I didn’t mention that their home even happens to have a cute dog who only occasionally bites them!

I hope you two always feel this way about one another and that, no matter what, you always find your way home.

VOWS

Kate and Abby, you have chosen to write your own vows, and it’s with these words you express your binding promises to love, honor, and respect one another. If you are ready to make these promises I invite you now to face each other and declare your intentions.

When you're ready you may begin.

RING EXCHANGE

This is the point in the ceremony when people talk about the wedding bands being a perfect circle, having no beginning and no end. But we all know that these rings have a beginning. Rock is dug up from the earth. Metals are liquefied in a furnace at a thousand degrees. The hot metal is forged, cooled, and then painstakingly polished. Something beautiful made from raw elements.

Love is like that. It comes from humble beginnings, made by imperfect beings. It is the process of making something beautiful where there was once nothing at all.

The promises which you have spoken to each other today are inscribed forever in your minds and in your hearts. But words are fleeting so let these rings serve as a reminder of the feelings you have in your hearts at this very moment.

Now, Kate as you place the ring on Abby’s finger repeat after me:

(KATE)

Abby, with this ring I am giving you my promise/ to always respect you, honor you and comfort you./ I promise that I will love you and keep my heart open to you all the days of my life.

Abby as you place the ring on Kate’s finger repeat after me:

(ABBY)

Kate, with this ring I am giving you my promise/ to always respect you, honor you and comfort you./ I promise that I will love you and keep my heart open to you all the days of my life.

PRONOUNCEMENT

Kate and Abby, no one but you can declare yourselves married. You have begun it here today in speaking your vows before your family and friends and you will do it again in the days and years to come, standing by each other, sharing all that is sweet and bitter in life. Each tender act, each loving word will be the declaration of what was made here today.

Therefore, by the power given to me by the American Marriage Ministries and by the State of Illinois, it is my joyful responsibility to pronounce you legally married partners. You may now seal your marriage with a kiss.

Everyone, it is my honor to present for the first time the newlyweds Abby and Kate!!