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The Wedding Ceremony: A Sacred Union

Reverend Jacalyn Kane created an intimate wedding ceremony that reflects the personal journeys and love story of Kelly Royce and Meagan Smith, and includes the vows they wrote themselves. We thank them for allowing us to share a condensed version of their beautiful and poignant ceremony, in which you might find inspiration for your own.

Opening Blessing
Meagan and Kelly, on this day, we are gathered together on the Island of Martha’s Vineyard to joyously celebrate that you have finally found one another on your life path. As the great poet Rumi said, “Lovers don’t finally meet somewhere. They’re in each other all along.” Therefore, we are simply here to witness and sanctify your commitment.

If there had been any doubt that you would not only meet but become friends and then life partners, your young sons, Hunter and Seth, and their growing friendship, ensured your connection. Through the trials and tribulations that a conservative small town can bring, trying the most solid of relationships, was born a bond that no man or woman could possibly put asunder. It is clear that you know and love one another deeply and unconditionally, and that your love is divinely inspired beyond the here and the now.

Marriage is to belong to each other through a unique and diverse collaboration, like two threads crossing in different directions, yet weaving one tapestry together. Meagan and Kelly, this celebration is the outward token of your sacred and inward union of hearts. It is a union created by your loving purpose and kept by your abiding will. It is in this spirit and for this purpose that you have come here to be joined together.

Personal Vows
Meagan: I take you, Kelly, to be my best friend, my lifelong partner, and one true love. I promise to laugh with you, cry with you, enjoy and embrace all of life’s good and bad. I will be your strength, your light, your courage, and your home in a sometimes-scary world. There is no one I would rather go through life with by my side.

Kelly: I, Kelly, take you, Meagan, to be my wife, my partner in life, and my one true love. I will trust you and respect you, laugh with you and cry with you, loving you always through good times and bad, no matter what challenges we may face together. I give you my life, my heart, and my love, from this day forward for as long as we both shall live.

Ceremony of the Rings
Traditionally, the passage to the status of spouses is marked by the exchange of rings. These rings are a symbol of the unbroken circle of love. May these rings always remind you of the vows you have taken.

Kelly: With this ring I thee wed and give you my promise that from this day forward, you shall not walk alone.

Meagan: With this ring, I thee wed. May my heart be your shelter and my arms be your home.

Kelly: You are beauty, kindness, and bravery. You are my perfect love. You make me want to be a better person.

Meagan: You are strength, beauty, and grace. I can’t imagine my life without you. I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you!

Closing Blessing
Please remember to treat both yourself and each other with love and respect, and remind yourselves often of what brought you together. Remember to be kinder to one another than is necessary. And if each of you continues to take responsibility for the quality of your life together, your life will be marked by abundance and joy. There’s a beautiful Rumi passage that I’d like to close with: “And still, after all this time, the Sun has never said to the Earth, ‘You owe me.’ Look what happens with love like that. It lights up the sky.” May your love go forth and light up the sky! It is an honor to witness your loving bond and it gives me great pleasure to now pronounce you spouses for life. Congratulations, you may kiss one another!