one red speaker

This year, we kicked off our New Year’s Eve celebration with a wedding.

Meet Stephanie. We’ve been the best of friends for sixteen years. For the last few years, she’s been working in Stockholm, Sweden, where she met Christian, her now-husband. They’d been engaged for awhile, and we were all making plans to go to Stockholm in June for the wedding.

Well, a few months ago, Steph applied for a job in New York. One month ago, she received a great offer with a summer start date. All of a sudden, it became imperative that her and Christian get married so he could move here with her and start looking for work. They’d already planned to come to New York to celebrate the New Year, so they asked if we’d come to the city clerk’s office with them when they get married. Rather than go the courthouse, I offered to get ordained and become an officiant so there could be a real wedding. Anit offered to host it in his apartment. That’s all it took to get the train moving.

Pooja did an amazing job preparing Anit’s apartment. I couldn’t believe it when I walked in. She bought flowers, lit candles, put up beautiful arrangements of lighted tree branches, and prepared delicious food. It was so elegant and perfect for a wedding. As for my part, I spent a good chunk of my time in Alabama making notes on scraps of paper until I had everything I wanted to say. The day before the wedding I edited the notes down to the final ceremony on my computer. At the last minute, realizing that I couldn’t perform the ceremony off the screen, I hurriedly transcribed it into my notebook.

Officiating Stephanie’s wedding was an absolute honor. I’m really proud of the final product. Steph was on the verge of tears, but she didn’t cry, and her parents loved it. I’d say that’s a win. Here’s the ceremony straight out of my notebook. You can click each image to view it full-size.

Congratulations, Steph and Christian! I love you both so much!