A Very Modern, Totally Untraditional Seven Blessings

A Very Modern, Totally Untraditional Seven Blessings

The Seven Blessings:

(All photos by Sabine Scherer)

We then had our families bless us with a reading of their choice. We didn't know what people were going to read. We tried to ask folks, but most of them wrote what they were going to say, and we figured that we might as well be surprised!

It was wonderful because we were SO present because it was all new to us. Each guest was touched by something different and we heard from a lot of people that they really felt like they got to know our individual family members by their blessing.

Bubbs' Father & Step-Mother:

Bubbs and Gigi, Barbara and I are filled with joy and thanksgiving as we give you our blessing on this, your wedding day. We celebrate with you the promises and hopes your love and commitment bring as you become husband and wife today. Each of you brings wonderful gifts and strengths to your marriage. Together you will encourage and inspire each other to grow more loving and giving through the years. Our blessing for you is upon your tender love now and upon the joy and fulfillment you will experience as this love increases and changes.

Bubbs, as your father, I have been blessed by you from the time your mother and I learned our first baby was on the way. We have shared the blessings of your childhood, the struggles of your teen years, and your accomplishments of your adult years. Your music and your work have inspired and blessed so many of us. May you continue to find new and exciting ways to receive and give blessings with Regina in your marriage.

Gigi, even before we met I felt that you were a woman with a tender heart and had many gifts and abilities. The more I get to know you the more I see these fine qualities in your work, your family, and with Bubbs as your beloved husband. Our blessings for you is that you find the job, fulfillment and love that you hope and dream to have with Bubbs in your marriage and with your children who may come to bless your home.

May God bless you, Bubbs and Gigi, from this beautiful day and throughout your years of loving and growing together in a blessed marriage.

I offer these blessings, Bubbs, as your dad, and Gigi, as your most thankful parents – in – law.

Gigi's Dad & Step-mother:

They edited "The Optimist's Creed" to read a little differently:

Together be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.

Together talk health, happiness, and prosperity to every person you meet.

Together make all your friends feel that there is something worthwhile in them.

Together look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.

Together think only of the best, to work only for the best and to expect only the best.

Together be just as enthusiastic about the success of each other as you are about your own.

Together forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.

Together wear a cheerful expression at all times and give a smile to every living creature you meet.

Together give so much time to improving yourself that you have no time to criticize others.

Together be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.

Together think well of yourself and to proclaim this fact to the world, not in loud word, but in great deeds.

Together live in the faith that the whole world is on your side, so long as you are true to the best that is in you.

(we ended up hugging everyone at the end of their blessing. It was such a warm and genuine natural thing to do - so we did it)

Gigi's Brother:

Read something he wrote - but for some reason I can't get him to send it to me :)

Bubbs's Brother & Wife:

I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz,

or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off.

I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,

in secret, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that never blooms

but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers;

thanks to your love a certain solid fragrance,

risen from the earth, lives darkly in my body.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.

I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride;

so I love you because I know no other way

than this: where I does not exist, nor you,

so close that your hand on my chest is my hand,

so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep.

-Pablo Neruda

Gigi's Sister and family:

My sister came up with her beautiful very hip family and played Al Green's "Let's Stay Together" and her Ipod. The tired flower girl didn't wake up for one second.

Bubbs' Mom:

We were basing this off the seven blessings in the Jewish tradition, so Bubbs' mom chose a traditional Jewish Blessing:

May your marriage enrich your lives.

May you work together to build a relationship of substance and quality.

May the honesty of your communication build a foundation of understanding,connection, and trust.

May you respect each other's individual personality and philosophy, and give each other room to grow and fulfill each other's dreams.

May your sense of humor and playful spirit continue to enliven your relationship.

May you understand that neither of you is perfect: you are both subject to human frailties; and may your love strengthen when you fall short of each other's expectations.

May you be "best friends", better together than either of you are apart.

Gigi's Mom:

Gigi, you’ve found a lover who can’t take his eyes off you, and he knows he ain’t seen nothing yet. You’ve found a man who wants to spend the rest of his life discovering you. I’ve spent more than half my life discovering you so far, and I’ve learned more about you and me and the world than I ever thought possible in one relationship.

Bubbs, you have the incredible opportunity with Regina to watch the flowering of a human so precious as to be so susceptible to the slightest breeze that she becomes untethered and so fierce that she is often still standing when all around her have fallen.

I am honored that you are becoming family to my daughter Bubbs, because I see that you get it . You know the value of her.

We joke that Gigi (always acting out of form) is marrying her mother. Yoga, meditation, folk music, hiking – the only thing missing is the hip pack.

But I’m relieved. I need a vacation, and I’ll never take one until my babies are safe.

My heart swells and rests to know you Bubbs, The honor you offer to the planet, to the people you love, to the workers you represent and most of all to my precious Gigi.- these make you worthy of the responsibility of being the name on her emergency card. If I can’t be called first, I’m sure glad that you will be. And really, since you’ve been in our lives I’ve gotten so few calls.

I welcome you Bubbs to the complexity that is our world. It’s never been neat. It’s rarely been merely pretty, our lives in this family are spectacular. We can reach for the edge because we have a center. And through it all, the center will hold.

May you have a long life together,
May you share your growth with one another and receive one another’s growth with joy and excitement
May you wonder every day what glorious discovery you’ll make about each other and know you never need to stop.
May you know that my commitment to your family is complete and I offer all I have to support you,
May you treat each and every day you have together as if it is both the first and the very last.

More ceremony to come...