Emotions

Okay, I know that as wedding celebrants we often find ourselves in situations where emotions can run high. During a wedding ceremony, especially at the moment where the personal vows are read out loud, emotions can run high.

As a wedding celebrant, I’m trained in these situations and make sure that the wedding ceremony does not run out of control. In the run-up to the wedding ceremony, we have made agreements on how to act.

But what if the wedding celebrant is hit by an emotion!
No….not during the ceremony, that is a no-go! But I want to share a moment with you that I did get emotional. It was way after the ceremony and the wedding couple already left the Island.

Let me start at the beginning.
On the day of the wedding ceremony, I met with the wedding couple early that day in their villa. For me, it’s the moment to meet up with family and friends who will join the ceremony. It’s also the time to pick up the latest info that I can use in the ceremony.

I had a chat with the groom and out of the blue, he entrusted me that just before they took the plane to Crete, the bride’s dog passed away. The bride still suffered from this emotion. That made me do the following suggestion…
During drafting the ceremony we already agreed that I would mention some family members that are no longer with us. How would the bride react if we mention the dog’s name in the ceremony?

The groom agreed to this. I asked him again….are you sure the bride can handle this? He assured me, yes she can. I mentioned the dog’s name and of course, the bride showed emotion. But important, it was highly appreciated. At that moment the dog was part of the ceremony. We took the right decision.

But where’s the celebrant’s emotion you ask yourself now?

That emotion came weeks later in the way of an email. Immediately after arriving home the groom gave his wife a puppy as a wedding present. They send an email to the wedding planner with the question; how would Henk react if we named the new dog after him? Would he be offended by this?

The wedding planner forwarded me the email. Dear readers, believe me, but that brought a tear to my eye. Way after the wonderful wedding ceremony I let go of the emotion. As a wedding celebrant, you not only perform a ceremony and step away. No…you are personally involved. The wedding couple’s happiness is your number one goal.

Straight away I emailed the wedding couple and wrote them that it would be an honour to me when the new puppy would bear my name. Shortly after my email, they send me three photos of the puppy dog…little Henkie.

For the sake of privacy, I left out the names of the wedding couple.