Jeff and Jen
Just like most couples, Jeff and I wanted our wedding day to be very personal. For us, the most important part of the personalization was deciding to have one of our best friends, Ira, perform our marriage ceremony; a ceremony that we wrote together. We were all very nervous. Jeff and I are not super comfortable in the spotlight, so the idea of standing on a stage in front of 120 pairs of eyes was intimidating. For Ira, ours was his first marriage ceremony as an ordained minister.
I remember walking down the aisle, feeling much calmer than I expected but unable to stop my body from shaking. Jeff was having the same problem and, as we stood on the stage, our nervousness was palpable. When the readings were over and it came time to exchange rings, something amazing happened. Ira dropped Jeff’s ring on the ground! We all froze for a split second, except for Ira who was scrambling for the run-away ring, and then Jeff and I burst out laughing. In that moment, our nervousness melted away and we were fully ourselves, comfortable standing up in front of the 120 pairs of eyes who love us, support us (and laugh with us.) The next few moments of exchanging rings and vows were some of the most intimate of my life. You can still see the mark on Jeff’s ring where it hit the ground that day. When we look at it we remember standing there and feeling more loved than any other day in our lives.
