Ceremony

Lee's parents officiated the ceremony with the assistance of several family
members.  Bold text indicates action.

Kate offers welcome, recognition of those absent, and asks J & A if
they want to be wed.

We are gathered here today to celebrate the marriage of Laurence James
Larsson and Alexandra Lee Lehman-Becker.  It is fitting and appropriate
that you, their families and friends, be here to witness and to participate in
their wedding, for the ideals, understanding, and mutual respect which they
bring to their marriage have their roots in the love, friendship and guidance
you share with them.  

Alexandra Lee and James are also aware of those who are with them in
spirit on this occasion, kept from attendance by the forces of distance or
life.  For the whole cloud of witness which surrounds them and blesses
them, they are thankful.

James and Lee know that all of their family and friends join them today with
a sense of love and warmth of heart:  As they turn to speak the words which
express the unity of their lives, they will be mindful of that larger, loving
presence and know that in good days or bad, they will never be alone.

James and Lee, you enter into a union which is most sacred and most
serious, requiring of those who enter into it a complete and unreserved
giving of self, even as each of you maintains his and her identify in order to
bring unique insights, talents, and growth to your relationship.  It binds you
together for life in a relationship so close and so intimate that it will
profoundly affect your whole future.

That future, with its hopes and disappointments, its successes and failures,
its pleasures and pains, is hidden from your eyes. Know, though, that love
can make it easy and perfect love can make it a joy.  May, then, this love
with which you join your hands and hearts today never fail, but grow deeper
and stronger as you go on.

Alexandra Lee, do you invite James to be your husband, to live together in
the covenant of marriage?  Will you love him, cherish him, encourage him,
comfort him, and inspire him as long as you both shall live?  

Xander:  "With pleasure."

James, do you invite Alexandra Lee to be your wife, to live together in the
covenant of marriage?  Will you love her, cherish her, encourage her,
comfort her, and inspire her as long as you both shall live?  

James:  "With pleasure."

Randy does meaning of marriage, first reading, and vows

James and Xander, in the days to come, remember that love is a respect for
the preciousness and worth of a person.  Love gives and love receives.  
Love cannot live in itself, but must be nurtured with a mutual and ultimate
sharing, a giving and a taking.  Love is the noblest passion a man or
woman can feel for it surpasses all lesser desires.  Love is precious
because it is an ethical commitment to another, which honors the duties of
the promises made here, not from a sense of obligation, but from the
depths of the most divine sentiment a man or woman can enjoy.

Many years ago a man named Paul wrote to the people of Corinth what
would become a famous letter. As part of that letter he asked them to think
about the nature and meaning of love.  Hear his words, as we might receive
them today, and sense their eternal wisdom.

If someone were to be able to understand all languages, but not
understand the meaning of love, that person would be no better than a
meaningless noise.  

And if someone were to be able to know all things, but did not know love,
that person would really know nothing.  

And if someone were to be so faithful that mountains could be moved, but
did not show love, that person would move no one.  

And if someone were to act in ways of generosity and kindness, but did not
act out of love, that person's actions would be as empty as the breeze in
the skies above.

But, if someone were to want to know love, this is what must be known:  
Love is patient and kind.
Love has no room in it for jealousy or boastful behavior.   
One who knows love does not insist on his or her own way.   
Love that is true is not irritable nor resentful.  
When love is known, one does not rejoice in wrongs, but rather in the
right.   
Such a love can bear all things; finds the way to believe all things; builds
hope in all things; and endures all that comes its way.   

When each of us was a child, we viewed things as children do; as we grew
into adulthood, we saw things differently. Even as adults we grow, and that
which we only partially comprehend may become known to us later.  We
seek to perceive what will be of enduring value to us.  

Now, everything else in this life passes away, but love, true love, never
ends.  Knowledge, wisdom, understanding, and possessions all wither in
time, but love is eternal. These three abide - faith, hope and love - and the
greatest of these is love.   

Insert reading of the ketubah in place of traditional vows

Although James and Xander are not Jewish, they hold the faith in highest
respect and with deepest meaning.  As such, they have elected to pledge
their commitment in a ketubah, the Jewish marriage contract.  They have
asked Alexandra Lee’s stepfather, Stan Reimer, to deliver the ketubah to
them.

Stan delivers the document to James, who gives it to Randy

Randy holds ketubah for X&J to read from

Please join hands:

J&A join hands

Xander:  "James, today I love you completely, as I did yesterday and as I will
tomorrow. I will be there for you when you need me most. I will hold you in
my heart just as I hold you in my arms. I will share in your dreams, delight in
your joys, and comfort you in your sorrows. I will be your confidant, your
counsel, your friend, and your lover. When you are not within my sight, you
will be within my thoughts. You are my life; you are my dreams; you are my
joy; you are my love; you are my everything. At this moment you are all that
I know and all that I see. To quote Depeche Mode, All I ever wanted, all I
ever needed, is here in my arms.  As we grow old together and our love
matures, may we hold on to the passion and affection for each other we
feel today.”

James:  "Alexandra, today I love you completely, as I did yesterday and as I
will tomorrow. I will be there for you when you need me most. I will hold you
in my heart just as I hold you in my arms. I will share in your dreams, delight
in your joys, and comfort you in your sorrows. I will be your confidant, your
counsel, your friend, and your lover. When you are not within my sight, you
will be within my thoughts. You are my life; you are my dreams; you are my
joy; you are my love; you are my everything. At this moment you are all that
I know and all that I see. As we grow old together and our love matures,
may we hold on to the passion and affection for each other we feel today.”

Randy: Please pass the rings.

Pete passes Xander’s ring to James.  Sharif passes James’ ring to
Xander.

May your rings be symbols of the unbroken circle of love.  Love freely given
has no beginning and no end.  Love freely given has no giver and no
receiver.  You are each the giver and each the receiver. May your rings
always call to mind the freedom and power of this love.

James places ring on Xander.

James: "May this ring be a symbol of our love and unity."

Xander places ring on James.

Xander: "May this ring be a symbol of our love and unity."

Kate administers the handfast and shared cup.

James and Lee spent their separate childhoods exploring the faith known
as Wicca, pagan, or the craft.  As part of that tradition, they will participate
in a handfast – a ceremonial joining of their spirits – and share their
wedding cup in celebration of the Earth’s bounty.  They have asked James’
mother, Madelaine Moir, whose handfast inspired their own, to tie the cord
that binds and they have asked Lee’s stepmother, Elissa Bishop-Becker, to
deliver the wine to them once their hands have been joined.  If you, their
family and friends, offer your support to this marriage, please confirm by
stating “Blessed be” once they have shared wine.

Madelaine ties the lover’s knot left hand to left hand.

Xander: “I bring to you the earth.”

James: “I bring to you the air.”

Xander: “I bring to you the water.”

James: “I bring to you the fire.”

Elissa delivers the wedding cup to Lee’s FREE hand.

Kate: Throughout the ages, wine has been used for celebration.  It
symbolizes fertility; it symbolizes an appreciation of the Mother; it
symbolizes the fruits of the Earth; and it symbolizes the Earth’s blood.  Wine
represents a life of plenty and good harvest.  As you share this cup, may
your shared life be fruitful, fertile, and plentiful.  Blessed be this marriage,
born from the Earth.  

Lee drinks, then pass cup to James’ free hand.

James drinks, keeps cup.

Crowd: “Blessed be.”

Kate removes handfast, aided by J&A.

Kate: Keep this knot in memory of your choice to be joined.

Randy offers closing words.

Awed by the many meanings of this hour and overjoyed by its promises, we
pray the spirit of trust, understanding, and love may be with Xander and
James through all the years that lie ahead.  Whatever trials and testings
may come, may they trust each other wholly, for without such faith marriage
is a mockery; may they understand each other, for without understanding
there is neither acceptance nor forgiveness; and may they truly love each
other, for without love marriage is only an empty shell from which the bird
has flown.

As they build together a new home and a new life, may that home be bright
with the laughter of children and of many friends; may it be a haven from
the tensions of our time and a wellspring of their strength; and in all the
world may it be the one place they most want to be, the place where they
discover the divine mystery -- the secret of how two become one.

May this shining hour be an open door through which James and Xander
will go forth to build that dearest of all relationships, a happy, harmonious
marriage.  May the years deal gently with you; walking together may you
find far more in life than either would have found alone; and even more fully
may you come to know these supreme truths:  that caring is sharing . . .
that living is giving . . . that life is eternal . . . and that love is the crown.  

Now, having heard Alexandra Lee and James declare their love for each
other before this company through the taking of vows and the giving and
receiving of rings, I invite you to join me in welcoming them as husband and
wife with “Mazel Tov!” once James has shattered their wedding vessel.

James and Xander kiss, but much more tastefully than Axl Rose and
Stephanie Seymour in the “November Rain” video.











James places cup in pillow case, then breaks it.

Crowd:  “Mazel Tov!”

James and Xander exit into chapel.

Kate welcomes the crowd to join the wedding party in the main
chapel for the reception.  Kate brings pillowcase containing broken
glass.

All exeunt.