Recently, my  dear friend Kristina asked me to officiate at her wedding.  It was really an amazing moment for me because I love this woman like a sister.  In fact, our relationship has always been a bit like a mentoring relationship, so it was really powerful for me to see her find happiness and to be a part of creating their wedding ritual.

Love Finds You

I’m an Interfaith Minister, so when I interview couples prior to writing their ceremony, I ask a lot of personal questions about how they met, what they dream of for each other, and especially I ask if they can share any really special and personal moments they have shared, so I can incorporate those stories into the ceremony.  When it’s a friend, and you already know a lot of the stories, it can feel a bit surreal, with the passage of time, to hear about events from their fiance’s perspective.

I love my friend, and it was always hard for me to hear her fears, support her during her challenges, and give her a shoulder to cry on when she worried that she might never find true love.  I have always believed that we have to BE our best selves, before we can meet and marry our best partner.  And that is exactly what came to pass for my friend.  She met Harold, and the healing has never stopped.

Manhattan was in all her glory that evening.  The sky was perfectly blue, with picturesque puffy clouds, and the skyline of New Jersey across the Hudson River twinkled like jewels as the sunset began.  A gathering of multi-lingual and elegant friends and family gathered on a rooftop garden and I watched my friend’s father walk her down the aisle.  It took a lot of self control not to cry, because my heart was so full of joy for her.  Everything had come full circle, and I was blessed not only to be a witness to it, but to have been invited to be a part of the ritual which would cement their bond in the eyes of God and in front of those people in the world they loved the most.

I have real faith that every prayer this couple uttered has been heard and acknowledged by the Creator and that all their dreams will come true.  Call me a hopeless romantic, but they worked hard to get to the point where all life’s blessings and abundance will be showered upon them.  It couldn’t happen to a nicer couple.

Photo: Yann Feron