Honeymoonlighting

Fifteen years ago today David and I were married in the church where I was the Associate Pastor in Kettering, Ohio. We invited everyone from the church where he was a member, everyone from my church, plus our family and friends. We had a combined choir that sang John Rutter's "For the Beauty of the Earth". Both of us entered the sanctuary together with the congregation singing "Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee". It was a full-length worship service, including a sermon and a children's moment, with a wedding as the offering.

We had a potluck reception with shrimp cocktail for everyone that David and I provided. Instead of a large wedding cake, we had a ceremonial one and four beautifully-decorated large sheet cakes, each a different flavor. Since we were using paper plates and cups and plastic flatware, there was no clinking to get us kissing. Folks had to come up to our table and sing a song with the word 'love' in it to get us to kiss: "Won't You Call Me Sweetheart?" and "All You Need is Love" come to mind. The day before it had rained cats and dogs, putting a damper on our wedding rehearsal picnic. The day after it poured again, water pouring out of storm drains and flooding the front driveway to the hotel we stayed in. But the day of the wedding it was 72 and sunny. We danced under a yellow and white striped tent, young and happy.

Now we're fifteen years older and we still get accused of being honeymooners, holding hands, kissing during the passing of the peace, arm in arm when we sing a hymn.