Ceremony readings - Part 2

There's one wedding reading I fell in love with.
It couldn't be more real or more meaningful.
Even now when I read it, my breath catches in my chest a little at the end. And I feel a bit choked up.  It is special.

Union, by Robert Fulghum
*we worked it into the ceremony, so this is a slightly edited version, as it sounded on our day
Jessica and Adam,

You have known each other for seven years, from the first glance of acquaintance to this point of commitment. 

At some point, you decided to marry.

From that moment of ‘yes’ until this moment of ‘Yes’, indeed, you have been making promises and agreements in an informal way.

All of the conversations that were held in a car or over a meal or on long walks—all those sentences that began with “When we’re married” and continued with “I will and you will and we will”—those late-night talks that included “someday” and “somehow” and “maybe”—and all those promises that are unspoken matters of the heart.

All these common things, and more, are the real process of wedding.

The symbolic vows you are about to make are a way of saying to one another, “You know all those things we’ve promised and hoped and dreamed—well, I meant it all, every word.”

Now,  face one another to make your vows. Look at one another—remember this moment in time.

Before this moment, you have been many things to one another—acquaintance, friend, companion, lover, dancing partner, and even teacher, for you have learned much from one another in these last seven years.

Now you shall say a few words that take you across a threshold of life, and things will never be quite the same between you. 

For after these vows you shall say to the world:   This—is my husband. This—is my wife.

Gasp... it still gets me!

Here is the moment: