Two Vows, A Toast, A Family Afair, AND A Slideshow (The Wedding)

1- The Slideshow: First things first! The slideshow, Punam put together in her blog, can give you a taste of the ceremony and reception. Click here to see it!

2- The Vows: Some family and friends, who were unable to make it to the wedding, have asked many details about the wedding (e.g. my aunt called from overseas at least 10 times before, during, and after the wedding). I am going to post the words, Geoff and I, wrote to say to each other as our vows so they feel more included in the ceremony - We truly missed them - this post is especially for them!

I said: Geoffrey, our relationship is so precious, so unique to me that today, in the presence of my family and friends, I choose to honor it with the commitment of marriage. I know, together, our lives are deeper, richer, more loving, more rewarding, more challenging, and more balanced than they ever could be without each other. I intend to nurture our life together, to cherish you as the amazing gift you are to me, to respect you, to have faith in you, to be strong with you, to be gentle with you, to love you and support you through easy days and hard days. You are the most loving and understanding man I have ever met and have already supported me so much! I feel so lucky that we found each other and I joyfully take you as my husband. I love you. I do.

Geoffrey said: Halleh Fathi Seyson, azeezam, jeegaram, my love, my heart. Today I officially proclaim my commitment to you in front of my family and friends. You mean more to me than anybody can imagine. Halleh, I promise to love and care for you through good and bad, through joy and sorrow. I will encourage and inspire you to the best of my ability. I will work by your side to create a wonderful life together. I will try everyday to be worthy of your love. These things I promise to you today, and all the days of our life. Nothing in the world is making me happier than you becoming hamsar-e man, my wife. Dooset daram. Ghorbonet baram. I love you, sweetie – I really do!

3- The Toast: I am also posting the toast, that our dear Jeff Anderson prepared but could not make it - having too much fun ;-P - and kindly posted in my virtual guest book later. Cheers to him and all the dear friends and family who came from near and far to support us. We love you and are so happy to have you as our friends.

Everyone – if I could get your attention. I'd just like to say a few words. My name is Jeff and I’ve been fortunate enough to have known Geoff for the last 32 years. A lot of good times in a lot of different places. Since college it has been harder to get together, but depending on where we’ve lived we manage to do it more or less on a regular, but extended basis. Over the last several years, like everyone else we keep in touch by email. I’ve noticed something funny; in person Geoff is anything but quiet, but in email he tends to use partial sentences and never a paragraph. Except when I ask him how his parents are doing. Then he writes complete paragraphs and I know that is because of how much he cares for his parents.
About two years ago I received an email from Geoff that not only used sentences and paragraphs but it also included a picture of him and this great woman he was seeing. This was followed by several more. In all the time I’ve known him this was something new. So I knew right from the start that Halleh must be something special & that Geoff was smitten. Now, if you'll all join me in raising a glass to our happy couple, Geoff and Halleh. May the joys you share today be the beginning of a lifetime of great happiness and fulfillment. Congratulations.

4- The Family Affair: What made the day very special was the presence, love, and support of (almost) all of our family members.... lots of emotional moments...lots of memories...and lots of paintings from my niece and nephew (my niece probably painted one bride per day for two weeks before the wedding).

Yes, the cake was the product of LOTS of love and help from family and a dear friend, too! It was very sweet! - wish I had a picture from everyone helping before the wedding! More pix will come later!

Our siblings read readings, we had selected, during the ceremony. This was a symbol of how dearly they were part of our wedding (and boy they worked hard before - and even after- the wedding!) One of my favorite readings was an excerpt from Khalili Gibran's Prophet (Chapter 2: Love):

... Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.
Fill each other's cup, but drink not from one cup.
...
And stand together, yet not too near together:
For the pillars of the temple stand apart,
And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow ...

(Wedding photos by Punam Bean)

The Wedding Stage!

Shakespeare once said, “All the world is a stage”!

I think the decision to marry Geoff was one of the most, if not THE most, serious decision I ever made in my life. I have to say, thought, when we were preparing for the wedding ceremony and party, I felt we were making a play – it was like the theater, why wouldn’t it be?! A very serious show…but yet a show! And after I actually performed it, from the very depth of my soul and heart and with lots of improvisations, I felt it was a beautiful show!

When we got to the engagement stage, I wasn’t for a wedding ceremony/party but Geoff wanted to have one. He convinced me by, in fact, explaining the actual idea of “marriage”. He said he wanted to “proclaim” his love in front of our family and friends…the private commitment has been already made! Marriage is that social aspect of the commitment; wouldn’t that make the ceremony like a show?! I am not saying this to demote the ceremony and the wedding party...quite contrary, that is the significance of it!

And so we prepared quite a personal ceremony and reception to share “socially” - with our family and friends. The weather could not have been kinder to us, neither could our family and friends! We started the afternoon with a sunny sky, PERFECT for the ceremony on the rooftop! But it didn’t stay the same...times change on the stage! It cooled down but remained nice and pleasant until around the dinner time. Gradually everyone put the jackets on…it was still pleasant enough to have everyone continue dancing. We all danced under the orange sky with the rain clouds noticeable from far away. Our awesome photographer, Punam Bean*, suggested taking pictures with the city’s night view and took absolutely beautiful pictures while a nice breeze was flapping my veil. What great timing…just about 5 minutes later, around 10 PM, we ended the night on the roof with a THUNDERSTORM and RAIN! Could it get more exciting…and romantic?! Life is a metaphor!

*The photos are by Punam and can be found in her blog post.