We’re Married! – The Ceremony

Standing at the altar with hundreds of people staring at me, the doors opened. The most beautiful and loving woman I have ever laid eyes on was walking down the aisle towards me, holding her father’s arm. In this moment, I’m not sure I could have stopped smiling if I tried. She was walking down the aisle to “Hosanna,” and there could not have been a more fitting song.

“And those who went before and those who followed were shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
Mark 11:19

This is how the Israelites received Jesus into Jerusalem. Angela was coming down the aisle also in the name of the Lord. Through God’s work and in front of our friends and family, we were wonderfully and mysteriously combined into one flesh.

The intention for our marriage is to glorify God, and we did everything we could to display that with our ceremony. In our vows, I promised to lead Angela as Christ leads me, and to love her always. She promised to love me as Christ loves her, and to respect me always. These things are not nice words that we made up; they are the high calling for marriage that comes from the Bible. “The husband is the head of the wife just as Christ is the head of the Church,” “Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself up for her.” That sounds like the bar is set pretty high for me as a husband. Good thing I now have my helper suitable to uplift and encourage me along the way!

Once we said our vows and the rings were on our fingers, we had communion for our first act as husband and wife. This was very very special to me. The pianist played and Luis spoke just to the two of us as we broke bread and drank wine in remembrance of Christ’s work for us on the cross. I then got to pray for us, whispering in Angela’s ear on the altar. All could see but none could hear or feel the blessing that God was pouring out over our marriage at that time. That was my favorite part of the ceremony.

Then came the big finale, the smooch! In my head I was making sure I remembered all the things Angela told me to do. Grab her head, lean to the right, no tongue allowed; I remembered them all! I even made sure to hold it so that people could clap and take pictures! Little did I know that Angela had had enough, and she pulled away at the end! This led to a 300-person chuckle and made me laugh too. The entire ceremony was PERFECT, and I could not have imagined a better way to begin our new marriage!