For their June wedding, Nick and Chrissy had their guests gather in a circle around a bonfire - a reminder of the divine light that blazes within their hearts and the hearts of each one of their loved ones. Before telling their love story, I read a poem called "Love is Friendship Caught Fire" by Laura Hendricks:
Love is friendship caught fire; it is quiet, mutual confidence, sharing and forgiving.
It is loyalty through good and bad times.
It settles for less than perfection, and makes allowances for human weaknesses.
Love is content with the present, hopes for the future, and does not brood over the past.
It is the day-in and day-out chronicles of irritations,
problems, compromises, small disappointments,
big victories, and working toward common goals.
If you have love in your life, it can make up for a great many things you lack.
If you do not have it, no matter what else there is, it is not enough.
After I declared Nick and Chrissy to be husband and wife, they lit
two individual candles from the bonfire to symbolize the way their unique
energies radiate from the same source of love and light. Then they used their individual flames to light a sky lantern, which they released after it was full of hot air, to symbolize the way their united energies of life and love will
enable them to achieve their highest dreams.
All of the guests watched in awe as the sky lantern sailed above the treetops and disappeared into the clouds, and then Nick and Chrissy sealed their vows with a kiss.
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