CEO Renewal Programme and Chaplain to the Queen Cllr Rev Canon Ann Easter loves weddings
- Credit: Archant
Suddenly, I’m involved in several weddings – and I love it!
Attending as a guest or officiating as a priest, every time I’m thrilled all over again to see the dresses and the flowers and to hear those old familiar words, “I will”. And I always make sure that the congregation can hear them, loud and clear.
Each wedding is different and special, from the one I conducted with just the bride and groom and their two witnesses, to a recent one where there must have been at least 250 people in church – mind you, there was plenty of time for the congregation to arrive because the bride was almost an hour late.
I remember one when it was the groom who was late.
I sat in the limousine with the bride as she went through anger, despair and fear until, some 40 minutes after the wedding was due to begin, I came to the conclusion that the only thing left for her was prayer.
I prayed and the groom raced across the churchyard, his mother beside him trying to pin flowers to his jacket.
I leapt out of the car and directed him to his bride. He went down on one knee, begging her forgiveness (apparently he’d had to work).
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She pointed to the church and said: “Just get in there, you ******!” and he did.
I often wondered how many times she reminded him of that day.
Nowadays, I know that a sizable percentage of the people who marry will split up and, of course, a number of those who come for marriage have had one attempt already – but they obviously think it’s worth trying again and so do I.