Hippo
& Giraffe

Introduction

Ashleigh:

Good evening everyone. We've all been invited here today to witness and celebrate as one community the union of Jennifer and Benjamin in marriage.

The bride and groom have asked me to thank each of you for making this trip. To these two only children, everyone here is family—not just friends, but the brothers and sisters they've gathered along their journey so far. Together, they hope to continue that journey with you.

We also want to remember those that cannot be with us today.

Thank you all for helping make Jennifer and Benjamin who they are: celebrating in times of joy, commiserating in times of sadness, studying and working late into the night, accepting their eccentricities, forgiving their failures, and opening up and exploring so many new worlds. Your love and friendship are models for what the bride and groom want to be for each other in marriage.

Vows

Ashleigh:

"Marriage is," as a philosopher described, "a hopeful, generous, infinitely kind gamble taken by two people who don't know yet who they are or who the other might be. It requires forbearance, generosity, imagination, and a million things besides."

The vows of marriage are a way to express commitment to the mystery and vocation of loving someone. The bride and groom have written vows of their own as well as vows together. Jennifer, you may begin.

Jennifer:

Your smile was the first thing I noticed when I met you and it's a symbol for what I love about you now—your incredible sense of humor, the brilliant ways you make me laugh everyday, and your loving heart.

I loved our connection from day one and cherish how we've grown together throughout the years. And I love how we can still have conversations as good as our first, if not better.

I wrote down the things I would promise you. These are some I had to cross out...

I promise to never have more than two dogs at a time. I promise never to buy another succulent. I promise to never try, or make you try, another ridiculously expensive health product. Never say never.

But the things which are easy to promise...

I promise to always believe in you and lend you strength for all of your dreams.

I promise to join your laughter with my own and when you can't look on the bright side, I will sit with you in the dark.

I promise to choose you over and over, without pause, without doubt, I'll keep choosing you.

I promise to always get you cake, even when you don't think you want cake, but you really do, and you're excited that I got you cake.

You're my person. I love you so much, and I'm looking forward to our life together and everything it brings.

I promise to accept you fully for who you are, and I delight in seeing who you become.

Benjamin:

Jennifer, you're amazing, and the story of how you beame you is one of my favorite stories of all time.

After we met, I believe it was six months before there was even a pause in the conversation. We talked non-stop, marching up and down the Dish or driving two hours to find sno cones—all the funny and hard stories of growing up, finding ourselves in strange new places with strange new customs, of just finding ourselves, in general—of always balancing where we came from with where we are and where we want to go.

Jennifer I love your balance and equanimity, except when driving, and I promise to seek more balance in my life, that despite my many misadventures, outright gambles, and late night nonsense, I will always make time for doing nothing with you.

I love your compassion, and I promise that you'll always have a pup around to dance with, chase, and cuddle.

I love your sense of humor, and I promise when I'm on the verge of being a hangry, hangry hippo, that I'll rememeber to eat my marbles instead of losing them.

I love the philosophies we share and the depth at which you approach the world, and I promise to spend each day endeavoring to become a truer version of myself and to help you do the same.

Jennifer, you know I believe in a life full of stories. And I believe in you. And I believe we're going to continue our love story for the rest of our lives.

I promise to accept you fully for who you are, and I delight in seeing who you become.

Ring Exchange

Ashleigh:

I will now ask you to seal the vows you've shared with each other by the exchanging of rings.

Benjamin, do you take Jennifer to be your lawfully wedded wife—to honor faithfully the promises you've made and to grow together from this day forward?

Benjamin:

I do.

Ashleigh:

Jennifer, do you take Benjamin to be your lawfully wedded husband—to honor faithfully the promises you've made and to grow together this day forward?

Jennifer:

I do.

Ashleigh:

Through the vows and promises made here today, in the presence of your friends and family, by the power vested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife.

You may now kiss!