Megan and Kyle Officiat Speech
We are all here today to celebrate the relationship of Megan and Kyle and to be witnesses and supporters of the commitment they share with one another. Together we are a group of the most important people in their lives and they’ve brought us here to publically recognize that we have all played some special part in the love they share today. Life is not just one person floating through time and space; it is the connections we build as we are here. Every moment is important in the overall picture we call life. Look around this room, look at each other. We are all here because we are part of the tapestry of Megan and Kyle’s life. Each person has brought something to their life that has moved them towards this moment. Marriage is to belong to each other through a unique and diverse collaboration, like two threads crossing in different directions, yet weaving one tapestry together, and each of you have added your unique thread to their lives and this moment.
This moment is about faith. Whether you are religious or spiritual, it does not matter; faith is having a complete trust or confidence in someone or something. Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. It is the power to hold on during tough times, it is the ability that helps you produces persistence. Faith is one part of the three most important attributes we can have. Faith, Hope, and Love, the greatest of these is love. Love for ourselves, love for each other, love towards each other. The hope of finding love but the faith they have to stand before each other and declare that love, not only to each other but also to all of us.
What started as two Bumble profiles ignoring each other…blossomed into more. A first date for drinks at Ratio Brewery, turned into a hangout full of laughs with Prince, Glen, and Tevas, the shoes that aren’t really shoes, sorry Kyle. Despite Kyle’s bad fashion habits, the connection that Kyle and Megan enjoyed was one of an emotional connection through joy and laughter. The next day Megan returned trudging through the snow to share a movie, and together they have walked every since. They have learned to share their wins and losses together. Some of that is personal, some of that professional, and some of that financial. When you put two spenders together you might start to see your own spending habits. Luckily, they are committed to spending time together while saving the moments they share together. Every time they look back at the moments they shared and the time they spent they will see it all saved in their memories, and memories are never a waste.
Megan and Kyle wanted me to thank you all for being here and to recognize how important each and every one of you are to their relationship. They would also like to recognize all of those who couldn’t make it here today as they are certainly missed but not forgotten on this day of celebration — especially the three dogs that are missing out on such a lovely ceremony.
But, you don’t have to have a ceremony to have a marriage. So why do we do it? The marriage ceremony has been an important feature across nearly every culture, religion, generation, and society. We have thousands of important moments that happen throughout our lives, but this one is regarded as one so critical, we acknowledge its special status by sharing it with others. We share our time, our energy, and our love in a ceremony that only lasts a few hours. However, it is so important. It is the outward resemblance of our internal love and commitment.
Despite all of our differences, love is what we all share. It’s the great unifier — our one universal truth. That no matter who we are, where we’ve come from, what we believe, we know this one thing: love is what we’re doing right. We have all loved in our lifetimes, and in this moment, we’re reminded that the ability to love is the very best part of our humanity. Love is genuine, honest, and open, compassionate and kind, passionate and blind, love doesn’t know space or time, nor look through jealous eyes, and in the modified words of Paul in his letter to the Corinthians, “Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things.
All of us here today have our own love stories. There are chapters in all of our stories that are sad or disappointing — and others that are exciting and full of adventure. Two people in love do not live in isolation. Their love is a source of strength with which they may nourish not only each other but also the world around them. And in turn, we, their community of friends and family, have a responsibility to this couple. By our steadfast care, respect, and love, we can support their marriage and the new family they are creating today. Megan and Kyle both come from different families.
Megan had to deal with loss at a young age. Her family life was difficult. Her best friend Christina has always been like a sister to her. Her fiends became her family. Their homes became hers. Kyle understands that Megan’s friends are very important to her. Kyle grew up an only child, with a loving mother and father who may have pampered and spoiled him. Hopefully Kyle will turn that pampering and spoiling onto Megan.
Megan and Kyle have already had some of those life adventures to test their love. They travel a lot – and with that come things that happen that don’t go the way you planned at all. You have to just take what you’re given and either it makes the best of it or ruin a trip. You really get to know someone when you travel with them. Megan and Kyle travel great together! They always make the best of the situations and surroundings. From the stresses of Europe to the challenges of Jamaica, being able to adapt is huge and after their first few trips together they knew that they would be a good pair in any situation. Not only did a trip to San Diego bring them together emotionally but also it led them to move in together and build a loving home.
And that brings them here, a time to pause, look back, and smile at all the moments that brought them here. Big ones like saying “I love you,” moving in together, getting engaged — but mostly a million little ones that come in between the big moments. Falling asleep next to one another, making dinner together, spending holidays with your families, and saying goodbye in twenty languages just because. You not only have to take time to look back at those moments but you have to take time to look ahead to all the moments that are still to come. These everyday moments fuse together into one big experience. And even though this experience is so incredible, words fail us when we try and explain it. That’s just the way it is with love — it’s meant to be felt, not described. But trying to describe love is one of our favorite pastimes.
Some people describe love through music, poems, paintings, pictures, and film. Some just describe their love with a look. And even though we describe love in different ways — and even though love can look different from one person to the next — we all know it when we see it. And we see it here. We see Megan and Kyle standing before us with their love radiating from them. Love is here today standing in front of us, sitting next to us, and surrounding us, as we observe this beautiful marriage between Megan and Kyle. They could both see the love, kindness, humor, and comfort from each other the first time they met. When what should have been just a first date turned into the first day of the rest of their lives together both Megan and Kyle knew they could be themselves and be happy, together.
Marriage gives permanence and structure to a couple’s love. It’s a way to tell one another that no matter how much you snore or how much you spent while out at the shopping mall, we’re still in this together. It’s more permanent than that desire for the boat Kyle wants and has more staying power than the bed bugs that helped you both move in together. Marriage is telling the person you love that you’re not going anywhere and that’s a powerful commitment for two people to make to one another.
Marriage is perhaps the greatest and most challenging adventure of human relationships. No ceremony can create your marriage; only you can do that—through love and patience; through dedication and perseverance; through talking and listening, helping and supporting and believing in each other; through tenderness and laughter; through learning to forgive, learning to appreciate your differences, and by learning to make the important things matter, and to let go of the rest.
A good marriage must be built on the foundation of this commitment. In marriage the “little” things are the big things. It is never being too old to hold hands. It is remembering to say, “I love you” at least once a day. It is calling each other cute nicknames like Skittle. It is listening as you share your family history, talking about your faith, and supporting without judgment. It is having the capacity to forgive and forget. It is giving each other an atmosphere in which each can grow. It is a common search for the good and the beautiful. It is not only marrying the right partner — it is being the right partner, which may mean ditching some shoes that aren’t shoes. Hint, Hint. The road that has brought Megan and Kyle here today hasn’t been easy. It’s been filled with challenges that they weren’t necessarily prepared for. But together they’ve taken each one on and have used those experiences to strengthen, not weaken their love.
Today is a day for Megan and Kyle to declare publicly their complete love, dedication, and admiration for one another. To show the people raised them and made them who they are to know how happy and how in love they are. They are excited for their closest family and friends to witness the dedication of their lives together and to hear the promises they will make to each other. You all are also a part of our day. You helped Megan and Kyle find each other and love each other. Kyle and Megan are joining our lives as one and couldn’t imagine taking this big step with out those closest to them. As Elton John famously sung in the Lion King, “Can you feel the love?” I know I can. I hope that you can feel the love these two, which will sustain them throughout their lives together.
Their life together is not just one shared by Kyle and Megan but shared by and with all of you. Like a painting there is no single color that produces a vibrant and spectacular picture. Each brush stroke, each detail, each color adds layers and depth to the overall picture. Each of you is a part of their canvas called life and each of you adds richness to the picture of the life Megan and Kyle have had so far. They were two portraits separated in the museum of life who will now be painted together sharing a canvas and a space together. The works of their life emboldened and sharpened with each stroke that their life tighter adds to the joined canvas which you are all here to witness. This ceremony is the joining of their combined experiences. To see with loving eyes, is to know inner beauty. And to be loved is to be known, as we are known to no other. We, who love, can look at each other’s life and say, “I touched his life,” or, “I touched her life,” just as an artist might say, “I touched this canvas.” “Those brushstrokes in the comer of this magnificent mural, those are mine. I was a part of this life, and it is a part of me.”
This moment is often portrayed as just romantic love and not only do Megan and Kyle love one another romantically – and they do, you can see it in every look, every touch, every moment they’re together – they also love one another as friends. In fact, they’re best friends, very plainly and obviously having fun together. When Kyle met Megan he knew immediately he would love her. The passion in the way she approached her life, family, and friends. How she worked every day to pursue her dreams. How Megan has a way of overcoming adversary with a positive attitude like no one Kyle had ever met before. He could tell she felt the same about me. They truly are best friends.
That love and enjoyment of each other as best friends will sustain them through this marriage. This new journey will be at times richly rewarding and extremely difficult, but, most importantly; it will be a journey you take together. Marriage is much more than your signatures on a legal contract. You are promising, in front of all these people you love, that you want to be with each other and only each other for the rest of your lives, and that you will do everything in your power to honor the promises you are making here today. For their part, the people who love you will also do everything in their power to try to help you hold up your end of the bargain.
As a couple they will realize that they give every aspect of their life a new, and better purpose. As Kyle stated, being with Megan has made his life have more purpose. The house is more important, His career has taken off, their dogs live a better life. He generally care more about everything because she makes me be a better person. And he loves her more than the Ohio State Buckeyes.
Megan knows she too cannot live without Kyle. Megan cannot live without his love for his friends and family and her. Kyle is full of compassion and has a huge heart. Kyle has the ability to make Megan feel more complete than she ever has felt before. She knew I couldn’t live without him when he allowed me to open up about some of her most difficult times in life and made her feel so comforted and safe, loved and never judged. She loves Kyle more than cheese and wine. As long as neither of you have to give up the Buckeyes or wine and cheese I think you will thrive.
The ability and desire for one human being to love another is perhaps the most precious and fulfilling gift that has been entrusted to us. It is an all-consuming task, a lifelong endeavor — the journey we’ve been preparing for all of our lives. Loving someone is a reason to stretch beyond our limits, to become more for the sake of the other. It is to look into the soul of your beloved and accept what you see. Loving is the ultimate commitment which challenges humans to become all that we are meant to be. As they join in marriage today, Megan and Kyle are announcing to the world that they are welcoming that challenge.
Megan and Kyle we are pleased to be here for your ceremony in the holy union of marriage. To witness your love, your friendship, your quirks, your laughs, your fashion choices, and mostly your commitment to each other. I know that your loyalty, compassion, intelligence, humor, and faithfulness to each other will make this already amazing love you share blossom throughout your lives into a even more beautiful and eternal love. It is an honor to share this day and moment with you both as we all are witnesses to a enduring love that is built upon the foundation of faith, hope, and love. May you always have these three characteristics to be your constant companions, as you add color to your life by adding strokes and layers to your combined canvas.