Program
Kevin:
Thank you all for being with us today to witness our marriage. Although what you're witnessing here in New York is not the legal registration of that marriage, which occurred in Darien, Connecticut yesterday morning, we both believe that one of the most important parts of a marriage ceremony is to stand up in the company of our closest friends and relatives and exchange vows that sum up what marriage means to us.
Simon:
Many traditional forms of marriage ceremony begin with a statement about the solemnity of the contract of marriage. We believe that marriage is something not to be entered into lightly, but thoughtfully and seriously with a deep realization of its obligations and responsibilities. No other human ties are more tender and no other vows more important than those we are about to pledge. Love makes a family: nothing more, nothing less.
Kevin:
Marriage ceremonies often also involve exchanging rings, as symbols of connectedness and love. Simon and I actually exchanged rings many years ago, in 1997. However, we've always worn these rings on our right hands, not the traditional left hand of conventionally married people, because we've never been conventionally married. Today's ceremony changes that, and we want to mark that transition by re-presenting to each other the rings we first exchanged those years ago, to wear like any other married couple on our left hands.
Kevin took off his ring and handed it to Simon to re-present:
Simon:
I, Simon, take you, Kevin, as my wedded partner, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better and for worse, for richer and for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part.
Simon took off his ring and handed it to Kevin to re-present:
Kevin:
I, Kevin, take you, Simon, as my wedded partner, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better and for worse, for richer and for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part.
We have posted a PDF of the program from the day of the ceremony, as well as audio recordings of the ceremony. The audio recordings are all mp3 files. Many thanks to David Attenborough (not of BBC fame, but no less fabulous) for recording it for us. The headings below are links to the audio files: right-click the link to download them. Any text that was not included in the printed program is included.
“The Bargain”
Sir Philip Sidney (1554–1586)
My true love hath my heart, and I have his
By just exchange, one for another given
I hold his dear, and mine he cannot miss,
There never was a better bargain driven:
My true love hath my heart, and I have his
His heart in me keeps him and me in one
My heart in him his thoughts and senses guides
He loves my heart, for once it was his own
I cherish his because in me it bides
My true love hath my heart, and I have his
Introductory music (the recording starts about halfway through, as there were technical recording issues during the first half), plus little more explanation:
The pianists actually played Der Ritt der Walküren (The Ride of the Valkyries)
from Act II of Die Walkürie
Richard Wagner (1813–1883)
arranged for two pianos, eight hands
by Camille Chevillard (1859–1923)
(Thanks to Jeremy Geffen for finding this arrangement for us.)
O Tell Me the Truth About Love
Some say love's a little boy,
And some say it's a bird,
Some say it makes the world go around,
Some say that's absurd,
And when I asked the man next-door,
Who looked as if he knew,
His wife got very cross indeed,
And said it wouldn't do.
Does it look like a pair of pyjamas,
Or the ham in a temperance hotel?
Does its odour remind one of llamas,
Or has it a comforting smell?
Is it prickly to touch as a hedge is,
Or soft as eiderdown fluff?
Is it sharp or quite smooth at the edges?
O tell me the truth about love.
Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds
Or bends with the remover to remove
Oh no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken
It is the star to every wandering bark
Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken
Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle’s compass come:
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks
But bears it out even to the edge of doom
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved
Our history books refer to it
In cryptic little notes,
It's quite a common topic on
The Transatlantic boats;
I've found the subject mentioned in
Accounts of suicides,
And even seen it scribbled on
The backs of railway guides.
Does it howl like a hungry Alsatian,
Or boom like a military band?
Could one give a first-rate imitation
On a saw or a Steinway Grand?
Is its singing at parties a riot?
Does it only like Classical stuff?
Will it stop when one wants to be quiet?
O tell me the truth about love.
I looked inside the summer-house;
It wasn't over there;
I tried the Thames at Maidenhead,
And Brighton's bracing air.
I don't know what the blackbird sang,
Or what the tulip said;
But it wasn't in the chicken-run,
Or underneath the bed.
Can it pull extraordinary faces?
Is it usually sick on a swing?
Does it spend all its time at the races,
or fiddling with pieces of string?
Has it views of its own about money?
Does it think Patriotism enough?
Are its stories vulgar but funny?
O tell me the truth about love.
When it comes, will it come without warning
Just as I'm picking my nose?
Will it knock on my door in the morning,
Or tread in the bus on my toes?
Will it come like a change in the weather?
Will its greeting be courteous or rough?
Will it alter my life altogether?
O tell me the truth about love.
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.
Selection of Liebeslieder (love song) waltzes by Brahms (each one is its own file)
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