With Lisa Hunter, Colorado Wedding Officiant - at The Manor House

The Heart Of Michael & Dan’s Wedding Ceremony:

Exploring The World - Together

Michael and Dan love to travel. And when they do, they broaden their understanding of other cultures while deepening the love and connection between them. Their wedding passage journey and the ceremony itself was a celebration of this, and a send-off into the next adventures on the horizon.

We also got to do so many meaningful mini rituals on their day. A wine box, two readings from friends, a ring warming and the Jewish chuppah plus the tradition of breaking the glass. Each of these elements not only made for meaningful ceremony, they also represented something important in Michael and Dan’s shared life.

At the beginning of their ceremony, these two had me read a quote that says, “Every once in a while, right in the middle of ordinary life, love gives us a fairy tale”. Come along on their photo story to see the ceremony elements that they chose to express their love for knowing each other more deeply, and in the process knowing the world more deeply too…

Setting The Scene

The wedding took place at The Manor House - a stately mansion up in the rolling hills just outside of Denver.

It’s a beautiful place for a ceremony, plus also a great spot for a pre-ceremony photo shoot for Michael and Dan.

Ceremony Highlights

Michael and Dan chose to get married under a chuppah - for them, this Jewish tradition is a symbol for the home that you are creating with no walls so as to welcome family, friends and any who enter your lives. They also honored Dan’s mother, who had passed, by draping her dress as the cloth covering on the chuppah. Dan also wore her engagement ring stones in his wedding ring.

When it was time to start, Michael and Dan made a grand entrance together, walking themselves down the aisle!

Woven into the ceremony were two readings, each read by close friends.

One was about traveling through life as companions in a way that is steeped in love and an appreciation for life’s seemingly little moments that are actually quite profound.

The other reading focused on relationship not being about making each other whole, but rather from a place of individual fullness, making each other more than you were on your own.

I got to talk about two of Michael & Dan’s big travel trips - one to Disney World and one to Europe - and their shared outlook on life as an adventure. In the process, each one learns more about himself, and they witness each other, growing together even more as a couple.

We did a wine box ceremony, which had special meaning because these two are true wine connoisseurs, so they incorporated a bottle of wine from a Californian vineyard that they adore.

They put a spin on the typical wine box ceremony by placing personal vows into the box to read on their honeymoon in addition to starting a tradition to drink wine and re-read vows on every anniversary.

Vows were repeat-after-me. Michael and Dan chose a set that was an alternative to the traditional “to have and to hold” vows. By the time they exchanged rings, there was not a dry eye in the house.

A final tradition: The breaking of the glass.

There are many interpretations for this Jewish tradition - the one that meant the most to Michael and Dan reminds us that life holds both joy and sorrow, and as the glass breaks we strengthen our commitment to deepen and grow with one another through both good times and bad.

They also loved the interpretation that the breaking of the glass protects you with Grace - that should any judgement arise as it sometimes can when two people emanate true joy and love for one another, the breaking of the glass deflects the judgement.

Married!

Congratulations, Michael and Dan!

May you continue to travel the world, expanding your circle of family and friends wherever you go. May you be guided by your honesty, compassion, level-headedness and acceptance with one another. May your life together be full of love and may your desire for adventure never slow down. So much love, Lisa.