Wedding Date: April 26, 2008 (Married)
 
Ceremony

Our ceremony was created by Colette Cuccia based on a series of essay questions in which we wrote about our feelings and our relationship.  We did not share our survey answers with each other, so many pieces of the ceremony were surprises for us.  We could not have asked for a more exceptionally personal ceremony.  The text is included below.

We are gathered here today in this beautiful setting to witness and to celebrate the drawing together of two separate lives. In so that Gregory Eyre and Kayce Kahl may be joined in marriage.

The essence of this commitment is the taking of another person as partner, companion and friend. It is therefore a decision undertaken with great consideration and affection and respect for the other person.

Who presents this woman to be married to this man today?

I would like to welcome you, and acknowledge you for the effort you have made to be here to celebrate this moment with Kayce and Greg. We are also here to celebrate all of you, their family and friends, who stand by them, and support them, and recognize the love they have for one another as they grow in this marriage. We would also like to remember those not present, but with us in spirit.

To the Parents: Who Kayce and Greg have become as persons is determined by many factors, but none more significant than their relationship with those who loved them into life, nurtured them, and taught them by their words and example. Although we outgrow the homes of our childhood, we never outgrow the love and support of our parents and families. In many ways you have taught them how to love.
For this they are forever grateful.

As this marriage unites two families and creates a new one, and in recognition of the fact that all present are part of an interdependent web of connection and relationship, I ask you to make a vow.

Do you who are bound to these two in friendship and love affirm your encouragement for them as they live their vows from day to day? If so, say We do.

Will you offer to them the best of your care and counsel in their times of struggle, and your celebration with them in their times of joy? If so, say We will.

This most significant moment of human celebration-the union of two persons in marriage-reaffirms the ultimate harmony of the human spirit. You have blended your hearts and minds with full knowledge of one another. Your faith and belief gives us encouragement for the future of relationship and marriage.

Your marriage is a commitment to life. To the best that you can find and bring out in each other. It offers opportunities for growth no other human relationship can equal, a physical and emotional journey that is promised for a lifetime.

In this time of knowing one another, you have influenced each other through your years of friendship and love. You stand here today after much change and growth and introspection, and realization of who your partner truly is. Kayce…with you and because of you, Greg endeavors to be a better man. He has become more compassionate, more aware of the impact he has on others, has learned to represent his true self, developing better skills in communication and compromise, and grown in honesty and trust.
Greg…you have inspired strength and inspiration in Kayce, taught her to have faith in her abilities in becoming the person she’s always wanted to be, that it’s okay to be a work in progress. With you, she feels content, calmer, kinder, with the ability to appreciate and enjoy life as she lives it.

You strive to make one another your priority…to support and nurture and encourage, to appreciate every moment, learning and growing together and as individuals.
A most important part of your daily relationship is honesty and communication: listening and appreciating, understanding the position of another. You practice mutual respect and openness while honoring and accepting the differences between you; communication that is always evolving into the best possible solutions.

You are grateful for so many things…the freedom to be who you are, for the way your partner understands you, for the respect and acceptance that you know will always be there…for the intellectual challenge you give to one another and the humor that permeates your everyday lives.

Commitment to you together means “respect and consideration…being closer to your partner above all others, considering his thoughts, feelings, well-being before making your decisions. It’s honesty and trust, confidence and clarity, vulnerability and openness without fear. A promise not to give up, to always care and fight for what’s important to you both.”

You are great allies, wonderful passionate friends. You take great pleasure in simply being together. You share endless moments of humor, laughter and absolute happiness. Every single smile…brings you joy. You have an exclusive and quiet existence…you have genuine affection, and you know how to care for each other with your thoughtfulness and concern.

Your future looks brilliant. A union that is whole and pure, with value placed on thoughtful and honest conversations and a generous love. Your dreams and goals are being fulfilled… Greg and Kayce style…right on time. You are learning, growing, celebrating your everyday living, using your solid connection to work together in raising children, maintaining hard work and a quality of life you both desire. Growing old together., grateful for the amazing life you get to experience along the way.

Kayce…you are an old soul…Greg most admires your knowledge that he will never stop learning from. He feels you are nothing short of an angel, who goes above and beyond for the people in your life, always thoughtful and conscious of their feelings and needs.
He loves your smile, the way you speak, your confidence, your ability to feel, your physical beauty and the beauty of your soul. In marriage, it is not a matter of finding someone you can live with, for Greg, you are the one he can’t live without. You are his best friend. He promises to you: honesty in life and in communication. He promises consistency, friendship and teamwork, understanding and solace. Strength and growth, commitment, dedication, compromise. Never forgetting great memories of our past together and never stop creating beautiful memories of the present, and a most powerful, passionate love.

Greg…Kayce most admires the way you are unapologetically you. You are thoughtful, opinionated and eager to learn. You are funny…witty, clever, sassy and sarcastic, and you think she’s funny too. She loves your intelligence, you have things to say, and you mean them. You are curious and adventurous and you are a wonderful teacher, never afraid to disagree or debate and you keep Kayce on her toes. You have an amazing attention to detail, you know how to make her laugh when she wants to cry. She wants you to remember that her love for you is built on respect, admiration, trust and delighting in your company. She feels blessed to know you and is elated that there is a lifetime with you to look forward to. Kayce promises trust, communication, honesty, openness, humor teamwork, support, respect, acceptance and forgiveness.

Your lives are rich and full with family, friends, adventures, laughter and love. The most meaningful of things that life has to offer. With wise and generous hearts, may you help all those who come to you in need of comfort or humor, and may you reach a ripe old age together, content for having lived a life of goodness and worth.

We are here today to celebrate the love that you have for each other, and to give recognition to their decision to accept each other totally and permanently. Into this state of marriage these two persons now come to be united.

(To the groom.) Do you, Greg take Kayce to be your wife, to love and to cherish, to honor and to comfort, in sorrow or in joy, in hardship or in ease, to have and to hold from this day forth?

(To the bride.) Do you, Kayce take Greg to be your husband, to love and to cherish, to honor and to comfort, in sorrow or in joy, in hardship or in ease, to have and to hold from this day forth?

Kayce/Greg, I choose you to be my wife/husband, my friend, my love;
I will cherish and respect you;
give you comfort and sense of calm.
I will understand and support you;
Listen and encourage you,
I will trust you always.
In laughter and in joy,
in the best and worst of times.
Know that I will stand by your side, as your loving partner,
Through all our days together.”

What outward symbol do you have as a token of this bond?

“With this ring, I thee wed.”

In this wedding you are married together in mind, body and spirit.

What you have said before your family and friends, let it be true and valid for the rest of your lives. Go in peace and forgive one another freely. Love each other with open hearts and understanding minds. Open to the respect your partner so generously extends to you. Hold hands, Laugh, and make room for love to flourish that you may be sustained while you are apart and that you may always find your way back into the center of your life. By your lives together and by your words today in this ceremony of the heart, you are truly married.

May you always walk in the fullness of love for each other.
May you and yours be blessed with an abundance of health and happiness
May you live long enough to see your children’s children
Let your world be a garden that you tend with care and striving, and leave it richer than when you found it.
May you have true friends to stand by you, both in joy and in sorrow
May the road rise up to meet you
May the wind be always at your back
May the sun shine warm upon your face
May the rain fall soft upon your fields
And until we meet again, may this moment always remain in your hearts

Kayce and Greg, you have been brought together by love and commitment. You have exchanged solemn and sacred vows. By this integrity and truth, in the presence of your family and friends, it is my honor-and with absolute delight-that I now pronounce you husband and wife.
You may kiss your beautiful bride.

Introduction as husband and wife: Kayce and Greg