A GREAT DAY!

On August 11th, 2007, Cynara Cannatella wed Stacy Roalsen in a ceremony held lakeside on the campus of Wellesley College in Massachusetts. Friends and family were in attendance on a beautiful Saturday afternoon and the festivities were splendid in atmosphere and feature. Many traveled great distances to bear witness, and the contributions of the Bradshaw / Dewart clans were gracious and abundant. My gratitude goes out to all who endeavored to mark this occasion as special and deserving.

Presiding at the service was none other than yours truly, the Right Reverend John Joseph Cannatella (Or as some might attest, the Wrong Reverend). The marriage was sanctioned by the Massachusetts state authorities and my empowerment was legal and binding, as indicated by the document pictured below. This is followed by my ceremonial text.

Wedding Text and Vows

Dear family, friends, and neighbors …

We are assembled here today to celebrate the union of two lives who are loved and valued by us all. We support their dedication to this merger of mutual affection as they each have graced our lives with their singular gifts of allegiance and encouragement for our own choices and priorities. We have a stake in their happiness as they have exhibited concern for and contributed to our own. This, then, is true community. Not a collection of advocates scrambling for a common ritual of expression, but an individual rendering of joy and participation that will, of it’s own accord, meld seamlessly into the fabric of the occasion.

Joseph Campbell once said, “When people say they're looking for the meaning of life, what they're really looking for is a deep experience of it.” There is no danger of such a misconception here.

We are at once blessed as we confer our blessings on behalf of Stacy and Cynara. Our spirits are exalted as we behold and acclaim their union. The circle may not be round, yet all the elements are connected and entwined. We are, each and every one of us, the occasion. Cynara and Stacy are the source, a refreshing drink from the well of fidelity, and are thus worthy of our esteem and congratulations this day. The earth will sustain and nurture us, as it always has, the sun will warm us, the water will sooth us, the ground will support our collective weight, and our acclamations will flow in abundance.

Today we celebrate love; a love brilliant in its simplicity, devoid of sacramental elegance and ecclesiastical ornamentation. A love that is the pointing finger and, at the same time, the direction. We commit ourselves to the moment and to the trust it represents. We fear not the exhaustion of our goodwill for it is ever replenished. We bear witness in this spirit.

We participate and delight in this marriage because it is the living exemplar of what we all know to be true; amidst the bombardment of counterfeit standards and ideals promoted by predatory entities, the only real miracle extant on this fragile plane of existence is the expression of love for another being. This gives mortality its substance and perhaps the only meaning we’ll discover in our lives here. In this spirit, let us not just observe, but experience the instant in which we are now engaged.

I will now ask Ron, Beverly, and Anton to step forward and share in the proceedings of this union.

Please repeat after me:

I, Stacy Roalsen, take Cynara Cannatella as my lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, through sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer, forsaking all others, in the name of the love I profess this day?

I, Cynara Cannatella, take Stacy Roalsen as my lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, through sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer, forsaking all others, in the name of the love I profess this day?

By the power invested in me by the State of Massachusetts this day, I now pronounce you bonded and beholding to one another as partners in marriage. May your love remain as strong and increase in it’s depth throughout your lives, and may you share this bounty with all who love and cherish you.