Roots that grow towards each other underground

In April I created a blog for Laura’s wedding – and this May Bank Holiday weekend was Gemma’s turn. Two nieces, both beautiful, inside and out. Both of them married partners that seemed ideal for them. Both invested in the ancient human notion that two people can join together and vow to support each other on life’s journey.

Thanks to Mick, Jan, Jess, Teresa, Laura Boothroyd and Harriet Johnson who posted pictures on Facebook or sent me their photographs so that I could combine them with my snaps to make collages. We had a memorable and enjoyable day, afternoon and evening at Cannon Hall Museum and the reception venue 315. Thank you also to Jenny Gascoine, one of Barnsley MBC’s Registrars who appears in the pic at the start of this blog between Gemma and Olllie leading the ceremony, and leading it beautifully; Jenny kindly sent me the poem that she read out to conclude the wedding.

One tree and not two 

from Captain Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernières

Love is a temporary madness,
it erupts like volcanoes and then subsides.
And when it subsides you have to make a decision.

You have to work out whether your roots have so entwined together
that it is inconceivable that you should ever part.
Because this is what love is.

Love is not breathlessness,
it is not excitement,
it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion.
That is just being "in love" which any fool can do.

Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away,
and this is both an art and a fortunate accident.

Those that truly love have roots that grow towards each other underground,
and when all the pretty blossoms have fallen from their branches,
they find that they are one tree and not two.

A Marriage is a Promise

A marriage is a promise
That two hearts gladly make,
A promise to be tender,
To help, to give and take.

A marriage is a promise
To be kind and understanding,
To be thoughtful and considerate,
To be fair and undemanding.

A marriage is a promise
To share one life together,
A love-filled promise, meant to be
Kept lovingly forever.

The divided self made full and perfect….
I'm going to repeat from the earlier wedding blog one of my favourite Shakespeare quotations about couples from King John:

He is the half part of a blessed man,
Left to be finished by such as she;
And she a fair divided excellence
Whose fulness of perfection lies in him.

Best wishes to Gemma and Ollie and to Laura and Aaron. 
May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
and rains fall soft upon your fields.