Prompt

Austin welcomes everyone, sets tone.

Themes to hit:

• Marriage as commitment through uncertainty
• Community witness and support
• Joining of families

Austin to draft his own opening remarks.

Remarks

Welcome. We are gathered today to bear witness to the marriage of Adrian Smith and Venki Kumar.

Marriage is a sacred contract. It’s a commitment, formalized here this afternoon, but then extending to the rest of their shared lifetime.

It’s a promise intended to be costly, binding, permanent. A promise to be made when lived experience and careful reflection and burning passion all point in a single direction: that there’s no other choice, that this one beautiful amazing being merits complete devotion for the rest of your life.

We cannot always guess what life will bring, but after today, Adrian and Venki will have this promise as a recourse against all uncertainty.

This is not a promise they make in secret; it is one they undertake in front of their community. We, the friends and family of the couple, have traveled here from near and far, in order that Adrian and Venki may understand that we support their love and their union.

This union goes beyond two individuals; every marriage represents the joining of two families. Through this ceremony, and with the blessing of each family, we prepare for this couple to begin a family of their own.

I’ll now invite Rachel Shu, Adrian’s Maid of Honor, to read a passage.

Cut

Marriage a one-way door. At I first I wanted to say, a door, passing through which forever changes your relationship. But that didn’t feel true — when people ask me how I felt just after getting married, I remember replying “eh it’s pretty much the same, the big milestones are actually moving in together, and (I imagine) having a kid”.