Private Beach, Neptune, California, Sunset on Saturday, 8/16

[needsaparrot]

Nobody much cares where you sit, since it's not like there's a bride's side, or like Xander and Bridge don't share all the same friends, but the green fabric deck chairs are separated by a white runner anyway.

Lit on either side by softly-muted glow-balls, it leads down to a chupah that's -- contain your shock -- just as green.

In fact, it looks pretty much like this:




Welcome to the Carson-Harris wedding.

__

[OOC: Up supersuper early so guests and wedding party members can SP and I can craaaaaaaaash. Ceremony will be added in later in the day, and the inevitable followup post will follow. As they do.]

Comments

Re: Ceremony!!!! - Vows

[needsaparrot]

He picks up a simply-framed piece of paper, and holds it up to face the audience, before reading it aloud.

On the first day of the week,
the sixteenth of the month of Av
in the year five thousand, seven hundred and sixty-eight
corresponding to the sixteenth of the month of June
in the year two thousand and eight,
the sacred covenant of marriage is entered into between
Bridge Carson and Alexander Harris,
in the presence of witnesses, friends, and loved ones.

And these two say:

We recognize that we are for each other,
and declare it here and now
so that everyone will know what we do:
that this is the beginning of a new family,
made not only of our separate pasts,
but of the joy we have found in each other,
the hope to create a better future,
and the knowledge that nothing,
not time, distance, or fear,
can ever separate us again."

He turns to Bridge. "And now I believe the groom in the kippah has something to say."

Re: Ceremony!!!! - Vows

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

"Right," Bridge- who hadn't actually let go of Xander's hand since the whole thing in the cabana- says. He clears his throat and begins to speak: "Seeing the future is something that's always come naturally for me," he says. "But never so easily as it does when I look at you. I look at you and I *know*, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that we are meant to be together. You're the one person I love and trust above all others in this or any other universe," and okay, he'd already said that part, sort of, but no one else had been around to hear it, so he was saying it again. "And that's why I'm here tonight: to let all those universes know that I love you and will stand by you in times of sadness, joy, sickness, and health, until the end of all things."

Re: Ceremony!!!! - Vows

[needsaparrot]

And now there's hesitation, but only because Xander can't speak. And it's not the same kind of choking he was doing before. It's just... Bridge. He swallows hard, blinking until he can see again, and smiles. "Oh, I'm supposed to top that? Great."

Bridge's hand is warm in his, and he almost feels like he doesn't have to say anything, because God knows it's all there. But there's a reason there's other people here tonight.

"I used to think I knew what family was, before I met you," Xander says. "And marriage. Family was a lot of the people here tonight, or pretty good lookalikes, and marriage was... something my parents did." And that's as much of that as he's going to let into this wedding. "I never believed I could do both. Or that I'd ever want to. But you did. You just keep trusting me to be better than I think I am, and...I want to be that for you. So that's what I'm gonna do."

He closes his eye for a moment, finding another breath, then opens it and adds, "And also I promise to always wiggle my fingers when somebody says buttery--" Which he does. "And never yell or be mean, kiss Parker without permission, grope Marty Blank, or go off to the apocalypse without leaving a note about where it is so you can find me. And when I screw up and do all those things except for the kissing and the groping, I promise to stay and fix it, and never walk away."

Re: Ceremony!!!! - Vows

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

Yeah, so that thing where weddings kind of make Bridge teary-eyed? Apparently the fact that it's his *own* wedding this time doesn't seem to make a difference, because his eyes are definitely watering now. He's also grinning a lot.

"That- I'm good with that," Bridge says. "Like, really, really good with it. It's a very good plan and I approve wholeheartedly." Yes, he's kind of a dork. This should not be news.

Re: Ceremony!!!! - Vows

[needsaparrot]

"Did you know he's kind of a dork?" the rabbi asks Xander.

"I caught that, yeah," Xander assures him.

"Just checking. Now would be the time to say something, if you had any objections."

"I'm good."

The rabbi looks up at the audience. "Anybody else?" This would be the interfaith part. Also the 'grooms told him he had to ask' part.

Re: Ceremony!!!! - Vows

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

Parker might have taken a step to the side to be clearly visible, and glared at the entire surrounding congregation at this point.

"Anyone? Anyone? No? Yay. Proceed."

Re: Ceremony!!!! - Vows

[needsaparrot]

Xander snickers and nods to the rabbi. "You heard the lady with the shoes."

Re: Ceremony!!!! - Vows

[needsaparrot]

Said rabbi isn't sure whether he meant the ones on her feet or the ones dangling from her hand; both pairs look dangerous. "Loud and clear. Hearing no objections, Xander and Bridge will exchange rings now."

Re: Ceremony!!!! - Vows

[willbedone.livejournal.com]

Willow - with a surprising minimal of fumbling - passed Xander a ring (http://pics.livejournal.com/needsaparrot/pic/001g2e9a).

She didn't mention how glad she was that she hadn't accidentally broken it somehow. Don't ask how, Willow would've found a way.

Re: Ceremony!!!! - Vows

[needsaparrot]

Xander didn't need to ask how; he's too busy concentrating on not breaking it -- or dropping it -- now. His other hand is still occupied, after all. Which at least makes it a fairly short trip to Bridge's.

This one's easy. It's short, and there's only one tiny bit in a foreign language, which he's been assured repeatedly won't set anything on fire.

"Ani l'dodi v'dodi li," he says carefully as he slides the ring onto Bridge's finger. "I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine."

Re: Ceremony!!!! - Vows

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

And there- there's the ring. And it's on his *hand*. And okay, it's not like he hadn't tried it on before... but this isn't slipping it on for a few moments to make sure it's sized properly. This is the real thing, now.

Which is why it takes him a couple of moments to remember that oh, yeah, my turn now, and he's turning to Anders to get the other ring.

Re: Ceremony!!!! - Vows

[cantgetnorelief.livejournal.com]

Anders had turned and grinned at RIC when he went to retrieve the other ring from the robot dog's ear, and he could've sworn RIC purred happily back at him.

At any rate, he's got the ring in his hand and he's grinning like a mad, proud, crazy fool as he hands the shiny little band to his best friend, and wow.

Re: Ceremony!!!! - Vows

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

Anders' grin might find some competition in Bridge's own as he takes the ring.

"Ani l'dodi v'dodi li. I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine," Bridge repeats, taking Xander's hand once again so that he can put the ring on it, where it belongs.

Re: Ceremony!!!! - Vows

[needsaparrot]

It's real. It was real before, it's never been not real, but now it's cool and solid on Xander's finger, and it's Real. The forever kind of Real.

And forever, surprisingly, feels pretty frakking good.

Re: Ceremony!!!! - Vows

[needsaparrot]

The rabbi might take a moment too long to stop smiling and actually speak, but he figures tonight's other couple can wait a few seconds. Or he can put his foot down on his way up the PCH to make up for lost time.

"This is the part where I say do you and you say I do, if you want to do that part, but from where I'm standing I think you already did."

Re: Ceremony!!!! - Vows

[needsaparrot]

"We done did," agrees Xander.

Re: Ceremony!!!! - Vows

[needsaparrot]

Nodding and reaching for two napkin-wrapped bundles lying side by side on the table next to Jeremiah, he says, "The breaking of glass reminds us of the fragility of life, especially the lives me make together, but it also reminds us of the strength of our vows. The vows that Xander and Bridge have made to each other today are as permanent and irrevocable as the breaking of glass into a thousand pieces. Like the glass, they will be forever changed, just as impossible to return to what they were before."

Then he places the bundles, light-bulb shaped because they make crunchier sounds it's always better to avoid embarrassing too-sturdy-wineglass malfunctions, on the ground in front of Bridge and Xander.

"This is where you get to do the kissing part."

Re: Ceremony!!!! - Vows

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

"And I'm definitely a fan of kissing parts," Bridge comments, stepping forward.

Re: Ceremony!!!! - Vows

[needsaparrot]

Since there's still the whole no-glove thing, Xander thinks, Not those parts! Not in front of the rabbi! at him. Then ducks his head to kiss him before Bridge can bonk him on it.

And then there is stomping of glass.

Re: Ceremony!!!! - Vows

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

And sure enough, Bridge's eyes went wide as he caught that thought, but then his lips were a bit too occupied for him to concern himself with that or... anything else, really.