Our Wedding Celebration



Small 'altar' made in the gazebo

On May 11, a couple of weeks after our Civil Marriage Ceremony, we had our Marriage Celebration.  It was important to us that it wasn’t focused on us, but on God and His amazing work in our lives. 

Our friends and mentors Kenny and Karen opened their home for us.

  

gorgeous flowers

 

 

Rachel and Mary Ellen helped decorate the gazebo and patio with lovely flowers, candles and other touches.  It was elegant and perfect!

 

they even made me a bouquet!

We loved having the ceremony in the gazebo, a circle where we could all see each other and worship God face-to-face. 

Dick opened us in prayer and then we read Psalm 145 together.  It is a psalm of praise to God, verse after verse proclaiming His greatness. 

“I will extol you, my God and King,
and bless your name forever and ever.
Every day I will bless you
and praise your name forever and ever.
Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised,
and his greatness is unsearchable.”  (vs 1-3)

Kenny and Sara helped lead, “How great is our God”

How great is our God, sing with me
How great is our God, and all will see
How great, how great is our God

 

Our Wedding Scripture was John 15:9-17. “This is My commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you.” (verse 12)

Karen shared reflections on these beautiful words of Jesus and a blessing from the Common Book of Prayer. 

Karen reading words of blessing

Carlos and I wrote out vows to each other, and read them aloud, promising to help each other grow to be more like Christ, serve each other and be faithful.

 



Introducing  Mr. & Mrs. Belez!

so, so blessed!!

what we want our lives to be about

We then knelt on the floor and were surrounded by our friends who laid hands on us and prayed for our new life together. 

For various reasons, neither of our families could attend.  And, being so far away from my faith family was hard.  But, God has provided an amazing family here who loves us, and keeps us looking to Jesus Christ as our all-in-all.  What a blessing to have them lifting us up!

We asked everyone to bring Bible verses and/or advice for us.  It was encouraging to hear truth spoken by those we love and respect so much. 

Daisy, Rachel, Dick & Mary Ellen
sharing scripture and advice

The ceremony concluded with more songs, more scripture and more prayers.

Poderoso, Poderoso  (Powerful, Powerful)
Me libraste, Me salvaste (You freed me, You saved me)
Está escrito, Has vencido (It is written, You have won)
Cristo tú eres Señor (Christ, You are Lord) 

Karen U & sweet Nina

(chorus of Poderoso.  The English doesn’t quite get the beauty of the words.)

Holy, Holy, Holy Is the Lord God Almighty
Who was, and is, and is to come
With all creation I sing: Praise to the King of Kings!
You are my everything, And I will adore You…!

(chorus of Revelation Song, which has been a part of most significant worship services in my life over the past few years.)

I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my great army, which I sent among you.  You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, who has dealt wondrously with you. And my people shall never again be put to shame. (Joel 2:24-25)  We truly believe that God has restored the years the locusts ate. 

a toast and delicious food!

Then, it was time for the food!  We had asked Carlos’ mom and sister, and our dear friend Margot, to make a Dominican feast.  And, they didn’t disappoint!  It was all delicious. 

Mary Ellen made an amazing carrot cake (with cream cheese frosting!) which she also beautifully decorated. 

our gorgeous and delicious wedding cake

We introduced Carlos to the North American tradition of cutting the cake and feeding it to each other. 

cutting the cake

yum!

why are they hitting their glasses?
(notice Carlos didn't let go of that plate of awesome food!)

He also learned about glass clinking!



It truly was all that we had prayed our celebration would be.  It was hard for me to not have my friends and family back home there, but God is so faithful, and has provided brothers and sisters in Christ here, too.  We step forward confident that God is at work, and will continue to draw us close to Him as we seek His good and perfect plan for our marriage.

my amazing sister in Christ, Daisy

At the end of the wedding program we wrote the following:  “We want our marriage to reflect the relationship between Jesus Christ and His Church.  We desire that by seeing two sin-filled broken people loving each other with His love, others may grow in hope and faith in Him. 



the guys hanging out

We pray that despite our weaknesses and imperfections, Christ’s power and love may shine out to a lost world.  We pray that our life may reflect the sacrificial life of Jesus and that through the Holy Spirit’s power, others may be touched by His grace and love.”

Thank you to all of you near and far who have been a part of this unfolding story.  We are excited to see how God is continuing to work in us, and pray that our lives, our marriage, truly will be a way to point others to Jesus Christ. 

what a day!!