From the series: I work with the best couples!
Some matches are made in heaven, right? This does not only apply to couples, but also to celebrants and the people they marry!
When Olivia and Bart, an English-Dutch couple, asked me to conduct their bilingual wedding ceremony in Guernsey, it felt our match was meant to be.
Living in different time zones, we met via Facetime. I was immediately taken by the radiant energy of this couple and their creative and ambitious ideas for their wedding day.
We spent a couple of months working on the initial ideas and design for the wedding ceremony and fine tuned the script and logistics in collaboration with the wedding planner, photographer and videographer until we were all happy with the content and confident everything would run smoothly on the day.
“You have captured us and our love perfectly, thank you. The tone is perfect, humorous, friendly yet formal, romantic and special – everything we want our day to be.” (Olivia & Bart)
The ceremony took place outdoors. A live choir and a harpist entertained the guests whilst we were waiting for the bridal party to arrive. Olivia made a mind-blowing entrance, bringing a tear or two not only to Bart’s but to everyone’s eye.
After I had welcomed everyone in English and Dutch, Bart’s sister read a heartfelt poem she had written herself. The ceremony also included readings by Victor Hugo, a poem by Terah Cox and some secular blessings.
The reading by Victor Hugo (who wrote these words in Guernsey in 1860):
“Love participates of the soul itself. It is of the same nature. Like it, it is the divine spark; like it, it is incorruptible, indivisible, imperishable. It is a point of fire that exists within us, which is immortal and infinite, which nothing can confine, and which nothing can extinguish. We feel it burning even to the very marrow of our bones, and we see it beaming in the very depths of heaven.”
I shared Bart and Olivia’s story: how they met, how Bart proposed and how they support and challenge each other. these two are the embodiment of romance, fun and proof that if you dream big, the universe is your oyster. The second part of the ceremony had a more formal character. Olivia and Bart had written their own vows, leaving everyone, including me, in pieces.
“Let’s dare to dream and dance until we’re old, I give all I am to you. My greatest achievement is you my darling, and I vow to love and honour you from this day forward, until the end of time.” (from Olivia’s vow to Bart)
After the ring exchange they signed their wedding book. We ended with a communal vow: everyone was invited to stand and vow to continue to support Olivia and Bart on their journey as a married couple.
Olivia and Bart danced back down the aisle to ‘Signed, sealed, delivered’, followed by bubbles, dinner, dancing and spectacular fireworks.
It’s a privilege and a joy to be invited into people’s lives. To find the gold dust in their stories and to translate that into an experience that marks the start of their future life together!
Olivia and Bart's wedding was beautifully captured in a film by Liefste Dag, and fetaured on LoveStoriesTV:
"A perfectly blended mixture of romance, old school glamour and magic, surely an atmosphere only their select crowd of guests could have created. Guests from all corners of the creative industries gathered from all over the world to celebrate the love of Olivia & Bart, a setting one might have imagine straight out of a black and white movie."
Photo credits: Igor Demba
Wedding planner: The Angels Events
Videographer: Liefste Dag Films
Make-up artist: Rich
Groom Suit Designer: Michael and Giso
Wedding dress: J'Aton Couture
Curious to learn more? Get in touch!
07543 063286
Comments