Category Archives: Family Life

Mariom and Eduardo’s Wedding

July 28, 2013

Planning and executing a wedding is hard work.  I know, I’ve helped plan more than 40 of them in the 30+ years I have been a pastor.  That is really not a lot for 30 years of ministry as a pastor, but it does qualify me to speak to the challenge and hard work of planning a wedding.

I think it is very important that a wedding reflect the wishes and heart of the bride and groom.  So, when a couple asks me to help them with their wedding, I give them a lot of room to express their personality and their individuality.  After all, it is not my wedding, it is theirs.

In the last few years I have had the special privilege of working with several international student couples who wished to get married here in Fargo.  Even though they wanted an “American” kind of wedding, I still wanted them to put their own personal touches on the service.  In every case, it has been a pleasure to help them through the planning.

That has been especially true of Mariom and Eduardo’s wedding.  At first they seemed to be content with my planning, but as we went along, more and more their wishes came to the surface.

First they did not have a “wedding party” as most couples.  They would stand by themselves and Mariom would walk down the isle alone.  Then, they decided on songs for walking in and walking out (processional and recessional) that I did not expect.  One was even from the Disney “Tarzan” movie.  But they fit – very well, even the words were most appropriate (though we did not sing the words).

Then, the scriptures they selected for reading in their ceremony were not what I expected.  Mariom selected Colossians 3:23-24 and Eduardo selected Matthew 7:24-27.  Read them over and see what you think.  The more I thought about them, the more I liked those verses.

Then they picked other songs to sing – congregational songs.  One was from our hymnal, but I had never noticed it before.  The words were perfect. And finally, they wanted to play a video song by Chris Tomlin.  It was a song we have sung with the worship team, but I had never thought of it for a wedding, “How Great Is Our God.”  They wanted to do an international version with 5 different languages – more than 6 minutes long (that’s a long song).  At first I was skeptical that it would work, but the more I played the song and thought about it, the more I liked it.  After all, their wedding was an international affair.  They were thousands of miles from home, they had friends from other cultures in attendance and singing to the Lord praise at the end of the ceremony, in 5 different languages was the PERFECT ending.  The more I thought about it, the more I was caught up in praise.

I hope you were here to enjoy the wedding.  If not, you missed a wonderful blessing.  It was a celebration of the gift of marriage, but it was also a time of worship.  And, best of all, the more I thought about it, the deeper the worship soaked in. THANKS, Mariom and Eduardo!

Your Pastor,

Dude Garrett

Want to talk to Pastor Dude?  Give him a call on his cell phone (701)261-0931.