Singleton Wedding
Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you for always: Mr. & Mrs. Singleton!
On a gorgeous Friday afternoon in July, Peter and Ebonie celebrated their love and secured their union surrounded by their family and closest friends. Their downtown Kenosha wedding was filled with beauty and excitement. Peter and Ebonie effortlessly blended their lives together with pure love, joy, comfort, and understanding. Their love story is charming and sincere. With a gracious nod to the past and faith for a blessed future, I was honored to help them start their marriage with a clean sweep.
Enjoy a few excerpts from this beautiful ceremony below and this highlight video from Noble and Glass Wedding Films Singleton Wedding Highlight Video Link.
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Ebonie and Peter graduated from Evanston Township High School in 1999. They weren’t friends then. Actually, Ebonie didn’t even remember him. They went their separate ways until twenty years later Peter decided it was time to reach out. He bravely sent Ebonie a message. Little did Peter know that Ebonie had sworn off dating. She talked with God and believed that if it was meant to be, God was going to have to bring someone right to her. She never expected God to send someone through the virtual door; but there Peter was in her inbox. The couple began to message and talk, and a relationship just flowed. Their newfound friendship and relationship grew easily and naturally. All on God’s timeframe.
As we will hear in our first reading from Ecclesiastes, God is in control at all times. He protects us and guides us. We are powerless in our existence for the power is His. Including God in your marriage is imperative, for a cord of 3 strands is stronger than 2.
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A Reading from Ecclesiastes 9:10-11
Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.
I have seen something else under the sun:
The race is not to the swift
or the battle to the strong,
nor does food come to the wise
or wealth to the brilliant
or favor to the learned;
but time and chance happen to them all.
The Word of the Lord.
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A Reading from 1 Corinthians 13: 4-8, 13
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
The Word of the Lord.
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Vows
(Peter) Ebonie, I take you as you are, loving who you are now and who you are yet to become. I promise to appreciate you, to grow with you, and to be supportive of you. I will cherish you always. I will love you and have faith in your love for me, through all our years together and all that life may bring us.
(Ebonie) Peter, I take you as you are, loving who you are now and who you are yet to become. I promise to appreciate you, to grow with you, and to be supportive of you. I will cherish you always. I will love you and have faith in your love for me, through all our years together and all that life may bring us.
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(Peter’s Father and Ebonie’s Father assisted the couple in a time-honored wedding tradition of jumping the broom.)
This act symbolizes a new beginning and a sweeping away of the past. It also signifies the joining of two families while offering a respectful nod to ancestors. The fathers will sweep away negative energies and make way for all things that are good to come into the lives of Peter and Ebonie.
Jumping the broom is about incorporating your past, and giving it a place of honor in your new life. When slaves in this country were not permitted to marry, they jumped a broom as a way of ceremoniously uniting. It is simultaneously an act of great joy and a reminder of strife.
As the bride and groom jump the broom, they physically and spiritually cross the threshold into the land of matrimony. Today marks the beginning of making a home together. It is also a call of support for their marriage from their entire community of family and friends.
The bride and groom will now begin their new life together with a clean sweep!
(All in attendance counted to 3 and the bride and groom jumped the broom and kissed to thunderous applause and cheers.)
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The love Peter and Ebonie share is a beautiful blessing. May their love grow and through strength, unity, and time be a blessing not only onto themselves but onto their families and the world around them. Help them, Lord, to stay connected in any adversity and to treasure and protect their marriage. May we, as their family and friends, commit to uphold and encourage them to the best of our ability. May we express abundant thankfulness for our friendships, our health, and our precious time. May their wedding day be a treasured experience that this couple holds in their hearts forever. Amen.
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To Mr. and Mrs. Singleton and a lifetime of love! Cheers!