Stump-Coyne Wedding
Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you for the first time and for always, the newest Mr. and Mrs. Coyne!
It was an incredible experience to help this family celebrate their love stories! Matthew and Angela carefully selected their wedding date to correspond with Matthew’s parents’ 50th Wedding Anniversary. Matthew’s parents, John and Debbie, were thrilled with this sentimental gesture and gladly shared their date. An intimate gathering with the closest of family and friends was held on the gorgeous grounds of the DeKoven Center in Racine, WI with a glimpse of Lake Michigan in the background. The unique ceremony included a wedding for Matthew and Angela followed by a vow renewal for John and Debbie. The 28th of June will forever be a memorable date for this wonderful family. It was an absolute honor for me to be officiate these services.
Enjoy a few excerpts from this special ceremony below.
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First, we will witness the wedding ceremony for Matthew and Angela, and then we will have the 50th anniversary vow renewal ceremony for John and Debbie. This is a blessed day, and John and Debbie are thrilled to share their anniversary date with their son and new daughter-in-law.
Today, in the presence of these witnesses, Matthew and Angela, along with Angela’s kids Brian and Charlie, are ready to be united as one family. Also sharing in the love today are the couple’s dogs, Ruby, Opal, and Brooke. They wish they could be here to celebrate with you!
It is a beautiful blessing how life leads us through winding, cluttered pathways, and then suddenly, the path straightens and clears and you’re amazed to find that you’re exactly where you’re meant to be. And it’s even more incredible when you look beside you and you find the person who is meant to be right there with you. We will never know why it took so long and why you both had to endure so much, but suddenly there you both were- placed with gentle perfection by God onto the same path, and somehow, everything that came before made sense, because everything going forward would be appreciated to the depths of your souls. From teenage acquaintances to middle-aged Facebook friends, who but God knew that your love story was waiting for you.
Matthew and Angela, from this day forward, you are called upon to write your life story together, with your words and actions, with your hearts and souls, every moment of every day, until God calls you home. You are called to be each other’s love story during the extremes and during the mundane. May you always have enough. May you have enough happiness to keep you sweet, enough trials to keep you strong, enough sorrow to keep you human, enough hope to keep you happy, enough failure to keep you humble, enough success to keep you eager, enough friends to give you comfort, enough faith and courage in yourself to banish sadness, enough wealth to meet your needs and one thing more; enough determination to make each day a more wonderful day than the one before.
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The bride and groom are now going to take some symbolic action to represent their union by performing a sand ceremony. The blending of their families also involves their children, Brian and Charlie.
This sand ceremony is a beautiful representation of the joining of your lives. You each chose a unique color of sand, and that represents your individuality. As the grains of sand get combined into this one vessel, your lives blend together as one family. Each color will always be visible, just as your uniqueness will always remain. However, once these grains of sand intermix, they will become inseparable- just like your union and devotion to each other. Together, you are creating a beautiful, colorful, forever family.
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Vows
(Angela) Babe, how lucky am I that my path crossed with yours? It is the blessing of a lifetime that I found you without even looking. I believe that something much greater than mere chance guided us in the same direction at the same time and led us to the greatest thing of all- each other.
Matthew, I know you took the biggest risk of all to make us happen. You bravely road tripped from Illinois to Montana to see me in person. When you arrived, we embraced in a magical kiss that made life around us stand still. You put your arms around my waist and hugged me tightly, and I felt a sense of home. I knew in that moment that I never wanted to let go of you.
I love how you are patient and kind, even when you think I’m not watching. I see you, and everything you do makes me love you even more. The little things are the big reasons that I’m completely in love with you. You hold doors for people even when you’re running late. You offer to help strangers when they’re trying to carry something heavy. You even give the last and best bite of your food to our dogs. Everything you do is done with so much love, and our beautiful garden is a reflection of your love. Matthew, you are genuinely a great man.
When we met, I felt like I had finally read life’s little instruction booklet after fumbling around trying to figure it out on my own for so long. You were my missing piece. Now, it all makes sense. You have created a safe place for me and my boys in your heart and in our home. I love how much you love our family.
I vow to choose you in every lifetime. With every version of myself I vow to stand beside you, when the days are easy and when they seem impossible. I vow to remind you, even in the darkest hours, that you are never alone. You are my once in a lifetime, my safest place, my greatest adventure, my soulmate, my husband. All of me loves all of you.
(Matthew) Angela, my beautiful bride, as I stand before you today, I am trying to use my words, as you always encourage me to do, but some things just can’t be said. I don’t want my sentiments to fall short in any way, so please know that I will spend the rest of my life showing you that my love for you is deep and true and forever. It is the honor of a lifetime to become your husband, and I will cherish, honor, and respect our marriage every day.
When we first tried to meet up, you came to my house during a blizzard, not knowing the long hours and obligations of a plow driver. We finally had a date night- you say it was at Applebee’s, and I say it was at Friday’s. To this day we aren’t quite sure where, and I’m not sure why I suggested splitting the bill (sorry about that), but I am sure that, deep down, a part of me started falling in love with you that night. You returned to Montana, and for years we went our separate ways. Then, a phone call led to facetiming for hours which led to me taking a big trip to Montana.
That trip changed my life. You changed my life. Angela, I love how you broke me out of my shell. With you, I’ve gone on adventures that I never would’ve tried alone. I love being your camping partner, your travel buddy, and your soul mate. I want nothing more than to be your husband and for you to be my wife.
Angela, I know it was a huge sacrifice for you and your boys to leave Montana to start a new life with me back in Illinois. I can never match that grand gesture, but I can and will spend the rest of my life taking care of you and Brian and Charlie. It is because of you and your boys that I have a family, and I am so grateful for all three of you.
Angela, we have shared an amazing journey to get to today- our wedding day. I am all in, by your side, your dedicated and loving husband through wherever the journey takes us from here. I love you.
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May God bless your marriage!
To Matthew and Angela and a lifetime of love. Cheers!
*Be sure to read the Coyne Vow Renewal blog post, too! 🙂