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drew & lee's commitment ceremony
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The Ceremony

Ceremony of Commitment

for

Drew & Lee

6.30pm, Friday 16 January 2004

Rooftop Terrace, Park Hyatt, Sydney

Instrumental:

Gabriel’s Oboe

Welcome & Introduction

Any ritual which celebrates the love one person has for another is always significant and a time of great rejoicing. However, today’s ceremony celebrates much more than this. Not only are we witnesses to the deep and committed love which Drew & Lee have for each other, but we also rejoice at their courage to live out who they are, and what they know to be true for them, individually and as a couple.

Both Lee & Drew come from families that are together today and they want to honour the commitment of their parents and acknowledge the excellent role models their parents have been for them - the opportunities for education, travel and life experiences that they have provided. They are grateful for the ongoing support and love from not only Drew’s family – Judy, Peter and Alexandra – and Lee’s family- Ann, Brian and Candice ( and the absent but not forgotten Jillian) but their friends who they regard as extended family – all of you who have been invited here to celebrate with them today.

Relationships link people together, and since each person is unique and different, so the mode and style of this linking will vary.

Of course, the basis for any relationship is friendship – the sharing of real interests, the ability to work through issues together, to work towards common goals together and to understand and share each other’s thoughts and dreams.

Drew and Lee realised quite early in their relationship that they had a strong connection and they have strived to preserve this by ensuring that they always communicate honestly and from the heart.

Lee and Drew know that when we’re truly loved by another person we feel we can do almost anything. Burdens seem lighter because we divide them, joys more intense because we share them. Love makes us stronger, therefore, so we’re able to reach out and become involved with life, in ways we would never dare risk alone. Love also brings out the best in the other, as each one challenges the other to new heights.

However, the uniting of two people through marriage or commitment goes way beyond the excitement and romance of being deeply in love. It’s not about being so totally absorbed in the other that each loses his sense of identity, but it means looking outward in the same direction, together.

Lee and Drew already have a solid foundation for their relationship. They have always set high standards for themselves individually and as a couple and feel that as the strong team they are, together they have been able (and will gladly continue) to overcome the big challenges of life, welcoming them as opportunities for further growth and understanding of themselves and each other.

This is an important day for them, as it symbolizes their union as two people who have freely chosen to be together and now wish to take their love for each other to yet another dimension.

So, as they begin this next part of their life’s journey, I thank them for not hiding their love from us, because we’re all the richer for it. I also congratulate them, because the greatest gift any of us can give to family, friends and the community in general, is to be truly authentic, no matter how hard the ‘truth’ may be forothers.

And on your behalf, I offer them an assurance of our continued love and support in the years to come.

Reading

I Wanna Be Yours

John Cooper Clarke

let me be your vacuum cleaner
breathing in your dust
let me be your ford cortina
i will never rust
if you like your coffee hot
let me be your coffee pot
you call the shots
i wanna be yours

let me be your raincoat
for those frequent rainy days
let me be your dreamboat
when you wanna sail away
let me be your teddy bear
take me with you anywhere
i don’t care
i wanna be yours

let me be your electric meter
i will not run out
let me be the electric heater
you get cold without
let me be your setting lotion
hold your hair with deep devotion
deep as the deep atlantic ocean
that’s how deep is my emotion
deep deep deep deep de deep deep
i don’t wanna be his
i wanna be yours

Exchange of Vows

(Drew to Repeat after me) “ Lee, I offer myself to you as companion, lover and friend and I promise to share my life, laughter and love with you”

(Lee to Repeat after me) “ Drew, I offer myself to you as companion, lover and friend and I promise to share my life, laughter and love with you”.

Exchange of Rings

Both Drew and Lee believe the ring is a symbol of eternity and unity.

Lee, do you give this ring as a token of your love and commitment to Drew?

(Lee to Repeat after me) “Drew, I give you this ring as a symbol of my love and commitment to you.”

Drew, do you give this ring as a symbol of your love and commitment to Lee?

(Drew to Repeat after me) “ Lee,I give you this ring as a symbol of my love and commitment to you.”

(Time for champagne top up here!)

Final Declaration

Lee and Drew, you have declared your love before us. In the presence of your friends and family, therefore, and by the power of your love for each other, I now declare that you are life-partners. You may now kiss each other. Congratulations!

Toast

I ask everyone to charge their glasses and drink a toast to Drew & Lee.

Signing of Certificate

I invite you to sign your Certificate of Commitment and ask Judy, Peter, Ann and Brian to step forward now and be your witnesses.

Music during Signing : Gabriel’s Oboe

Celebrant Melissa Halliday BA ( Hons) LLB