A Libera Wedding

Here is a story about a Libera-themed wedding by a great Libera fan named Craig. It's posted on AV Forum before. Since it's really beautiful and wonderful to me, I asked him permission for posting it here as well. So..sit back, relax, and enjoy it. :)

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Source: Google, edited by me.

This past Saturday (October 6) I married a wonderful woman named Amy. When I met her last summer, one thing we had in common was some common music tastes – primarily contemporary Christian music. After we dated for a while I introduced her and her two children to Libera music which they took to like glue. So it was only fitting that we would incorporate a generous portion of Libera music in our wedding. This note is to show you how we did that.

We used an autumn theme (the fall colors in the trees are beautiful this time of year where we live in Connecticut, USA) and incorporated some things personal to our style. The men and boys were dressed in dark brown tuxes with maroon ties. Amy and her daughter were in beautiful white coordinating gowns. Dominant decorating colors were maroon, white, and gold. The cake was covered in beautiful icing colored leaves. It also had a little campfire and two guitars and had a husband and wife cake topper from the "Willow Tree" collection.

Just to give you a little background on us, I am 46 years old and this is my first marriage. I have two adopted boys who are now grown. My oldest is 21 and is engaged to a woman with two young children who were the ring bearer and flower girl. This is Amy's second marriage, the first of which produced two wonderful children who are of elementary school age. The wedding party consisted of just our four children.

30 minutes prior to the wedding start we played a CD with the following songs.
1. Be Still My Soul – Libera (New Dawn)
2. Adoro Te – Libera (Peace)
3. Pie Jesu (Taverner) – King's College (Choirboys from Heaven)
4. Mother of God – Libera (Eternal)
5. Deora Ar Mo Chroi – Enya (And The Winter Came)
6. Sempiterna – Libera (New Dawn)
7. Fallen Embers – Enya (And The Winter Came)
8. Tha Mo Ghaol Air Aird A Chuan – Julie Fowlis (?)
9. Amazing Grace – American Boyschoir (Choirboys from Heaven)
10. Sailing – Angel Voices (Angel Voices)

Halfway through "Sailing," Amy's and my parents went up the aisle. The mothers lit their respective unity candles. Amy and her parents really enjoy sailing and have done it for many years so that is why I chose that song.

The pastor then entered and said a few opening remarks. Then came the processional.

"Eternal Light" (Peace Deluxe) started. Once the singing started I entered from a side entrance with my two boys. The next stanza of the song, Amy's two children walked up the aisle arm in arm. They were followed by the children of my older son's fiancé (aged 6 and 2). The two year old girl had a basket of fall color leaves she attempted to sprinkle on the floor. It was real cute. She did her best. Her brother helped.

After the chorus in "Eternal Light" there is a cascade of chimes (Amy refers to it as fairy dust sound) as the next verse starts ("Life is but a journey….") which was Amy's cue to enter and walk down the aisle. It timed out very nicely and had a great effect. When she reached the front beside me, the song was slowly faded out and stopped (I believe right at the song bridge).

The Pastor led us in the statements of intention ("I Do" part) and invocation. We then had two bible readings; one done by my sister (Ephesians 5: 25-33) and the other by Amy's sister (Galatians 5: 16-17, 22-23). Then the Pastor's message was given.

After that I sang and played on the guitar "Faithful Heart" (from Peace) to Amy. How did I do? Well, let's just say that I hope it never makes it on YouTube, lol! In truth, there were several who were in tears when I was done, not for the quality of the performance but for the effort to deliver the message to my beloved. Many thanks to the Furby Libera for helping me with the chords!

We then did the Ring ceremony and the exchanging of vows. It was particularly meaningful how the song "Faithful Heart" led into it, even if Josh does it way better. We then did three consecutive recorded songs.
1. Falling Season – Maeve (And The World Became Kind) – special note: this song was written by the Pastor's daughter and friend of Amy's who sings with Maeve, a popular Christian music band from Boston, Massachusetts. We were facing each other during this entire song and both of us lost our composure. It was a beautiful moment!
2. My Intentions? – Instrumental on the "The Moon Has Two Faces" soundtrack. This is only a minute long and we lit the Unity candle during it.
3. All Of My Life – Barbara Streisand (The Moon Has Two Faces). During this song we greeted our parents and kids. Lots of tears.

This was followed by the Prayer of Blessing and the Pronouncement of Husband and Wife. Once this finished, the recessional played which was Exsulate – Libera (Peace) as we walked down the aisle together as a married couple.

Thus ends an introduction to the rest of my life. I'm looking forward to it!!!

Craig 

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I'd like to say many thanks to Craig for sharing this beautiful moment with us. As a fellow fan, I am glad that someone actually brought Libera's music into their wedding. Isn't it so inspiring? Whoever that has a Libera wedding dream must find it inspiring. To end this post, I wish Craig and Amy have a long and happy married life. Cheers!