A Very Traditional Wedding

OK, OK, I know it's our third post this week in tribute to each other and our anniversary. This is one of my favorite poets, and I'll probably share it again next year as a best of Food for Thought/

Yesterday was our ninth anniversary. We were married on April 21. 2013.

It was a very traditional wedding.

The ceremony took place in the music room of a coffeehouse called Strange Brew. I slipped the owner of the club $100 to seal the deal.

It was a very traditional wedding.

Our wedding was at 1:30 in the afternoon, a half-hour after the Sunday Gospel Brunch.

We were married by the "Love Judge," who earned her name because on Valentine's Day, she marries hundreds of people for free at Peace Park in Austin. She has a chubby angelic face with a beautiful smile and big eyes, and she reminded me of Aunt Bee from Maybury on the Andy Griffith show.

It was a very traditional wedding.?

Immediately before the ceremony, our friend Oliver Rajamani played a song written in honor of the occasion. Moe was "given away" by her daughter Casey LaRose, and I was "given away" by my sister Aimee Finkel.

It was a very traditional wedding.

I choose to rewrite and recite the lyrics to the song "If I give my heart to you." for my vows, made famous by Nat King Cole.

I read,

As I give my heart to you,

I will handle yours with care,

I will always treat you tenderly,

And in every way, be fair,

?

As I give my heart to you,

I will give you all my love,

I will swear that I'll be true to you,

By the light that shines above,

As I was finishing the lyrics, the Love Judge" was crying, and I turned to our guests and said, "if you ever need to be in front of a judge, she's the one you want." Our vows included a commitment to cuddling.

It was a very traditional wedding.

After the ceremony, our friends Kat Edmonson, Jeff Plankenhorn, and Oliver Rajamani sang for us. Kat sang Lucky and If I Give My Heart to You, and Moe sang The Rose.

It was a very traditional wedding.

Then everyone came back to our townhouse apartment to continue the celebration. We served world-renowned Franklin Barbeque's most excellent barbeque brisket, ribs, sausages, and all the trimming of potato salad, slaw, and beans.

We also served various Indian dishes from our favorite Indian restaurant Bombay Bistro including chicken masala, chicken tandoori, riata, spinach saag, and garlic naan.

For dessert, we served outrageous doughnuts from Gourdoughs Donuts, another Austin institution. We selected two donuts to offer our guests. Heavenly Hash consists of chocolate fudge icing, marshmallow cream brownies, and chocolate chips with brownie batter drizzle.

And how could we not select the Cherry Bombshell, consisting of glazed-filled donut holes topped with spiced cherries, cake mix, cinnamon sugar, and honey butter? Each donut. The size of a grapefruit.

It was a very traditional wedding.

One of our guests set up a speaker system in our backyard, and we all ate, laughed, chatted, drank wine, and danced.

?In San Francisco that February, we saw beautiful orange Chinese lanterns decorating Union Square. Moe found a paper version of the orange lanterns on the internet, and a friend hung them up in the trees in our backyard.

It was a very traditional wedding.

After the sun went down on a beautiful day, one of our guests, Matt Kaseeska, invited us back to the penthouse suite at the W Hotel on Willie Nelson Boulevard, where he was staying. The night was beautiful, and we had the perfect perch to enjoy the nightlights of the Austin landscape and the river. Surrounded by the breathtaking view, we partied well into the night. It was an unplanned magical touch to end the day.??

It was a very traditional wedding.

And here we are nine years later in a very traditional marriage.

If you want to receive Rich’s invaluable lessons daily sign up for his newsletter HERE.

?Rich's latest book People, Time & Money is available HERE.

?www.coachtothebest.com