Music as guests arrive - Fever; Call Me Irresponsible; Girl From Ipanema; Make Yourself Comfortable; Moon Ray; Summertime; The Lady Is A Tramp.
Music as Kathryn and Howard walk in - Our Love is Here to Stay by Dinah Washington. Kathryn tries desperately to maintain slow, sedate pace while Howard attempts to run.
Introduction (~ two minutes): potted history of Chartridge (importance of its previous owners such as BA and other relevant details) and next paragraph by Registrar:
"True marriage is more than joining two people within the bonds of marriage. In its right relation it is the uniting of two persons already attune to each other. When such a true bond already exists between a man and woman, it is fitting that an outer acknowledgement be made. This acknowledgement is the prime object of this gathering and this ceremony. We are hear to bear witness to the entry into the closer relationship of husband and wife of these friends".
"Please state your full name…" (Mat first)"…If any person knows of any lawful impediment to this marriage they should declare it now… [general muttering] …I am going to ask you each in turn to declare that you do not know…""I declare that I know of no legal reason why I, Matthew Vanden Connolley, may not be joined in marriage to Kathryn Eleanor Smith.""I declare that I know of no legal reason why I, Kathryn Eleanor Smith, may not be joined in marriage to Matthew Vanden Connolley."Reading by Registrar:
"This service is not magic. It will not create a relationship that does not already exist. It is time for tying a knot and saying you will not slip backwards from here but will go forwards together. It is a time for declaring your love for one another and your desire for that love to last forever.Happiness in marriage is not something that just happens. A good marriage must be created. It is having a mutual sense of values and common objectives. It is speaking words of appreciation and demonstrating gratitude and thoughtful ways. It is not looking for perfection in each other (which is convenient). It is cultivating flexibility, patience, understanding and a sense of humour. It is having the capacity to forgive and forget. It is a common search for the good and the beautiful. It is establishing a relationship in which independence is equal, dependence is mutual and obligation is reciprocal. It is not only marrying the right partner, it is being the right partner.Nothing is easier than saying words and nothing is harder than living them day after day after day. What you promise today must be renewed and decided tomorrow and the tomorrow after that and the tomorrow after that.""Who gives this woman to be married to this man?" Howard says he does (and cheers)."I, Matthew Vanden Connolley, take you, Kathryn Eleanor Smith, to be my [awfully] wedded wife."Extra vows to be read from card:
"For as long as I can remember I have known you were someone very special [meaning peculiar], and today brings the next step in our relationship. I feel honoured to join my life to yours in this way, and have the deepest respect for you as my equal. I want to help you to be the best you can be, and to be as happy as you can be. I give you my love freely to help you grow. Throughout our lives I promise to learn to understand you better, and through this I can achieve my goal of understanding myself. I will be true, honest and patient. I will share in the joys and the pains of life, as well as the chores. [Except for the washing up - in the unedited version Mat promises at this point to cook dinner for Kat every night.] ""I, Kathryn Eleanor Smith, take you, Matthew Vanden Connolley, to be my wedded husband."Extra vows to be read from card:
"I promise that I will be your wife from this day forward but that we will continue to be friends as we have always been. I commit myself to you now, knowing that we will both change as we get older. I will do my best to let us be as happy in the future as we are now. I promise to love you unselfishly. I will value and respect you without taking for granted those qualities which make you more special to me than anyone. I will support and look after you but I will not hinder or control you [much]. I will treat our relationship as a serious matter but will conduct it with a sense of humour. [And in the unedited version, Kat promises to do the washing up.] ""Who has the rings?" Mel produces the rings, hopefully."I give you this ring as a sign of our marriage and as a symbol of the vows I have made.""I give you this ring as a sign of our marriage and as a symbol of the vows I have made.""…you are now husband and wife…you may kiss the bride… [snogging] Please be seated for a reading and the signing of the register"Reading by Diane Smyth:
"From ‘Gift of the Sea’ by Anne Morrow Lindbergh.When you love someone, you do not love them all the time, in exactly the same way, from moment to moment. It is an impossibility. It is even a lie to pretend to. And yet this is exactly what most of us demand. We have so little faith in the ebb and flow of life, of love, of relationships. We leap at the flow of the tide and resist in terror its ebb. We are afraid it will never return. We insist on permanency, on duration, on continuity; when the only continuity possible, in life as in love, is in growth, in fluidity--in freedom, in the sense that the dancers are free, barely touching as they pass, but partners in the same pattern. The only real security is not in owning or possessing, not in demanding or expecting, not in hoping, even. Security in a relationship lies neither in looking back to what was in nostalgia, nor forward to what it might be in dread or anticipation, but living in the present relationship and accepting it as it is now. Relationships must be like islands, one must accept them for what they are here and now, within their limits--islands, surrounded and interrupted by the sea, and continually visited and abandoned by the tides." [What a star! she didn't laugh once.]
Music - Ella Fitzgerald "Lets do it, lets fall in love", Nina Simone "My baby just cares for me" Sign register then pose for photos; Kim & Nico sign as witnesses then pose for photos. Music - Main Theme from ‘Star Wars’ Mat & Kat lead out to Garden room, followed by everyone else