Austin + Amanda are married!

We’ve just returned from a wonderful weekend in NY. A weekend where Sass (mostly) took a holiday and Sentimental took center stage. My baby brother married his longtime love in a beautiful ceremony surrounded by their family and friends. And it was nothing short of perfect.

As always, the details of the day spoke to my heart in the biggest way. One can’t deny the love between my brother and his new wife. They’ve shared a love story that has spanned 15 years now, taking the time to tenderly grow their relationship alongside their same commitment to growing as individuals. They are high school sweethearts, having met and started dating just before Handsome Pants and I married in 2004. They went away to the same college together and learned a bit more about what it means to spread your wings and turn inward as a couple. And then they each moved back home after college and lived fairly long distance for the better part of 8 years while they each pursued personal growth and professional development. I understand how hard that can be. Handsome Pants and I were long distance for a while, too. But despite the odds, my brother and his bride thrived. They flourished into careers that made them both happy and proud, and they saved towards starting a life together. And to have a front row seat to that kind of drive and determination has been inspiring.

Last year, they bought a house together, but the real fun has been in watching them transform it into a home. They have lovingly furnished and decorated it, and have joyfully added two furbabies to the mix: A pair of ginger kittens that we all love, too. I’m proud of my brother and his wife for taking the steps to secure a home and a strong foundation together before they married. They were very patient in making sure everything was lined up the way it needed to be before taking the next step towards marriage. That was especially evident through their lengthy, 7 year engagement. But these things know no timeline. As someone who married young, I can tell you it wasn’t always easy. We found our way and are incredibly happy, but striking a balance between growing up personally and growing up as a legally-bound couple can be daunting. We’ve seen enough marriages fail for those reasons to know just how admirable it is when a couple chooses to wait. To support each other while they forge a way towards the lifestyle they aim to have. And these two have done a very good job of that.

To my handsome brother and his beautiful wife, I wish you nothing but the best in your marriage. I pray that God blesses you in the same ways that God has blessed my husband and me. And when the hard times hit, because they certainly will, turn towards one another. Two are stronger than one, and you can conquer anything if you face it together. Trust one another and your commitment to upholding your marriage. You are equals and neither of your feelings matter more than the others’. Laugh together, both with each other and at each other. Love and humor go hand in hand. And never, ever forget the way you felt on Saturday, when you stood before God, your clergy, your family and your friends and you pledged to love each other until the end of time. That’s indefinite. That’s forever. And if you keep your eye and your heart on that, you’ll always remember what a privilege and a gift it is to be trusted with another person’s heart. Nurture your love and grow it, all the days of your life. We love you and we are so proud of you both. And now, some of my favorite details from your wedding day:

Seeing my new sister wearing my own wedding veil. It was such an honor to share this special piece from my own wedding day. You wore it beautifully and I am so touched by the fact that you wanted to include it in your bridal ensemble. Thank you.

Having my daughter choose to wear the first piece of jewelry her father ever gave me, a diamond heart on our first anniversary of dating, as her jewelry for the wedding. It shined beautifully from her neck and every time I looked at her, I thought that it was so fitting that the first gift her father ever gave me was paired with the first child that God has given me. The beauty in that will never escape me.

Watching my parents marry off their last child with the same joy and pride that they had for the previous three. I am blessed with amazing parents who have always supported our hopes and dreams, as well as our bad decisions and failed endeavors. They have welcomed their new children, brought through marriage, and love them as their own. There’s beauty in that kind of love and acceptance, and we’re all lucky to feel it. And their own long marriage has served as a beacon for all of us, too. Forty six years of loving each other, supporting each other, working through the tough times and celebrating the good times is a wonderful testament to the sacrament of marriage.

Seeing my husband stand beside my bother as his Best Man. It was such an honor for him to be asked and not one that he took lightly. God didn’t give Handsome Pants a brother by birth, but he gave him one through his marriage to me. I’m blessed by the strong bond that these two men share.

Holding my twin sister’s hand during the wedding ceremony. Because marital love is not the only kind of love that is important to me. My bond with my twin sister is the epitome of spiritual love and nothing in this world could take that away. I will hold her hand forever.

Reading, through tears, scripture during the ceremony. I love this passage and I’m honored that they asked me to recite it. I cried happy tears because I know just how rich their new journey can and will be. Marriage is my greatest blessing and I am overjoyed to watch them experience it, too. Here are the words that I spoke. May they ring true always!

“Hark! My lover - here he comes, springing across the mountains, leaping across the hills. My lover is like a gazelle or a young stag. Here he stands behind our wall, gazing through the windows, peering through the lattices.

My lover speaks; he says to me, "Arise, my beloved, my dove, my beautiful one, and come!

O my dove in the clefts of the rock, in the secret recesses of the cliff, Let me see you, let me hear your voice, For your voice is sweet, and you are lovely.

My lover belongs to me and I to him. He says to me: "Set me as a seal on your heart, as a seal on your arm; For stern as death is love, relentless as the nether-world is devotion; its flames are a blazing fire. Deep waters cannot quench love, nor floods sweep it away."

The Word of the Lord.