I must thank Skip and Erika again for the opportunity to officiate their wedding because it was great practice and prompted me to get registered as an ordained minister with the Universal Life Church.

Not sure if this is going to lead to many more weddings, but it did immediately lead to one more. My youngest brother, Brian, asked me to officiate his wedding in Oklahoma with his fiancé, Shelby.

That’s Brian!

I have always felt blessed with my two brothers. I can’t remember any of us ever fighting with each other. We always enjoy being a part of each other’s lives. Brian is very loving, responsible, down to Earth, and has a big heart. When he met Shelby online, it was a big surprise that they decided to commit to the relationship before ever physically meeting each other.

That’s Shelby!

They met for the first time finally in Las Vegas where Shelby is from. Together, they read vows and promised they would give it their best shot. That was nearly two years ago and their love surprised all of us.

That’s Brian on the left, and our middle brother, Mark, on the right.

The wedding was held in the back property beyond a house that belongs to some of our family friends. It was a beautiful fall wedding next to a lake — just what the bride and groom wanted.

When I arrived on the scene I was handed a copy of the wedding ceremony with very little time to review it. Apparently it was a bit of a mix of pieces from several ceremonies that had been copied and pasted together, and it needed a little work.

There was also a candle ceremony included, which is usually an indoor thing, so I made it my mission to find a hurricane lamp before the ceremony. I managed to get all of their vows, plus the ceremony, prepared and printed only an hour before the wedding. That’s Shelby looking over her vows one last time.

At the last wedding, I noticed the groom was nervous enough that his mouth was really dry leading into the ceremony. This time I came prepared with lip balm and a bottle of water for each of them that I had stashed under the table for the candle ceremony. Those definitely were needed.

Funny story.  I had managed to find a hurricane lamp to protect the candle ceremony, but when I returned from the shopping trip I discovered that the hurricane lamp would not fit over the green candle holder that you see below for the main candle. This was a bit comical and we played around with several possibilities until we someone came up with the idea to place small blocks of wood around the base for the hurricane lamp to rest on.

Everything turned out great, and I will soon have a new baby niece. They found out about the baby not long after they got engaged. We are all very excited and I hope to see them again soon, after the baby is born.

I don’t know if GOD wants me to officiate more weddings, but if it means getting flown out to an exotic location, or getting to see old friends and family, I am open to the possibilities.