Celia and I were married on October 10, 1998, in Venice, Florida.

It was a lovely ceremony, and I'd like to share some of the pictures. I made them as small as I could, but the the (jpgs) (photo files) on this page total about 350 kilobytes. If you have a 28.8 connection, you might want to get a cup of coffee and come back to your PC.

This is the wedding invitation/announcement, which we did ourselves. The picture comes from a larger watercolor by my mother, Lillian Marion, that we used in our Katubah (Jewish wedding contract). The entire picture appears below. We used this same motif on the covers of audiocassettes we distributed at the wedding that contained all the music that was played during the wedding.

We had the wedding at the Pelican Pointe Country Club. Here are two views looking through the wedding canopy and showing the table where we had lunch after the ceremony.

Celia planned and built the wedding canopy herself. She also picked the flower arrangements.

The ceremony began with the signing of the katubah, which I wrote based on a number of modern texts and Celia created using my mother's watercolor.

Celia and I signed it, and it was witnessed by her mother, Margaret D.D. Mosher, my father, Earl R. Marion, and Cantor Phyllis Stoltz, who performed the ceremony. After we signed it we held it up for a picture.

This is the text that appears on the katubah.

On the 10th day of October, 1998, in Venice, Florida, Craig A. Marion and Celia S. Mosher joined together as husband and wife in the presence of family and friends.

As they received the traditional blessings and drank from one wine cup under the marriage canopy, they entered a covenant with one another, saying:

"With these rings we make our love sacred. At the deepest level, our lives are now united. Let us do whatever we can to support and help one another. Together we will continue to grow, work, share, and be of service. Let our union enrich the remainder of our lives, help us find meaning and fulfillment, and enable us to be of greater and deeper service.

As we grow in our love and awareness of each other, we pledge to share our feelings and resolve our differences with understanding and consideration. We will do everything we can to understand and cherish each other's deepest concerns, needs, and dreams. We look forward to countless celebrations, to joy and fulfillment, but will also support one another in adversity and sorrow. We will share our successes and our defeats, keep them in perspective, and help one another realize our highest and best potentials.

May our love last forever. I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine."

And all is valid and confirmed.

Celia and I had selected and provided the readings used in the ceremony, many of which Phyllis had suggested and sent to us. Celia made three copies of the ceremony, one for Phyllis (which she is holding) and one for each of our mothers as a keepsake (and so that my mother, who has impaired hearing, would be able to focus on the words we had carefully chosen).

Here we are under the canopy.

My brother, Marc Marion, sang two songs during the ceremony, accompanying himself of the guitar. (Later in the afternoon Marc performed a number of family favorites.)

This photo shows some of our family members. (Marc was singing beside us, and his wife Kathy was making a video recording.) In the back row, left to right, are Celia's brother Richard and his wife Carol. Next to them are her brother Walter and his wife Marian. In the front row are my mother and father and Celia's mother.

After the ceremony I made a traditional blessing over the meal

and there were some toasts to our future. (My father made an especially eloquent one, but we don't seem to have a picture of that.)

Then the meal was served and dancing began. Celia had positioned seating cards around the table so that there would be no confusion over who sat where. On the back, for the convenience of our waitpersons, she detailed the individual appetizers, salads, and entrees that each person had ordered. Our waitress (who was wonderful, and took some of the best photos of the occasion for us) commented afterward that it made her job a pleasure, and it was one of the most considerate things she'd ever seen. (And that's how Celia is.)

Celia and her brother Walter had some elaborate steps.

At some point we cut the cake.

And as things moved along, we relaxed more and just became comfortable.

Beginning the next day, we honeymooned in Orlando. We spent a day at Splendid China and then four in Disney World.

Here's Celia with an old friend of hers

and me at Epcot (with Mococco in the background).

The whole thing was a wonderful experience. We're happy to be married.

Posted October 1, 1998
Last updated November 15, 1998
© copyright 1998 Craig Marion
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