Today, Elysha and I celebrate our 18th wedding anniversary.
We’ll spend most of it driving north to Vermont to pick up Clara from camp, where she has been for more than three weeks. Besides a handful of postcards, we haven’t heard a peep from our girl in nearly a month, so hugging our daughter and squeezing every story out of her will be a pretty great way to spend an anniversary.
Still, on this day, I always reflect on that summer day in July of 2006 when Elysha and I were wed.
It was the best wedding.
I know I’m a bit biased when it comes to evaluating our nuptials, but I’ve also been a wedding DJ for 27 years and have attended more than 500 weddings over my lifetime—many as a guest but many more as a DJ—so I have some expertise in the matter.
Our wedding really was the best.
It started with our ceremony, of course. Our friends and colleagues, Rob and Andy, played Beatles songs.
Elysha walked down the aisle to “Something.”
I will never forget it.
We had bridesmaids and groomsmen to our left and right—all of whom are still our friends today—and our principal and friend, Plato Karafelis, officiated.
Elysha and I wrote our own vows. I don’t know if Elysha knows this, but I read them often. I’ve put them on my phone, and whenever I have a moment, I’ll open the file and read them, like I did first thing this morning.
I think I did a fine job with my vows. I like them a lot.
I think Elysha did better.
______________________________
Matt,
You are my dream come true.
There is nothing that could make me happier than marrying you,
my best friend and soul mate.
From this day forward, I promise to share with you the joys of life,
because with you, they will be that much sweeter.
I promise to help shoulder our challenges
because through them we will emerge stronger.
I promise to always encourage your creativity
because that is what makes you unique and wonderful.
I promise to nurture your dreams
because, through them, your soul shines.
I promise to try to be on time and pick my things up off the floor
because I know those things drive you crazy.
Most of all I promise to laugh with you, support you,
and to be your partner in all things.
I love you up to the sky and back.
______________________________
I used to believe that life would be perfect when all my dreams came true, but then you came along
and I realized that I didn’t know what dreaming was.
Elysha Jaffee Green, you are more than a man could ever ask for
and more than I deserve.
I vow to spend every day of my life
giving you as much as you have given me.
I promise to remember the darkness before you
so that I will never forget the brilliance you have brought to my life.
I promise to share everything that I have
and to try to give you everything you could ever want.
I promise to stand beside you,
hold your hand,
and be your strong and loving friend
through good times and bad.
I promise to always be the one to go into the basement at night
when the darkness frightens you,
to find you the best parking spots available,
and to shop with you and try to eat sushi,
no matter how much I despise both.
Most importantly, I promise to love you,
to love you like no man before,
with all of my heart and mind, and soul,
until the end of these days and beyond.
