Music: "The Ashgrove".   Words: Mayer Shevin. 
See also Jessi and Grant's Wedding.

Before we continue kind friends and relations
I invite you to listen to what I would share.
So fill up your glasses and pretend to pay attention
To some words about marriage from one who's been there.
It never gets easy, it never gets boring
It never gets like it appears on TV.
And though sometimes it is scary and incomprehensible
Sometimes it's just what you had dreamed it would be.

You brought boxes and boxes of treasured possessions
Some of which you can't recollect just what they are for.
And your partner brought boxes of treasured possessions
And your friends brought you boxes they bought at a store.
But in all of these boxes you won't find the reason
You took two full lives and transformed them to one.
So take just a moment to let your hearts notice
The adventure and the richness in what you've begun.

There once was a time when we all took for granted
That everyone's journey would come to this day.
With trousseau and laughter and happily ever-after
And the only suspense was who caught the bouquet.
But today as you marry you make a bold statement
I take to this road with my eyes open wide.
Though other paths beckon the one I will follow
Is the one I will travel with you at my side.

May you never be cursed by the myth of perfection
May you never believe that your searching is done.
May you always discover your partner and lover
Is complexly human and fiendishly fun.
May a hundred surprises of the oddest shapes and sizes
Remind you that things tend to work toward the best.
May you always have flowers and late-nite conversations
And hard work and laughter and music and rest.

So here's to the lovers and here's to the family
And here's to the circle we've all intertwined.
And here's to the spirit that brightens our table
Created this once by our hearts all combined.
Just as you enrich us by starting this journey
May we always be there to speed you on your way.
May the love always enfold you like a great cloak about you
As soft and as warm as you feel it today.