A Wedding Intro: Cecily and James, June 29, 2018



Photo by Jackie Williams.

Suddenly, in this my 56th year, I am a wedding officiant, an idea first presented by my niece Kendra, who asked me to perform her wedding this coming September. When my friend Cecily heard about this, she became my second client, but my first wedding. For several reasons, this all makes sense. After ten bands and a few thousand karaoke songs, I'm good with a mic. As an author, I'm used to doing readings and coming up with material. Lastly, there's a trend toward secular weddings, and weddings performed by friends or relatives. It's nice when the officiant has an actual personal relationship with the bride and groom. For one thing, they can include stories like the ones in the following intro I wrote for Cecily and James:

 

Hello! My name is Michael Vaughn, and I will be serving as today’s officiant. We are gathered here to initiate and celebrate the marriage of Cecily Rose Flores and James Christian.

Those who know me will be surprised to learn that I ascribe the meeting of James and Cecily to a great universal force. And that force is karaoke.

It was in a karaoke bar that I met Cecily’s mother, Michelle. A couple years later, when Cecily returned from Texas and found out that her mother was dating some dude, she stormed into another karaoke bar – this one called Effie’s Lounge – and declared, “I’m looking for Michael J. Vaughn!” It was nice of her to use my middle initial.

Needless to say, Cecily makes an impression. And I soon learned that Cecily Rose Flores is an extraordinary woman. She has this smile that will stop you dead in your tracks. She sings like an angel, and her standup routines on the Effie’s patio are the stuff of legend. But her most outstanding quality is that people just love Cecily. I’ve never seen someone that just draws in people like she does. She could have started a cult.

There’s a problem with being extraordinary, of course. Extra ordinary also means out of the ordinary, and it’s often not easy for someone like Cecily to find someone who gets her. But one night, in that same karaoke bar, I saw a young man hanging around Cecily’s perimeter, and  he had that look in his eye. As Cecily’s foster karaoke uncle, I had to investigate, so I struck up a casual conversation with him, this James guy, and I got an immediate impression: James is a calm person, in the best way. And I thought, This might just work. This James could be the eye to Hurricane Cecily. Considering where we are today, I think I was right.

We make a lot of jokes about karaoke – and certainly, a lot of those jokes are well-deserved. But there’s a serious side, as well. When you sing to people, you open yourself up to them in a way that just doesn’t happen in everyday life. Which is why, when James and Cecily and I thought about what they wanted to say today, about life and love, we landed on song lyrics. I will read you some excerpts from songs that Cecily has sung over the years, and I think you’ll notice that they tell a kind of story about their relationship – or, for that matter, just about any relationship. And I will start with a song that she sings with James.

 

I wanted to be with you alone

and talk about the weather
But traditions I can trace against the child in your face
won’t escape my attention

Your keep your distance with a system of touch

and gentle persuasion.
I’m lost in admiration, could I need you this much?
Something happens and I’m head over heels
I never find out till I’m head over heels

I don’t know what you do

but you do it well
I’m under your spell

Happiness hit her like a train on a track

I want your drama, the touch of your hand

I want your leather studded kiss in the sand

You have suffered enough, and warred with yourself

it’s time that you won

And I’ve always lived like this

keeping a comfortable distance
And up until now, I had sworn to myself
that I’m content with loneliness
Because none of it was ever worth the risk
But you are the only exception

I wanna touch the earth

I wanna break it in my hands
I wanna grow something wild and unruly
I wanna sleep on the hard ground
in the comfort of your arms
on a pillow of blue bonnets
in a blanket made of stars

We’re a thousand miles from comfort

we have traveled land and sea
But as long as you are with me
there’s no place I’d rather be

When the rain is blowing in your face

and the whole world is on your case
I could offer you a warm embrace, to make you feel my love

When the evening shadows and the stars appear

and there is no one there to dry your tears
I could hold you for a million years
to make you feel my love