MARRYING WITH NATURE
AS THE HONORED GUEST

A special wedding element that invites Nature into your new marriage in the Columbia Gorge or anywhere outdoors. Quinn Mountain is a beautiful place with outdoor areas wed. Its forests and grounds are special places where Nature abounds.

L: Quinn Mountain autumn wedding

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NATURE in the Wedding Ceremony

This special Wedding Element offers couples a unique way to include Nature as an honored guest at their wedding. They honor Nature’s presence by exchanging some unique object that each of them gathered from a natural area. The exchange can take place anywhere in the ceremony, but seems to fit best at the end, just before the officiant pronounces the couple ‘Husband and Wife.’

 WEDDING OFFICIANT: You have already pledged your love to each other by exchanging your wedding vows that were both a public statement of your marital commitment and a livelong expression of the love and respect you have for each other. With those vows, you expressed your willingness to accept the most honorable title that can exist between a man and a woman - that of Husband and Wife.

Before the final marriage pronouncement, you have chosen to honor Nature as part of your wedding day and all your days to come by exchanging a small part of Nature with each other. The object each of you chose as a gift to your new spouse is blessed by the Earth and says, I love you.

Please exchange the objects you hold. (Exchange gifts.)

As you look at the small object in your hand, it may seem that you have done special at all. Just a moment ago, you were holding a small part of Nature - and now you still hold a small part of Nature. But, in fact, just now you gave and received one of the most valuable and precious gifts of life - one I hope you always remember -the gift of true and abiding love within the devotion of marriage.

(Groom) and (Bride), keep the significance of this simple exchange in mind as you share the challenges of life together. Wherever you make your home in the future - whether it be a large and elegant home - or a small and graceful one – always remember to reserve a special place for Nature in your marriage. On each anniversary, I encourage each of you to gather and exchange a special object from Nature as a recommitment to your marriage - and a recommitment that this will be a marriage founded and thriving on love.

Nature can play another valuable role in your relationship. In every marriage, there will likely be times when angry emotions come between you, and when they do, it may be difficult to find words to say, I am sorry, or I forgive you; or I need you, or I am hurting.

When this happens, gather a part of Nature and leave it where the other will find it. The small object you offer your spouse will say what matters most of all and should overcome any negative words that might have been said. The object will say the words: I still love you. The recipient should accept it for the feelings of caring that cannot be expressed, and remember the love and hope that you both share today.

(Groom) and (Bride), if you remember anything of this ceremony, remember that love brought you here today. It is only love, which can make it a glorious union, and it is by this love that your marriage shall endure.         

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      Arousing Nature's Wisdom: A Marriage Blessing

May you connect more deeply to the wisdom of Nature through the marriage union you are forming today;

Let your new life together guide and support your journeys of mutual and self-discovery.

As you share life and love together, take time to converse with Nature, ask Nature's help in finding ways around the things that antagonize your relationship, and embracing the things that resonate between you.

Hand in hand, explore the blessings of the natural world;
Let them ignite your innate wisdom within.
Let them ignite your dormant passions.
Let them reveal what you genuinely want and need as husband and wife for enhanced wellness and joy.

Always take time together to uncover the deeply buried treasure
of your shared wisdom that rejoices and nurtures  the partnership you formed today.

                                … J. Christina Brittain, ‘04 

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MARRYING AMONG STONES

In early Britain, couples were married on stone steps at the entrance to the church. Even earlier, brides and grooms each stood on special stones—betrothal stones—located in places specifically designated for religious ceremonies. In the village of Doagh in Ireland, couples who clasped hands through a hole bored in a ‘wedding stone’ were considered married. On England’s Isle of Man, the marital pair wed within a ring of stones in the churchyard. In Scotland’s island of Colonsayup, marriages were held at Sithean Mor, a mound thought to be inhabited by a community of fairies.

Asking the Stone’s Blessing for the Wedding

East of Bowen Road in Hong Kong, a footpath called Marriage Road winds through the scenic countryside to Amah Rock where betrothed couples seek Nature’s blessing for a prosperous marriage. Their first stop is by the confluence of two waters where a sign in the stone tells them that the song of the falling streams is there to soothe and comfort them. They continue along the path to the Rock itself where they seek approval of their union by burning incense. Finally, they reach a worn oblong granite bench where they pledge their commitment to each other. The ceremony concludes with the couple setting fire to a written request for spiritual protection. The document turns to ashes, and is absorbed by Nature, thereby becoming readable by unseen spirits.

According to V. R. BurkhardT,[1] the Amah Rock was not a coincidental creation of Nature. It was deliberately created as a shrine by the ancient inhabitants out of the conviction that “there’s a Divinity that shapes their ends, and that His propitiation will ensure that children bless the union.” Amah Rock is thought to be part of that blessing.

A Wedding Place Where Gods Gather

It is thought that every year the gods come together at Japan’s Great Shine of Kitzuki to discuss wedding plans. Japanese lore suggests that all the gods meet at Kitzuki at 4:00 AM on the first day of the 10^th lunar month to arrange for the year’s upcoming marriages. Proponents of the Shinto religion believe that all of Nature is the land of the gods, and that sacred places or geopoints like Kitzuki exist everywhere and exude positive energies coming from their placement at geomantically significant places.

Petrified Remnants of a Weddings Past

In Andrja, Morocco, there are stones standing erect that are believed to be petrified remains of a once living wedding procession. According to folklore, while the bride was being carried to the marriage in an ammariya (a closed bridal –box), terrible diarrhea overcame her because one of her wedding attendants had committed a transgression. In retaliation, the entire wedding party was turned to stone. Since that time, it has become tradition for young women about to be married to visit the stones where over several weeks they perform a series of complicated rites in hopes of increasing their chances of fertility and a successful marriage.

Merry Maidens, located in Cornwall, England is a circle of stones called a gland, and is believed to have been formed from the petrified remains of young woman who met this eternal punishment by happily dancing on the Sabbath in opposition to Church edict.

While some believe that the stones at Andrja, Morocco and Cornwall, England are the remains of those who defied the morality of the day, geomancers suggest that these are special places visited by spirits or deities who continue to imbued the stones with life-giving energies that transfer to all those who rub against them, including wedding couples.
[1] Burkhardt, V. R. (1953). Chinese Creeds and Customs. Vol. 1. Hong Kong: South China Morning Post.