Thank you to everyone who was able to make it, and to everyone who was able to join us in spirit. During the ceremony, we had three readings, the first of which was read by Terry. A combination of Lecha Dodi for a Sabbath Butch and Radical Love lovingly adapted for a femme-femme wedding.

You always knock when you come to my door. 

You always wait for me to open,

I rise on tiptoes to kiss you in the doorframe, a blessing affixed on my lips.

Let us go out and greet the sabbath Sapphic!

Sacred wellspring of blessing!

As you lean down to unzip your boots, I catch your scent:

Roses, sweet and distinct.

I have loved you my whole life, trying to find ways to be nearer to you. 

I’ve called you lover, my mountain, a thorn among roses, honey from the rock.

Come in, drink deep, feast at my table, rock me to sleep, 

Blessed is your holy gown! blessed are you in your soft cotton splendor!

All I can do is utter songs of praise, be enfolded by you, let you be known in my gaze. 

I will open to you, my beloved, and here,

Will you open this jar?

Oh my people! trust this: when i draw lace over my head at dusk,

When i invoke the light of my ancestors, i sing: 

Come my beloved, my beautiful friend,

Oh how the maidens love you!

Love is an elemental force — 
Selfless and destructive of chains in its path.
It’s freedom and a stardust’s birthright.


Do you feel it?

Can you conjure memories of being held?


Can you share it in community,


With the eyes of strangers?

Love is building fiercely, quickly.

It’s protective and compassionate — 
Even for those who don’t recognize.

The second poem, read by Charlie, was First Meeting by A.S.J. Tessimond.

When I first met you,

I knew that I had come at last home.

Home after wandering,

Home after long-puzzled searching,

Home after long being wind-born,

Wave-tossed, night-caught, long being lost.

And being with you was normal and needful

And natural as sleeping or waking.

And I was myself,

Who had never been wholly myself.

I was walking and talking

And laughing easily at last.

And the air was softer,

And sounds were sharper,

And colours were brighter,

And the sky was higher,

And length was not measured by milestones,

And time was not measured by clocks.

And this end was a beginning,

And these words are the beginning –

Of my thanks.

Finally, we asked Iain to read for us Real Presence by Nan Shepherd

Clear as the endless ecstasy of stars
That mount for ever on an intense air;
Or running pools, of water cold and rare,
In chiselled gorges deep amid the scaurs,
So still, the bright dawn were their best device,
Yet like a thought that has no end they flow;
Or Venus, when her white unearthly glow
Sharpens like awe on skies as green as ice:To such a clearness love is come at last,
Not disembodied, transubstantiate,
But substance and its essence now are one;
And love informs, yet is the form create.
No false gods now, the images o’ercast,
We are love’s body, or we are undone.

Additionally, there were two poems composed for the occasion. During the ceremony, Gerrie read a poem Natalie composed for Sophia.

If I were a tree:

Your love is my soil, in it I have taken root.

Your love is my water, it sustains me and keeps me steadfast.

Your love is my sun, in its light I grow.

Your love is my air, it surrounds me and I give you my love and my air in return.

If I were a boat:

Your love is my sail, it propels me.

Your love is my ocean, it keeps me afloat.

Your love is my anchor, it keeps me stable in the roughest of tides.

Your love is my crew, it gives me life and purpose, and I give you my life and my purpose in return.

If I were a house:

Your love is my bed, in it I find my rest.

Your love is my roof and my walls, it protects me.

Your love is my door, it connects me to the world and gives me a way to come back home from anything.

Your love is my hearth, it warms me and I give you my care and my warmth in return.

But I am not a tree, though our roots go just as deep.

But I am not a boat, though our journey together gives just as much freedom.

But I am not a house, though my home is always with you.

I am your partner.

Your love is everything to me.

And I give you my warmth, my care, my life, my purpose, my air, and my love in return.

And finally, during the evening Charlie was kind enough to read a composition of his inspired by something that Natalie said to him during a conversation that they were having about Sophia about love being in the quiet moments.

I want to sleep with you,
Not have sex mind,
I mean I want to sleep with you,
Limbs tangled, cold feet finding warm, arms dying,
Lingering in morning sunlight before one of us makes a cup of tea
I want to cook with you,
Or at least do most of the work whilst you sit on the kitchen counter
Keeping company, making jokes, taste the seasoning,
Refill the wine, stir the pot so it doesn’t burn,
Heck I even want to fold laundry with you,
Flicking odd socks across bedrooms,
Between the two of us we can figure out how to fold a fitted sheet

I want to sleep with you,
Dozing off in each other’s arms on the sofa,
Where you tell me you’re not sleeping, then softly snore,
I want to feel your warmth on a cold winters night,
The mundane not written about moments,
The quiet, easy going, in between,
The beautiful memories you miss in the big ones,
For God’s sake – I want to clean the bathroom with you!
I’ll do the dirty work, you can do the shower,
Spray each other and really make the job take three times as long,
Dancing to a new vinyl record we found,
Making up our own lyrics when we don’t know the words,
And test new cocktail ideas,
Convincing each other our weird combinations will work,

I want to sleep with you,
And I still don’t mean have sex,
I want to not set alarms, to have our side of the bed,
And you find yourself on mine anyway,
To spend a moment, that lasts forever, in quiet silence,
Taking solace in the easy peace, as things between us push me in no direction,
Pulling forward effortlessly,
I know I’d sleep better,
If you were there with me