Wedding Page

Billy & Paulette's Wedding
November 24, 2001

Billy & Paulette were married on November 24, 2001, at One O'clock in the afternoon. If anyone has any pictures they would like to include on this page, you can send them to me digitally via email by clicking here, or you can send them to me and I will scan them and send them back to you. The CD-ROM Album is available to any family member who requests one. This page may take time to load.

Thanks,

Shane Steinkamp - shane@theplacewithnoname.com

Billy, with his parents, Billy & Ann

Shane with Virginia. Well, at least Virginia is popular...

Sarah watches the rain and waits for the Bride. The wedding was to be performed under the dome, but the rain decided otherwise.

Waiting for the bride to arrive.

Sarah & Erin.

Waiting for the bride to get out of the car...

Waiting in the wings.

"Come on ya’ll! Pull up your chairs and open your hearts! We’ve come here together to celebrate and have fun; to see what moonlight and magic have done! To see how love can make a king and queen out of a man and a woman, and make ‘em dress up fancy for once in their lives!"

"This is a wedding! Billy and Paulette’s wedding, and we’re here to listen and love, sing and dance and rejoice, and send them off into their future."

"So sit back now, open your hearts, and let the celebration begin!"

Pat & Brandy

Gerry & Andrea

Kevin & Roxanne

Erin

Waiting for the bride.

Pat & Paulette.

The Bride Arrives.

"Dearly beloved; We are gathered here today in the sight of God and these witnesses to join this man and this woman in holy matrimony."

"Who gives this woman to be married today?"

"We have all attended many weddings, and we have heard many ceremonies. Today, however, I invite you to think not only of the ceremony of marriage, but also of the underlying causes and principles of the unique union between a husband and a wife."

"Thought history, the first principle of marriage has been, surprisingly enough, desire. Adam desired a wife, and when God provided one for him, it was desire that led him to say, 'This is AT LAST bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh.'" (Gen 2:23)

"Communication is another key principle that is a part of marriage. This is so important in fact, that God himself admonished Abraham to listen to Sarah, his wife." (Gen 21:12)

"Two more important components of marriage are Commitment and Loyalty. We get an excellent glimpse at these qualities in the book of Ruth when Ruth says to Naomi, 'Do not plead with me to abandon you, to turn back from accompanying you; for where you go I shall go, and where you spend the night I shall spend the night. Your people will be my people, and your God my God. Where you die I shall die, and there is where I shall be buried. May God do so to me and add to it if anything but death should separate us.'" (Ruth 1:16, 17)

"Love, of course, is considered the chief principle of marriage. In The Song of Solomon, love describes itself through the poet when it says, 'Place me as a seal upon your heart – as a seal upon your arm; because love is as strong as death… The blazing of love are the blazings of a fire, the flame of God.'" (SOS 8:6, 7)

"The culmination of these divine principles, namely desire, communication, commitment, loyalty, and love, is marriage. In Proverbs 31 vs. 12, we read the result when these principles are followed. This scripture says of a capable wife, 'She has rewarded him with good, and not bad, all the days of her life.'"

"Billy & Paulette, if there is any reason why you cannot legally be married today and follow these divine principles, I charge you now to confess."

"Paulette, do you desire to take Billy as your lawfully wedded husband? Will you listen to him? Will you go where he goes, and spend your days and nights with him? Will you love him, and reward him with good all the days of your life, till death do you part?"

Response: "I have, and I will."

"Billy, do you desire to take Paulette as your lawfully wedded wife? Will you listen to her? Will you go where she goes, and spend your days and nights with her? Will you love her, and reward her with good all the days of your life, till death do you part?"

Response: "I have, and I will."

"Do you have a symbol of your covenant?"

<RINGS>

"These rings are sacred witnesses of your vows today. Let them be a sign that love has substance as well as soul, a present as well as a past; and that love is a circle of happiness, wonder, and delight."

"Billy, take Paulette’s hand and repeat after me."

"Today I take you to be my wife. I promise to laugh with you in freedom, live with you in joy, rest with you in peace, labor with you in love, and weave a tapestry of family. This ring represents my vow to you. Take it now and let it be a reminder to us of our promises to one another."

"Paulette, take Billy’s hand and repeat after me."

"Today I take you to be my husband. I promise to laugh with you in freedom, live you with you in joy, rest with you in peace, labor with you in love, and weave a tapestry of family. This ring represents my vow to you. Take it now and let it be a reminder to us of our promises to one another."

"Now that you have given yourselves to each other by your declaration, and by your vows, before God and this company, you are now husband and wife; in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Those whom God has joined together let no one put asunder. Amen."

"You may seal your covenant with a kiss."

"I charge all of you here today – friends, parents, witnesses, brothers, and sisters – to do everything you can to honor, uphold, and care for Billy & Paulette as they walk the sacred path of marriage."

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I now present you William and Paulette Carter."