Kevin + Aubrey | Wedding Ceremony

You may be seated. That song that they just came down the aisle to was written by Jace. It's a combination of the song Aubrey by Bread, Christafari's Dream, which were one of Al's favorites, and melodies from Pride and Prejudice. You're here. Finally. But you're here, and I just have to say, I think this is epic. On behalf of Kevin, And Aubrey and the Kyser and Rockman family, welcome. In the spreadsheet that Kevin gave me— I'm sorry, spreadsheets. They asked me to start with prayer. Jesus loved weddings. He once said, I played a song, a wedding song for you, and you didn't dance. So you better dance tonight. And better have a great time and celebrate. But he also said, I played a dirge for you, which is a funeral song. And he said, you didn't weep. Jesus wants us to be real. I asked Aubrey what she was— what she hoped for in the service. And these are her words. Life is so complicated and so beautiful and hard. And I think I want all of that to come through. I want it to be joyful and fun, but I don't want it to make it seem like love is easy or everything is perfect. I want it to feel genuine and real. You're a lot like Jesus. So let's pray. The God of all love and life, who walks with us in our pain and dances with us in our joy, you have brought these two through so much already. mountaintops and valleys and surrounded them with family and friends that love them so dearly. As they make these commitments to each other, they're asking you to continue to be a part of their journey now, as their life as husband and wife. Make this day in their marriage all it's meant to be. And in Jesus' name, everyone said. Amen. Amen. They have chosen together every element of this wedding. They just thought through together and discussed together, and they wanted to have one worship song. And so this worship song is How Great You Are, Lord, by Shane and Shane. If you know it, sing along. Otherwise, listen to the words.

You give life, you are love. You bring light to the darkness. You give hope, you restore every heart that is broken. Great are you, Lord. It's your It's your breath in our lungs, so we pour out our praise, pour out our praise. It's your breath in our lungs, so we pour out our praise to you, holy. Holy. You give life, you are love. You bring light to the darkness. You give hope, you restore every heart that is broken. Great are you, Lord. It's your mercy. It's your breath in our lungs, so we pour out our praise, pour out our praise. It's your breath in our lungs, so we pour out our praise to you only. And all the earth Will shout your praise. Our hearts will cry. These bones will sing. Great are you, Lord! And all the earth will shout your praise. Our hearts will cry. These bones will sing. Great are Great are you, Lord. All the earth will shout your praise. Our hearts will cry, these bones will sing. Great are you, Lord. It's your breath in our lungs, so we pour out Pour out our praise, pour out our praise. It's your breath in our lungs, so we pour out our praise to you. Oh, it's your breath in our lungs, so we pour out our praise, pour out our praise. It's your breath in our lungs, so we pour out our praise to you.

At this time, they've picked out two scriptures they want to be read. In the first one, Mark Nelson will come and read it.

First Corinthians chapter thirteen. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy and it does not boast. It is not proud, it does not dishonor others. It is not self-seeking and it is not easily angered. It keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.

Thanks, Mark. And the next one, Christy Moore is going to come and, and read from the Song of Solomon.

Song of Solomon, chapter 8. Verses 6 and 7. For love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like a blazing fire, like a mighty flame. Many waters cannot quench love, rivers cannot sweep it away. If one were to give all the wealth of one's house for love, it would be utterly scorned.

Thanks, Kristy. Um, this is how I was asked to do this wedding. They actually had a card and said, would you marry me— marry us? Whoops. And it said inside, Bob, your friendship and encouragement to us has meant so much to us over the years. Thank you for loving us like Jesus. We would be honored to have you officiate our wedding. Please don't talk too long. Aubrey and Kevin. Let's pray. And right now, with how hot it is, except for that cloud, you're all hoping the same thing. Matter of fact, Jake came up and said, I'll pay you to keep it short. He didn't have enough money. I would have. Okay. Let me just say this. It's an honor to be asked, and it's an honor to be here. To be honest, I felt needed. I felt like, honestly, if I can be honest, I felt like I have some things to say to you both and to your generation. And I thought, you know, some wisdom, you know, 'cause I'm from my generation, right? Amen. Last night, I changed my mind. Because after the rehearsal dinner, which was so amazing, I wish every one of you could have been there, I felt schooled by you two and by your community of friends and family. You two have loved so well, and you are loved so well. Thank you. And you have gained the respect of so many people because of the, because of the kind of people you are. And the sharing last night, they should be up here. It was just humbling to be in that same room. What you have in each other and here is something really special. Thank you. There is hope for your life and your marriage together. But if I'm not exaggerating what I saw last night, there's hope for the future. There's hope for our country, and there's hope for the world. Your love and respect for each other is a light in this divided and dark world. The smiles, the love, the acceptance, the joy, the fun, the, the laughter, the friendship you bring. It makes this world a better place. And we all joked about how long it took you to get here, from just being Jordan's sister to people really believing that this love relationship had a chance. Kevin, if I can be honest, Aubrey's like family to us. So when we first met you, we didn't think you were good enough. I mean, honestly, if it goes fair. But we didn't know if you really saw the gift that she was and the amazing person, the amazing person she is, the gift to this world. All you were was just one of Jordan's friends that you hung out with. But after getting to know you, And the kind of person you are, and the kind of friend you are to so many people, and the love and concern you show to so many, and the respect you have for Aubrey, and for her gifts and her talents, and her intelligence and her faith. It's awesome. The way you treat people is a lot like my best friend, Jesus. I wish more people. That call themselves Christians were more like you. And I hope this is the place, but I am sorry on behalf of the church and myself, who so many times are known for what we're against instead of being for people and for love. Maybe people would be coming to faith instead of walking away from it if they were more like you. So I say to you, keep dancing, keep making memories, and I believe this marriage is going to make the world a better place. And also show them how to get through the sad times together and walk hand in hand in the hard times that will come with the commitments that you're going to make to one another, the kind of love that Jesus demonstrated to us. others' interests instead of yourself. And I look, I see the cross on top of that steeple, the love whether he gave by laying down his love for another. May you do that for one another. And on this rug that you're standing on, you're gonna make a commitment to that was given to you by your mom, by Mary, which she calls a holy place where you'll make these commitments to one another. Amen. The world is broken. It's broken all around us. But in the middle of all that, there is hope and love and respect and unity and love and commitment. Remember this: love matters. Commitment matters. Faith matters. Marriage matters. Family matters. I'm almost done. Almost. But I got to do something real quick. I just have one more story, and it's a fishing story. I hope it fits into a wedding. I just came back from Canada, a place where I fished with your dad. His love of life, he loved to worship. I know the Bible says there's no darkness in heaven, but I'm sure Al lit a candle. He kept candle companies in business when he was here. And when we were fishing, I don't know if he was really trying hard. I think he was just singing songs the whole time. And he would go, I think I got one. And he starts reeling in, and I'm like, do you need the net? He's like, no, I got it. And he pulls in a fish like a perch with his pole, and it was, oh, a 40-inch northern pike. And it lays on the thing, he goes, oh, I got him. And I start— Ah! Being Bob and being loud. And he's like, is that a big one? I could not believe it didn't break the pole and that he didn't use a net. Well, just 2 days ago, we came— I came back a day early for rehearsal yesterday, and my favorite pole that I had that I was fishing with Al that day, I got a small fish on and I laid it down to net it. And the— and it broke. Now this may seem really weird, but I was really sad. I'm like, I know it's just a pole, but the memories in this pole, it just meant a lot. And my son-in-law Isaiah, who's here, said, well, I got another one of your poles. He had fixed them all up and brought them for me. And he hands me the pole and I said, that's not my pole. He said, yes it is. I said, I've never used that pole. And he said, Mary gave that to you. That was Al's pole. I'm like, haha, cool. The last fish I got in Canada was on that pole. It was a 45-inch northern. Bigger than Al's. But I want to tell you this. What your dad has given you and what your family has given you is a gift so much better than any pole. You've lived and we live in a lot of brokenness. But I tell you this. But I tell you this, they have given you love. They've given you family. They've given you commitment. They've given you faith. And you're standing here on a holy spot. And so here's what we're going to do. Receive that gift. Receive that gift. And let's get you making commitments to one another. Amen. And think of the words of that song. He heals every heart that is broken. And death— love is stronger than death. Boom! Take that. That's epic. And that's what we're doing. So let's get on with this marriage. And let's get on with a party in air conditioning. Amen. So at this time, we're going to do the vows. They've chosen to do the vows, to personally write them. So I think you have them.

Kevin, I love you so much, and I'm so excited to be standing here with you. It's been a long and sometimes difficult road, But there's no one I would rather walk it with. Thank you for your unfailing positivity, your patience throughout the years, and for the way you've loved and supported me. I love the way you see the world, the way you make friends wherever you go, always bringing out the best in people. I'm so blessed to be marrying you. In all the grief, you have been my unfailing support, and in all my joys, you have been my biggest encourager. I promise to be your partner from this day forward. I promise to celebrate your triumphs and stand by you in your defeats. I promise to cherish your hopes and dreams as closely as I hold my own. I promise to forgive you when you make mistakes and to be patient with you. I promise to approach our differences with curiosity. When times are hard, whether because of grief or anger, I promise to remember these vows and choose to love you. In times of joy, I promise to share my happiness with you. I promise to build you up and encourage you. I promise to be honest with you, always telling you the truth in love. I promise to let God continue to change my heart so I can be love to you and to everyone else in our lives. I promise to be faithful to you, and I promise to love you always.

That was pretty good. Aubrey, my beautiful ray of sunshine. I am excited, so excited to marry you. I can remember a time when we admitted feelings for each other almost 10 years ago, and you said, but we'll never date because I'd never marry you. And I said, we'll see about that. So I'd like to welcome you to our wedding day. I sat down to write these vows, uh, and I couldn't stop writing, filling up pages about my endless love for you. Your kind and caring heart for others will always have me falling deeper in love with you. We've selflessly carried each other through the grief of the worst kinds, and I'm not sure how, but I'm grateful that you're somehow able to put up with my Energizer Bunny amount of energy where I want to squeeze every drop out of life. I am so moved by your faith and love for God and want nothing more than to foster and help grow it. Aubrey, you are my best friend and my better half. For the rest of my life, I make these promises to you. I promise to hear you when you don't feel heard. I promise to see you when you don't feel seen. I promise to always make you know how beautiful and loved you are. We can start that right now. You look smoking hot. This is— This is great. Uh, I promise to love you, love, laugh with you, and cry with you. I promise to always remember the importance of the little things. I promise you to— promise to protect you from all things and demons. I promise to encourage your compassion because it makes you wonderful. I promise to value our differences just as much as our common ground. I promise to support you and learn with you in your faith. I promise to keep you on your toes by keeping life full and exciting. I promise to always be your hype man. And I promise to work hard, not just because you deserve it, but because we deserve it. I choose you again and again at the start and finish of every single day. I choose you to struggle and succeed with. To fight and make up with, to love and grow old with. I choose you knowing there are mountains left for us to climb, but knowing we've climbed mountains before. I choose you as my partner to always be by my side. Okay.

They have chosen rings to be a symbol of their commitment for life. I just want you to know that Kevin picked out the engagement ring, and it has a leaf pattern on it, and they matched that with the wedding bands as well, that they know that love is about growth, not perfection. It took him a while, but he did it right. He brought her to Colorado and proposed on Loveland Pass. Dude, you set the bar pretty hard for these guys. But he did it. Would you place the ring on her finger? Do you, Kevin, with this ring, take Aubrey to be your wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, forsaking all others? For better, for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish until death do you part? If so, say I do.

I do.

Aubrey, put the ring on his finger. Do you, Aubrey, with this ring, take Kevin to be your husband, to have and to hold from this day forward forsaking all others, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish until death do you part? If so, say I do. I do. You may kiss your bride. You may kiss your bride again. You may kiss your husband. As a minister of the gospel and as a friend of this couple— turn and face the audience— I present to you for the very first time, but for the rest of eternity, Mr. and Mrs. Kyser.