(Special thanks to Michael Herrington for most of these pics.)

The Gathering

	The Gathering: The ceremony took place at Dreyfuss Club house on White Rock Lake in Dallas. It sits on a hill overlooking the lake, and halfway down the hill was a huge tree, in front of which we put a tall, iron flower basket hook (shaped like shepherd's crook with two hooks) which you'll see in later pictures. Our friends spread blankets on the ground or sat in the chairs we arranged around the tree.
	The Procession: The ceremony officially began as John and I were led to the ceremony space under the tree by our friends Beverly and Kevin playing a jig on pennywhistle and fiddle, and by Bruce and Linda carrying the flower baskets. We'd asked each of our guests to bring a flower to put in the basket. We had two beautiful bouquets by the time the ceremony started, and the represented those gathered in the ceremony space. Special thanks to Martha who arranged the flowers! Of interest, none of Eddy's family could attend, but they did send flowers!
	The Celebrants: Bruce and Linda took turns speaking and leading, introducing our speakers, and wrote the actual "script" for the ceremony. We couldn't have been more proud of their work and love them both dearly.
	John and Eddy: The ceremony consisted of several parts. We'd asked some of our friends to speak on different aspects of love and relationships. We dressed for the occasion by wearing the same style of shirt to match our eye color.
	Love is Magic: Our friend Gary is a movie fanatic, so we thought it best to have him speak on how love is magic, that the love we see in the movies may not be believable, but it's true that love takes a certain amount of miracles and dreams to work. He then played two songs from musicals that talk about the magic of love.
	Love is Strength: Our friend Laura is married to a medical student, and of any of our friends, she best exemplifies how love is strength, as she deals with her own job, her husband's crazy schedule and interviews, and most of all their relationship and finding time to nurture each other outside of their other commitments.
	Love is Commitment: There was another John and Eddie in attendance at the ceremony. A couple we know have been together for 10 years. In the gay world, that's quite an accomplishment. John and Eddie gave us a laundry list of what commitment means, which of course had our guests rolling on the grass. Before they spoke, Bruce asked the gathered guests to commit THEMSELVES to the nurturing of our relationship.
	Eddy's Vow: We each wrote our own vows for the ceremony, our own commitments to each other. Eddy wrote a poem for John, which will be posted later. Of course, we both cried and Eddy had to start and stop several times, being the big softy he is.
	John's Vow: John wrote some interesting vows, which will be posted later. It's always been a nauseating faux-cutesie thing we do to call each other "Love of my life, lust of my loins, lambikins" which of course John chose to open his vows with. After the crowd stopped laughing, the rest was very beautiful, and of course John cried through his too.
	Love is Sharing: So we'd already done vows and now we're doing the rings. So much for a non-traditional wedding! LOL We used the rings that John had surprised Eddy with in Big Bend in September. See our Wanderings section for details.
	Love is Blessed: After the vows and the ring, Bruce and Linda gave us blessings they'd written, and then Linda and Beverly sang a Gaelic blessing song.
	Mazeltov!: The ceremony ended with Bruce, Linda, Eddy and John in a group hug. You'd thought we'd just made the winning touchdown. Then Eddy and John led the way back to the club house for the reception.

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