A garden offers many metaphors for loving relationships. So if you’re either a foodie or an organic person, consider getting married at your local CSA (community supported agriculture) or a small organic farm that provides food for your favorite restaurant or caterer. (And then of course, turn around and use that caterer or restaurant for your meal!)
The garden provides images of abundance. The love you have is transforming your life and allowing it to blossom and expand. Biological images are powerful metaphors for healthy living and development. And then of course there’s the image of the garden as community – look at the number of vegetables or flowers that grow better in the company of other vegetables and protect each other from pests. Gardens are functional as well as beautiful. you know what? There is marriage too!
Summer is coming. Why not get married at the edge of a garden (keep your skirts a little shorter)? Not a flower garden, a vegetable garden. One in full production. Onions and peas are popping out of the ground, just like they should be. And lean on the analogies that the garden offers to create a wonderful wedding.
- your wedding ceremony: Talk about the ways love sustains and enriches your life. Talk about the importance of crop diversity and how community keeps you healthy and growing. Remind yourself and your community that relationships, like a garden, need tending in order to thrive. And if you are looking forward to adding children to your life, then your marriage is the garden in which your children will flourish.
- your wedding vows: Part of your commitment to each other is taking care of yourself and your partner by eating healthy. If you are someone who cares about the Earth, together you can commit to working for a healthier planet. Marriages with shared interests do well.
- wedding ceremonyShare healthy food with the understanding that part of what you offer each other is abundance and health. Whatever food you choose, it will become an important metaphor for both of you. Every time you eat it, you will remember how you felt sharing that meal on the day you made your promises to each other.
- Eat: Obviously it’s going to be important. Consider making a journal about the foods you eat and the foods that contain them. If the caterer is ready, share a recipe or two. If you have family recipes, that’s always a good idea for a wedding.
- table decorationPot of greens or herbs, or a cornucopia of foods that won’t spoil and can be used later. (Also donated). People can search through the tables for a picture that matches their plant!
- Donation: Donate to a farm or give a box of vegetables to a shelter.
If the weather’s right, sit at a table outside, where you have a nice view of the garden and the wildlife that keep it humming. If this is right for you, it will be a beautiful wedding. Your community will walk away saying, I’m so glad they did it because it was perfect for them. This is what you want. A perfect wedding that gives your wedding metaphors a chance to live on forever!
Source by Ann Keeler Evans
