Amani & Dan’s Humanist Wedding at Mavis Hall Park

As you can see, this wedding was a real hoot! Dan and Amani put a lot of thought into their big day, and their first good idea was to hold it out at Mavis Hall Park, a real working farm at the foot of the Lammermuir Hills. Juliet has been there several times and she’d told me about the way the ducks and chickens run around your feet, but when I turned up, some time ahead of the event, the farmyard was so empty and silent I thought I’d gone to the wrong place.

One of their good ideas was to have a Best Woman, as well as a Best Man, which was cool.

Another was to say a few words to all their guests about the reasons for their marriage and why they love one another. That takes a lot of courage, but it was very moving.

Dan is so much taller than Amani that he would have had to crouch to sign the marriage schedule, so we thought it would look better with him sitting down.

They also chose a lovely poem by Edwin Morgan that I hadn’t come across before. It’s called “When you go”

When you go,
if you go,
and I should want to die
there’s nothing I’d be saved by
more than the time
you fell asleep in my arms
in a trust so gentle
I let the darkening room
drink up the evening, till
rest, or the new rain
lightly roused you awake.
I asked if you heard the rain in your dream
and half dreaming still you only said, I love you.

Published January 1968 by Edinburgh University Press.

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