Well this was the first elopement for Collins and Collins Photography/Middle TN Wedding Photographers in Harriman, TN on Watts Bar Lake! The sky was a little overcast, but perfect to capture beautiful portraits for Sabrina and Victor to memorialize their wedding day. Sabrina and Victor rented a sweet little Airbnb that sits right on Watts Bar Lake in Harriman, TN and was married on the dock with their two dogs, Turbo and Diesel in attendance. Turbo and Diesel were a little rambunctious before and during the ceremony with one loosing his special made neck scarf even before the ceremony started. Their antics made us all giggle a little even as the ceremony was going on, you will most assuredly see by the photos that I captured. I am sure that Sabrina and Victor will look back at their special day with fondness and laughter and know that it was perfect! To me, their ceremony could not have been more perfect or sweeter and the Minister, Eric A. Patton out of Nashville, TN wrote a beautiful sermon to make the ceremony even more special. I teared up listening to his words as I was taking photographs. Sabrina and Victor also wrote their own vows to each other also, very touching, which will be shared down below.
Invocation
We are gathered here today to join Sabrina and Victor in matrimony.
Sabrina and Victor, please join hands, look at one another now and remember this moment in time as we proceed.
Prayer
Let us bow our heads in prayer.
God in heaven,
today we lift up Sabrina and Victor:
united into your loving arms.
Bind them in your love and grace.
I pray for your presence to be here with us today.
May the brightness of your love shine within them individually and as a couple from here to eternity.
Give them courage and reassurance in difficult times and show them the way in their darkest moments.
Let not their love be broken by the wind and rain, but let them stand strong together as one.
God, I ask you to fill their spirits with strength and joy.
Bless their home and may it always shelter them from the cold.
And, with the passage of time, may that home they begin today truly be a place of love and harmony where your spirit is ever-present.
We praise you for bringing their paths together so they may find and know true love.
Walk with them, guide them, and may their love grow to perfection.
We ask all these things done in your will through your son, Jesus Christ.
Amen.
Story Of The Couple
Love finds us when we least expect it. It's a common phrase because it's true. Victor was traveling for work and stopped at a Buffalo Wild Wings when a smile caught his eye. It came easy. It was as if you both had known each other for years.
You two are now spending all your days and nights together, raising Diesel and Turbo as a team. You have found peace and contentment with each other. It's easy to love each other. Sabrina is so excited to spend the rest of her life with her best friend and Victor now has the reassurance he'll always have the person he's needed in his life.
The love and trust the two of you have built have been vital to the success of your relationship. May you always keep those as the cornerstone of the marriage and build onto them brick by brick. There is no such thing as a perfect marriage. Mistakes will get made. But if you continue to provide each other grace and love, there is no day you won't get through.
Today, you will say your vows, exchange rings and begin life together. These memories you are about to make will be the ones you will remember as the day you told your best friend you were going to love them forever. The promise you are making today will be the one you make with certainty from the depths of your soul. This was the best decision you ever made.
Let us begin.
VOWS EXCHANGE
Today, you have agreed to exchange vows.
These vows are not to be taken lightly.
They will be the foundation you will build the rest of your life on.
Remember them.
When times are good, and when times are bad.
When you have nothing else in this world,
You'll have one another.
(Victor)
No matter how far apart we may be at times, I pledge to be with you always. I will be with you in your heart and keep you safely in mine. I promise to give you love, honesty, trust and commitment and in general keep your life interesting as we grow old together. I love you, you are my best friend. This journey through life with you and the boys is more than I could ever wish for.
(Sabrina)
Victor James the second I saw that smile I swiped right and before I left our first date I knew you were someone special. By the end of that first week I was smitten and knew you were the one. A few months later were were both laughing when you came back and literally never left. We've been through a lot since then, you've shown me and continue to show me everything my life was missing. God truly blessed me when he placed you in my life. You are calm, humble and patient. Most of all you're my best friend, and you make me a better person. I promise to love you when you're at your best and even when you're vacuuming perfectly straight lines into the carpet. I can't wait to continue building a life with you, Diesel and Turbo and whatever else God has in store.
ONE HUNDRED LOVE SONNETS: XVII by Pablo Neruda
I don't love you as if you were a rose of salt, topaz,
or arrow of carnations that propagate fire:
I love you as one loves certain obscure things,
secretly, between the shadow and the soul.
I love you as the plant that doesn't bloom but carries
the light of those flowers, hidden, within itself,
and thanks to your love the tight aroma that arose
from the earth lives dimly in my body.
I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where,
I love you directly without problems or pride:
I love you like this because I don't know any other way to love,
except in this form in which I am not nor are you,
so close that your hand upon my chest is mine,
so close that your eyes close with my dreams.
RING EXCHANGE WITH DECLARATION OF INTENT
An now, to exchange rings.
Th symbolism of these rings is significant.
These rings were forged in the fire and span a circle with no end.
Similar to the two of you.
Your bonds are as strong as the metal in these rings.
May it serve as a reminder that your love will go on forever and
that the love you two share will always go with you wherever you are.
Sabrina, repeat after me as you place the ring on Victor's left hand
With this ring I, Sabrina
take you, Victor, to be my husband
Loving what I know of you,
and trusting what I do not yet know,
I respect your integrity
and have faith in your abiding love for me,
through all our years,
and in all that life may bring us.
Victor, repeat after me as you place the ring on Sabrina's left hand
With this ring I, Victor
take you, Sabrina, to be my wife
Loving what I know of you,
and trusting what I do not yet know,
I respect your integrity
and have faith in your abiding love for me,
through all our years,
and in all that life may bring us.
MARK TWAIN: THESE I CAN PROMISE YOU
I cannot promise you a life of sunshine;
I cannot promise riches, wealth, or gold;
I cannot promise you an easy pathway
That leads away from change or growing old.
But I can promise all my heart's devotion;
A smile to chase away your tears of sorrow;
A love that's ever true and ever-growing;
A hand to hold in yours through each tomorrow.
WHISKEY UNITY CEREMONY
In the original Gaelic, whiskey means "Water of Life"
So it shouldn't be surprising it is a bond that you share.
Life is what you two are promising to spend together today.
The smoky flavor leading to the burn of desire
makes it the perfect symbol of your love.
Much like whiskey, the two of you will only get better with age.
May the life you two lead be one of excitement.
Just like this whiskey.
PRONOUNCEMENT
Sabrina and Victor,
you have come here today of your own free will
and have declared your love and commitment to each other.
In the presence of loved ones,
you have vowed to love each other forever.
You have exchanged rings as a symbol of love everlasting.
Therefore, by the power of your love commitment,
and by the power vested in me by the State of Tennessee,
and God's Holy Church,
I now pronounce you husband and wife.
You may now seal your vows with a kiss.
Now and evermore, may you forever be known as Mister and Misses Bentivegna.
It was a fabulous day for these TN Wedding Photographers and we are so blessed to have been a part of their special day!