While stealing a quiet moment together, I turned to my husband and said,

"Look at all these people, Leigh. Every single one of them really loves us!"

As we stumbled towards the hotel from our wedding reception, back in my sensible boots and armed with treats from the day, the feeling we kept returning to was the overwhelming amount of love that we had experienced. The entire day was spent basking in the joy we felt about each other, and the excitement and support of our community. The people in our lives, both daily and less frequently, are the reason that we got married in the way that we did. As we had our celebrant explain on the day, it will be their presence, their act of wittnessing, and their endorsement of our marriage which will hold us to account for the promises we made. We are not an island. No matter how deeply we stare into eachother, we can not and will not cancel out the world around us, so it is important that our community is on board from the get go. After all, there may come a time when we need them to kick us in the pants and remind us of what we said, why we said it, and they all saw us say it, so we'd better lift our game.