silke & sven’s isle of skye ceremony
Thank you very much Monika, you were sent to us to make our dream come true for our wedding in Scotland. Your warm-hearted and loving nature accompanied us and you were there for us with sensitivity at all times to support us in our planning and implementation.
It was a wonderful experience! Thank you for letting us get to know you and for becoming a part of our lives!
It was a wonderful experience! Thank you for letting us get to know you and for becoming a part of our lives!
silke & sven
In German we have a saying ‘Gut Ding Braucht Weile’ – meaning ‘good things take time’ and this was definitely the case for Silke & Sven from Germany, who had to postpone and rearrange their Scottish dream wedding several times over the years. Affected by the pandemic and other challenges including the passing of the lovely resident German interfaith minister Sonja Eckl-Riel who had meant to conduct their wedding, they persisted regardless of all the delays and obstacles and finally succeeded in getting their Isle of Skye ceremony on a lovely summary May day. This was my first purely German ceremony – an honour to step into the footsteps of Sonja, who had supported so many German speaking couples over the years of her ministry and a welcome slipping back into my native language.
My relationship with couples often starts when they only have vague ideas, hopes and dreams, but this was different because not only had Silke & Sven thought about their wedding for many years, there had already been lots of discussions with their previous celebrant and a nearly finished ceremony structure and script. We all wanted to honour those ideas long in the making, and honour Sonja’s memory, but I was also grateful that the couple allowed me to put my own mark and style on their ceremony.
What they were longing for was a special moment to themselves in a place where stunning scenery and history met, and the Dunscaith Castle ruin on the Isle of Skye was the perfect location for that – chosen many years ago it had now significant meaning for them, and had become much more than just any odd destination. To honour this location and atmosphere, and to ‘marry it’ with Silke & Sven’s own admiration for Scotland and Celtic culture we co-created a ceremony that had strong nature and pagan elements. Having decided to get legally married in Germany before their journey allowed us to fully focus on the wedding blessing side, with even more creative freedom.
After many months of emails and a few calls, and Silke & Sven’s long journey all the way from Germany we finally met on a surprisingly warm AND sunny day, all the way down a small single track road with the stunning Skye coast as a backdrop and Dunscaith ruin in the background. When finally setting eyes on my couple I had realised that one of the things we had not discussed in much detail was what bride & groom would be wearing – and as you can see from the images that means the impact was BIG!
Led by a piper we made our way to the ceremony location, and navigating some rocks and muddy patches to reach our destination was reminiscent of the couple’s long journey of many years to finally get their special day! Once we had settled on a spot (with our lovely local photographer Rosie as a trusted guide) the first step was to open a sacred space by calling to the four directions and then it was time to pause and reflect on the essence of what got us all to this day – Love!
A poem called ‘Die Liebe ist eine Reise’ (‘Love is a journey’) proved to be perfect to reflect on lovers travelling through unknown terrain, and unknown times, supporting each other and trusting each other. It also presented the perfect invitation to travel back in time, look back at how their relationship had developed, how they both compliment each other in character and how they had navigated the past years together, not just obstacles around their Scottish wedding but also other challenges and how this had left them stronger, and confident in their future relationship.
After a lot of talking it’s good to move the pace of a ceremony and focus on something more tactile – in Silke & Sven’s case a handfasting ritual. Combined with a blessing of the elements it was the perfect combination of symbology and nature. And then the big moment of their promises to each other arrived – already legally married the focus was on what this marriage meant to them, everyday, in every act big and small, and how they would act as a married couple going into their future. An exchange of rings and a quaich ritual with homemade mead concluded the rituals and what was left to do for me as a final act before sending them onto their journey was to bless their union. The words I had chosen brought us back to the four directions and the elements which had accompanied us through the ceremony.
Often this is where a celebrant’s work ends and more often than not I drift away, happily, to leave the couple to their photo session and their own personal moments. On this occasion though we felt we were all in this adventure together and we had arranged to have coffee & cake after the ceremony, back where we had started our journey earlier. It was a lovely invitation and lovely finish, rounding off a wonderful afternoon.
Thanks Silke & Sven – DANKE!
