Journeys of the Heart Officiant Jim Rosengarten presided at  the wedding of Julie Meyer and Aaron Larson on July 17, 2010 at the Abington Art Center.

Julie and Aaron have known each other for about nine years and have created a very sweet son, Elliot, who is about 1 year old. Elliot actually came with them when they met with me to plan their ceremony. He stared at the three of us quietly with these attentive eyes that made me wonder if he actually understood what we were saying.

The venue for the wedding was beautiful. Abington Art Center has several outdoor settings for weddings in the open spaces in the sculpture garden outside of the Art Center. Scattered throughout the grounds are intriguing, thought-provoking, and whimsical sculptures – and even more inside. This added greatly to the natural beauty and lovely landscaping of the place.

From the beginning, Julie and Aaron were interested in including Elliot in the ceremony. He had to be included in the reflection about their lives, gleaned from the forms they filled out for me, because they both talked about how much he means to them. He also was part of their marvelous and unusual unity ritual: They provided three beautiful plants – one with red flowers, one with white, and one with pink – in small pots. After I read about how their lives would remain independent but that their roots would begin entangling and affecting each other in beautiful ways, they then all three planted their flowers into one big clay pot. Well, Julie and Aaron planted theirs, then I got to hold Elliot while he sort of planted his. His parents did more of the planting as he seemed more interested in my beard than the planting!

In my brief time with them, I enjoyed watching how Julie and Aaron cared for each other and how they were carefully and tenderly working together as new parents.

After all three of them stood together for the final blessing, they then turned around and walked down the aisle: Julie, Aaron and Elliot – a fitting end to the ceremony that marked their new beginning.