Our longtime friend, Zack Buck, acted as the officiant at our ceremony and shared these thoughtful words:
Friends and family of the bride and groom, thank you for being here with us, for traveling from near and far (but mostly far), to celebrate Dave and Erin on this most special day.
Today is an opportunity for all of us to not only share in Dave and Erin's joy and commitment, but to honor and reaffirm the love and friendship each of us experiences in our own lives every day.
I've known Dave and Erin for as long as they've known each other. I actually think I beat Erin in meeting Dave by a few weeks.
I have had the incredible pleasure of watching them meet, watching them develop a warm friendship, watching them grow together, learn together, laugh together, explore together and love together. I watched as they, to borrow from F. Scott Fitzgerald, "slipped briskly into an intimacy from which they never recovered."
They were an inseparable pair straight from the beginning, and the incredible thing is that they never allowed their commitment to each other to limit them in terms of the life they imagined possible for themselves.
Helen Keller is credited as having said, "Life is either a great adventure or nothing." I can't imagine two people who've taken her words more to heart.
Back in Tappan Hall for our freshman year of college, in a dorm room in Oxford, Ohio, I never could have dreamed that these two kids from Cleveland would be traveling all corners of the earth with a shared passion for beauty and a drive to be a part of the common human experience that transcends all boundaries and unites all people.
They've hiked the Grand Canyon. Like real hiking with a tent. They've pet tigers in Thailand and passed temples in Seoul. They've taken in pristine pink sunrises in the Tundra of Sweden and camped in the desolate desert of the Sahara. They've experienced sushi in Kyoto, cheese toasties in London, dim sum in Hong Kong, wine in Porto. They've skied the Alps, biked in Salzburg, canyoneered in the Philippines, and kissed in Paris.
We know they travel, and they're accomplished and smart. They're loyal to each other and others.
But most of all, they run.
No, not actually running - you know Dave's sport has always been hockey, and Erin's chosen activity, at least in high school, was cruising the mean streets of North Olmsted strip in a Mustang.
But, they spend their days together, side by side, running. Toward adventure. Toward experience. Toward style. Toward life.
They don't watch, they don't wait. They run. We watch them, and they run.
There is something truly remarkable in embarking on the less-traveled path, the less-predictable path, the less-safe path, and something even more astonishing in forging that path with a like-minded adventurer who is with you every step of the way. That path has led to this moment. To this place.
It is with incredible joy that I stand here today and share in this moment with Dave and Erin, two of my best friends, as they commit to continuing moving forward through the world hand in hand and heart to heart.
Today is an opportunity for all of us to not only share in Dave and Erin's joy and commitment, but to honor and reaffirm the love and friendship each of us experiences in our own lives every day.
I've known Dave and Erin for as long as they've known each other. I actually think I beat Erin in meeting Dave by a few weeks.
I have had the incredible pleasure of watching them meet, watching them develop a warm friendship, watching them grow together, learn together, laugh together, explore together and love together. I watched as they, to borrow from F. Scott Fitzgerald, "slipped briskly into an intimacy from which they never recovered."
They were an inseparable pair straight from the beginning, and the incredible thing is that they never allowed their commitment to each other to limit them in terms of the life they imagined possible for themselves.
Helen Keller is credited as having said, "Life is either a great adventure or nothing." I can't imagine two people who've taken her words more to heart.
Back in Tappan Hall for our freshman year of college, in a dorm room in Oxford, Ohio, I never could have dreamed that these two kids from Cleveland would be traveling all corners of the earth with a shared passion for beauty and a drive to be a part of the common human experience that transcends all boundaries and unites all people.
They've hiked the Grand Canyon. Like real hiking with a tent. They've pet tigers in Thailand and passed temples in Seoul. They've taken in pristine pink sunrises in the Tundra of Sweden and camped in the desolate desert of the Sahara. They've experienced sushi in Kyoto, cheese toasties in London, dim sum in Hong Kong, wine in Porto. They've skied the Alps, biked in Salzburg, canyoneered in the Philippines, and kissed in Paris.
We know they travel, and they're accomplished and smart. They're loyal to each other and others.
But most of all, they run.
No, not actually running - you know Dave's sport has always been hockey, and Erin's chosen activity, at least in high school, was cruising the mean streets of North Olmsted strip in a Mustang.
But, they spend their days together, side by side, running. Toward adventure. Toward experience. Toward style. Toward life.
They don't watch, they don't wait. They run. We watch them, and they run.
There is something truly remarkable in embarking on the less-traveled path, the less-predictable path, the less-safe path, and something even more astonishing in forging that path with a like-minded adventurer who is with you every step of the way. That path has led to this moment. To this place.
It is with incredible joy that I stand here today and share in this moment with Dave and Erin, two of my best friends, as they commit to continuing moving forward through the world hand in hand and heart to heart.
