Take time before the session and find a quiet place for reflection. What weddings or services of union did you attend as a child or as an adult? If you've had a wedding, do you remember feeling gladness, hope, nervousness? A wedding is really about hope—that despite all the things they know could go wrong, two people still wish to publicly declare their love for and commitment to one another. The wedding items you've gathered, whether from other families or your own, can help you help remember and experience this sense of hope and possibility in a very tactile way.

Send thoughts and prayers to all the folks who have wished to be married and are unable to. As Unitarian Universalists, it is our fervent hope that soon we won't have to even use the language of a "service of union" unless the wedding party desires to.