Skip to content
The Catholic Leader
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute
No Result
View All Result
The Catholic Leader
No Result
View All Result
Home Opinion Guest Writers

Everyone loves a wedding

byGuest Contributor
4 October 2014
Reading Time: 3 mins read
AA
wedding rings
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

By Kiri Groeneveld

YOU are, I am sure, familiar with 1Corinthians:13.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud, and so on.

With good reason, it is a popular wedding verse – one of the passages in the Bible that resonates with those entering into the sacrament of marriage.

While I don’t know which verses they have chosen specifically, I can say for certain that this is one that two of my best friends must have come across while preparing for their wedding.

I have been good friends with Brenton and Ellen since we were kids.

Brenton and I met in Year 8, bonding over movies and jokes. Ellen and I go even further back to the days of choir in primary school.

They began their relationship at 15, have been through good and bad, and finally decided to commit their lives to each other as husband and wife.

For our group of friends, it has become the event of the year.

And at the time of writing this column, the wedding is still two weeks away.

Related Stories

Hearts ‘fused’ together living their vocation

Ukraine war forces surrogate mothers and parents to face tragic choices

Mum, when will I see you again?

Now, everyone loves a wedding.

Brenton and Ellen’s is the first amongst our close group of friends. Some of us have parts in the ceremony and reception, and we’ve all been included in certain elements of the planning process.

 And we’ve definitely been there for all the celebrations. It is very easy to get wrapped up in the hype of the “big day”, however it is essential to remember the importance, the elementary act, the deep foundation, and basically just the whole point of the wedding.

And while it may not be myself entering into holy matrimony, I am still moved by all the love.

On hearing of their engagement (via text message) the love in our resulting phone call was loud and excited and immense.

On being asked to emcee their reception, my love for them both was deep and caring and humble.

Just chatting about details of the wedding itself resulted in hours of “I love that song”, “I love this photo”, “I love those invites”, “That’s just lovely”, and lots of “I love you guys”.

The event of two of my best friends getting married to each other has brought about many varying displays and examples of love that have not stopped amazing me and I feel has brought our group of friends closer in many ways.

The deep knowledge I carry of each of them, having been together for the better part of a decade, has only been strengthened as I watch us grow haphazardly into adulthood, celebrating each other’s milestones and successes.

The participation in celebrating someone else’s love is infectious, fun and joyful.

I will even speak for the happy couple themselves and say while I know they have experienced moments of stress and nerves, it has never outweighed their excitement and dedication to their decision to wed.

While I have been most involved in Brenton and Ellen’s wedding, it is actually only one of the many I seem to have the delight in attending this year.

Two of my cousins are also marrying this year, one having already been in July, and one yet to come in November.

I am positive that each of these weddings will be different – as different as each of the individuals are.

If anything, this year’s multiple wedding celebrations have only made me acknowledge and appreciate the many marriages in my life. Friends who are celebrating first, second or even 13th anniversaries.

Others are fulfilling their sacrament and welcoming children. Then there’s my aunties and my uncles, my grandparents, and of course my parents.

Theirs is a marriage I am blessed with, while at the same time I was their little blessing 24 years ago.

And while each of these relationships are different, the overall love is the same.

 As 1 Corinthians:13 defines, it is truthful, it is protective, it is trusting and it is hopeful.

And I wish each of these marriages, no matter what stage they are at, all the absolute best in the name of God. I love you guys.

ShareTweet
Previous Post

Fishy secret eludes bishop

Next Post

Journeying with God in motherhood

Guest Contributor

Related Posts

Hearts ‘fused’ together living their vocation
People

Hearts ‘fused’ together living their vocation

15 May 2022
Ukraine war forces surrogate mothers and parents to face tragic choices
Hot Topics

Ukraine war forces surrogate mothers and parents to face tragic choices

24 March 2022 - Updated on 28 March 2022
Mother and son: A photo of Fr Harry Chan when he was a child with his mother. Photo: Supplied
Faith

Mum, when will I see you again?

22 November 2021
Next Post
family oct5

Journeying with God in motherhood

Daryl Hanly2

Hail Mary will be the perfect end

Fr John Flader

Is morality objective?

Popular News

  • Celebration marks Sister Angela Mary’s 75 years’ service to Mater and Queensland

    Celebration marks Sister Angela Mary’s 75 years’ service to Mater and Queensland

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Confraternity Carnival ready for a full return in Mackay next week

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Three Queensland deacons preparing for priestly ordinations in the next week

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • US states start banning abortion following historic Supreme Court ruling

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Parents of young mother considered for sainthood share powerful testimony at World Meeting of Families

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
Search our job finder
No Result
View All Result

Latest News

Abdallah family deliver powerful Vatican speech
Family

Abdallah family deliver powerful Vatican speech

by Guest Contributor
27 June 2022
0

By Agencies including CNS, Vatican News and staff writers Danny and Leila Abdallah used a speech during...

Look to the future, not the past, pope tells families

Look to the future, not the past, pope tells families

27 June 2022
US states start banning abortion following historic Supreme Court ruling

US states start banning abortion following historic Supreme Court ruling

27 June 2022

Why you should go on a pilgrimage — more than once

25 June 2022
Celebration marks Sister Angela Mary’s 75 years’ service to Mater and Queensland

Celebration marks Sister Angela Mary’s 75 years’ service to Mater and Queensland

25 June 2022

Never miss a story. Sign up to the Weekly Round-Up
eNewsletter now to receive headlines directly in your email.

Sign up to eNews
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Jobs
  • Subscribe

The Catholic Leader is an Australian award-winning Catholic newspaper that has been published by the Archdiocese of Brisbane since 1929. Our journalism seeks to provide a full, accurate and balanced Catholic perspective of local, national and international news while upholding the dignity of the human person.

Copyright © All Rights Reserved The Catholic Leader
Accessibility Information | Privacy Policy | Archdiocese of Brisbane

The Catholic Leader acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the First Peoples of this country and especially acknowledge the traditional owners on whose lands we live and work throughout the Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute

Copyright © All Rights Reserved The Catholic Leader

0
    0
    Your Cart
    Your cart is emptyChoose another Subscription
    Continue Shopping