'I do' - again: Area couples renew vows on St. Valentine's Day
1
2
HATFIELD - Love was in the air Sunday in Hatfield when a dozen couples already seasoned by years of marriage renewed their wedding vows at the First Congregational Church.
The St. Valentine's Day ceremony involved loving duos whose marriages range in tenure from an admirable 12 years to a mighty 62 years. In all, they represented 446 years of marriage.
While a few needed only minor prodding to participate, these life partners tied the knot one more time as the morning sun pierced the pink stained-glass windows of the church and cast a rose-colored hue on the walls behind them.
Moments before the ceremony, however; the Rev. Robert Kyte invited the young children in the congregation to join him at the altar as he reflected on the meanings of marriage, weddings and St. Valentine's Day.
"This is the day when we think about people who are very special to us," Kyte said, as the children gathered round him with excitement. "This is a good day."
A wedding, Kyte told the youngsters, is like planting a seed in the ground from which something grows and blossoms in springtime.
Among the promises couples make at weddings, when this metaphorical planting occurs, is to be best friends.
"It's spending every day with your very best friend for years and years and years," he said.
As he brandishing his own band, Kyte spoke of wedding rings, which really have only one purpose for those who wear them.
"It reminds them that somebody loves them," he said.
The rings of the many couples renewing their vows were rededicated during Sunday's ceremony, which also brought not one, but two wedding kisses (a second for good luck).
"Think of the years you have worn them, and the years you have shared," Kyte said. "The circle of your ring is like the circle of your marriage. It always brings you home."
Kyte reminded those renewing their vows that they are in a different place today than when they first got married. Indeed, they perhaps were a little more naive then, though deeply in love.
"We got you to make promises, promises that would mean everything in the decades to come ... no matter what life throws at you," he said. "You had to study one another to understand what makes the other person happy and the other person sad ... to let them know they are not alone, but are loved."
It was a message that resonated for those standing before their family and friends and giving that powerful statement, "I do," an encore.
"After 27 years of marriage, it's a whole lot different than the first time because you've been through the thick and the thin," said Becky Laurin, with her husband, Jamie.
Laurin organized and helped recruit the married couples for the ceremony, many of whose wedding albums and photos were on display during a coffee hour after the service. Unlike her first wedding ceremony, Laurin and her husband helped serve their community wedding cake to guests.
Also among those renewing their vows were Richard and Joyce Belden of Hatfield, who have been married 62 years. Joining them were their son, William Belden, and his wife, Jean, who have been married 36 years.
"They said, 'We'll do it if you'll do it,'" said William Belden of his parents' decision to join the ceremony. For Ed and Susan McGlew, who have been married 22 years, Sunday's ceremony marked the second time they've exchanged vows in the Main Street church. Their wedding day in October 1987 came on the eve of a major snowstorm that hit the region, recalled Ed McGlew.
Married 12 years, Tim and Andrea Rogers of Hatfield, were married in a backyard in North Hatfield where they used to live. They are separated in marriage from the elder Beldens by 50 years, which marks a golden anniversary celebrated recently by Mary and Gordon Williams, who were among the dozen couples.
Asked what it was like to be surrounded by so many couples in long-lasting marriages, Andrea Rogers clutched a red rose, smiled and said: "A little overwhelming, but something to aspire to."
Dan Crowley can be reached at dcrowley@gazettenet.com.
