A Toast to the Bride and Groom

Good evening, this evening begins Rosh Hashanah— the Jewish New Year. Most of us won’t celebrate as such but the Bride and Groom will; this evening begins a new year and new chapter for them.

My name is Martin Malzahn. I’m the Bride’s cousin. Actually my dad was the Bride’s grandmother’s cousin, so I think that makes me...well, it makes me happy to be here.

Oh, I’m also a Priest; I mean a Protestant one. I was a Lutheran and now I’m Episcopalian, I’m ordained; which means I got to preside at the marriage...and talk to the couple and families about God and the power of love.

While I was speaking during the wedding I said to the families that a good speaker flatters...

you all are beautiful...

a great speaker makes you laugh, how do you make a tissue dance?

Put a little boogie in it.

But a truly gifted speaker reminds you when they speak—of you—the Bride and Groom both have a way of speaking (and listening) that probably makes your experience with them more about you than about them.

So today may we raise our glasses to make our words not about us: but about them.

Repeat after me:

To the Couple.

To the Couple.

Le Chaim.

Le Chaim.

To life.

To life.

God bless you.

God bless you.