A few days ago, an old friend reached out to me, asking for help with a meal blessing he was asked to give at a lesbian wedding this weekend.  He said he looked at all sorts of Irish blessings, and none seemed to fit the situation.  He was also sensitive that though the dinner toast at a wedding is often a religious-leaning affair, this wedding wasn’t suited to that.

Of course, I was stoked for the challenge.  Take an old, rote tradition, and update it based on the identities of the real humans involved?  Let’s do it.

Homework

First stop was favorite book of mine: To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Blessings” by John O’Donohue.”  The table of contents pointed me to several that I hoped might at least yield some beautiful couplets I could borrow/re-purpose, but… not really.

Then, to confirm the expected contents of a meal blessing I took to google, and surmised that essentially the blessing needed gives thanks to a higher power for the union and the food, and requests blessings for the union, the food, and those present.

After drafting a quick non-theistic version of my own, I redirected my googling towards “lesbian wedding meal blessings.”  I didn’t find any examples, but I did find a trove of new LGBTQ wedding rituals on RitualWell.org (a site after my own heart that I only recently came across).

A Simple Meal Blessing for a Non-denominational Wedding

Here is what I came up with.  I tried to tick all the boxes in terms of gratitude and blessings, in a non-denominational way, and also add humor to suit the person giving the toast.

I am honored to be here with you all, celebrating the marriage of — and —.

They have asked me to give a blessing over this meal, and since i know I’m the only thing stopping us all from eating, I’d like to keep it simple:

We are all thankful to the magic of the world that brought — and — together, we are thankful to be here celebrating you both, and we are thankful for this wonderful meal.

And just as this food we are about to enjoy will both delight and nourish us, may you each delight in, and nourish each other, for many years to come.

Cheers/Bon Appétit/Grace!*

Submitted Blessings

We welcome your thoughts on the above, or examples of your own!  Comment below, or submit via this google form.

I have received one already, and I’m getting explicit permission before posting it here.

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