The journey to and through my marriage has been such a beautiful revelation. It is a new beginning for me in more ways than literally getting married.
All my life I had resisted marriage and how it is presented by society: what it stood for, the nature of the ceremony including the wording, the nature of the celebration – just everything about it caused me to rebel against that idea of getting married. It was something I never wanted to do or commit to. And from here, I never saw myself getting married. The choice had been made. Now I realise how much of a reaction that choice was.
Yet, I was engaged twice. I had given up on my truth and overrode my feelings. I gave into the empathy of hurting someone and gave myself away for many reasons. It feels now like I had an ideal and/or belief that it was the right thing to do for a good person such as myself.
One of those many reasons – the initial ‘yes’ to the proposals, and being in the relationship – was more about my need for and craving of acceptance, attention and being loved. The fact that I had been proposed to was the ultimate form of acceptance and totally satisfied my need to fill the immense emptiness I was existing with. It made me feel so good and happy, and the depth of how much I was wanted became the measure of my value. But although there was happiness, there resided an anxiousness, I felt unsettled.
There was something tugging at me to listen to my truth, an inner voice of knowing was asking me to be honest with what I was truly feeling and I allowed myself to pay attention. I realised how I had fooled myself and what I was really in love with was an idea… This hurt! Pride then kicked in and I overrode my feelings, again with reasoning, and allowed myself to be held in the choice I made. I put off setting a date for years, with many excuses until I found within me the courage to be true to myself and leave the relationship. I then decided that it was time to change the way I was in relationships – I could not do this again; I was exhausted.
I deeply appreciate Universal Medicine for holding a space where I am able to heal and build on my connection to soul. I am deeply grateful to the Universal Medicine practitioners who allow me to feel truly and lovingly supported in continuing to expose, address and heal how and where I am holding back from being all that I Am in the world. From here my life has truly changed.
I was recently married on the 4th October 2013.
Through the light of my soul I stand here with all that I Am…
The words came so strong and clear to me. Not completely realising at the time the entirety of the meaning, but it felt very true to begin our wedding vows this way.
Through my journey so far, and with the contrast of the loving choices I have been living with, I could see how I had come to this beautiful moment of realising how amazing I was, how amazing my life was and how powerful I felt. This was an opportunity to claim who I truly am. I felt this way through my commitment to align to infinite love and to connect with my soul. This marriage was symbolic of the commitment to the way we were choosing to live for ourselves and with each other. It was a celebration of the completeness that we both felt within ourselves and that we were now living; a celebration of the joy of sharing this completeness with each other. I could also feel how I could share that joy with everyone. Our rings that we were exchanging were an outward reflection of this commitment. It was such a beautiful realisation and such an expansive feeling.
We consciously chose to make the wedding about the love and the joy we share, about the celebration of love, about how we are together is exactly the same way we can be with everyone, and nothing else. It is not about what a wedding should be, or should look like. I could feel the pressure around me and us. But we chose to pay attention to love and what felt true to us in every way of planning our wedding day, our celebration of our new beginning for ourselves and us together. We chose to stand strong in love.
And so it began.
It was amazing how every time we connected to love and the choice we made from love the ease and flow of organising and planning was there. When I didn’t, I could feel stress in my body and I knew then I had to come back to love and the choice we had made from love. I trusted. As soon as I did, it all flowed once again and all became clear. At times I felt so strongly that I was being guided. It was such a beautiful confirmation.
We had chosen to not have alcohol, dairy or gluten at our celebration. My husband is not gluten and dairy free but is open to it and completely supports the way I choose to live and I lovingly allow him to be on his journey. And so it had become ‘our’ choice. Yes, I did question our decision as we initially experienced some resistance from others. Were we imposing our choices onto another? After discussions together we came to the truth, and it was very clear that we were not. We were, in fact, inviting people to join us in ‘our’ day of celebration. They did have a choice, to join us or not, as we were clear as to how we would be celebrating. We felt amazing once we claimed this and were not concerned with the outcome. Yet everyone chose to be a part of it.
Through the light of my soul I stand here with all that I Am…
It was a magical day, as we stood in the morning sunlight on the beach. The foundation of love that we had created and had chosen was undeniable. It felt as if nature had aligned herself with us on this day as we honored the presence of God, nature and the choice we were making of love being our only way.
I felt I was marrying myself, my soul, my husband, everyone present and humanity all at the same time. This was the new beginning. I now realise that how I was with myself and my husband, the sweetness of love between us, was how I had now chosen to be with everyone I am in contact with. This is what I have chosen to commit to. It felt so amazing.
The celebration was a beautiful and powerful confirmation of the love we had chosen from the beginning. It felt as if we had given a gift to everyone; the experience of what The Livingness feels like, another way to be and what is possible when aligning with love. The ones who had resisted originally said that they didn’t miss having alcohol. Many others thanked us and expressed how they had never been to a wedding like this; they enjoyed the simplicity and that it was a beautiful way to celebrate: we could feel how they had been touched. Everyone truly enjoyed being with us and being able to connect with others, it did feel truly magical.
And still does.
This new beginning, this true marriage is now an amazing marker for me as I continue on my journey back to Soul.
Through the light of my soul I stand here with all that I Am…
So amazing to truly claim this now!
I thank you Serge Benhayon for the Light that you shine here on earth. You have truly inspired my return to Soul through my unfolding path of Love from which I will never waver far from again. For now I know, I too am here to shine.
by Carola Woods, Guest Relations Coordinator, Suffolk Park
We all want to be loved that is a universal fact but somehow we have managed to collectively produce the total opposite of this. And because for many of us we find it almost impossible to truly love and nurture ourselves we look outside of ourselves for the acceptance and recognition we crave; so we base our relationships on a craving to be truly met and be seen which I know from personal experience puts an enormous pressure on our partner/s to match up to our expectations.
Thank you Carola for being open and honest about how a relationship can blossom and flourish when we are prepared to treat our partners with decency and respect, so we can relinquish all our perceived view on marriage.
Are there still any ideas that we have fallen in love with that are still influencing our life? or are they like little bubbles that pop up now and again to sabotage what we know is true? They can be very alluring and persuasive and nudge us off course if we are not firmly the master of our own ship, breathing our own breath.
True commitment comes from our most divine connection, which is our essence and what is so simple about our essences is they are made of the love we are all looking for. And then to find the Truth about what marriage can bring to us builds amazing relationships that last for life times.
‘I felt I was marrying myself, my soul, my husband, everyone present and humanity all at the same time. This was the new beginning. I now realise that how I was with myself and my husband, the sweetness of love between us, was how I had now chosen to be with everyone I am in contact with. This is what I have chosen to commit to. It felt so amazing.’
I agree with you, Carola, we have in any relationship the opportunity to experience things with one other person to then apply that with everybody else. I love how you are multiplying the love.
‘We consciously chose to make the wedding about the love and the joy we share, about the celebration of love, about how we are together is exactly the same way we can be with everyone, and nothing else. It is not about what a wedding should be, or should look like.’
As soon as a wedding is about any picture you can feel the lack of love and the separation this creates. I love feeling like we all get married while being present at someone’s wedding and honoring the interconnectedness we are all part of.
When we make decisions out of loyalty we hurt ourselves and others. Our true decisions, made from our heart, and what and how we actually feel, are the only way worth living. Anything else, and anything less, is an exhausting lie that we can spend a lot of time and effort on trying to perpetuate until eventually we trust enough to let go and live as who we truly are.
I echo all that you share here Carola, ‘I thank you Serge Benhayon for the Light that you shine here on earth. You have truly inspired my return to Soul through my unfolding path of Love from which I will never waver far from again. For now I know, I too am here to shine.’
It’s so amazing how life changes when you make the choice to connect to, and live from your soul. All the lies we have lived up until then are exposed as they have nowhere to hide in the shining light of our true connection to who we are. And in this true connection we are offered all the magnificence that we naturally are and the support to live it, not just for us and those close to us, but for the world.
Carola it’s deeply touching feeling the depth of love your wedding and life has, living with soul is a blessing for everyone. These are great words to live by, not just for a wedding but for each day “It was amazing how every time we connected to love and the choice we made from love the ease and flow of organising and planning was there. When I didn’t, I could feel stress in my body and I knew then I had to come back to love and the choice we had made from love. I trusted.” Love and the surrender of trust, a great combination.
“It was amazing how every time we connected to love and the choice we made from love the ease and flow of organising and planning was there. When I didn’t, I could feel stress in my body and I knew then I had to come back to love and the choice we had made from love.”
Wow we can really apply the above formula to anything – shopping, buying a new house, the conversations we choose to engage in… when we connect to love everything flows because there is an all knowing power that is helping and supporting us.
Love in itself is the only ingredient needed in a celebration of love. The rest, is just a confirmation of it, and your wedding emanates that. Thanks for sharing it Carola.
‘Through the light of my soul I stand here with all that I Am…’ Thank you for these beautiful words Carola that are an amazing confirmation for all of us of what we offer humanity every day.
I agree Helen, I love those words also, so beautiful to live by.
Yes, beautiful and powerful words, ‘‘Through the light of my soul I stand here with all that I Am…’ reminding us to live this at all times.
It was so lovely returning to your beautiful blog today. There was so much speaking clearly to me and I was brought to tears as I could feel the gift that you are offering not only me, but the world within your words. The words that sang so loudly today were: “There was “something tugging at me to listen to my truth, an inner voice of knowing was asking me to be honest with what I was truly feeling”. And I know now that this is what was lacking in my life for so long, choosing listening to that inner voice of honesty for when we do, life changes.
The quality that you bring to all of your relationships Carola is deeply inspiring.
We offer such a powerful and strong reflection when we stay true to what we know and make choices based on that knowing, be it for a wedding or any other event or project. We have endless opportunities each day to practice, to learn and feel the difference between making a true choice that we feel within, or making one based on expectations or pictures.
” For now I know, I too am here to shine. ”
And shine you do thank you.
“I felt I was marrying myself, my soul, my husband, everyone present and humanity all at the same time.” – What an inspiring way to look at marriage Carola. Anyone who has ever heard you sing knows that you most certainly have married your soul and humanity. I know for myself that your singing helps me feel my own love and divinity in such a profound way.
What I love about your relationship is that you don’t use it as a way to be exclusive. You share your love equally with all others, there is an openess, transparency and depth of love that you meet and hold all others with. It really is an example of how a partnership can be formed to bring more to others.
Life itself is a lie, and so is marriage. But we should never forget as you show Carola that we are here to bring to it fire, to reimprint the illusion with truth and to step forward knowing who we all are. This isn’t something we need to be educated in just a choice we learn to make again and again. So as you show, this is how we marry the divine.
A wedding day is a Reflection of the way we live, our relationships and our commitment to love. It’s easy to feel that your wedding day was a true reflection of the incredible life you lead. I love the way you stayed true to your own expression without compromise.
“Through the light of my soul I stand here with all that I Am…” This statement is powerful. I am struck by the fact that this vow is not about ‘another person’. It is about you and everything you have chosen for all. It is clear that you, your marriage and your relationship are true gifts to humanity.
That sentence – “Through the light of the soul I stand here with all that I am” is a stop moment for me. A reminder of who I am, and why I am here on earth.
” For now I know, I too am here to shine. ” That’s for sure and with you singing and writing you are doing that, shining like a star.
I had an esoteric or Godly wedding that was one of the most amazing days of my life. Reading this blog and viewing the image captured the love that was shared that day. The wedding was not just about Kylie and I, it was for all in attendance, and all who were not there – humanity. We committed our love to the love for all and to the end of days — the love and stillness I felt was palpable. We made it not just about us but for All.
Its true Doug… we had an extended Family Christmas once with no alcohol and it was one of the most enjoyable ones that everyone has had.
I love what you shared at the beginning of how you allowed the need for being wanted to outweigh what you felt. I can relate to this and it is great to be open about this so that we can look at it and explore it.
Such a beautiful foundation of what true marriage is you have laid. This is a true blessing for us all.
The spherical nature of our prime symbol of marriage, the wedding ring, fits beautifully the understanding shared here that marriage is a holistic, spherical expansion of love not confined to one other but designed to extend to all humanity.
When we marry in love and from love and with love for all, for ourselves and for another, there is no need for any lavishness nor for alcohol or any of the other fillers that society usually prescribes at such occasions.
A wedding is a beautiful confirmation of a couples continuing commitment to constantly grow and deepen your relationship with each other.
A true marriage is not just a celebration of those taking the vows but an opportunity to celebrate those around us, for we all share the same love of God with one another.
‘Through the light of my soul I stand here with all that I Am…’ What a beautiful reflection you are Carola for everyone you meet, letting them feel we are all equal Sons of God.
Carola, this feels amazing and very powerful; ‘I now realise that how I was with myself and my husband, the sweetness of love between us, was how I had now chosen to be with everyone I am in contact with. This is what I have chosen to commit to’, this feels like a true marriage, that it is not just about about you and your husband but about everyone.
I love how you didn’t compromise on the plans for your wedding day and held true so that all that chose could align with the love that you are.
I absolutely love this, when you marry because of true love you marry so so much more than a person, you marry the whole world and the whole universe.
What a beautiful way to be and approach marriage/weddings. I couldn’t imagine a better way to go about it.
This is such wonderful blog of a true marriage – thank you for sharing what felt true to you
Thank you for sharing this glorious celebration of your love for yourself, your husband and humanity. We are all blessed by it.
‘I felt I was marrying myself, my soul, my husband, everyone present and humanity all at the same time.’
This sentence alone re-vitalises the idea of marriage for me. This is how it should be – a celebration of the love lived with yourself, with another and with every other person.
A gorgeous blog to read this morning and those powerful words still remain with me: Through the light of my soul I stand here with all that I Am… they feel so claimed!
Wow! Now, that’s another way to do life and weddings! I love the opportunity you gave your guests to just be able to enjoy the coming together of people without the need for an evacuation plan via alcohol or even the dulling down of certain foods. They’ll always remember that wedding as one that felt different.
‘Through the light of my soul I stand here with all that I Am…amazingly powerful words, thank you Carola for sharing this exquisite blog, your deep commitment to live life from love with you and your husband is so inspiring and brings tears to my eyes.
” This marriage was symbolic of the commitment to the way we were choosing to live for ourselves and with each other.” A beautiful commitment to be and share all that you are.
I can understand what you are sharing- previously I would not have got this but I do now. That in loving ourselves we are able to then let love in and out.
Thank you for sharing your wedding experience. Feeling that you were marrying yourself and everyone is a beautiful confirmation that life is about love equally for everyone. Most of us are taught that marriage is all about finding and committing to that special person, but this blog shows that it is really about committing to love and people – all 7 billion of us!
Absolutely and I love the inclusivity of what Carola is sharing which is an awesome template for us all.
“Through the light of my soul I stand here with all that I am”
Carola, I was so touched by how you celebrated you marriage day, tears of joy ran down my cheeks.
Your surrender to love and joy was the foundation you based your marriage celebrations and vows on- so inspiring!
When I first married in my twenties, many expectations and ‘norms’ were broken. I also wondered at the time, how many of the guests would respond to this. I wasn’t ‘given away’ for example, as the bride…
And yet, what actually occurred was that every person I’d sensed as most staunch in their traditional values, religious beliefs, etc, went out of their way on the day to say that it was the most sincere and touching wedding they’d ever been to – every single one… My first husband and I married in a way that we felt to be true, and in that let everyone in to being an equal part of the day. It was deeply beautiful and touching to receive such feedback.
When I married again a few years back (now in my forties), my husband and I similarly chose the way we felt to go ahead with both our ceremony and our celebration. Again, this was clear without a doubt. We received perhaps a little more ‘resistance’ than I’d experienced all those years ago, but the Joy was undeniable, as were the confirmations that symbolically came our way – absolute magic.
On each occasion, and in the lead up and what has followed, there have been ideals to reassess, traditions and expectations to consider, and every step of this has been – and is – absolutely worthwhile. For we live in a society where relationships are still not largely lived in truth – compromise reigns, needs and demands are placed upon one another, and so the game goes on. To restore relationships to their true purpose for us – i.e. that we may evolve and return to the greatness that we truly are, is the greatest learning ground there is.
I love how you’ve shared your own journey with this here Carola – the ‘now’, the past, the evolution, the growth, and the unshakeable knowing that when so honoured, can only become all the stronger in all aspects of one’s life. Brilliant to the max.
And shine you do in every word here Carola Woods. Yes indeed, a marriage can be about all, from a place of absolute knowing, confirmation and Joy within.
There is simply no need for us to succumb to cultural norms or playing roles in our relationships – and I love how you share here, just how clear the way forward can be, when we honour what we know without a doubt, to be true in full.
‘Through the light of my soul I stand here with all that I Am…’ My eyes were going back to this phrase every time, it’s simply expressing the power of love.
My marriage day itself was ok but not quite so awesome but what is truly awesome is my marriage. We got married in 1993 and I feel as if we get married again every day as it is a constant choice for me to share my life with this beautiful man. Our relationship is ever expanding and our love is ever deepening both with ourselves, each other and everyone. I am truly blessed.
“It was amazing how every time we connected to love and the choice we made from love the ease and flow of organising and planning was there.” I love this Carola – support, often unseen, is there when we are love and have purpose.
Beautiful sharing Carola, making the commitment to love and to share that, ‘We consciously chose to make the wedding about the love and the joy we share, about the celebration of love, about how we are together is exactly the same way we can be with everyone, and nothing else.’
So much wisdom shared here Carola! I especially liked “It was amazing how every time we connected to love and the choice we made from love the ease and flow of organising and planning was there. When I didn’t, I could feel stress in my body and I knew then I had to come back to love and the choice we had made from love. I trusted. As soon as I did, it all flowed once again and all became clear.” This is so very supportive as it’s something I can relate to every facet of life – when I feel the stress and lack of flow, come back to love.
Hi Carola, I so enjoyed re-reading your blog, very inspiring. I love how you made your wedding celebration an opportunity for every-one concerned to evolve, as well as having a day filled with love and celebration.
What you share with us Carola is to me a true marriage, a celebration of the love you choose to live with your husband and in that to share this with the world. No holding back or making it any special, just allow your hearts to guide you. Love is the way to go and needs to be celebrated as much as we can, as such a celebrations of love will remind us that we are love and from there we can build that inner connection with the love we are all from.
I see that tomorrow will be your anniversary Carola. Living the way you do I am sure it will be yet another day of ongoing celebration which encompasses all. I can feel how held in love everyone was on your wedding day and still continue to be because of the grace and love you are.
This is truly an inspiration Carola! Thank you for sharing your journey with us all and the beauty of Love that you have found in the richness of your relationship. We are all in relationship with each other as you share, and The Way of The Livingness testifies to this, thanks to Serge Benhayon for these amazing teachings of who we truly are.
Carola I am deeply touched and hugely expanded from reading this heart-felt blog. I love how you share that you were marrying yourself, your soul, your husband and everyone all at the same time – love knows no boundaries.
Thank you for sharing this Carola sweetest of gorgeousness Woman – i certainly know the love you both share and it has inspired me greatly to claim mine and with my partner. You hold so strong so consistent in this love and this is what is so inspiring.
This is what marriage can be without compromise, bringing all that you are and not hiding any part of you. It is a beautiful thing to inspire, to not dull down the celebration and to offer to bring your friends and family along your journey.
I said yes to a proposal recently. I know that people usually say “I became/got engaged” and I feel this is really telling. It’s as though engagement is something that happens to us rather than a choice we make with all of us, it is no wonder we can end up having so many issues with what comes up. Thank you Carola, your blog is a huge support to me at this time, a beautiful confirmation of the choice I have made and all that is to come.
“Through the light of my soul I stand here with all that I Am…” Beautiful words of a commitment to love.
I love that you went against the norm and celebrated in the way that felt true for you… and it was nothing less than a gorgeous and powerful confirmation of the depth of love you have embraced since the beginning, touching everyone who shared it with you.
Thank you for sharing this with us. It feels as if this type of Wedding is the Weddings of the future, when the focus is love, not venus or drinks or money but connection, a union of two souls together, of family, of the universe, of god.
Trusting in the unfolding of a relationship is a step by step process for me but as I learn to love myself more deeply and let go of the need to control by dealing with the hurts that arise, I am learning to trust once again. It is incredibly beautiful to be confirmed when I have let go, surrendered and trusted.
Sometimes I feel tension in my body and then can easily slip into doubting thoughts which very often are not true. The behaviour is broken when I am honest as to where I am at and make a choice to come back to me, to love. Making everything about love is the way.
Carola – it is my one year wedding anniversary today and I really appreciated reading this gorgeous blog and feeling how much relationships mean to you.
I too felt that when I married my husband, it was not just him and I – that our relationship had true purpose that we could reflect and inspire to so many others. Now a year on, I see that purpose coming to life – in the way we work together in our business, and his ability to reflect absolute truth, and my ability to share with him the importance of expressing n full.
It’s interesting to reflect on the choices that we make or don’t make through reaction. I also never wanted to marry, because of what I thought marriage was and what I did not want in a relationship. It completely freaked me out years ago. I really felt that if I got married I was going to be trapped somehow. But really that is something that we create through our choices, not whether we decide to marry. I still have never married, even though I have been in a long-term relationship but I am definitely more open to this and definitely no where near as reactive as I once was. Marriage to me now is about commitment; commitment to the evolution of yourself and another and the relationship that you build and develop together. That’s big change from feeling trapped.
Wow this is so beautiful to read Carola, the reflection you and your husband offer others is powerful indeed, when 2 people choose to deeply connect and choose true love everyone around gets a blessing.
Hello Carola and I have given marriage a couple of goes. What is and has been most important is the way I do things, the quality I am living in. So in organising our marriage we dedicated to stay together no matter what was happening around us. So a hiccup with the food, no problem and let’s make sure there is no tension between us before we discuss it. I can hear what is said, there’s no time, it’s not important etc. But we found the more we just stayed connected together and released anything that we felt between us then no matter what we were faced with we faced it with a united front. It’s not us against the world or anything like that but it’s about supporting ourselves and each other to not get ‘caught’ by a situation. The wedding was a great day but funnily enough we already knew it would be.
Congratulations on throwing away the rule book and sticking with what felt true to you as a form of celebration. People feel the authenticity and that can be inspiring on many levels.
“Through the light of my soul I stand here with all that I Am”…
These words are absolutely divine and heartfelt Carola, thank you. My eyes well as I feel the depth of love that you have expressed in this blog.
And it is true that we can now celebrate in very different ways… Without hammering our bodies with drugs or alcohol, and then we are really celebrating!
The potential of the union between two people choosing this to be their way in all the small choices and particularly the ones that bring a new way of living to others is immeasurable. Through the experience of your choice to marry, you have gifted many with this expansiveness. This is the reflection of what is possible when we choose honesty in love first – Thanks Carola.
A wedding can be a huge confirmation and celebration of the commitment to each other when it is made about love.
Dear Carola,
Your sharing here has touched something very deep in me this morning. I have been married once before and although I take nothing away from that time in my life, I know now that ours was not a true marriage in the way I feel it can be. What you have shared here feels very true, a commitment to love in full, to all. I am so inspired by you, thank you.
I also love what Carola shared about her and her husband honouring what felt right for them on the day, and then allowing the guests to choose whether or not they would attend. This to me feels like a true honouring of all.
I relate to what you write here Carola. As a young woman I didn’t feel particularly inspired by marriage given all I observed around me but eventually married in my early 30s. The marriage didn’t work and we divorced four years later. Another four years on I found my way to Universal Medicine and it was here I began to see and understand that my deep yearning for true marriage, never quite extinguished, was indeed something that could be made real. I have now been married for five and half years and I love every moment of it and my husband deeply. A deep appreciation too for Serge Benhayon for re-inspiring in us a commitment to life, self and others that we had all lost sight of.
I can feel the incredible appreciation you feel for your amazing life and how powerful you really are. This is too how I feel and what I want to celebrate and share with everyone, in simplicity and the generosity of our hearts.
As I begin to prepare for my wedding Carola, I re-visited your article for the beautiful, sweet inspiration that it is: make it all about LOVE. That’s what matters. And everything will constellate from that seed.
Carola, this blog is so beautifull, what you have written, shared and felt including the journey and relationship with your husband. I could feel it was like you were marrying everyone, all of humanity, very much claiming it with no holding back. What a blessing, as well as your awareness of the bigger picture. It was also great what you shared about making it a gluten, dairy and alcohol free celebration .. this felt like a huge blessing for your guests because they got to get themselves out of the way and their ‘wants’ and instead celebrate your true love with you ✨
Yes I cried quite deeply reading this as I was deeply touched by the love and the commitment in which Carola and her husband chose their wedding to be. I also realised that for many what Carola writes here “being in the relationship – was more about my need for and craving of acceptance, attention and being loved” is how many of us are either living or wanting to be in. It was a real moment for me when I realised I still harbour some of that as well. Time to clean out the decks I say and realise that we can all bring ourselves the love and acceptance that we so truly crave and from there we can meet / be in our relationships fully.
Thank you Carola for such a beautiful peek into your special Day of days.
Or is it one special day in a series of equally special days? The opportunity to fully connect in love with others is there in every moment.
Such a beautiful and joyful sharing Carola, thank you
“Through the light of my soul I stand here with all that I Am”…
I just love what you have expressed here; such a divine blessing for you, your husband and humanity.
Carole I love these words “Through the light of my soul I stand here with all that I Am…”, this is so powerful and confirming. My marriage has deepened so much as I have began to appreciate myself and my husband. It really is about building a true foundation and that’s what I have been working on, which never stops. Today I can stand strong and say we have a solid foundation that supports our marriage.
Carola, I’m not surprised that your guests all thoroughly enjoyed celebrating your wedding day with you – it sounded like a beautiful time for everyone involved. Something that stood out for me was your comments regarding pulling yourself up when you were getting caught up in the stress or trying to control details etc and then found that simplicity started to flow again. This is a valuable lesson that I am finding in life also and am constantly blown away by the way everything constellates when I get myself out of the way and just allow things to unfold in their own natural way. It confirms to me that everything is part of a grand plan and we don’t need to interfere – we just need to allow it to happen.
This is so true Helen, when we move out of our own way and allow, everything does constellate as we are a part of and in rhythm with, something absolutely stupendous.And Carola, a very beautiful sharing, thank-you.
This is a beautiful sharing of the way in which marriage can reflect the real nature of the love between us in a partnership as it is between all of us and be shared with others in a gorgeous celebration.
Carola I loved your words “Through the light of my soul I stand here with all that I Am…” This is very touching and has great depth of meaning, very beautiful to read your journey, thank you.
Carola, thank you for such a beautiful sharing, basing a relationship on love is a great foundation, and as we continue to deepen that relationship with the love that we are, it allows us to continue to unfold more of ourselves the deeper we go.
commitment in any shape or form is wonderful, and commitment to ourselves, truly starting to honour ourselves, is a wonderful foundation to start to build the possibility of committing to a relationship.
Carola,
I am preparing to be married on Saturday and I really connected with your blog as I read it again. Like you we have a mix of people coming, but we have together made the choice to be alcohol, wheat, sugar and dairy free but love in abundance.
And it is just beautiful to see everyone simply accept that and to also have a choice to be there or not.
To us the day is about family and celebration – a confirmation of how we are with everyone and how the day can never be about just 2 people because it is about humanity, reflection and responsibility.
Exactly Toni, well said. I am always amazed how much effort and expense goes into one day when as far as relationships go the actual wedding day is just the tip of the iceberg. I totally agree, Carola and her husbands template for Marriage is truly inspiring for us all.
This bought to me an old memory of being proposed to and the panic and stress out I went into straight away, It was really beautiful to read how we amazing your experience was, turns all weddings on their head
It does feel sacred Susan and I had not appreciated these words nearly enough until you said it. Beautifully shared thank you.
It certainly does Monica! It’s totally amazing how one sentence can be so powerfully expansive and limitless. What a divine beginning to any marriage and a blessing for all!
Many weddings today appear to get very caught up with glitz and glamour of the day and forget that it is really just one day of the many more that you will spend growing together learning about yourselves, each other and the world around you. I love the simplicity and honesty that made the foundations of yours and you husbands wedding day a reality Carola and cannot help but feel that it also laid the foundations for a marriage based on a love that is equally as simple and honest.
I really loved reading this, as it is all about love and confining that the way of the livingness is the true way. Celebrating our love trough a true wedding is truly magical.
That is so true Toni. As I see in the movies and well it probably is like that in ‘real life’ too, it is all about the dress, the colours, the flowers, the table setting, the location etc. Even though these things are important they do not make the wedding, what makes the wedding is true love.
Thank you Carola, for sharing your beautiful wedding day with us. I love these words “Throughe light of my soul I stand here with all that I Am…
I delighted in reading your account of your wedding day Carola and the gorgeous words from your soul to begin your vows. These words of yours also stood out for me: “an inner voice of knowing was asking me to be honest with what I was truly feeling and I allowed myself to pay attention.” Paying attention leads to a joy we may have never known – it’s different but listening to the body instead of the mind is bringing many wow moments for me as I explore this awareness again.
Although I have not married in this life, I can understand what you mean by ‘marrying myself, my soul, my husband, everyone present and humanity all at the same time.’ Marriage is an agreement not only between two people, but with oneself, partner, the world and God, to deepen one’s love so that it can be shared with all. It is group work at it’s most intense and perhaps that is why I have avoided it. Group work scares the bejeesus out of me.
Thank you Carola for sharing your magical day and the commitment you share with your partner and humanity. There is often so much hype around weddings, it amazes me how much we can fluff things up and make them look like love when really there is nothing there. What you and your partner have done is taken it back to the simplicity of what is true. This is really beautiful and inspiring as in our current society the main ingredient at a wedding “LOVE” tends to get missed.
Thanks for sharing your beautiful, joy full day with us.
Your wedding day sounds like it was an awesome day, full of love and joy
Carola, I can feel the truth of what you have written: “I felt I was marrying myself, my soul, my husband, everyone present and humanity all at the same time. This was the new beginning. I now realise that how I was with myself and my husband, the sweetness of love between us, was how I had now chosen to be with everyone I am in contact with. This is what I have chosen to commit to. It felt so amazing” proof that love cannot and should not be contained to one person as are are all connected on a soul level the souls expression (love) is for everyone.
I love to read your blog, Carola, especially the lines: “I felt I was marrying myself, my soul, my husband, everyone present and humanity all at the same time. This was the new beginning. I now realise that how I was with myself and my husband, the sweetness of love between us, was how I had now chosen to be with everyone I am in contact with. This is what I have chosen to commit to. It felt so amazing.” And realize, the beauty and deep purpose of opening up to the love I am, to share it equally with everyone. And that a marriage and relationship with my partner can be representative for this way to be with everyone. I really like that and your writing is a confirmation to the livingness of it, thank you.
Carola, this is so gorgeous to read and the description of your wedding and the decisions in the lead up to it felt beautiful and honouring as did the response from the guests and how they enjoyed the simplicity and magic of the day. It’s evidence that people can truly enjoy themselves and embrace one another without the dulling effects of alcohol perhaps allowing them to feel the love in full that was/is present.
I love this Carola, your realisation that you have committed to including all of humanity in the sweetness of love you share with your husband is so beautiful. Thank you for sharing your story.
” I felt I was marrying myself, my soul, my husband, everyone present and humanity all at the same time. This was the new beginning. I now realise that how I was with myself and my husband, the sweetness of love between us, was how I had now chosen to be with everyone I am in contact with. This is what I have chosen to commit to. It felt so amazing.” Inspirational and a reminder to me to feel and express from that sweet place in me too.
Serge Benhayon inspires us all to return to the love that we are , being all that we are and then what is left but to serve humanity.
Carola I love re-reading this. I can really feel, ‘It felt as if we had given a gift to everyone; the experience of what The Livingness feels like, another way to be and what is possible when aligning with love.’ I feel that this is how everyone can live their everyday lives, bringing the gift of the Livingness when lived to everyone during our day. Though I may not live this consistently I do feel what a real possibility this is for myself and so many others. It is possible when I choose to align.
It was amazing what you said about planning your wedding Carola, that when you choose to align to love that every thing flowed with ease; a confirmation of your love together.
My life I never wanted to get married, and didn’t like what I saw about the institutional part of marriage, it wasn’t until a few years ago that I realised that I had been in reaction, and marriage is something I would dearly like in my life, thank you Carola for sharing your story.
‘This marriage was symbolic of the commitment to the way we were choosing to live for ourselves and with each other. It was a celebration of the completeness that we both felt within ourselves and that we were now living; a celebration of the joy of sharing this completeness with each other.’
Absolutely beautiful Carola. I DO.
You make it very clear Carola, when we align with our true nature, LOVE, life simply has a way of flowing. It can seem as you say like “nature had aligned herself with us” but what if it is us who has this power to choose? This is the power that flows in everything you write here, the power of the truth.
i love the beauty and simplicity felt when everything flows. I have learnt that it is simple for life to be lived this way too. As soon as I feel any tension or a pushing for a desired outcome, then I know there is something to look at and often to surrender myself too. This is nature at its finest.
This was so gorgeous to read. Thank you for sharing how it’s possible to celebrate love in this way and how divine that is.
A lovely sharing of your amazing special Day, you and your Husband shared together. A celebration for all who attended I’m sure, and no headaches after surely was a gift to your guests as well. Your honouring of the wishes of you both, and the commitment to Love you share is beautiful. Thank you Carola.
Carola, this is absolutely beautiful. I love your first line of your vows. Weddings so often have lost the true sense of what it is all about. A wedding is not about the food or the drinks or anything else other than about coming together in love, and I love how you shared that you felt like you married yourself, your soul, all the others that were there as well as humanity on this day also. SO BEAUTIFUL.
This is beautiful Carola , stunning and a real inspiration. It is reimprinting the marriage vows and meaning of true relationships with ones self ,onesones partner and everyone. Thank you for this great joyful love filled sharing. I love the vows “Through the light of my Soul I stand here with all that I Am” this is a real foundation for all life and relationships.
Incredibly beautiful blog Carola, thank you for sharing. Your wedding feels amazing and inspiring. Wonderful that you went ahead and had a alcohol, dairy and glutenfree wedding. And these words I am going to take with me: ‘For now I know, I too am here to shine.’ Reading your story my heart opened up like never before.
I am getting married today.
This blog is such a beautiful way to start my day, being so inspired by how a marriage can be done in total appreciation of everyone present.
I have heard plenty of stories about not thinking about anyone else or the bride being nervous and feeling a lot of pressure on the day, but the way you share it here is gorgeous, Standing there with the light of your soul in all that you are. What a gorgeous expression of the love within and between you
How beautiful that you express the love that you hold so beautifully in you. It is felt in the words as you write and the tenderness that you speak of your day with all equally held in that.
How lovely for others to feel and experience what love can be like in its simplicity.
“I felt as if we had given a gift to everyone; the experience of what The Livingness feels like, another way to be and what’s possible when aligning with love. ”
What a beautiful inspiration you are for all to see and follow- making everything about love.
Yes I agree Loretta. Carola’s marriage to her husband is a gift for all the world.
“……….and the depth of how much I was wanted became the measure of my value.”
I love the honesty of the line Carola, its extraordinary when we reflect on the expectations we lay at another’s door to fulfil our self imposed emptiness.
How much do you love me?
Prove it to me.
Show me.
Convince me.
Declare it to me.
Carola your blog inspires! The way you chose love as your foundation throughout the decision-making process for your wedding is very beautiful.
Thank you, Carola, for sharing such a lovely claiming of you, your Soul, your Love and your life … it’s inspiring to see people standing up and saying clearly how it is, with there being no self-aggrandisement or rah-rah, very beautiful to read truth.
Carol – from what you have shared I can really see how you let love be first and foremost in every part of your wedding. As someone who is about to get married, I just loved reading this, and how for me too it feels like marriage is simply a confirmation of what is already there rather than a big fairytale, a heightened moment where everything is perfect for a day. Whilst I did think of it this way before, though the support of my partner, and Natalie Benhayon, I can now see our wedding in a totally different light, and offering so much more love than ever before.
”My husband is not gluten and dairy free but is open to it and completely supports the way I choose to live and I lovingly allow him to be on his journey”. This is very beautiful. My husband too does not eat gluten and dairy free food and in the past I have struggled with this especially as we are raising children. I can see now, how this way of being had not been loving for any of us. I am learning every day to stay connected to me and allow him to make his own choices.
This blog is so inspiring in more ways than one. I love that Carola chose to be true to herself in leaving a relationship and then decided to take responsibility in changing the way she was in relationships by building a connection with soul. Awesome.
Carola, your blog shows a solidness and commitment to yourself and to living a life of love and truth. It is awesome to be reminded how love knows no bounds. It is not restricted to marriage or a particular type of relationship. The quality of how we are with a partner, husband or wife can come from the same foundation of love when we are with a friend, colleague, client or stranger.
I second that Annie – that is my experience also. Sometimes I have asked myself how much love can I be with another before it’s too much… I guess there is no such thing as too much if it’s true love, which for me also equates as being still with another.
Carola, it is a joy to come back to your blog and feel your journey and how you have claimed yourself and your love to your husband and anybody else.
Wow Carola, reading how about your marriage it comes across so strongly that this is absolutely for everyone. I felt I was married too in just reading these words from you. Its evident that as you say, this isn’t a love that is past, but one that still lives on strong in all you do and say today.
For years I avoided marriage because of what it represented to me. It represented burden, settling down, compromise, and giving up. I saw it as a noose around my neck. And funnily enough, when I finally did get married, these were all the thoughts they came flooding in. Thank God for my wife, who was understanding enough to assist me to work through the many ideals I had around marriage. In the end I was able to see that whilst marriage is full of ideals that many couples end up subscribing to at the expense of themselves, it is possible to get married and have it represent true love between two people, not just on the day, but for the duration of the relationship. It is after all, just one day, and it is a pity that as a society we put so much focus on that one moment, but not the same passion into our relationships the rest of the time.
Wow Carola, an amazing marker as you have stated here, of how to live. In the words, “I felt I was marrying myself, my soul, my husband, everyone present and humanity all at the same time.” , you can feel the genuineness of your expression and the power of your choice on your marriage day, to make it your day. What a huge confirmation it was moving forward with your life. This reflects to everyone what marriage can truly represent.
” I realised how I had fooled myself and what I was really in love with was an idea… This hurt! Pride then kicked in and I overrode my feelings, again with reasoning, and allowed myself to be held in the choice I made.” I have been there too Carola being in love with an ideal but not fully committing to the relationship and then wondering why it was not working.
Truly celebrating commitment is a wonderful thing, because commitment is the forge within which we can start to feel the true light that we are
Your commitment feels absolutely beautiful Carola, purposefully chosen for love. Thank you for sharing that with us all.
Such a beautiful sharing with us all Carola – so many lines I could quote but one I sat with for a while was “It felt as if nature had aligned herself with us on this day as we honoured the presence of God, nature and the choice we were making of love being our only way”. Gorgeous. Thank you.
Beautiful Carola. “Through the light of my soul I stand here with all that I Am…” A beautiful commitment to yourself each and every moment of each and every day.
That would be a great wedding to attend. Weddings should be about celebrating life, togetherness and our path of return to our soul. Today some Weddings are an excuse for some people to drink, which is not a true reflection of why wedding started in the first place.
Marrying the commitment to a way of living; marrying a new beginning in the path towards Soul. Beautiful!
This is a completely different account to how marriages are conducted today. Normally it’s about those two people and the day is about sealing them into some sort of bubble where only they will inhabit. But what you’ve shared here I get more of a sense of two people coming together to learn from each other on a one-to-one platform so to speak on how to be love with the other person. Because there is love with another there can be love with all others. This doesn’t paint the picture for me of being tied down to someone for the rest of my life but actually supports each other to be with the rest of the world which is pretty cool 🙂
A very beautiful piece of writing and so many heart felt words that make so much sense to me , thank you Carola for sharing this amazing love and wedding .
“I felt I was marrying myself, my soul, my husband, everyone present and humanity all at the same time.”. Now this is what I feel a true marriage is all about – a loving union with all – and that feels absolutely amazing.
Wow what a commitment to love and marriage is held in the words you began your marriage vows with ‘Through the light of my soul I stand here with all that I Am…’
Carola, I can feel such a strong connection in love between you ,your partner and all those around you. True brotherhood- so gorgeous.
Carola, this blog (and you) are so beautiful! I too especially loved the line “Through the light of my soul I stand here with all that I Am”.
It gave me goosebumps and I feel super inspired to bring All that I am to my relationship/s.
Carola, this is an absolutely gorgeous, honest and powerful sharing. It is deeply inspiring to read how a true marriage can be – an opportunity to celebrate the love both you and your husband hold for your selves, and each other and to share this love with everyone.
“It was a celebration of the completeness that we both felt within ourselves and that we were now living; a celebration of the joy of sharing this completeness with each other.” To observe the wholeness of two beings side by side, free from needs or guards is a true gift for humanity.
When reading this blog I felt I was on the journey as well. Well written
There is so much power in the the words you wrote, it felt like you rewrote the wedding vows for the whole of humanity and in your wedding day. Stand you do, shine your light you do, lucky man, lucky us!
WOW Carola, this is completely beautiful, you stamp out the ideals and in their place capture so well the divinity of marriage – the union of love, for greater love.
With those vows what more can be said about the truth behind any marriage or union: “Through the light of my soul I stand here with all that I Am…” Stunning.
Yes Zofia, absolutely stunning!
I resisted getting married for many years, reactive as I was to the pressure society puts on us to get married, and what married means. Then there is the pressure of the wedding and the celebration, who to invite and not to invite, the cost, meeting everyone’s expectations etc. At the end of the day, all of this was stopping me from seeing the simplicity of what could be. Once I accepted that the commitment to get married was a commitment between my wife and I, the rest was clear. We got married in 10 minutes one day under a tree with two witnesses and a grasshopper. No complications, and a month later we held a gathering at our house where everyone brought a plate of food. It was – again – simple, understated, and just as we wanted it. Yes, people found it odd that we did not have speeches, that we were not dressed to the nines, that we did not invite family and relatives and friends to the ceremony etc.. This is not to say that such things are wrong – I have been to many wonderful weddings since where such traditions are still honoured – but so often when looking to get married we get consumed by this unsaid expectations and pressures on how we think things are meant to be, and in the confusion we forget about the fact that more important than the wedding, is the expression of our daily love for our partner and indeed the greater world.
Adam, what you have shared here is beautiful as it shows that you married in honour of the love you were rather than in the energy of tradition and expectation that society imposes. We all express differently and when we are held in this expression it is perfect for everyone.
Love it Adam, ‘We got married in 10 minutes one day under a tree with two witnesses and a grasshopper’. It most certainly is all about the expression of our daily love, to be able to ‘through the light of my Soul stand here with all that I Am’ with all whom I’m with, wherever I may be, is a marriage made in Heaven, any day every day.
In reading the very beginning of this blog, I realised how much I’ve oscillated between complete reaction to the idealisms of marriage and being sold on the romanticism of it. I’ve always been open to marriage and having a family and to read such confirming words of how one can marry in truth and love in wonderfully inspiring – for this must be the only way we choose to marry for amazing relationships to evolve. Awesome.
Beautifully expressed Carola and I am so happy for you to have claimed the love for yourself, your husband and everyone. With the awareness now that it is not just about me it is about the whole of humanity I can feel how powerful this is and how right it feels.
It is truly beautiful Carola Woods how you have claimed your way to celebrate your marriage and how you share this celebration with the world, for everybody to enjoy the love we all naturally are and that is worth celebrating every moment of the day. It is such a grace to share our love on an everyday basis with the one that you have chosen to be you partner in marriage and to have love as the basis for it and nothing else. Life is about living the love we are as humans in our day-to-day life.
This is a great way of looking at marriage, as marriage to one-self – ones loving nature and of course, to that nature in all. It is a testament to be married in this way, to true love, which is the emanation of God out to all equally.
Totally inspired me to get married if one day it feels like the right thing to do. If marriage had been presented to me like this when I was younger, I would not have lived with the same reaction you had and make the choice to never get married ever! I’ve grown out of that reaction over the last few years, but it was pretty strong! Thanks for presenting another way Carola!
Just a beautiful piece of writing Carola. You can get a real sense of your wedding day from how you have written this. I love what you are saying and again I can feel that your marriage was so much more than just a marriage to one. Your marriage wasn’t the pinnacle or a point but more a confirmation or a moment of something much grander. Thank you for sharing ‘your’ day with us which feels more like it is ‘our’ day. For all of us that are unmarried, married, divorced etc this is a truly inspiring story.
To surrender to Love is the most beautiful feeling in this world, but what I find so encouraging is that you have CONTINUED to commit to the Love that you feel is true. This I am very, very inspired by. Thank you Carola.
The essence of true relationships is at the core of what Universal Medicine presents, be that with yourself, with your partner, Children, with others, or with God, and I have found that it is now possible, thanks to Universal Medicine to build a strong and deepening relationship with all of humanity.
Bringing all of oneself and one’s love to a marriage feels amazing rather than wanting the other person to fulfil that expectation. Thank you Carola for your exquisite blog.
Carola, a truly beautiful wedding and a gift not only to yourselves but your guests. Thank you for sharing this. Weddings can be frought with commercialism and the loss of the true meaning of a wedding. Perhaps you could set up a stall at the next Wedding Expo.
Carola has given us all such a gift in this piece by sharing the depth of the love she has for herself, her husband and humanity – it is deeply touching. This feels like a true marriage without any needs, expectations or anything other than love….and of course the joy.
Re-reading your blog this morning Carola was great as I can totally relate to it as have found the same planning and talking with my fiancée about our upcoming wedding and planning it. If we are doing it for any reason other than love, for it to be anything then it doesn’t go well and we have a disagreement. Yet whenever we let go completely of it needing to be anything other than simply deepening the love between us and sharing it with those close to us it flows. Amazing how subtle changes in thoughts and not having any idea, picture or outcome changes everything.
There is such power and joy in your blog Carola – I loved every word.
Marrying yourself, your husband, every one present and all of humanity … A true celebration of love. Thank you for writing this piece, for it is important that the glamour of marriage begins to be exposed. Divorce rates show there is something not right and it’s time we start making relationships about love. So beautiful to feel you and your expanding love for yourself and all, expressed through your marriage celebration.
Mary-Lou I love what you have shared here.
The glamour needs to be exposed so that the wedding day is not the only focus and priority of the whole relationship.
Celebrating true love for one and all in this unity is the inspirational version of this big day and then when that’s expressed, wow what a healing for everyone.
Now that is a union from heaven when two people come together and shine as bright as the sun. There is much to celebrate here as you did so beautifully on your wedding day.
A beautiful sharing Carola – it brought back some reminders of my own wedding 38 years ago. It was the complete opposite to the amazing celebration that you and your husband shared together. We married in a way which was to bring the ‘expected of us’ to everyone else. We did realise that we were preparing the day for everyone else apart from ourselves – but we still went through with it anyway! The beauty of this though is we still kept the channels of communication open. Expressing what we felt with each other. So moving on 32 years – This is the point when our marriage became a togetherness, as if our marriage was starting all over again. Why? I attended my first presentation by Serge Benhayon/Universal Medicine. Little by little I chose to make changes and bring them into my everyday . I feel now that my amazing husband and I are celebrating together so differently. As you so beautifully expressed Carola “a celebration of the joy of sharing completeness with each other” thank you.
I loved reading this again today Carola. Hearing you sing and now reading your blog this really allows me to feel the depth of what you have presented here. The line you repeated “Through the light of my Soul I stand here with all that I Am” has really inspired me – on how to be every day in my relationship (and every relationship) from this day forward, so when I do stand there on my wedding day it is the foundation upon which it is built. There is no other way. Thank you Carola!
So true Amelia, “Through the light of my Soul I stand here with all that I Am” – deeply inspiring and what a foundation to base every relationship on!
Thank you Carola it is inspiring to read how you claim your purpose to shine the light of you soul on earth and allow others their own time and space.
Carola, your blog exposes the falseness of the ideal of marriage and shows a new way to commit in relationship making it about true love and the ‘celebration of the completeness that we both felt within ourselves’. You have helped me see more clearly that Love is not a closed affair between two people but an open love that includes everyone. Any need to be loved comes from a lack of completeness because we are not connected to our own love within. Being in a relationship then places a demand on the other to provide that love which produces a stifling co-dependant relationship. This holds each person back from truly being ‘all that I Am’.
Carola there is so much condensed into your expansive article. It felt so freeing, so truthful, so loving, so honest, so inspiring, so joyous. It was illuminating to read and to feel what’s possible, thank you for sharing it.
Beautifully expressed Alexis. I agree there is so much condensed into this article and it feels huge! This sentence stood out for me ”I felt I was marrying myself, my soul, my husband, everyone present and humanity all at the same time”. – Wow! Although I have been married for over 20 years I had not looked at marriage in this way – it feels amazing…
‘I deeply appreciate Universal Medicine for holding a space where I am able to heal and build on my connection to soul’ – thank you for these words Carola, they express precisely my own experience in such a full and beautiful way. When I know I will be held I can come to take it for granted, and your word seem to honour how gracious and loving it is that there are those who have committed and dedicated their lives to holding this place for each and everyone of us. It is truly awe inspiring.
What a beautiful, healing sharing Carola, thank you!
Recently I felt that I have had a big judgment on marriages. This is also the reason why I always said that I don’t need to get married. What I can see now, is that I did not only have a judgment but that I have always felt that the weddings I have been too, were not truly about love and connection. The days were mostly about the party, the alcohol, the food and how many people there would be. In the evening everybody was drunk, and yes, so was I, and I always came home feeling empty. Lately, I have felt into getting married again and how this would feel for me, and so much has changed. I am more open to it, not from a neediness or that I have to be married, but more from that it is a celebration and that I can make other choices with regards to the day. I love what you share about the no alcohol, that is something I would choose for as well. It’s not very common and it might rock a boat here or there, but that is ok, as long as I make loving and truthful choices.
The wedding and marriage story is a well known tale in our society and there are endless reality TV shows and movies that celebrate marriage as ‘it’ the end, the goal, the everything.
Your beautiful blog shows that marriage and weddings are no different to any other aspect of life. Thank you so much for sharing your marriage, your wedding and your love with us Carola.
Carola, yours was truly a beautiful marriage of your soul and love for your husband and many friends you invited. One can feel the radiance emanating from you in reading this blog and seeing your smile. Thank you,
“Through the light of my soul I stand here with all that I Am…” What a gorgeous foundation for a marriage and a new beginning.
I loved reading “I felt I was marrying myself, my soul, my husband, everyone present and humanity all at the same time.” As one who has also in the past reacted to the traditional expectations put on marriage, I celebrate the expansiveness you have brought to this aspect of life. Thank you.
Carola I have enjoyed reading this blog again as you have helped me come to realise once again the choices I have made to stay in relationships so as to not hurt the other person. So often we feel that we are harming the other person but the greatest harm is in staying in the relationship ourselves when deep down inside we know it doesn’t feel right. A great sharing for us ALL.
This is absolutely gorgeous. It’s very inspiring how you have committed to make it all about love and how everything flowed with ease and beauty. Thank you for sharing your story, Carola. I so love this line “Through the light of my soul I stand here with all that I Am…”
Your blog is really touching me- this exclusiveness of love other marriages presents to us feels so horrible and I can truly feel how you included everyone and everything by marrying. This feels so lovely and we are all invited to be part of your love, even when we don´t know each other . Thank you- truly beautiful and healing for everyone.
“Through the light of my soul I stand here with all that I Am…”
Your loving commitment is truly felt in these words. So beautiful. Thank you for sharing.
Such a beautiful account of your wedding day. I feel inspired by your deep commitment to love in all the decision making and when it was made from love the organising and planning flowed.
Power-full confirmation of how you have chosen to live your life – “Through the light of my soul I stand here with all that I Am…”
“It was amazing how every time we connected to love and the choice we made from love the ease and flow of organising and planning was there.” This is a great example of how when we connect with our inner essence, our soul, a flow to life arises that supports everything. I can feel the difference in my day when I choose to be connected or come out of it.
WOW. Carola, this is such a deeply touching blog, thank you for sharing.
I secretly love weddings – and yours sounds and feels like absolute magic. Marrying yourself, your husband and all of humanity feels so expansive. What a reflection for each and every relationship we find ourselves in!
Thank you Carola, such a beautiful and inspiring sharing. Soul is always palpable and it is easily felt throughout your sharing. I recently attended a wedding and I have seen many beautiful brides but this young woman brought a radiance, beauty, sacredness and power that I hadn’t seen in other brides. On this day this beautiful young woman claimed all of who she is. She walked through the celebration in the glory of the sacred woman she is. A powerful reflection for all woman attending. I literally could not take my eyes off her. Soaking in her essence and inner beauty was soaking in my own essence and inner beauty of being the same power-full, loving, gorgeous woman. I have been meaning to write to her to share what I saw and felt in her that day that is forever there and reading your sharing has inspired me to write this letter now. Thank you again, Carola.
Wow thank you Carola this is my second read of this lovely article and it really stands out to me how you are aware your relationship is not just for you but for all of humanity. This makes such a difference from relationships that are based on arrangements rather than true love.
Wow Carola, you truly do shine, what a glorious declaration to Love, humanity is so blessed.
Thank you Carola for what you have shared. For much of my life I was also in resistance to marriage which was still very present on the day of my wedding. This is sad to reflect upon but really just an indication of my deep lack of self-worth at the time. Deep down I truly longed to be married but resisted it all the way. Doesn’t make sense does it? After reading your article I really related to wanting the recognition and acceptance of another so as not to feel the deep emptiness I carried. I wanted to be wanted but then felt I didn’t really deserve it. What a struggle. These days things are a little different. I am learning to love me, step by baby step I’m starting to develop self love, appreciation for self is beginning to emerge. Due to this my relationship with my husband, whom I love deeply, continues to deepen and grow day by day.
Beautiful to hear about your wedding Carola, it sounds amazing. I can relate to falling in love with an idea and wanting the acceptance and filling of need from another. It definitely gets exhausting !
And that’s what a wedding is all about… LOVE… Not expensive dresses, flash cars, impressing the guests or $1000s in expenses. I love that you showed your guests another way and instead of getting tipsy or drunk, they felt the love and the celebration.
Wow, Carola this brought tears to my eyes. Your loving commitment to yourself and your partner is inspiring. Thank you for sharing what it means to be in a true relationship where it is only ever about love.
Carola, I really enjoyed your blog, especially the words ‘Through the light of my soul I stand here with all that I Am…’. I feel this is supportive for me to deepen my commitment to myself and to take out and share with the world. Thank you.
And who’s to say that this celebration stops at your wedding day? True love like what you are building with your husband Carola is a celebration lived each and every day, at least that is the Love I know is available to us to live in our relationships
Thank you Carola Woods, you show me the way for having a true marriage based on love as the one and only foundation. How amazing and powerful this feels compared to a marriage based on mutual agreements.
Carola what an inspiring blog. I often feel the same way about marriage and what the ceremony is all about. Thank you for claiming this for yourself and reflecting this so lovingly with others.
Awesome Carola! I have lived most of my life in complete reaction to marriage because of what I have made marriage mean to me through experiencing it around me growing up. This negative idea I have around it has started to dissolve and therefore create room for the possibility of marriage, meaning so much more than just 2 people handing themselves over to one another and accepting that marriage means mostly hardship. Thanks for confirming what I knew to be true, that it’s based on a true love and foundation in all relationships either in marriage or not.
Thank you Carola, this is magical and a true celebration of marriage that leaves me deeply inspired about what is possible.
So true Sara, possibilities are endless when a relationship is based on love.
Thank you for sharing your story Carola , this is truly inspirational as are you.
Carola I love what you say here – ‘I felt I was marrying myself, my soul, my husband, everyone present and humanity all at the same time.’ Marriage is about a union of all as you say. That love is equal for all. While it was not like this for my husband and I when we married, we have since recommitted on this very foundation.
Penny, I love what you pulled out here, something that stood out for me too and it’s never to late to make that true commitment of love and understanding into marriage
Yes, such a beautiful article Carola. Hearing your experience of a true marriage shows us just how simple this can be and how deeply meaningful all relationships are.
Carola.
A very open and beautiful account of what marriage is all about, and the dedication and love you have for each other.
Truly beautiful to read your blog Carola, I love this part –
” This was the new beginning. I now realise that how I was with myself and my husband, the sweetness of love between us, was how I had now chosen to be with everyone I am in contact with. This is what I have chosen to commit to. It felt so amazing.” – It is amazing when you share your love with others equally -thank you.
Wow a beautiful blog Carola thank you, it brought tears to my eyes. You show how it can be done and I am inspired and touched.
Ah! Carola, you have reminded me of something long forgotten. At age 27 my then partner asked me to marry him. Like you I had never been very interested in marriage, but when he asked me that question, a deep need in me, never before felt leapt up and took over.
“Yes” came out of my mouth, but not my heart.
I remember looking at my eyes in the mirror around that time and seeing devastation that mirrored the way I was feeling on the inside. Yet I fought it, clinging on to the hope that I was loved. My mother, not falling for the excitement that impeding marriage can bring, took me aside and asked me if I was sure.
I said yes…but with no conviction.
It took me a few weeks, perhaps months to work out that the feelings of anxiousness, and despair from my body were the clearest of signs that this was not right…the whole relationship was not right and a wedding was not going to repair it.
I ended the relationship.
Currently, I am single. Yet I know that I too can say “Through the light of my soul I stand here with all that I Am…”
In living the Way of the Livingness I marry myself, my soul, everyone in my life and all of humanity, through my dedication to the way of the Soul on earth.
Thank you for the reminder Carola, and for sharing your light and the All that you are, so that we can feel the All that we are, so it is expressed through every relationship.
A great example of the truth that we feel but often try to hide. The difference we feel when being able to stand from all that we are and that from a need makes all the difference in the foundation of any relationship. To feel and hear this being lived is incredible.
Hi Carola, I loved reading this blog. An example of true marriage and of the sharing of what that is with all of humanity. True brotherhood. Thank you
So often we use what others think or other measures outside of us to measure what we think we are worth. I have done this also in relationships many times. Slowly I am beginning to realise that it is possible to connect to my own sense of worth and even divinity inside that is independent of anything outside of me and this is slowly making me less fearful of being hurt by others or what others think or believe I should be.
I agree with what you share here Andrew and feel just as it is for you it is vital for me to continue to develop and nourish my own divinity and sense of self worth and live my life from that ever evolving foundation. Well said.
“I deeply appreciate Universal Medicine for holding a space where I am able to heal and build on my connection to soul. ” This is it, it is precious and deeply supportive to have a place to learn this connection. My life and my marriage have been hugely impacted through having this space available and I to have deep appreciation for this being the case.
Thank you Carola for this beautiful blog to which I come back again and again. It is so inspiring to feel the changes in you and what space these changes have created.
Wow Carola- how beauty- full your sharing of your wedding day and preparations for it.
How power-full and claimed is your commitment to love in your marriage and in relationships- very inspiring indeed!
Beautiful Carola, that you chose to stand in all that you are and make your wedding one of true co-creation to celebrate your marriage.
Carola I love how you both stayed true to what you felt and how you wanted to celebrate your marriage of union. So many weddings are often planned from the foundation of wanting to please others which creates so much stress and is not at all what the bride/groom want for their wedding day. Your wedding felt so simple and joyful – and as you say ‘standing here with all that I am’ – how beautiful and a gift for all.
what a great blog Carola, i loved reading your journey back to love in your relationship and can feel how important it is that you shared your experience of the difference between seeking for love and then settling for acceptance and recognition, and the actual love that we can feel from within and from this fullness we can share with others.
Love it Carola, this was so beautiful to read and feel your light shining through your expression. Thank you dearly for presenting what a true marriage is. I love this part “This marriage was symbolic of the commitment to the way we were choosing to live for ourselves and with each other. It was a celebration of the completeness that we both felt within ourselves and that we were now living; a celebration of the joy of sharing this completeness with each other.”
Carola, after reading your blog I know that this will stay with me the rest of this life. To once again be in union with all, now this is the kind of marriage that I also will choose for myself. Very beautiful and powerful reclaiming of the true expression of a wedding.
Beautifully expressed Carola, thank you for sharing
A very beautiful revelation Carola. Your wedding sounds divine.
I can feel how beautiful your wedding day was. Proof that when you only make it about love, love delivers.
The saying don’t throw the baby out with the bath water came to mind reading this blog. Marriage itself, making a commitment to love and relationship is something we all naturally want. We see all that is not that is marriage and react. How beautiful to feel and be able to share in your new relationship with and understanding of marriage.
Hi Carola, heartwarming to read your blog! It is true, when we commit to love, it is not only to our partner, but to the whole of humanity.
Carola this is beautiful to read. I too never wanted to get married and didn’t like how it was often presented and lived. Now I am blessed to know and experience couples that have made a true commitment to live a life of love with each other and everybody else. This is truly inspiring and a joy to feel.
Wow Carola, SO powerful. I could feel just how claimed you are in that love for yourself and these words…..’Through the light of my soul I stand here with all that I Am…’ so beautiful. I have found reading your blog extremely inspiring, making relationships about love, but also accepting where others are at, your partner is at. Loved it. Thank you.
I agree Raegan, “Through the light of my soul I stand here with all that I Am….” Carola these are very powerful words indeed. Ones that I will repeat to myself often. I feel the power in my body, when I think and speak these words. A total claiming of the truth of all.
Thank you Carola for sharing your truth with us all. For me I can really relate to the fact of resisting marriage and all that came with it. I made the choice at a young age not to do the normal thing of getting married and also not end up like my parents and get divorced. This is the picture I had painted for myself.
Now that I am a lot older and have a better understanding of what marriage is all about and that is being in your truth with what love can bring to a true relationship, I am now open to the fact of what marriage is all about.
This feels like a true service for everyone. Not only about honouring True Love between you two but also for everyone you both meet gets a true reflection of what True Love is all about. Gorgeous.
Hi Carola, I could feel the enormous depth of love in your account of the wedding. What a beautiful day it must have been, and what a beautiful reflection for those who attended the wedding.
Your blog nearly leaves me speechless. It is beautiful to read and to take part in your journey back to who you truly are. An inspiration to us all. Thank you.
This is a very powerful article where I can feel the true depth of your marriage vows. Especially where you say “This marriage was symbolic of the commitment to the way we were choosing to live for ourselves and with each other. It was a celebration of the completeness that we both felt within ourselves and that we were now living; a celebration of the joy of sharing this completeness with each other.”
Wow Carola, just wow. This has brought a wave of joy and tears to my eyes. It has also brought my husband closer to my heart right now, reading your words. Some kind of magic. I particularly felt the words ‘how I had chosen to be with everyone I am in contact with’ – so true.
Thank you Carola for this beautiful article. You have given all of us a gift by sharing your story.
Thank you Carola – such a beautiful blog. What I found so beautiful about getting married was, as you expressed it, I not only got married to my now husband, but it was a deeper connection and marriage with all those present and beyond. A commitment far greater than I perhaps realised on the day. What I then felt very strongly, was that the marriage brought together so much family and friends – and it was about bringing together on every level all of the families (‘my’ family and my husbands ‘2’ families – step mothers and step fathers and step brothers etc). Such a beautiful opportunity to make it all about what it really is – commitment to relationships.
Incredibly powerful blog, when I read the line , “Through the light of my soul I stand here with all that I Am…”, my whole body ignited. This line is universal and timeless. It is deeply healing to feel the magnitude of living this in every moment of every day and letting go of the years of having lived ‘small’ and hidden. Very powerful statement indeed. Thank you, Carola. This line is going on to my fridge as a reminder of the simplicity in which we can live life. “Through the light of my soul I stand here with all that I Am…” Wow!
Carola these words resonate powerfully with me: ‘Through the light of my soul I stand here with all that I Am’ You have expressed beautifully how you made your wedding day about Love. Thank you for sharing this with us ‘I felt I was marrying myself, my soul, my husband, everyone present and humanity all at the same time’
What a glorious blog Carola – a true celebration of love. I love the way that you express how you feel – ‘Through the light of my soul I stand here with all that I Am’ – it is inspiring to feel the depth of what you are claiming.
Beautiful Carola, this is what a true loving Union feels like – thank you for sharing your inspiring journey back to love.
Thank you Caroline,
As I read this again what really jumped out at me was the way in which you saw being proposed too as the ultimate form of acceptance.
Me and many of my girlfriends felt exactly the same way – that having someone who would want us enough to spend the rest of their lives with us was the ultimate form of love.
It is so freeing to now understand that the reason I felt that way was because I didn’t know my own self-worth, and I didn’t know it was possible to love myself or see love in a totally different way.
And I have Universal Medicine to thank for showing me that I am amazing, and equal to everyone else around me.
Hi Hannah, I too have Universal Medicine to thank for showing me that I was enough exactly how I am and that everything I need is inside of me, and that by making consistent self loving choices is the reason that today I feel amazing and my life is so much simpler.
Such a beautiful blog with so much truth and inspiration Carola, I feel expanded after reading it. it certainly felt like your wedding was a celebration of love, a celebration of life and a celebration of people no matter their choices. And by you being very clear and claiming what was right for you both, everyone had the choice to join or not – a beautiful and true celebration indeed.
Dear Carola, it is so pleasing to hear that your ceremony and celebration truly reflected who you and your husband are. Your words convey nothing but the love and joy emanating from your soul. Very beautiful.
This is so gorgeous, confirming and inspiring. I can feel your strength and resolve as well as your joy and deep love for truth. “Through the light of my soul I stand here with all that I Am…”
Who needs fairy tales after this? It is true, it is life, it is magical-and real. Thank you, Carola
Hear Hear Elena, great comment, and one to clear away the illusions that we were fed since we were young.
I am really touched by how you have expressed your wedding day or should I say celebration day. It was so gorgeous to read.
This is a beautiful sharing Carola. I can relate to much of what you have shared. How great would it be if more couples had this truth of relationship as their foundation.
Carola, I loved the way you made the celebration of your marriage for you and not to satisfy others or convention. And what flowed from that was so very beautiful and heart-warming – it was a day of true celebration.
Thank you Carola for sharing your journey
How lovely it is to marry someone who your love dearly, no special love for one person but a true love that you share with everyone equally. Not from a need and an emptyness but from your fullness and with the light of your Soul.
I also never felt like marrying because of what I saw around me and I did not like the huge deal people made about it. Now I start to feel what it truly is like to marry out of love and that is a commitment to living a life together of Love. Thank you for Sharing Carola.
Gorgeously said Lieke
Carola reading your blog I feel like all readers were invited to your wedding to share the love!
How can we be in a relationship with someone else if we keep running from being in a relationship with ourselves?
“Through the light of my soul I stand here with all that I Am…” What an amazing foundation for a relationship. If we were to bring this to every relationship the world would be a very different place.
Indeed Nicole. The loving relationship with ourselves is to be the basis from where to lovingly connect to the world.
This is gorgeous to read, ‘We were, in fact, inviting people to join us in ‘our’ day of celebration. They did have a choice, to join us or not, as we were clear as to how we would be celebrating’, I have observed with many weddings that there is so much pressure from families and friends for the wedding to be a certain way that the couple getting married often compromise what is important to them and it often feels that the wedding is to please others as well rather than simply and beautifully ‘about the love and the joy we share, about the celebration of love, about how we are together is exactly the same way we can be with everyone’, this feels like such a true way to get married and is deeply inspiring to read.
Carola
How amazing would it be if every couple who chooses to marry in the love and celebration of each person’s amazingness, it could potientally change our current high divorce rate.
Thank you Carola, for your sharing as you have lovingly confirmed that there is another way for a marriage to begin. ” Through the light of my Soul I stand here with all that I Am”. What a most loving truth full and equal foundation on which to share a life together.
Just by these words I can feel the enormous light and love that you must be feeling in your body.
‘Through the light of my soul I stand here with all that I Am…’
I can truly feel how beautiful the day must’ve been and how the people would’ve felt the simplicity and love between you and your husband.
I also love your sharing about questioning if you were imposing on people with your choice but came to the truth on how it was actually including people to your celebration. It’s wonderful to know that everyone came.
Thank you Carola for sharing what true marriage can feel like and your journey to it.
Carola this is beautiful. It’s palatable to feel the foundation of love you and your husband have committed to. This new beginning, your true marriage is an amazing marker for us all. Thank you.
I agree Candida and have also realised that in a true marriage your everyday would be a new beginning so the love that you feel for each other can only grow, develop and expand everyday. Now that is what I call divine.
I love this Sue 🙂 Carola its truly divine thank You for sharing this and claiming this…living this and inspire all of us.
Thank you for sharing the intimacy of your marriage and so beautiful when you say you were/are marrying yourself, your soul, your husband and everyone, that feels true.
This is such a joy to read Carola. Thank you for sharing
Carola this blog is amazing. I can’t help but feel love. What brought a smile to my face ( there was many) was the ease of feeling when you described connecting to love and how you felt connected to all of humanity.
Dear Carola your blog is exquisite, it brought me to tears as I allowed myself to connect to my innermost. Your words
“Through the light of my soul I stand here with all that I Am…”
are your absolute truth and as such can be felt by all who have the pleasure to read them, thank you so much for this beautiful sharing.
Amazing loving Carola . . . every word you wrote is full of love and that radiates through your whole article. It is so infectious to read what was your way to this new beginning. So I recommend every person who wants to marry to read it so that they get the feel about what a true marriage is about – so thank you so much for sharing this with the world.
What a lovely article to read. Thank you Carola for writing this.
Carola,
‘Through the light of my soul I stand here with all that I Am…’
From one soul to another – thank you for sharing these words.
Carola so beautiful to read your sharing, and your words here,
The celebration was a beautiful and powerful confirmation of the love we had chosen from the beginning. It felt as if we had given a gift to everyone; the experience of what The Livingness feels like, another way to be and what is possible when aligning with love.
The livingness that you describe here, is our most natural way and so it makes sense that a marriage is a gorgeous way of honouring and celebrating our relationships with another that we have chosen to share our livingness with, in that way and not to make it a special day that is a once off in our lives. Our livingness and the love that we live within it, with all of humanity, is our most natural and divine way. That’s the grandest celebration ever.
Wow, Carola – gorgeous! I almost feel like I just got to attend your wonderful wedding just from reading this. What an amazing way to commit to a loving life together with yourself, your husband and everyone.
Hi Carola, I feel that I have just been at you wedding- it was gorgeous with such honesty, simplicity and love.
Thank you so much for sharing your unfolding to true love with us all. It is very timely that I read this as I am having a similar struggle with seeking acceptance and comfort through relationships and very deeply wish to work towards and unfold a beautiful and equal relationship that it sounds you have developed with your now husband. You have rewritten for me the picture I have been trying so hard to squeeze myself and my past partners into and I now have a deeper understanding as to why that pushing towards a false paradigm has always left me feeling just as empty as before. Because it was not based on a truthful foundation. Thank you for helping me to start to shift this picture by reflecting to me a different model that makes so much more sense and feels very true.
This is so beautiful to celebrate love with everyone around us and I can feel how truly joyful the day was! thank you for sharing.
What a beautiful commitment of love Carola, thank you for sharing.
Thanks Carola this is a beautiful sharing, very inspiring.
What a great story of how we hold onto what is not true – experiences that are held deep inside that stop us being who we truly are or expressing what is true. How beautiful that you were able to let go of what was holding you back from committing to love. Thank you for sharing this inspiring story Carola.
Wow, what a beautiful blog, marriage is so much more than we believed it was. The commitment to live love every day with each other is very powerful. Your blog is a very joyful celebration of what real marriage is, everyone is kept in this love, thank you Carola for sharing your love with us.
This blog is beautifully written. I loved that you stayed strong with your choice of diary, gluten and alcohol free meals and drinks and offer your guest this way of celebration even if there was some resistance. Lately a client was sharing with me that she was on a wedding where there was no alcohol offered and how harmonious this felt to all the other weddings she was invited to.
How beauty-full to read and know that there is another more honouring and loving way to celebrate marriage.
Thank you for your sharing Carola.
Thank you Carola you have brought much for me to ponder on,
there is such a collective consciousness around marriage, but the way you describe your experience brings it back to love and connection with oneself, and another,rather than doing the right thing. I have felt afraid of society’s imposed ideals around marriage my whole life. Yet when I read your article it opens up a possibility of having a marriage to another and myself at the same time, and not a loss of connection with me, as I have always feared.
Beautiful Thomas, I also have been afraid of marriage and the craziness that goes along with it. In my life I hadn’t’ come across many marriages that made me go yes this is what I want, until I began to witness what a true union looks and feels like. Stunning, and now I know that once again true marriage is at hand, where it is a great learning for both. A marriage dedicated to true love – lived love. A marriage in equalness
I absolutely love this blog and have read it to my friends and partner. I come back to it when I get carried away with the idea of marriage and it allows me to feel the commitment I am building to myself first. A commitment to sharing all of me with my man. I have also felt confirmed and supported in my intention to not serve alcohol when the day comes, much to our families demise I’m sure, but the way you write about your choices allowed me and my partner to find strength in our future decisions.
And shine you do Carola Woods! As one who honourably stood (and stands), witness to the magic of this unfolding, the sealing of commitment, in joining with you both and all present on your day of celebration, this marks a life changing moment that vividly reflects the true meaning of marriage. Thank you for sharing all that you so magnificently are – truly inspiring!
Beautiful and so inspiring thank you Carola. I love how , ‘It was amazing how every time we connected to love and the choice we made from love the ease and flow of organising and planning was there’. Yes, I have experienced that in different circumstances, and if I made it about something else, then nothing happened, stagnation, so I was guided to bring it back to love again and the flow started again. Magical.
Thank you Carola for this deeply moving and inspiring blog.
Absolutely gorgeous Carola. Thanks for sharing your experience from your initial ‘idea’ of marriage to where you are now in standing with your husband in ‘true love’ for yourself and for others. What a beautiful foundation this is to build your life together from.
Thank you, Carola, for sharing this soo beautiful blog with us. It is so inspiring, reminding me of the amazing love inside of me, and all of us. I also thank Serge Benhayon for sharing his wisdom and love with us, so that we can see for ourselves who we truly are.
Gorgeous Carola, I love hearing about how other people feel about marriage and their experiences of it. It’s nice to hear how it was for you and It made clear too, that you really love your husband
It is inspiring to read how the planning of your wedding flowed when you chose love. I could feel how much joy there was on the day when you expressed the guests ‘enjoyed the simplicity and that it was a beautiful way to celebrate: we could feel how they had been touched.’ What a blessing, to touch so many people on a day to celebrate yourselves. Gorgeous.
I loved re-reading your blog again Carola, so inspiring and the words “Through the light of the soul I stand here with all that I Am” jumped out of the page again and I can feel them sparkling in my body, they are such beautiful words and so loving for a marriage. I have written them down as they are words I could say to myself …on the bus, at work, they feel so confirming.
These words jumped out at me too! I could feel tingles all over my body as I read these words. When I feel tingles, I know it is truth. Divine truth. Carola thanks for being an inspiration for a true and loving marriage.
Great that you claimed that yours would be an alcohol-free wedding. It’s interesting that the immediate response to that is that we are ‘imposing our choices on others’ Could it be that there is an imposition of expecting alcohol to be served at a wedding, when the day itself is about the celebration of the joy and love of two people in relationship with each other – two people who have chosen to not make alcohol part of their lives? Is not this an imposition?
This is such a great story Corola, I loved reading it again.
“The initial ‘yes’ to the proposals, and being in the relationship – was more about my need for and craving of acceptance, attention and being loved. The fact that I had been proposed to was the ultimate form of acceptance” – WOW, this is huge. From this, it is so clear how much I and people around me look for acceptance from others, with a proposal being the ultimate form as you say, but down to even the smaller details of if someone has smiled back at you, or greeted you with the same enthusiasm. Amazing
I love your line, ‘We chose to stand strong in love.’ I feel that I can bring this to the relationship I have with myself and with those around me who also choose to stand strong in love. Very powerful.
Thank you for this, whilst reading I could feel how I have been scared to commit to relationships in the past basing this on how and what I have observed relationships to be growing up. Since then I have learned so much and see relationships not to be something that fills a need or emptyness or something that stays stagnant and not evolve. I am now starting to see all relationships as an opportunity to be open, intimate and express with another. It has also made me realise I am not longer scared of committing to and being in a relationship.
Vicky I to am opening up to how amazing relationships can be with myself and others. To be more intimate and to express again the love in me feels amazing, and you get to see it ripple out into your world. Knowing that there is always more love to express 🙂
Wow Carola, such an inspiring article, I loved reading, ‘I felt I was marrying myself, my soul, my husband, everyone present and humanity all at the same time.’ absolutely beautiful. What you have written in your article is about true love, a love for all not just the person you are marrying, what an amazing reflection for us all.
“It was a celebration of the completeness that we both felt within ourselves and that we were now living; a celebration of the joy of sharing this completeness with each other.” Beautifully expressed – having recently been married myself the clarity of knowing you are your own full and complete person first and the joy of joining with another, as we join with all others, is awesome and a wonderful expression to make for ourselves and all others.
Carola, thank you so much for expressing so beautifully how love cannot be confined to a single relationship. It’s funny but I’m reminded about my best friend at school finding a boyfriend and how i felt so left out because i didn’t get to see her as much. Your blog inspires me to feel that no relationship is exclusive and that we can love each other equally so, so no-one is left out, but everyone is part of love and can celebrate it so.
”Through the light of my soul I stand here with all that I Am…” The power in these words is so strong I can tangibly feel them. Likewise throughout this blog the strength in that commitment to being with yourself is inspiring. Thank you Carola.
Thank you Carola, I love how you have seen marriage as more than just committing to a relationship with someone else. The way you did get married, feels like a partnership with yourself, your husband and those around you. How gorgeous and ever-lasting is that! The commitment is in your words.. And is a joy to read!
Wow Carola this is such a beautiful expression and it sounds like your wedding was too… As I now have come to appreciate also through the support of Universal Medicine these expressions are truly a reflection of how we are living. A testament to your own true commitment and dedication to you, as this beauty is surely a reflection of you. Thank you.
Great sharing Carola. What a wonderful celebration and a great foundation you have made for your marriage. Your commitment to coming back to Love first and building relationships from there is so inspiring and super to read.
WOW Carola, you have definitely broken the mould where marriage is concerned. I can fully appreciate your early denial of marriage, it is so loaded with romantic ideals that completely shroud its true purpose, a purpose you have completely claimed and re-instated with your awesome statement “Through the light of my soul I stand here with all that I Am…”. And how incredible to feel that your marriage is not just to one person, but is also a marriage to your soul, your guests and the whole of humanity. It is such a powerful moment to realise that life and a commitment to one person is truly a commitment to everyone, to treat everyone with the same equal regard, love and tenderness, where your personal relationship continually supports and confirms the love that you both are. Thank you for sharing your light with this, its a true blessing and I too can vouch for the perpetual inspiration that Serge Benhayon offers by shinning his light fully in the world.
‘I too can vouch for the perpetual inspiration that Serge Benhayon offers by shining his light fully in the world.’ I feel the same Rowena. Reading this article and these comments I realise that how I feel about marriage has changed, and having role models who reflect what true love and true marriage is, is very beautiful and inspiring.
Carola your blog breathes Joy and Love ! You are amazing.
I have married 3 times. My first two marriages were out of need. The first one was a passionate affair but I was constantly put down so I have to agree that it was an abusive marriage. The second marriage was also out need, it felt more equal but again I was still keeping small (I felt honoured that he had chosen me…. ouch !). But enters my third husband. We met in 2002 and married in 2006. We have the most beautiful, equal, loving (every minute of it), honest, fun marriage. He lets me be who I am and supports me in my choices and he too embraces the Truth of what Universal Medicine presents. This marriage is a Joy.
Thank you for sharing your beautiful wedding celebration and your amazing vows. The inclusiveness of the day and the Light that you are shining out to everyone is truly inspirational.
I wanted to repeat this quote as well..”Through the light of my soul I stand here with all that I Am…” It feels divine and a place to start from. To start any interaction or decision…marriage from this place is deeply soul-full. I was reminded and supported to express a light and love and I feel in my heart that is divine. Thank you for sharing.
Wow, Carola, I feel you have described what a True wedding celebration and marriage can (and does in your case) look like. I especially enjoyed reading how your marriage was simply celebrating your love that is equally shared with your partner as it is with all your friends, family, co-workers, etc., and that it felt like you were marrying everyone! What an awesome way to look at marriage, since we don’t need to love anyone more than another. Otherwise, someone is getting short-changed, right?
What an awesome marriage to yourself, partner and humanity. Inspirational to read and I can feel the beauty of the day through your sharing. Thank you, Carola.
Yes this is amazing isn’t it! Marriage is never just about the day itself (which often becomes the focus with many marriages) it is about the love shared with each other, and humanity. I love how Carola shares her joy with us all. It has reminded me that everyday is a celebration of love.
Carola I feel like I was at your wedding. I can feel how powerful it was and continues to be, very inspirational and magical.
Thank you Carola for inviting us to your wonderful wedding and your celebration of true love through your words.
Carola, thank you for sharing this beautiful celebration of true love – of self, one another and God.
Such a great story here and what a perfect day you achieved by not taking second best or pandering to self or others. Very inspirational and made me want to re-imprint my relationship and wedding vows. Thank you Carola.
Re-reading your blog this morning, I felt confirmed in my commitment to Love.
Thank you Carola.
Thank you Carola, This is really beautiful and inspiring.
“I felt I was marrying myself, my soul, my husband, everyone present and humanity all at the same time”.
This is gorgeous, it breaks “the one” belief that we channel all our love towards one person. Of course here you have made a commitment to one person to marry, yet the love you share is equal with others and to be felt by all.
Absolutely Jenny
I agree Jenny, great to break the consciousness around marriage being about committing to sharing a life of love solely with another person, and forgetting about the importance to connecting with others, society the world and universe equally.
“Through the light of my soul I stand here with all that I am.” Wow how beautiful is that. Thank you for your lovely sharing.
A simple marriage ceremony sharing your love with everyone. A welcome antidote to the norm of spending large sums of money on putting on a show to impress the guests.
Sweetly and honestly shared, I feel invited to the celebration of your relationship. Thank you, Carola.
I love here Carola how when you did not do what felt true to you you describe that you could feel a tension and you honoured that feeling and changed course. None of us are perfect its about honouring that tension that anxiousness as it is there for a reason – a message for us to be more loving more true to ourselves. I can relate to this feeling of tension and I am learning more every day to pay more attention to it.
Very true Andrew, as our bodies are sending us messages all the time, always for a reason, its being aware that we have received this message and then, to choose, not to override it. This is a work in progress for me as I still override what I feel, but the good thing is, I am shown very quickly if I do choose to override my feelings which brings more awareness to me.
Andrew I too can relate to this tension and I am working on paying more attention rather than ignoring it. The more I choose to feel the tension and honour the feeling the more connected I feel in my body. Definetly a work in progress.
Carola what a joyful journey you have taken into you marriage, and may you both grow more and more in love and appreciation of each other everyday of your lives.
Carola your celebration of you and all those around you feels so joyful. Thank you for sharing your beautiful day. I really feel how marriage is a celebration for all to receive and isn’t an exclusive affair of a party of two. I love how it’s about committing to you first. So strong and powerful.
Thanks for sharing your journey Carola, how many people settle for an ideal rather than a truth? Its great to see that you held out for the truth and didn’t settle for anything less. Let your love and the light of your soul shine on.
That’s so true, I know many people who have settled for an ideal, due to the beliefs they have grown up with and are in extremely unhappy marriages.
A beautiful marriage ceremony, thank you for inviting me to share your celebration.
Carola, this is a beautiful and inspiring blog, your love and commitment to life and that all radiates and shines through every world you write. My hair follicles ‘stood up on end’ on reading this powerful line – “Through the light of my soul I stand here with all that I Am…”.
Indeed Stephanie, this line is super powerful and we can apply it to everything we do. Standing tall shining the love that we are.
‘All my life I had resisted marriage and how it is presented by society: what it stood for, the nature of the ceremony including the wording, the nature of the celebration – just everything about it caused me to rebel against that idea of getting married. It was something I never wanted to do or commit to. And from here, I never saw myself getting married. The choice had been made. Now I realise how much of a reaction that choice was’.
These words could have come from me! This was me in a nutshell!
Thank you Carola for sharing your story so beautifully. It is awesome and inspiring to read of your True marriage and how you consciously chose how you wanted to do it.
This is such a beautiful piece, Carola. My wife and I were married the day after you, although on the other side of the world, and we chose many of the same things you did: no alcohol, no gluten and dairy. I also found it amazing how at first there was some resistance in myself to following what I knew in my heart to be the right choice, and wanting to give our guests something that they would feel comfortable with and would be familiar to them. But once I trusted what we both felt everything flowed so beautifully. There is so much joy to share in making the commitment to marry someone, thank you for sharing your joy with us all!
This is so beautiful to read and feel especially “I felt I was marrying myself, my soul, my husband, everyone present and humanity all at the same time. This was the new beginning. I now realise that how I was with myself and my husband, the sweetness of love between us, was how I had now chosen to be with everyone I am in contact with. This is what I have chosen to commit to. It felt so amazing.”
Thank you for sharing Carola, this is so beautiful.
This is so beautiful Carola, wow! deeply inspiring. It feels very true for me where you have written “All my life I had resisted marriage and how it is presented by society: what it stood for, the nature of the ceremony including the wording, the nature of the celebration – just everything about it caused me to rebel against that idea of getting married.”
I too have had this feeling about marriage and did until reading your story, it is so lovely that you got married your way and with your amazing vows, truly inspiring.
Hi Carola – what an amazing way to start anything and everything – “Through the light of my soul I stand here with all that I Am…”
Agree Simon, I love that sentence ““Through the light of my soul I stand here with all that I Am…”
I agree with you Elizabeth and Simon , that sentence stood out to me as well and blessed me with its grace. Thanks so much Carola, absolutely loved your blog.
Dear Carola, thank you for sharing such a beautiful touching imprint of true marriage, a new beginning with your husband, your soul and everyone and humanity as the whole of you. What brilliant and powerful words to share.
If we all stood shining in our love and all marriages were imprinted again with this new way forward how amazing we will all be.
Thank you for such a beautiful reading of your marriage celebration and making everything about love and settling for nothing less.
A real joy to read and feel.
You have turned the reason for entering a relationship and getting married on its head, such a contrast to way most in our society think. Your words are so powerful, and I can feel the love and acceptance of yourself that comes first, and THEN the relationship. This is so unusual, most believe it is the other way round, but from claiming that power and love in ourselves we can then bring our whole selves to our relationship with our partner and live in harmony together, as shown by the way you negotiated together about the ceremony. Thank you for the insight into whether we impose on others when we ask them to join in with the way we live/eat and so on. I have struggled with that and it is so clearly put, it makes it loving rather than manipulative.
I love your words, “I felt I was marrying myself, my soul, my husband, everyone present and humanity all at the same time. This was the new beginning. I now realise that how I was with myself and my husband, the sweetness of love between us, was how I had now chosen to be with everyone I am in contact with. This is what I have chosen to commit to. It felt so amazing.” A beautifully inspiring blog! I share your deep appreciation of Serge Benhayon for the light that he shines and the inspiration that he gives for me to also to return to my soul through the love of my unfolding path. I stand with you and next to you shining in full!
Yes I agree,
When you connected to your own love Carola, there was no way you could not commit to sharing it with everyone. Beautiful. A gorgeous reminder of how very simple everything is when we make it about love; and don’t settle for the arrangements or comforts that ‘fill our needs’… but instead choose to have it all – the relationship with our own love and our Soul that enriches everything thereafter.
Kylie, there is such warmth in what you write here ‘the relationship with our own love and our Soul that enriches everything thereafter’.
Wow – what you said here really rings true “It made me feel so good and happy, and the depth of how much I was wanted became the measure of my value.” So many of us, even I have been in that position where we give our power away to how much others value us.
A huge thing to consider and sit with in all that we are. Thank you for sharing. With love, Hannah
My wife and I got married 22 years ago and at the time it more or less just happened. I had no big yes or no to getting married but even then I noticed how that commitment made a big difference and it could then deepen and deepen. Once we met Serge Benhayon it got even better but there were a lot of benefits even before then.
I agree Hannah, this is big for many of us. Until we realise that a marriage must begin with a commitment to loving ourselves first.
This is beautiful Carola – thank you. I love what you are expressing about marriage, I have had a sense for some time that it is SO much more than a commitment to one person, but to yourself, to god and to all of humanity. You are so right – this is about love and nothing else.
Yes, Meg and Carola, so beautiful how you shared you are celebrating from the fulness of you and married yourself, to God, your husband, all present and all of humanity. Absolute gorgeous.
The feeling of a marriage being a commitment to all, to God and to humanity rings loudly true for me. This is so different from what I have held marriage as in the past being just about 2 people. I can feel from Carola’s writing the exclusivity in this. A true marriage is for all.
Thank you Carola for your beautiful and honest sharing, I could feel the simplicity and love of your marriage ceremony and claiming what was true for you both rather than what is expected. When I read “Through the light of my soul I stand here with all that I Am” the words jumped out of the page and I could feel them, these words are not only for your marriage ceremony but for us all.
I so enjoyed reading this. It’s incredibly beautiful what happens when we accept our own choices and allow the flow.
Love reading this article, it’s so confirming a true marriage, a marriage made in heaven. And what you shared – “Through the light of my soul I stand here with all that I Am… ” These words are magical, brings tears of joy each time I read it.
So true you always have a choice to choose or not to choose.
Thank you for sharing your day and your experience. You can just feel the joy and love, it is palpable!
“Through the light of my soul I stand here with all that I Am… ” These words should be part of every wedding ceremony. So, so beautiful.
Thank you Carola for sharing how marriage is and can truly be. Mary, I agree it is an awesome claiming and confirmation to have in a wedding ceremony.
I agree, there is something so gentle yet confirming in these words. It opens up to everyone who hears them. I feel blessed reading them.
Top article Carola. ‘Through the light of my soul I stand here with all that I am’ – Beautiful.
Completely agree Tim, that is an exquisite line and deeply felt.
Exquisite line indeed Tim. Real self-empowerment.
I have not yet been married as it had not previously felt right enough in me (I never felt a capital Yes)… until now. This has led me to really question what a true marriage is and feel what it is in me that wants a ceremony around the love my partner and I have re-found in ourselves, each other and humanity. I realised that I still need to develop my self-love so that no part of me is trying to be more whole by getting married. I cried when I read your words “I felt I was marrying myself, my soul, my husband, everyone present and humanity all at the same time” for this too is what I have felt and what marriage is for me. Beautiful!
I love the way this blog is written and the way Carola expresses. Each word feels to me as if it’s bouncing off the screen with aliveness, Love and JOY! Awesome and thank you for sharing Carola.
I agree Shevon, the way Carolina expresses had me re-living it all with her. No drama, no emotion but full on joy and playful-ness. This was a gorgeous blog to read at the end of my day, so inspired by you…. I stand here with all that I am and take myself to bed 🙂
This was beautiful to read, society’s self imposed pressure surrounding a “wedding” has reached absurd levels. The amount of time and money people spend on one day of their lives, which they often end up doing from others’ expectations goes beyond love and consideration but into unhealthy levels of debt, stress and despair. It was great to feel you kept your connection to love and truth along and throughout the way, and your words came through so strong and powerful because of all that you connected to. An inspiration, thank you.
What you’re saying is very true Jenny. So many people’s wedding days are an accumulation of ideals, beliefs and expectations. But what this blog beautifully shares is that a wedding can be planned from love for your self, partner and your guests, thank you.
This is so true Jenny, “the amount of time and money people spend on one day of their lives, which they often end up doing from others’ expectations goes beyond love and consideration and into unhealthy levels of debt, stress and despair.”
So true! I was recently speculating about if and when I get married with my friends and I instantly felt so under pressure to please everyone regarding who would be invited, what kind of food, alcohol or not… Having begun the journey towards accepting myself, I can see however that I don’t need to do anything to please anyone, especially on my wedding day. In fact all that would count would be to make loving choices for me and my partner. Simple!
Yes Rachael – I like your comment regarding “pleasing others”. This doesn’t make sense at all.
As you say, making loving choices and celebrate the love at a wedding feels awesome.
It is so true there is a lot of expectations when one is getting married from others and hence it is so easy too lose focus of the truth of why you are getting married. So rather than keeping it simple and focused on the foundation of what’s right for you, it’s lost in pleasing others.
I agree Jenny. It is absurd the ways weddings can be constructed – with so much stress and angst. This article shows a beautiful way to keep it really simple and all about love, thank you Carola.
Hi Carola, your words brought tears to my yes, as I look back on a 41 year relationship that ended in divorce. At the age of 17 I was drawn to a man who gave me lots of loving attention, but I wasn’t ever being truly me, so he never got to know the woman I am. We communicated every single day of those 41 years, no matter where we were in the world, but it was never a true connection on a deep level. Looking back I can see that my commitment to the relationship and to love was never really there, it was more about me getting what I wanted and not about sharing. Now, living on my own, I am building a loving relationship with myself first and approaching all new relationships with full appreciation for the other and a true celebration that I know can expand to all of humanity.
Carmel I love your honesty and to be able to share your experience. Now you have the perfect opportunity to build new relationships based on love, this is awesome.
I agree Amita. A great opportunity to bring all that you are and not hold back the potential every relationship has when we allow ourselves to be honest, loving and bring a deeper level of understanding from within.
Your comment Carmel is as beautiful and as honest as the article itself. Thank you for sharing.
I echo that.
I loved reading your comment as well Carmel. What it shows is that we do not have to be in a marriage or a ‘physical’ relationship to develop relationships both with ourselves and with others. It also shows the importance 1st of building and developing a relationship with ourselves, after all how can we have a relationship with another when we have not 1st established one with ourselves?!
Carmel thank you for sharing yourself so honestly. Gosh I know that when I look back and feel where I was at in the past I lacked commitment and a deeper level of connection also.
Now as we build truly loving relationships with ourselves WE DO expand this to ALL of humanity.
I love to read and to feel your comment here, Carmel. Your honesty and the love and power, that is palpable in every word you write. So unagitated and wise. Thank you for this inspiration (through your words and the energy, coming with your words) how to be with oneself and everyone and humanity.
Beautiful Carola, you light is definitely shining bright and what you share is true commitment to love. We married 9 years ago and also never had alcohol at our wedding., it’s true when we commit to love and make it about love, others have a choice to be a part off it. At that time I had never met Universal medicine, it was just a choice we had made. Now I can reflect back with the understanding and teachings from Universal medicine and loving support from Serge Benhayon that I had somewhere already started to connect to my soul. Our marriage went through its ups and downs, but 2 years ago I made that true commitment to love, it all changed, our marriage is now based on love and we work at it everyday. Looking out for each other and allowing each other to grow. Marriage is am amazing blessing and union of two beautiful souls, but also at the same time an opportunity to hold everyone in that love.
What an amazing account. I’m so glad I read this post – particularly because I’m getting married in two months! We’re having the same questions about how people will react vs what feels true for us. It’s awesome that you made it purely about LOVE. This is a post I’ll be rereading. 🙂
Beautiful Carola, commitment to love is awesome. I also married last year and we too prepared to share our commitment to love not only with each other but with all present and all those not present too. We worded the vows as such to incorporate our commitment to love with ourselves and all so we were not only confirming with each other but to all. It was a beautiful sharing.
Carola, how truly beautiful and inspiring your words… I could feel your commitment and your return all at once. Amazing! Thank you for sharing this with us all.
Dear Carola, I felt the light of your Soul while reading every word, it was so very beautiful to read. One part stood out for me: “This was an opportunity to claim who I truly am. I felt this way through my commitment to align to infinite love and to connect with my soul.” I have had huge commitment issues, which I am now aware of and working on, but your blog is just a gentle reminder that the only way is to commit to Love (the love of myself), and commit to life. Thank you for sharing with pure honesty and the beautiful light you are.
Me too Doug, it is a beautiful powerful line, something we can all build towards doing in every moment of the day.
I agree Doug the repetition has real purpose, bringing us back to the stillness of soul.
l love that line also, it feels like a prayer. lt feels like something that could be spoken at anytime in any circumstances. Carola, your wedding feels like a new marker of how to truly celebrate the union of two people together for and with all humanity. Thank you.
Perhaps there is a song in these words Carola (she says hopefully!). But yes, what has been noted here is true – there is a beautiful quality to them and in their repetition. A beautiful vow, they feel very profound.
Carola thank you for sharing your beautiful unfolding and the joy of your ceremony.
Carola, this is absolutely beautiful and thank you so much for sharing your self with us all. You have rewritten what marriage can be here and it will resound for a very long time.
I couldn’t agree more Carola. Your depth of commitment in relationship is astonishing and an utter pleasure to be with.
Yes agreed. This is encapsulated when Carola writes ‘I now realise that how I was with myself and my husband, the sweetness of love between us, was how I had now chosen to be with everyone I am in contact with. This is what I have chosen to commit to…’ Carola’s commitment to humanity is palpable here and when you meet her. I’ve had the pleasure of staying at the resort she works at and meeting her outside of her workplace and she is totally open and loving in both environments.
How you describe your marriage and wedding Carola is exquisite and is so different to the fairytale idea of marriage I grew up with. What you and your husband have committed to is much more real and in consideration of everyone in a loving way. I would never have thought that marriage could be an act confirming the love of oneself, the love in a relationship and the love of all of mankind, but that is what true love is about, it is not just between two people. When I have been around couples who have made the same commitment to Love, I feel so at ease and inspired.
I also had ideals about how a marriage should be, & then found it didn’t match up to these pictures at all! I love the way this comes back to commit to loving self first and how this forms the foundation of relationship with another.
Carola, I fell in love with your article. It is indeed very touching.
I particularly loved the part where Carola noted those guests who had resisted the ‘no alcohol’ protocol ended up not missing it at all. For many, a wedding without alcohol would be unthinkable. It’s so lovely to have another way pioneered here.