Q & A: Tree Planting Ceremony

Reader Question: My fiancee and I loved your tree-planting ceremony (he's a woodworker so it has an exceptional appeal to him) and want to incorporate something like that into our ceremony, but weren't quite sure how to orchestrate that without pulling out garden gloves and a trowel in the middle of the chapel where we will be getting married. How exactly did it play out during your wedding?

You have great forethought!

Matt and I thought through some of the logistics (that's why his brother had a cloth napkin on hand to give to Matt), but not all of them (that's why I accidentally poured in so much water that it came running out the bottom--which ended up providing some welcome comic relief!).

Here's how the whole thing went down:

• Now Matt and Sara are going to plant a Live Oak sapling from the backyard of Sara’s family to symbolically represent the growth of their love.
• In early America, live oaks were widely used to build planks in ships because of their remarkable resilience. The live oak of the USS Constitution repelled the shot of enemy gunfire so effectively that one of the sailors was heard to shout, "Huzzah! Her sides are made of iron!" The ship was given the nickname, Old Ironsides.
• Like the planks on ships, marriage, too, must be resilient. It must weather the challenges of daily life and the passage of time.
• And just like the tree that they are planting, marriage requires constant nurturing and nourishment. As they provide the sun, soil, and water for this tree, they will provide the encouragement, trust, and love needed on a daily basis to consciously nurture and nourish their connection to each other.
• [Sara will hand her bouquet to Brent to hold. Jamie will bring forth the watering can, hand it to Sara, and return to her spot; Brian will hand the sapling to Matt and return to his spot; Mike will hand the pot with soil to Sara and she will hold it while Matt plants the seedling; Mike will hand the napkin to Matt to wipe off his hands; Sara will water the seedling and set the watering can down behind her.]

Matt didn't need any tools to do the planting; he just pushed aside a little dirt, put the sapling in, and then patted down the dirt. We did have the napkin available for him to wipe his hands, but it wasn't very messy.

The messy part was the watering. I would not recommend doing what we did if you're going to be inside a church! I poured in so much water it came streaming out the bottom. I made some joke about wanting to give the tree a really good start.

If I were you, I would a) skip the watering b) do more of a symbolic watering or c) set the pot down on a table with a saucer under the pot and then water lightly.

Hope that helps!

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