One plus one is three
On love, community, and the weaving of new life.
Last weekend, Lakefront carried a new beginning into its stones and waters: our very first wedding.
Laura and Stephen stood at the center, weaving their love into the story of this place. They reminded us that the beauty of marriage is not found in a single day, but in the long journey of care, patience, and small acts of devotion that lead there. The wedding, then, is not a performance but a mirror, reflecting what has already been built.
The morning began softly — breakfast and braids, laughter among friends. That first look drew a shared “wow.” Soon after, a circle of helpers gathered, Lakefronters and guests together, each one stepping in where needed. It felt less like a production and more like a village tending its fire.
Friends travelled from the UK, Poland, New York, Sweden, and beyond. Different voices, different ways of seeing — yet all carried the same quality of presence, the same grace of being here. In a world marked by fracture and meta-crisis, this diversity became harmony. Like the archipelago we are in, where each island holds its shape yet belongs to the same sea, the gathering revealed wholeness.
The wedding itself was full of art, love, and heart. Rita composed a song that moved us to stillness. Ronen hosted an open mic, where choir music, heart and poetry flowed. Nature, too, offered her blessing: flowers gathered from the land were carried to the water, holding prayers not only for Laura and Stephen but also for the life they are carrying within them. One plus one is already three. A new ecosystem is being born.
As Rich spoke, weddings are not only celebrations, but a magic spell. They are forging rituals: they pause us, invite us to breathe together, to admire, to stand in awe at life as it unfolds. To learn to care for someone else as much as we care for ourselves. They remind us that love, like community, is never solitary. It is always a weaving, always a widening circle.
We ended as we began, in a circle — voices and bodies gathered around Laura and Stephen, holding them in joy. The day was beautiful, yes, but more than that, it was a lesson: of what becomes possible when people show up fully, with their creativity, their attention, their care.
Lakefront now carries this memory in its waters: its first wedding.
A beginning inside a beginning.
