The word that unites stories.

Celebrant: First of all, thank you for the two recordings you sent me. Today I really wanted to listen to you both without rushing — shall we start at the beginning? How did all of this begin?

Joana: We met on a train to Porto, on a Saturday in November. I was running late, sat down in the first free seat I saw, and Miguel asked me if I would mind swapping with him so he could sit by the window. I laughed, swapped, and I still tease him about it to this day.

Miguel: What she leaves out is that I noticed straight away she was reading the same author I had in my bag. I pulled out the book, showed it to her, and after that there was no way either of us was going to stop talking for the rest of the trip. We got off in Porto and we had already arranged to grab a coffee.

Joana: That coffee ended up lasting four hours. We talked about our families, what we were reading, the city we had each grown up in. I remember thinking, on the train back, that it was strangely easy.

Celebrant: And from there? How did the relationship grow?

Miguel: It grew slowly. We were living in different cities for the first few months, and that forced us to write a lot — long messages, letters, lists of things we wanted to do together. By the time we finally moved into the same place, we already knew each other almost by heart.

Joana: Our home today is made of small rituals. Breakfast always together, even on the days we are running. Shopping lists written by hand. Sundays are for cooking slowly and listening to old music.

Celebrant: And as for the ceremony itself, what tone feels most like you? More solemn, lighter, with humour?

Joana: We want it to feel intimate. There will only be about sixty guests, and we would love it to feel like a conversation with the room rather than a speech. Humour, yes, but our kind of humour: subtle, no obvious jokes.

Miguel: I agree. And I would like there to be space for silence. I do not mind at all if people get emotional, quite the opposite, but we do not want to force anything.

Celebrant: You also mentioned grandma Alice. Would you like her to be present in the ceremony?

Joana: Yes, very much. She is no longer with us, but she was the one who taught me to read. She was also the one who gave me the book I was reading on the train when I met Miguel. I would love her to be mentioned in the story moment, naturally, without any heaviness.

Miguel: About the vows: we would prefer to write them ourselves, but with your help. Maybe you can give us a structure and we will fill it with our own words?

Celebrant: Done. I can prepare a simple structure — promise, gratitude, commitment for the future — and you develop it at your own pace. As for the ring exchange, would you like a special phrase in that moment?

Joana: We would love it to be brief. Maybe one short sentence, said by you, and then we hand over the rings without saying anything more. Let the gesture speak.

Miguel: And one last thing: for the ending, we would love a specific song — the one that was playing in the café where we had our first proper date. I will text you the title later today.

Celebrant: Perfect. I have a lot of rich material here to start drafting the script. Shall we book a second conversation in two weeks to go through the first version together?