The Marriage of Matheson Wu Westlake and Sean Wu Fackler

October the Fourth, 2025

The Kalmia Clubhouse and Mary E. Sheridan Park, Lambertville, New Jersey

Officiant Katherine S. Stults

Welcome & Opening Remarks

OFFICIANT: Good Morning and welcome. We have gathered here today, from different backgrounds, for a singular purpose: to witness and celebrate love, as it is expressed through Matheson Westlake and Sean Fackler’s unwavering dedication to each other.

As a friend of the couple, it is truly an honor to be here today with all of you; each of us bound by a deep love and admiration for Matheson and Sean. To stand among family and friends and witness their union, not just before us but before the universe itself, is nothing short of a gift. A moment that reminds us of the beauty of love, community, and shared journeys.

On behalf of Math and Sean, we thank you for being here. To those who are not here in physical form today including Sean’s loving father, Gregg Fransis Fackler, we hold you in this space today and in our hearts for eternity.

It was once said that “Marriage means committing to someone that you will work hard to maintain love, good will, and positive growth in each other’s lives. This means overcoming all the challenges of life together [...]. This also means not letting the corrosive nature of greed, hatred, or confusion poison the commitment. It really is a vow. A vow doesn’t mean we never make a mistake. It means, ‘I’ll keep trying even if I do. I do this because I believe in love. I believe in the power of the human spirit. I believe that being a good person without reward makes the world a better place.’

Sean wrote this when I asked him what marriage meant to him.

To honor Sean’s message, we enter today’s ceremony in the spirit of love, not so much as a concept but as life’s greatest pursuit; as a vehicle for growth, evolution, and world peace. Truly loving all worldly creatures is but a choice. Today we choose love, generosity and wisdom over greed, hatred and confusion.

Mindfulness Meditation

We begin with a meditation to align our intentions and to ground us in purpose.

Wedding ceremonies can often fly by, especially for the couple.

Therefore, we’d like to take a few minutes to center and to really be present for this moment.

I’d like to ask you now, if it feels comfortable: close your eyes, or drop your gaze. And find your breath.

(Space for breath )

Notice your breath entering your body, wherever you most easily feel it.

As you breathe, take a moment, feel the ground beneath your feet. You can tap your heels if that invites awareness into your feet. Maybe you imagine tree roots anchoring you to this earth. Your right to exist to take up space, to plant those roots. Feel the support that the ground provides you, always. If you are standing, give your knees a slight bend. If you are sitting, bring your awareness to the chair that supports you.

Now allow your senses in. First the sense of touch. Feel the clothing on your skin, the temperature of the air in the room. [-the breeze, the sun- (for outside).]

I am going to ask you to inhale and on the exhale I invite you to either sigh or gently hum and release any unnecessary tension in the body. Ready and…(As many times as necessary).

(SILENCE)

Notice the sounds nearby, maybe far away. Notice now a silence and stillness underneath the sound.

Bring your awareness back to your breath one last time. As you do, I am going to invite you to allow all the love you feel for Math and Sean into this space. If you’d like you can put your hand on your heart. Maybe you have a memory of them together; a moment when you witnessed their love. It could have been a glance they exchanged, a comforting touch, a story they told together, a laugh they shared. If you have a memory, allow it to be alive and present for you. Or you can simply breathe into the love you feel for these two special souls.

(Math and Sean take a moment to receive this incredible gift).

And with this love in this space today, everyone, please, in your own time, gently open your eyes, and let Math and Sean see how much you care for them.

Sean and Math, please take this moment to be present with one another. And with your friends and family. In this space and in this beautiful world around us. Let’s all inhale together and exhale together. Thank you!

Sean and Matheson

Sean Fackler and Matheson Westlake met on October 8th, 2022, at an open mic hosted by Soupçon Salon right here in Lambertville, New Jersey. Soupçon Salon—a community-driven organization focused on providing a space for artists, musicians, and activists—reflects values that they both hold dear.

At the time, Math was helping guide Soupçon into a new chapter at the historic Hibernia Firehouse. That night, she was tending bar there and watching the open mic while Sean stopped in to play music with his friend Grant. What began as a chance meeting later became even more meaningful—nearly two years later when the community relocated to a gallery space in town, Math and Sean got engaged at Soupcon Salon.

Now, nearly three years later, they’re celebrating their very own “WeddingFest” today, as part of Soupçon’s townwide music event: Lambertville Porchfest.

Math shared a memory from their early days—how, in one of their first conversations, Sean said, “I’ve wanted to find a community like this for a long time.” At that moment, Math thought, “what a beautiful relationship this could be—that we could share friends and find value in the same world.”

TO THE COUPLE:

Math and Sean, today is a sacred testament to community—a merging of your individual worlds of family and friends, and a celebration shared with the broader community around you. Your wedding not only reflects what you’ve built together, but also honors the community that helped shape and support your relationship from the very beginning.

TO THE AUDIENCE:

The moments of knowing they had found their person began almost immediately. There was Math’s invitation to her sister Lana's birthday party which was taking place the very next evening—and Sean’s phone call that followed. It was on the evening of Lana’s birthday party, that Sean met Math’s parents for the first time, a potentially awkward moment that was transformed by Sean’s warmth and ease. Then came an evening of babysitting Sean’s niece Maisie and nephew Eli—reading bedtime stories, sharing pieces of Sean’s past, and quietly imagining a future together.

Each of these moments has been a mindful step on the path they’ve walked together—a relationship rooted in curiosity, care, and quiet certainty. Over the past three years, Sean and Math have traveled to Istanbul together, advanced in their own careers, bought a home in Hopewell and also suffered loss. In addition, they have navigated life’s moments while enduring a long-distance relationship. Sean’s passion for his work on the West Coast—improving public health and reducing pollution—meant a demanding travel schedule, splitting time between coasts.

Despite the challenges, they grew stronger as a couple. From a mindful division of chores, to long-distance movie nights, Sean and Math made it work. Their resilience turned obstacles into opportunities for growth, deepening their bond with every step.

Math told me that Sean being away so often helped her maintain space to continue to connect to her friends and her parents. She says, “keeping those connections strong is also good for our relationship.” Sean adds, “The precious time we do have together has forced us to think wisely about what we do with our time. Although it is busy and frenetic at times I think we are doing the work that is building something beautiful and worthwhile.”

TO THE COUPLE:

Math and Sean, this reminds me of how your relationship so beautifully reflects the heart of your practice. Like a river, you honor the truth of impermanence—not by resisting change, but by embracing ease in the spaces between. You hold one another with deep presence, while still seeing each other as whole, individual beings on your own paths. In this union, there is mindful, compassionate commitment to grow together, moment by moment. In this spirit—of love that is steady, spacious, and awake—we turn to centuries-old words that still resonate today, offering a reflection on love’s constancy through life’s ever-changing tides. This is Sonnet 116 by William Shakespeare.

Reading

Sonnet 116 by William Shakespeare

Let me not to the marriage of true minds Admit impediments. Love is not love Which alters when it alteration finds, Or bends with the remover to remove. O no, it is an ever-fixèd mark That looks on tempests and is never shaken; It is the star to every wand’ring bark, Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken. Love’s not time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks Within his bending sickle’s compass come: Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, But bears it out even to the edge of doom. If this be error and upon me proved, I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

Declaration of Intent

OFFICIANT (to the couple): Matheson and Sean, please join hands. Please make a declaration of intent in front of this gathering of loved ones, are you Sean Fackler and Matheson Westlake, ready to marry one another and enter this commitment? COUPLE: We are.

OFFICIANT (to couple):

Do you pledge to walk this path together, discovering each other and the meaning of life while maintaining a sense of curiosity and wonderment?

COUPLE: We do!

OFFICIANT (to couple):

Do you both pledge to help each other to grow your hearts and your minds and do you both aim to live a life of equanimity, patience, tolerance, as well as compassion?

COUPLE: We do!

OFFICIANT (to couple):

Do you promise to remember that all is transient and temporary and that you must refrain from attachment to material gains and instead hold true to each other?

COUPLE: We do

Vows

OFFICIANT: Sean and Matheson, you have decided to jointly speak your vows to each other, chosen with intention and quoted from A Blessing for The Journey (Buddhist Prayer)

by Sensei Wendy Egyoku Nakao. Matheson and Sean, please repeat after me:

A Blessing for The Journey (Buddhist Prayer)

by Sensei Wendy Egyoku Nakao

Let us vow to bear witness to the wholeness of life, realizing the completeness of each and every thing.

Embracing our differences, I shall know myself as you, and you as myself.

May we serve each other for all our days, here, there, and everywhere.

Let us vow to open ourselves to the abundance of life.

Freely giving and receiving, I shall care for you, for the trees and stars, as treasures of my very own.

May we be grateful for all our days, here, there, and everywhere.

Let us vow to forgive all hurt, caused by ourselves and others, and to never condone hurtful ways.

Being responsible for my actions, I shall free myself and you.

Will you free me, too?

May we be kind for all our days, here, there, and everywhere.

Let us vow to remember that all that appears will disappear. In the midst of uncertainty, I shall sow love.

Here! Now! I call to you: Let us together live The Great Peace that we are.

May we give no fear for all our days, here, there, and everywhere.

Exchanging of the Rings

Sean made both of their wedding rings with three meaningful aspects of their relationship in mind that he wished to share with you today.

The first defining aspect of their rings is the shared DIY spirit that lies at the heart of their relationship. The gold used in the rings came from meaningful sources—some gifted to Sean by a colleague, where it had sat on a shelf for fifty years, and some repurposed Math’s grandfather’s wedding band. Math envisioned the marquise-cut diamond and the uniquely stacked wedding band with matching curves. Sean brought her vision to life, blending his knowledge of metallurgy with his creative instincts to craft the rings by hand.

The second aspect is the river. Matheson grew up in Frenchtown, along the Delaware River—playing by its banks, shaped by its rhythm. Many of the places most special to them, including Lambertville, lie along this river. It also represents change, flow, and adaptation—qualities they seek to embody in their personal, professional, and intimate lives. To honor this, Sean inlaid his ring with deep blue lapis lazuli, set in wavy channels. And Math’s wedding band has a wavy bend in it to echo the bends of the Delaware.

The third aspect is the materials themselves. In Buddhist tradition, there are seven precious substances that symbolize divine qualities such as purity, wisdom, compassion, moral integrity, and the aspiration for enlightenment, or the altruistic vow. By incorporating gold, lapis lazuli, and diamond into the rings, Sean and Math have embedded these qualities as a living part of their union. These elements are not just beautiful—they serve as daily reminders of the inner treasures they are cultivating together.

To the couple:

And now, Sean and Math, you will exchange these rings that are not only handcrafted but heart-crafted; not only symbols of commitment, but living reminders of your shared values, spiritual path, and the love you choose to carry forward together.

Sean please repeat after me:

OFFICIANT/SEAN (placing the ring on Matheson’s finger):

“Matheson, with this ring, made by my hands and shaped by our shared creativity, I vow to move with you through the changes of life. May this ring remind us of the love, creativity, and presence we bring to each moment.”

Matheson, please repeat after me:

OFFICIANT (MATH) (placing the ring on Sean’s finger): Sean, with this ring, born of the river, the earth, and the spirit of our practice, I vow to walk beside you in compassion and clarity. May it remind us of the treasures we are cultivating, and the home we continue to build—together.

Closing Statement

OFFICIANT (to couple): Sean and Matheson, you have come here today freely and wholeheartedly, surrounded by those who love you, to declare your commitment to one another.

You have honored your shared path—one grounded in mindfulness, creativity, and compassion.

You’ve reflected the values that brought you together: your deep care for community, your reverence for the river that flows through your lives, and your devotion to a love full of presence.

You have not only made vows, but embodied them through the rings that you both have forged.

And so, by the power vested in me through the wishes of this beautiful couple, the blessed lineage of our spiritual superiors, and the Universal Life Church Ministries…

I now pronounce you married.

If you wish, you may now share a kiss!

Loved ones, please congratulate Sean Wu Fackler and Matheson Wu Westlake!

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