Bethany and Scott Tie the Knot on 11-11-11

Update on Friday, February 17, 2012 at 11:53AM by Soulful Wedding Ceremonies

I had met Kathleen from working with her on past weddings and on the re-design of her website. From the moment we met I knew that she would be the perfect officiant to have for my own wedding ceremony. Kathleen goes above and beyond to really get to know you and make your ceremony your own. Kathleen brought the spiritual side of a wedding ceremony together with a personal poem she created just for us about our journey together to create a magical time for us both. I mean, what are the chances that we met on Union Street, chose a reading titled "Union" and also had our ceremony location located on Union Street (I swear this was not planned!)? To this day I love looking back and reading over our poem and I am even in the process of having it framed for our home. Thank you again Kathleen for being such an important part of our wedding day- Bethany

Union Street Blessing (an excerpt)

So Bethany and Scott today vow anew

To let your love carry you

To places unexpected, old and new.

Explore, explore never be afraid to ask for more.

Keep your hearts open, your words to each other sweet,

and in times of trouble,

Always return to Union (Street.)

An Expanded View and Happy Valentine's Day to all of you!

  

This Cape Cod Wedding Officiant Interfaith minister has been getting some really great inquiries for weddings lately. The first is a darlin' couple who want a Bloomsday theme for their, yes, you Joyce fans guessed it, June 16th Wedding. All kinds of syncronicity with this one: with the wedding is being held at the Inn where my husband and I honeymooned ...The lovely Watermark Inn- Provincetown but it is not only this, the bride's parents are the Innkeepers and were the Innkeepers in 1988 when we were there as newly weds. Don't you just love it! I remember the champagne and the wonderful welcome from the Shea family and stunning bayside views. It was my first trip to Cape Cod. Let me see if I can upload a picture of the view. Here's one view and an expanded one.

The bride, Heather, said she was open to my doing the ceremony or at least the poetry bits in a stream of conciousness fashion ..I will have to consult with both the groom and the bride's father and my brother- all graduates of Notre Dame. Mike, the groom did his thesis on Ulysses and my brother recently memorized a whole section of either Finnegan's Wake or Ulysses, (I'm not sure which) to recite at his book club, to rave reviews.

 So when the bride and groom's day come June 16th the brothers and fathers and mothers and sisters gather by the sea and the sun setting over the bay on this bloomin day and the bride like Molly will be adored and the malarkey will not only fly but soar....  

Two hearts are better than one

Update on Sunday, February 5, 2012 at 11:06AM by Soulful Wedding Ceremonies

February 1st we have St. Brigit's Day- Keeper of the flame, next comes Valentine's Day and then Meher Baba's Birthday on February 25th.

 Full of sweet surprises this month of February.

Sooooo......

Seize the moment and elope

 pop the question on bended knee

  re-commit to your sweetheart.

 empty beaches and bare branched trees

 some surrendering into the arms of another.

Time to clear out clutter,  see the forest through the trees.

Kathleen

The Moment and "The words you chose bowed to who we are."

Marianne and Gregory crossing the threshold into 'The Country of Marriage.' 

Some thoughts on the moment and the words that are chosen for your ceremony.

The lyrics to a song keep going through my mind from a musical by Anthony Newley. THis is my moment my once in a lifetime......

When I met Marie and Michael last weekend at Scargo Cafe I was immediately impressed by how important the ceremony was for them. Mike in describing how he imagined their ceremony at Bosari Gallery kept coming back to the words, "The moment." 

'The moment in a wedding can't be forced it just happens;sometimes it's a funny aside then a belly laugh, sometimes it's a look or being moved to joyful tears or  just a subtle little inside joke, a wink between two people who in a blink have gone from one state of being to another.

It is really quite something and being with Mike and Marie who came into the restaurant strangers to me but left as friends brought this moment thing to mind.

When planning and creating a ceremony with your officiant there is no one right way. It is up to the couple.. whatever makes them most comfortable. Some like Anna and Will just let me have at it and it was just perfect. Other couples want to be an integral part of the process. It is fine to want to review a draft and make changes.

I do want to share some meaningful feedback someone gave me about their wedding ceremony. It was by a groom who is a writer himself. He had wanted to write something for his wedding. Just days before when that something hadn't been written yet , we talked and he had come to this insight,

"It isn't for me to preside over my own wedding."

 Before the wedding at the Quaker Meeting House in Yarmouth the groom was going over the wonderful music of Bruce Abbott and Beau. Gregory was obviously accustomed to the role of artistic director. We hadn't done a rehearsal so well let's just say the bar was high........and I was a bit nerved up.

But it happened, the moment during the ceremony as the beautiful bride got the giggles, then we all were moved by the music and that transforming revelation that something has just happened. The couple had passed through a threshold into what Wendell Berry calls, "the country of marriage."

Some months later the couple called me and the words I will always cherish came from Gregory,

"The words you chose for the ceremony bowed to who we are.'   

A Union Station Wedding for Will and Anna: Rehearsal

When God introduces you, you know.

A ceremony of light, laughter and oh yes, utterly romantic love. I don't have any pictures that do the ceremony justice yet. A few of the rehearsal. Let's just say the power of love was tangible and transforming and it was a fantastically fun time. Here's one of Anna and Will practicing their processional at the rehearsal in the Columbus Room at Union Station