Interview with Lynn from from Full Circle of Minter and Richter Designs

 Soulful By the Sea: A Cape Cod Wedding Officiant Shares Her Inspiration 

Posted by Lynn on Jun 11, 2012 in blog | 0 comments

“For love keeps the stars in the firmament and imposes rhythm on the ocean tide. Each of us was created of it, and I suspect each of us was created for it.”            Maya Angelou

 

 Rev. Kathleen Geagan of Soulful Weddings

MR: You’re a wedding officiant on Cape Cod. No pressure there! What do you do when the sun refuses to appear and the winds are whipping across the sand flats?!

KG: You hope that the couple has a back- up shelter plan but if not, you keep a sense of humor and carry on. I’ve been in a downpour only once and we did just that. The couple really wanted to marry out in the elements. I’m pretty cool about it, but I don’t do lightning.

MR: What led you to take on this special role?

KG: I was hooked after my first wedding for Pete and Kathy in October of 2000. After being ordained as an interfaith minister I was also working as a chaplain. Two years ago I went full time into the wedding presider role. It is a wonderful gift to meet people in love and share this momentous time in their lives. I love to write poetry and enjoy a good love story, so weaving these elements into a ceremony makes it an enjoyable creative process.

  With this ring I promise I'll always love you!

 Steve and co. laid down a riff after Steve and Tammy wed at the Barley Neck Inn Autumn 2011.

“I believe it’s my job to listen for the theme; to sense the thematic thread, to perceive in the story what is being laid down, like a good guitar riff and I hope I get it right.”

 MR: I love the above sentiment – pulled from your Soulful Weddings blog. Does meeting a couple for the first time feel a little bit like a first date? How does the process work?

KG: Definitely, it does feel like a bit of a first date. Most first meetings are like that, we get to know each other, it can be a bit awkward at first. Most couples are relieved to realize that I’m not a ‘officious’ officiant. If we can’t meet we talk on the phone or communicate by e-mail. I use a wedding questionnaire that helps with getting information about the couple and what they want in their ceremony. It is a creative process that evolves as we get to know each other. Some couples just want to turn it all over, others like to have more input. I let them lead but take over when I see stress levels rising.

MR: Can you share a few of your favorite wedding/love/marriage quotes?

KG: “True love is unconquerable and irresistible. It goes on gathering power and spreading itself until it transforms everyone it touches.” ~ Meher Baba

“For love keeps the stars in the firmament and imposes rhythm on the ocean tide. Each of us was created of it, and I suspect each of us was created for it.” ~ Maya Angelou

                   

MR: What is your advice for couples hoping to have the ceremony go as comfortably and smoothly as possible?

KG: Nourish each other’s sense of humor, keep communicating, have a rehearsal and or a point person who likes to be in charge and knows all the players. Don’t burden yourself with the onus of creating your own ceremony from scratch. Find an officiant you trust and turn things over so you can focus on the essential vow and promise you are about to make to the one you chose above all the rest. Have fun, don’t expect everything to go perfectly. Perfect weddings are boring, a bit too predictable. 'Perfectly you' weddings are surprisingly compelling, engaging and sincerely fun.

Thank you, Kathleen

This Cape Cod Wedding Officiant/Celebrant- Sandwich Weddings

In the Autumn Garden  

No not in the spring garden with its long-awaited rush of new life,

nor in the cacophony of summer’s hectic humming boom

but here in the Autumn garden,

with pumpkin- colored nasturtiums

wending their way towards the light,

Sedum and mums in bloom, yes

yes, this feels right.

in this place of quiet brilliance

muted whisperings of winter on its way

there is time, but none to waste,

 so give your love full sway.

In the Autumn garden

at the Abbey

Diane and Steve are wed today.

 

Also a lovely setting for a smaller wedding is the Garden at the Daniel Webster Inn

Wedding on 'The Rock' Martha's Vineyard Ceremony

http://staceyhedman.com/katie-brian-marthas-vineyard/

September: the new June for Weddings on Cape Cod

 For this Cape Cod Wedding Officiant/ Celebrant/ Minister, September has been a very busy month. Such a spectacular time to wed on Cape Cod. Gone is the traffic but the lovely weather remains.

On September 7th I had two weddings, nicely spread apart in time and close by. This is the only way I  book more than one ceremony in a day. I learned this the hard way, as a rookie celebrant, when I was late, caught in Cape Cod traffic- never again.

The first wedding of September was an intimate beach wedding at Ocean Edge Resort right down the street  in Brewster. I had never met Jason and Lauren before the wedding but we had great conversation by phone and I felt comfortable writing them a poem.

Sometimes when I am running in the woods of Nickerson State Park I get inspired.  Imagry and or lines from what the couple has written about each other and their story spark a little poem or what I call, 'An Ode.'  I wish I could say it's the Irish bard in me but more likely, it's because I'm so full of malarkey!)

Here is a snippet and some photos by Stacie Kirkwood. It was so nice to re-connect with Stacie. Here is her blog and more photos.http://www.staciekirkwoodblog.com/

 

 from  An Ode to Jason and Lauren

Like a schooner letting out her sails

 Love alone prevails. 

 So as this darling couple takes their nuptial pledge,

 Here beside the bay at Ocean’s Edge

 Let’s all give a hip, hip hooray

 Lauren and Jason

 Are married today!

This Cape Cod Wedding Officiant /Celebrant /Interfaith Minister....

 felt inspired by this quote today especially the dance like Zorba part!

September 24, 2013 Crack yourself open! What use is it to continue to hide behind your facades and roles? Why waste your energy playing games? Isn't it time to cry your tears; to shout your passion; to dance like Zorba; and to let your soul touch the Soul of the world?                                     - William Martin, The Sage's Tao Te Ching

A wedding ceremony can be like this ....full of happy tears, shouting passion, dancing like Zorba, as two souls touch the Soul of the World.

At the first wedding I officiated in October of 2000 at the Dennis Inn, the Groom's Greek family all invited us into their circle for some dancing.  We did dance like Zorba!  I also remember the bride, Kathy, shaking a tail feather, with my husband and our ten yr.old son, to the rousing sounds of the classic, Love Shack. Now that was a moment not to be missed! 

At a ceremony for Kathleen and Ben in 2010 (see Happy Anniversary a few blogs ago) we had a dancer on the tidal flats. He was related to the groom and right before the ceremony he sort of swirled out on to the sands and began to dance. He said later it was he, who warded off the rain. The lovely Julia Cumes caught it on camera. 

 After all my years as a nurse and my work as an Interfaith Chaplain, I pinch myself each morning and say," No,  its not a dream.. You really do get to preside over wedding ceremonies as a profession "- WOW. 

So let's all crack ourselves open and see what emerges. I bet butterflies have to pinch themselves when, each morning, they are sunning their wings.

So let's shout out our passions and perhaps some of you out there may find that in that shouting, comes the quiet realization that you have found the one you love, that you have already chosen the one you want to love above all the rest!  

 Happy Autumn everyone! Here are Erika and Andrew shouting out their passion, as they are pronounced husband and wife, last October at the Wequassett Inn on Cape Cod.