A Meritage Wedding at Bosari Gallery's Wine Cellar

Last November when we celebrated my best friend's birthday at my brother's wine country retreat we made our own meritage wine blend. We picked the grapes before the rains came from my brother's vineyard.  We sorted through the pickings, then pressed the grapes and later punched the cap. As I recall my brothers, Jim and Bri, talked about our blend as a meritage. I assumed the word meritage meant marriage and in a way it does. It is actually the blending of two fine heritage wines.

Last week I presided over a wedding at Bosari Gallery. The ceremony took place in the Wine Cellar of this vintage 1800's converted barn on Main Street in Dennis. The carved stone walls and the authentic wine press gave the room a romantic aura.  The couple themselves were a blending of two fine heritages. The adult children from both sides of the family stood up for their mother and father. The groom's niece sang "Lucky" as afternoon sun poured in transforming the day from damp and dark to warm and cozy.

After the couple was presented as husband and wife, they danced over to the wine table to raise their glass in a toast to love and marriage; a perfect meritage moment. 

Update on Friday, April 6, 2012 at 9:11PM by Soulful Wedding Ceremonies

Matchmaker, Matchmaker make me a match .....

Find me a find ......catch me a catch.......by the time you are looking for my services as a Cape Cod Interfaith Wedding minister /officiant / celebrant you have already found your fine catch and are about to make a marvelous match through marriage. But there is another match to be made and that is selecting the person who will preside over your ceremony. For some couples this is just a box to be checked off on their 'to do' list. If you are reading this blog I bet you aren't one of them. I bet you are looking for someone a little out of the box: an officiant who isn't just officious but who wants to get to know you and create a ceremony that "bows to who you are."  *

Last week I heard from a couple. They were guests at a wedding I presided over at Preservation Hall in Wellfleet last Autumn. Matt had written a beautifully crafted and sweetly funny ode to Taylor and John, the couple being wed. Matt asked me if I would officiate their September wedding in Portland, Maine. Oh, how I wanted to do their wedding. Flattery will get you everywhere with me.  I knew having met them and their having witnessed me in action, that we would be a great match. 

So what makes your celebrant a great match ? Sometimes it's just that you- get each other. In weddings sometimes I talk about how couples get each other - their sense of humor, the way they move through life, even if their styles or backgrounds are very different. When you are around them you sense it. They truly get each other even in their otherness. They bring out not just the best in each other, but the authentic in one another. 

This is also what couples are looking for, in the person they choose, to preside over their wedding ceremony. Someone who gets them as a couple and is authentically enthusiastic about being their celebrant.

So if the next 'to do' is finding a find and catching a catch to make your match official, make sure your officiant is a good match.  

More about this next time .

Warmly,

The ever revved Reverend Katie G.

* See quote from Gregory Baird a few blogs ago...Gregory and Marianne wed at Quaker Meeting House in Yarmouth

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