Weddings on Cape Cod: Winter, Spring, Summer or Fall......

                                    The Prowers Pretty Little Winter Wedding at Chatham Bars Inn

 The winter wind has abated. It's breath warmng even though the branches are still bare and will remain so until well after any threat of snow. Most springs on Cape Cod the winter holds on tenaciously. This has been a gentle fallow season. It seems like life itself is percolating right beneath our feet; earth softening;crocuses peaking.We all say, "Yes!"

 Ceremonies in draft form like seedlings sprouting line my desktop. Today I will print out one so it takes form. Onto pretty paper words will form. The paper is from Thompson's Printing a local business in Orleans. One ream is called 'Blooming Pink' the other entitled, 'Botanical.'

Weddings are about beauty. Close to Summer Solstice, Sarah and Justin wed at Wequassett Resort on Round Cove.

And wedding ceremonies are about words of truth and fidelity.

 The Meaning of Marriage- Wendell Berry The meaning of marriage begins by giving our word. We cannot join ourselves to one another without giving our word….

  Consent:   Have you come here today of your own free will to give each other your word in Marriage?    “We Have.”  Please turn and take each other’s hands and share the vows of marriage.

 A marriage of words and images, symbols and rituals that make the ancient rite of marriage like the rite of spring; a testimony of hope and love that renews and transfoms everything it touches

"For love is matchless in majesty, it has no parallel in power and there is no darkness it cannot dispel."

Meher Baba

 Happy New Moon Eclipse and St. Patrick's Day.  Enjoy these last days of winter before the busy as a bee days of Spring sweep in.

This Cape Cod Wedding Celebrant/Officiant muses on

ceremonies close to home on Cape Cod and some far afield. This month I presided over my first wedding in Rhode Island at the Providence Public Library. In this wedding we included the Common Cup and the Stefana Crowning since the groom was from a Greek family. The aunt of the groom did the Common Cup and presented the couple with Rosemary plant. The father of the groom crowned the couple. The bride's  9 year old nephew did a reading and one of the bridesmaid sang Songbird. The setting was elegant with lots of archways and marble staircases.

The bride and groom so beautiful and handsome and heartfelt!

 Now closer to home starting at the Chatham Bars Inn Boathouse. From intimate elopement to more expansive affairs here are some pics! Elopement photos of Erika and Adam and Kerry and Ed

 by Stacey Hedman

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-fixed mark

That looks on tempests and is never shaken;

It is the star to every wandering 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.

  

"we join ourselves to the unknown….You do not know the road; you have committed your life to a way."

                                             and that way is with each other

 ...protect this couple from the storms and challenges of life as they become husband and wife!

 

Who was St. Valentine? This wedding officiant /celebrant /minister

  just read, "Valentinus, aka St. Valentine, was licensed to marry people."(from My View by Barbara Leedom in today's Cape Cod Times.)  Sadly, the poor soul ended up in jail for presiding over weddings for Roman soldiers. The powers that be didn't like their soldiers to be married.  Valentine befriended his jailer and the jailer intoduced Valentinus to his blind daughter, Julia.

Val was nice enough to cure Julia of her blindness.  Then while on his way to the gallows, he penned her a letter, signing it, "Your Valentine."

Wow. If I've heard this legend before it didn't resonate. St. Valentine was one of us, a Wedding Officiant. You have gotta love that.  (Unfortunately for Val, the Romans in power didn't.)

With Valentine's day upon us romance is in air, red hearts everywhere and the subject of love- ubiquitous. From the mating habits of California Tree frogs (inside family joke) to hearing Daniel Jones, editor of the NY Times column, Modern Love talk about his new book, Love Illuminated..... my head is spinning with the subject of     (see below)

Happy Valentine's Day.

I need to rest my mind, awaken my heart, get off the computer and take a shower.

My husband has just come through the door bearing the most beautiful bouquet of flowers.

                   I wish you all mad love and sweet contentment. Who could ask for more.

               And for any of you who get engaged today hope I'll be hearing from you soon!

A Lighthouse Wedding

Wing's Neck Lighthouse                                                                                                         

We wanted a non-traditional wedding. We found an amazing lighthouse to stay the week in and the lighthouse itself was non working but you could still go to the top and overlook the water. It was beautiful. One problem..... you had to climb a "rickdy" ladder through a small trap door to get to the top. We were wondering if it was too much to ask for Kathleen and a few friends to make the journey LOL. Well she didnt even think twice! It was so amazing and different that it is something we will never forget and what a story we get to tell people when we tell about her and our wedding. If you want an amazing person to officiate your wedding so you will remember it always..... Give Ms. Katleen a call! You will be so happy you did! 

  Thanks again from Nashville TN!

The Ravens, Rachel and Alex, seal their vows with a kiss at Crosby Beach