Monthly Archives: March 2008

Ideas for readings…short poems

Posted on March 17, 2008 | Leave a comment

Short Poems


These Poems could be used as is……or quoted from
Love’s Trinity
by Alfred Austin

Soul, heart, and body, we thus singly name,
Are not in love divisible and distinct,
But each with each inseparably link’d.
One is not honour, and the other shame,
But burn as closely fused as fuel, heat, and flame.

They do not love who give the body and keep
The heart ungiven; nor they who yield the soul,
And guard the body. Love doth give the whole;
Its range being high as heaven, as ocean deep,
Wide as the realms of air or planet’s curving sweep

Love
by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

And in Life’s noisiest hour,
There whispers still the ceaseless Love of Thee,
The heart’s Self-solace and soliloquy.
You mould my Hopes, you fashion me within ;
And to the leading Love-throb in the Heart
Thro’ all my Being, thro’ my pulse’s beat ;
You lie in all my many Thoughts, like Light,
Like the fair light of Dawn, or summer Eve
On rippling Stream, or cloud-reflecting Lake.
And looking to the Heaven, that bends above you,
How oft! I bless the Lot that made me love you.

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Why a Professional Officiant?

Posted on March 17, 2008 | Leave a comment

Why a Professional Officiant?

The most important part of your wedding is the ceremony. Whether you are planning a religious or civil ceremony, you need the services of a Professional Wedding Officiant.It is such an important day of your lives, one that will stay with you forever. It’s vital that you remember the day for it’s splendor and the celebration of your love.

As an interfaith/non-denominational Ordained Minister and Professional Wedding Officiant I can provide you with exactly the type of ceremony that you require.
I offer the following services:

Basic exchange of vow weddings.
Elopements.
Commitment ceremonies.
Religious ceremonies.
Handfastings.
Spiritual ceremonies.

all other services are easily arranged. Let me know what you have in mind, and we’ll work on it together.

Location, location, location….

Your wedding can be held anywhere. A chapel, church, favorite restaurant, your backyard, local venue. You name it, it can be done.
Just make sure you have the permission of the venue to have your ceremony performed there.
I draw the line at underwater and hot air balloons, just so you know!

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Posted in ceremonies, getting married, marriage

Basic civil ceremony

Posted on March 17, 2008 | Leave a comment

Basic Civil Ceremony [1]

Repeat after me), [name] I take you to be my lawfully wedding
(husband/wife).

Before these witnesses I vow to love you and care for
You, as long as we both shall live.

I take you, with all your faults and your strengths,
as I offer myself to you with my faults and my
strengths.

I will help you when you need help,
and I will turn to you when I need help.

I choose you as the person with whom I will spend my
life.

Basic Civil Ceremony [2]

Will you please, as an expression that your hearts are
joined together in love, now join your hands.

[Groom's name], do you take [Bride's name] to be your
wedded wife, to live together in marriage.
Do you promise to love her, comfort her, honour and
keep her
For better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness
and health
And forsaking all others, be faithful only to her.
So long as you both shall live?
[Groom]: “I do”
[Bride's name], do you take [Groom's name] to be your
wedded husband to live together in marriage
Do you promise to love him, comfort him, honour and
keep him
For better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness
and health
And forsaking all others, be faithful only to him
So long as you both shall live?
[Bride]: “ I do”

You can choose one ceremony – or combine the two [ works well] and/or add personally written vows if you would like.

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A happy event…

Posted on March 16, 2008 | Leave a comment

Last night I received a phone call from a person I had not seen in over a year. Last I heard, his wife had left him whilst he was in Australia on business, he came home to a cleaned out apartment. No-one was more shocked than he, as he had no inkling of impending doom in what seemed to be the ideal relationship. Now he has become engaged to a fantastic woman and they were trying to arrange a marriage. She of course, wanted the spiritual side of their romance to be celebrated along with the legal requirements. Yet again local ministers would not perform the ceremony as he is a divorced person. Here’s where I step in. I love helping those people that other groups turn away. It wasn’t his fault he got divorced, so why should he be penalized and not able to provide his new bride with her dream wedding.

He called me and said ‘I told my fiancee, there is ONE minister I know who won’t give us a judgmental decision, but who will celebrate the fact that we found each other’ What a compliment! I immediately agreed to officiate their wedding, and I am honoured to be asked.  I am so happy for him that he found new love and can move on from his bad experience.

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Okay…I just had to post this story

Posted on March 15, 2008 | Leave a comment

Fri Mar 14, 10:48 AM ET

LONDON (Reuters) – It is the one moment every man wants to get right — and which London floor-fitter Lefkos Hajji could hardly have got more wrong.

The luckless 28 year-old’s dreams of giving his sweetheart, Leanne, 26, the ultimate proposal have literally vanished into thin air.

Hajji, of Hackney, east London, had concealed a $12,000 engagement ring inside a helium balloon. The idea was that she would pop the balloon as he popped the question.

But as he left the shop, a gust of wind pulled the balloon from his hand and he watched the ring — and quite possibly the affections of his girlfriend — sailing away over the rooftops.

“I couldn’t believe it,” he told The Sun newspaper.

“I just watched as it went further and further into the air.

“I felt like such a plonker. It cost a fortune and I knew my girlfriend would kill me.”

Hajji spent two hours in his car trying to chase and find the balloon, without success.

“I thought I would give Leanne a pin so I could literally pop the question,” he said.

“But I had to tell her the story — she went absolutely mad. Now she is refusing to speak to me until I get her a new ring.”

He is hoping the ring will still turn up.

“It would be amazing if someone found it,” he added.

(Reporting by Peter Apps. Editing by Steve Addison)

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The best part of being an officiant…

Posted on March 15, 2008 | Leave a comment

Sometimes I wonder why I find it so wonderful to be a part of a wedding. I have often tried to evaluate my feelings on this subject. To a lot of business people a customer is just that, a customer. To a wedding officiant, however the customer becomes ‘one of my couples’.  I was looking back at the pictures of weddings I officiated at in 2007, and every one of them had a little story behind it and made me smile.

One wedding was remarkable for being the most difficult to find. It was in Roger Williams Park in Rhode Island, I live in NewHampshire, so it was a 100 mile trip to make the ceremony. Being English as I am, the holidays are not second nature to me yet, and it turned out to be a major holiday weekend. Not a bad thing until we get to the park. I think every single soul living in RI was there. It took us almost an hour to navigate the crowds at the park, and there were 7 weddings that I encountered. At each one I had to stop, ask if they were my couple, and move on. Needless to say, I was 10 minutes late, the bride was too busy to answer her phone, and eventually called me on my cell phone. Mother of the bride was cranky when I pulled up, did not want to hear how driving 100 miles was easy compared to finding the wedding in the park amongst thousands of people. All the weddings I had stopped at were in rose gardens, under columnar roofs, in archways and all the usual places. This wedding was under a tree with a ribbon on it. That explains why I couldn’t find it. My contracts now have a clause that asks for specific directions that MUST be accurate. A designated contact who keeps their cell phone on until I arrive, and MUST answer it! And allowances for location….they knew the park would be crowded, I did not. I could really have used that information.

The wedding was a beautiful one that included a third vow to their child, and the couple were charming. MOB was still cranky, because I made one of the wedding party go home and get the license before I would do the ceremony….the law is the law :-) . No license = no wedding.  If you can remember all the flower petals and bubbles, you can remember to bring the piece of paper to make it legal. Can’t you? Needless to say, I was not popular with MOB, but I liked the couple and was proud to be part of their day.

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The Groom

Posted on March 12, 2008 | Leave a comment
During the service, the Groom stands on the right of the Bride. This presumably goes back to the days when a gentleman wore a sword – should any man challenge the Groom to his right to his Bride, he was free to draw his sword with his right hand whilst protecting or holding his Bride with his left. It is thought to be why men escorting ladies walk on that side also. See any renaissance faire in your area.

Carrying his Bride over the threshold dates back to when it was thought a new Bride was vulnerable to evil spirits and bad luck – he would carry her over the threshold so leaving the evil spirits and bad luck on the outside. And pretty much to stop her turning into an evil, scolding shrew due to the spirits taking over her body while she was between girlhood and womanhood.

.The ‘Best’ Man

In the times when a Groom would kidnap his Bride, incurring the wrath of her father and family, the Best Man (the Groom’s most trusted friend) was there to help in any fight.
When it came to the ceremony, he was there just in case the father or family decided to take the Bride back

Tying the Knot

The phrase ‘tie the knot’ comes from the Romans – the bride wore a girdle with lots of knots, which the groom had the fun of untying. Also from the placing and binding of cords on the hands during a handfasting ceremony.




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Choosing the day…

Posted on March 12, 2008 | Leave a comment

An old UK poem for choosing the most auspicious wedding day…

Monday for wealth
Tuesday for health
Wednesday the best day of all
Thursday for losses
Friday for crosses
Saturday for no luck at all

How about this cheerful rhyme for choosing a colour.

Married in White, you have chosen right,
Married in Blue, your love will always be true,
Married in Pearl, you will live in a whirl,
Married in Brown, you will live in town,
Married in Red, you will wish yourself dead,
Married in Yellow, ashamed of your fellow,
Married in Green, ashamed to be seen,
Married in Pink, your spirit will sink,
Married in Grey, you will go far away,
Married in Black, you will wish yourself back.

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SHOES

Posted on March 12, 2008 | 2 Comments

In the past there have been a number of customs involving shoes which were thought to bring good luck. The best known, which is still upheld, is to tie shoes to the back of the newlyweds’ car. This has evolved from the Tudor custom where guests would throw shoes at the newlywed couple. It was considered lucky if they or their carriage were hit.

Less well known is for the bride’s father to give the groom a pair of the bride’s shoes to symbolise the passing of responsibility for the daughter to her new husband. A variation of the custom is for the groom to tap the bride on the forehead with one of the shoes to assert his dominance.

The custom of the bride throwing her bouquet over her shoulder, described on the traditions page, was originally performed by her throwing one of her shoes over her shoulder.

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CROSSING THE THRESHOLD

Posted on March 12, 2008 | Leave a comment

After the wedding the bride must enter the new marital home through the main entrance. It is traditional for the groom to carry the bride over the threshold when they enter for the first time. The reason for this is uncertain. One explanation is that the bride will be visited by bad luck if she falls when entering. An alternative is that the bride will be unlucky if she steps into the new home with the left foot first. The bride can avoid both mishaps by being carried. A third explanation is that it symbolises the old Anglo-Saxon custom of the groom stealing his bride and carrying her off.

Hindu’s have a similar tradition. The bride is carried by her new husband so that she does not touch the threshold when entering her new home.

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