New York Wedding Celebrant

FIRST - we have a phone conversation about your vision of
your ceremony. How can I serve you?

SECOND - I meet you as a couple, and we have a relaxed
conversation about who you are together and why you are
getting married.

THIRD - If we agree to work together, we will sign a contract
and you will give me a 50% deposit. This deposit is non
refundable unless I am unable to perform your wedding for any
reason other than illness or nature. I email a questionnaire for
you complete - this is an excellent way to think more about who
you are as a couple - as well as sample readings and vows.

FOURTH - I write the first draft of your wedding ceremony,
combining what you have told me, what you have written, and
what you have dreamed of for your wedding. I email this to you
2-3 weeks before the ceremony

You review the first draft. We discuss changes and continue via
email until you are completely happy with the ceremony. You
will have final approval of every item, no matter how many drafts
it takes.

FIFTH - We all show up on the day. I conduct the ceremony
we created together, and you begin a wonderful marriage in the
company of your family and loving friends.

I remember the first wedding I ever went to. It was my aunt's. I was eight years old. It was a formal Catholic ceremony in a
small church in Massachusetts. I sat up in the choir loft so I could see what was going on. There had been a snowstorm the
night before, and the sound of the snowblower outside obliterated anything that was being said by the priest or the bride and
groom. Not that any of it seemed very interesting from where I sat. Except for the kissing.

At the reception I told people that the part where they kissed meant that they were married. I stood in the reception line, visited
every table, and when it came time for the bouquet toss, I was told to join a crowd of grown up young women because they were
not married and neither was I.

In I went to the foyer where I could see my aunt standing on the staircase landing. I wormed my way to the front of the crowd
to get a better view. My aunt was warming up like a pitcher on the mound and was clearly getting ready to hurl her bouquet
down at us. I covered my eyes with one hand and stuck the other up in the air. Well, my aunt pitched that bouquet right at me,
and when it landed in my hand I squeezed it tight. As an additional prize I was told that because I caught the bouquet I could
ask anyone I wanted to dance with me. I picked the handsomest man in the place (who is now a priest) and wouldn't back down
until he obliged me.
What I remember from that day was feeling so far away from everyone during the ceremony and how connected to them all I
felt at the reception. The ceremony was just something to get through and the reception was where the celebrating really took
place.

I like to think I am making up for this wedding every time I create a wedding ceremony.

I look forward to speaking with you.