Do I need to join your church or worship group for you to officiate my ceremony?My worship group is Living Earth, an open circle of neo-Pagans and open to everyone. Joining is unnecessary, but if you are interested in hearing about our very active community all you'd have to do is join at meetup.com/livingearth. Information about the group is at that meetup website and also at our main website www.livingearthcolorado.org. What are your requirements for couples?I do have several requirements of the couples for whom I perform ceremonies uniting them in a lifetime or eternal commitment. These requirements do not apply if you ask me to perform a Year-and-a-Day Handfasting or other type of ceremony.1) I first need to meet and speak with you both before confirming that I will do your ceremony. Not all couples that come to me do I end up agreeing to perform their ceremony; I may not be the best fit for them and I take it upon myself as a very weighty responsibility not to lead couples through a ceremony to make vows they do not understand or clearly are not ready to make. I have been performing weddings since 1998 and in that time, not a single couple has divorced. And I keep in touch with my couples! Do you perform interfaith ceremonies? What about a wedding where most of our guests don't know about or approve of our religious choices?I do interfaith ceremonies quite frequently and I myself am in an interfaith marriage of 10 years, together for 12 years, and we have three beautiful children together. Most ceremonies I officiate have guests that come from a wide variety of religious paths. Sometimes that is a point of friction in families and some families are very open to the differences. Regardless of the situation I pride myself on being able to weave a ceremony that makes everyone feel comfortable and focused on your union. I once had a baptist minister whose daughter chose me as her officiant enter the ceremony feeling very aggressive and uncomfortable. After the ceremony he told me that it was the most beautiful wedding he'd ever seen. How much input can we have in our ceremony?All my ceremonies are custom-crafted based on what the bride and groom desire and what I learn about the couple through our meetings. You can have as much input as you want. Most couples don't even realize how many choices they have and they are eager to hear about choices, alternatives, and unique ideas, and have guidance about what types of ritual elements or logistics work well. I urge all couples to make sure I know what is important that their ceremony includes, and I'll find a way to weave it all together seamlessly. What about our vows?For your vows, I have a compilation of suggestions and ideas. Most couples write their own after getting inspiration from various sources. There are three sets of vows: the statement of intent, the spoken vows, and the ring vows. Not all ceremonies include all three but for the ones you do include, the language is fully customizable. I also recommend your vows are memorized, for specific reasons we'll discuss.How do we get started to secure your services as our officiant?Email or a phone call is the best way to get in touch. If you have a firm date, we'll first need to find out if I am available. I then ask for a no-obligation meeting to give you the opportunity to ask questions and see if I am the right fit for your ceremony. If you decide to move forward with me as your officiant, I require a 50% deposit at that time.We usually meet once or twice more before the wedding and communicate by email or phone periodically to plan the ceremony and keep in touch. |