Combining Wedding Traditions

As Matt and Sara made choices for what they wanted in their wedding ceremony, they asked me, as their wedding officiant, to adapt both Jewish and Christian wedding traditions for them.

Before their ceremony at Valley Regency in NJ, they had a formal ketubah signing ceremony with just close family and friends. They had Matt's Catholic godfather be his witness and Sara's Jewish uncle was hers.

The Jewish traditions in their public ceremony included the traditional escorting of the bride and groom by their two parents. The backdrop of their chuppah was Sara's grandfather's prayer shawl. At the end of the ceremony, Matt broke the glass to cheers of Mazel Tov!

Adapting the traditional Christian unity candle ritual, their mothers poured wine into two separate glasses representing their individuality and the families of their birth. Matt and Sara poured the wine from the two glasses into a larger engraved central glass from which they shared the combined wine...symbolizing their new life together in marriage.

This couple was a delight to marry, and I send my thanks to wedding planner Marissa Mortimer, friend of the bride, for referring them to me.

Their wedding announcement was in the Staten Island Advance.

Ceremony Idea: One of the readings they included in their ceremony was a set of comments from email messages Matt had sent to Sara while she was in England studying. In these messages he was reflecting on the philosophical meaning of happiness. I edited the material they provided to create their reading which was very personal and certainly one of a kind. Think "out of the box" for the sources for your wedding ceremony reading.

Julie Laudicina, Celebrant!

For Everything There is a Season

John and Tina interviewed me to be their wedding officiant in one of last winter's worst snow storms. In contrast, their wedding was in the middle of a summer heat wave. For them, no matter the season, they are now together to take on life as it comes to them.

They included their two young daughters as Maid of Honor and Best Girl. The girls did a good job with the unity sand ritual, and I know they were so excited that Gianna's Dad married Megan's mother. The bride and groom gave each of them a heart pendant on a chain before the ceremony as a momento of the day.




In the love story I told about Tina and John, I made frequent references to their enjoyment of a shared glass of wine...to talk over the day's events and to plan their future. So they appropriately decorated their tables with wine. Their ceremony and reception was at Da Noi on Fingerboard Road in Staten Island.



Knowing there is a season for everything under heaven, it was with saddness that I noted the obituary of John's mother just a week after their ceremony. John had made sure someone videoed the ceremony for her to see. I hope they had the opportunity to tell her how wonderful their wedding day was for them.

Julie Laudicina, Celebrant!

Leaving the Nest Together

Karen and Joe were an unusual bride and groom for me to come across. It's the rare instance these days that I am the wedding officiant for a couple who are both leaving their parents' homes to get married. These two charmed each other during their student days, and with chutzpah and humor...they face the next stage of life as husband and wife.

They had their close friends and siblings in their wedding party. One of the bridesmaids did a wonderful job reading the popular e.e. cummings poem..."i carry your heart." Even though the wind threatened to blow their ketubah across the lawn of Alice Austen House...they managed to get the beautifully designed document signed.

Later at the cocktail hour at Island Chateau I enjoyed talking with Karen's Norwegian-American relatives. I forget there are quite a few of us in the Brooklyn/Staten Island area.

So as you leave the nest, I wish you all the happiness in the world, Karen and Joe.

Julie Laudicina, Celebrant!