Love after a pandemic pause….

The September 2022 wedding of Nancy and Bert broke my pandemic pause as a celebrant. Their love story - a long one, full of surprises - could be the basis for a great American novel. How could I say no to their request?

They were wed in a simple civil on a glorious Vermont afternoon on the property of friends, an early 1800s stagecoach inn with huge old trees and sweeping valley views. Nancy and Burt included their blended family of 22 in the ceremony. 

Truly a day to remember. 

.  

Summer! High season for weddings, especially in Vermont. Here are three examples of summer weddings I officiated, each memorable and very different from each other.

Emily and Walter were married at home. All summer they worked to create a back yard sanctuary for the ceremony. On The Day, thunderstorms threatened, so Walter hung a huge canopy between the roof of the house and the trees opposite. He inherited the canopy from his father, who passed on years ago. It was a beautiful and practical way for his dad to be present with us that day.

Their ceremony reflected her Jewish heritage and their Buddhist values. After unity rituals with her parents and their five young adult children, the rings were passed to be blessed by all present. Then all thirty guests circled around our bride and groom as they clasped hands. I laid six feet of ribbon over their wrists and read the opening words of their hand fasting: 

Emily and Walter choose each other 

wholeheartedly and unconditionally.  

KABOOM! A huge thunder clap, right over our heads, shook the canopy! We all hollered in awe and cuddled even closer. The rain poured down on the canopy as they joyfully shouted their vows together, at the top of their lungs. As Walter would say, it was EPIC. An equally epic dinner followed, with everyone at one long table.  A truly over-the-top wedding none of us will ever forget.

Earlier that summer, I officiated a ceremony in a fairy tale setting. The bride, an art teacher, could have graced a Vogue cover. She and her groom created the ceremony space at their ski house, in a grove of trees overlooking a pond with seating for 150 guests using simple white washed barn boards on birch tree logs. I love what they chose for me to read before they asked for their parents' blessings:

Today’s wedding is a celebration of family. 
Our bride and groom especially want to thank their parents -- not just for today, but for being there for them so many times in the past.  
They learned how to love because they were raised in loving homes.
They feel secure and confident in their love because their parents allowed them to be independent.
Their parents are their support and have shown them by example what a happy marriage can be.

An intimate ceremony between an older couple, in a sweet cabin deep in the woods. Ahhhh.

This bride and groom spent as much time and care working with me to create a meaningful ceremony as other couples do planning large weddings .... even though, on their wedding day, I would be their only witness.

Their ceremony was tender, deeply honest, and full of joy. We all shed tears, humbled by the love each expressed for the other.

I am honored to have this calling and the skill to support all the special ways couples share their love with each other.

Love on a Mountain Top

On a glorious October day, Anne and Daniel were wed atop Black Mountain in Dummerston. Their parents and siblings witnessed their ceremony, full of tears and laughter.

Our party of eight hiked up together, with baskets of flowers and fruit. We found ourselves alone at the peak, with clear views of Mount Monadnock, close to the couple's home in Keene. An eagle soared above our intimate circle.

When I first met Anne and Daniel, I noticed their presence with each other. They listen and respond to each other carefully, with affection, and often with gentle humor. The heartfelt ceremony they created reflected their chemistry.

Daniel, Ich entscheide mich, an Deiner Seite zu sein und ich verspreche Dir, an deiner Seite zu bleiben. Ich werde immer die Schönheit unseres Zusammenseins lieben. Mein Leben ist reicher weil ich es mit Dir teile. Ich liebe Dich.

Anne, I choose to be by your side and promise to remain by your side. I will always love the beauty of our simply being together. My life is richer because I share it with you. I love you.

After the ceremony, Daniel and Anne surprised us with a picnic basket full of champagne and other goodies they had hiked up early that morning and hidden in the woods with a note: "Please do not take this, it's for our wedding." After I had two slices of Daniel's mom's divine cheesecake, I left the family sprawled in the sun on picnic blanket and headed down the mountain home to my own sweet family, feeling full of love and laughter.

On a perfect June day Rosanna and Anier were wed under a chuppa, sharing honey, cowrie shells, a coconut and declarations of love. All weddings are special. Rosanna is the daughter of a dear friend, so for me this one was extra-special.

It was a delight creating this ceremony with Rosanna and Anier. It was my my first bi-lingual wedding. Anier is Cuban. He said his vows and declared his love for Rosanna in Spanish, translated by the maid of honor. The ceremony included elements of the Santeria religion, which the couple practices, and Judaism in honor of Rosanna's mother, who had passed away six months before. The chuppah was built of birch by a family friend, a Yankee who had never seen one before. For centuries, Rosanna and Anier would have been forbidden to marry as a bi-racial couple. To close the ceremony they jumped the broom, an African American tradition.

The bride, groom, and 150 guests were completely present for every moment of the ceremony.  It was both formal and relaxed, intimate and inclusive, full of laughter and tears. It was an honor to be the celebrant.

My first thought when I awoke this morning was "it is a glorious day for a wedding!" The sun was streaming in the windows from the east, and there was not a cloud in the sky.

Today C. and J. are being wed. Through this exceptionally long cold winter they have been planning for this day. At long last it is here!  What a delight: young lovers begin their next season together on a perfect spring day!

Remembering a summer solstice wedding is a sweet antidote to a cold and icy January day.







Button Bay State Park, on the shore of Lake Champlain, June 21 2009.

 "We so much appreciate all of your work in helping us craft such a wonderful, personal and meaningful ceremony!"

Lindsey and John, Inn at Weston, October 2013

Fall weddings can be glorious! 

Lindsey and John celebrated their vows in an intimate ceremony, surrounded by family.

Happy November!
Started a new month with a call from a Wall Street Journal reporter. We talked about the closing of Vermont Yankee and nuclear power in the US for 45 minutes. (My day job is doing whatever needs to be done for the Safe & Green Campaign, from organizing mass demos to hosting visitors from Fukushima, Japan).
I just couldn't figure out a way to slip in my avocation, creating ceremony! Missed that opportunity for national exposure. On the other hand, my friend Suzanne of Luna Bleu Farm in South Royalton, Vermont gave me a plug on her Facebook page ... Is a baby naming ceremony for a farm animal in my future? Hahaha! Peace, Leslie