Old Ways Ceremonies

10/19/2024

Didn’t get over to visit my mom today, but had a full day of projects around the house. Took the solar panels down from the mud room roof. Apparently they are my neighbor’s and I needed to move them so I can replace that second story window.

🌳Cut down the fruit tree near my front door. I was hoping it was a plum tree, but I’ve become convinced it’s just a native black cherry that’s aggressively sending shoots up near my house.

🌀Made a spiral herb garden using the rocks I haven’t yet moved to the driveway. (I’ve moved about 2 tons, I’m estimating) Started filling it with soil that I’ve been transporting out of the woods from old pot growing planters the previous owners left behind.

🫐Not pictured: I moved three blueberry bushes from under the mud room windows, where they were getting snow from the roof dumped on them, to a garden bed that I weeded.

10/11/2024

Cool experience of pointing my phone at the sky and seeing what’s hiding to my naked eye.

09/19/2024

Just some random shots from the last couple of weeks. Have enjoyed a relaxing summer for the most part. More ceremonies have been coming my way this month and I am so grateful to all the folks who have referred me to others. While business builds slowly, I’ve returned to substituting at the school district. Will turn to studying for my pharmacy law exam soon, but have been taking some mental health time from it for now.
1) Curing some squash
2) Frog friend in the raspberries
3) Found some twinkle lights in the shed left by previous owners. Excited to find them a cute home. Maybe the bedroom??
4) Experiment 1 for insulated window coverings in the sunroom.
5) More Peaks Island visits
6) Homemade salsaaaaa
7&8) Free plants/flowers from mom.

08/17/2024

My second wedding in the northeast in the books. Wish I could have done more this year, but my cross country move has taken its toll on my business. BUT for being only my second wedding here, and not knowing the wedded couple previously, I ran into a woman I knew from college when we were both tour guides together. She was singing with the band! Wild! And I’m less than 50% sure I recognized a guest but I can’t remember context and no name came to me….but I know I know her. Is New England really on big small town?!

08/15/2024

From City of Refuge by Starhawk.

07/19/2024

Rereading The Fifth Sacred Thing by Starhawk. Written in 1993 about this time and 20 years later. You can replace The Stewards and Millenialists with Republicans, Corporations, the religious right,
MAGA-ists.

There’s a lot of death in the book. A lot of pain and torture. There’s also magical thinking that’s based in meditation and alternative healing such as acupuncture and energy meridian work. There’s more tangible stuff like community organizing, community care, freedom only being realized when all people have their care and basic needs freely provided for.

It feels like my playbook for surviving the next twenty years, if I’m so lucky. So, time for more reviewing.

07/09/2024

Finally figured out how to schedule my MPJE (pharmacy law) exam to have my pharmacy license reciprocated to Maine from Oregon. It’s in a week. Not thrilled, but gotta make some money for this house that is nothing but a million projects.

The rest of the week will just be studying and writing a wedding ceremony for August.

06/30/2024

Received this wonderful review from last week’s wedding. What an incredible start to my ceremony work here on the East coast! Not only was this couple so emotionally intelligent and articulate about their relationship, making my job of telling their story so fun and easy. But they had deep roots in Maine that had some overlap with my own which feels so wild in some ways. It feels good - special - to be making ceremony where I have these deep connections.

Venue -
Photographer -
DJ -
Not sure who did the cake or flowers - will update when I find out.

06/23/2024

Baby’s first trip(s) to Peaks Island for a wedding rehearsal and ceremony this weekend. I look forward to many trips out here for future weddings. Jayson and the team work wonders with their space. Wish I had taken more pictures of all of the lovely in-season flowers the couple requested from the floral designer. They were amazing! I’ll have to wait for more photos from the photographer.

04/05/2024

Welcome to my home. Won't you pull up a branch?! Yeah, pull it up and off of my roof please. Thank you! Was worried about this tree falling on the house from the day I stepped onto the property. Guess I don't have to worry about that anymore. I'll start limbing it up tomorrow after I have rested from all of the shoveling. Power is back!

04/05/2024

You can also follow on Instagram to see more.

03/17/2024

Getting married this year or know someone who is? Please share this news about 3 vow writing workshops I will be offering this spring. Tickets for all are now available. They are on Zoom, so you can join from anywhere. The timing is meant to make it accessible for west coast folks as well. Limit of 10 couples per workshop to keep it nice and cozy. Find link to my website at the top of the page!

03/10/2024

Good morning! I know, springing forward is not the easiest bit of time travel. If you are rebelling by staying in bed and scrolling through the internet, why not pop over to my blog and check out this series of posts I made about the all of the legal stuff you need to know when it comes to your marriage license and wedding ceremony. I promise, it's not boring. I tried to keep it all very organized and brief for easy referencing.

Make sure you let me know if there is something you were hoping to find out that I didn't include in my post. I did my best to be thorough, but I am always open to feedback.

Also, while you are still on your phone and in bed, go find a petition to sign to do away with Daylight Savings Time once and for all. I don't have a link available for that, but you should harness your anger into something productive. I mean, why do we still have to time travel twice a year. Just let the day be the way it is. Light when it's light and dark when it's dark. We will figure it out. Our animal brains know how to deal with it. I'll organize a big ceremony the year that we finally get rid of Daylight Savings Time to symbolically say good riddance.

Make sure you share the blog with anyone you know who is getting married soon somewhere in New England. I love scheduling free consults with couples to get them thinking about their ceremonies.

This is part three in a series about useful information about the legal requirements surrounding your wedding ceremony. If you stumbled across this blog, it must mean you are likely engaged. Congratulations! Additionally, you are planning to have your wedding ceremony somewhere in New England becaus...

03/08/2024

If you haven't checked it out already, I have a series of blogposts on my website that take you through the laws around marriage in the New England states. I had to do a lot of research to make sure I can provide the best information to my future clients since my move back to this area. Figured I shouldn't just keep it to myself and while I'm at it, why don't I make a nice resource for everyone to be able to reference.

So, if you are planning a wedding, or know someone who is, click through the link and bookmark one of the posts (they all link to each other) so you can easily come back to it.

This is part two in a series about useful information about the legal requirements surrounding your wedding ceremony. If you stumbled across this blog, it means you are likely engaged. Congratulations! Additionally, you are planning to have your wedding ceremony somewhere in New England because eith...

03/06/2024

I haven't been sitting around waiting for weddings to come to me since my move back to Maine this winter. I've been digging through industry publications and scouring state laws to make sure I have all of the information I need to make sure you and I have a successful experience when it comes to your ceremonies. I've also been reaching out to area venues and vendors to make connections with folks who I look forward to working with.

I have collected all of the important legal information I have discovered in a series of blogposts over on my website. Here is the link to the first one which covers Maine and Massachusetts. Posts for all states are active over there and I have made navigating between them as easy as possible. Bookmark them as a reference as you plan your wedding or for those in your life who are getting married this year in New England.

If you stumbled across this blog, it means you are likely engaged. Congratulations! Additionally, you are planning to have your wedding ceremony somewhere in New England because either you live here or want a destination wedding or elopement that only the natural beauty that New England can provide....

03/05/2024

I've been writing some thoughts over on my blog for some time now. Being new to Facebook, I thought you might want to take a look if this is where you are first connecting with me.

My website is the best place to contact me. Use my contact form there. Also check out any workshops available. I will soon have vow writing workshops and death practice workshops available.

This is my most popular blogpost so far. You can call me an officiant, that's what I do, officiate weddings. But I prefer Celebrant because I like to remind myself and my clients that we are creating ceremonies to celebrate life milestones in all of their depth and complexity. Happy reading.

You will notice on my website that I use both terms. Officiant is the term for anyone who officiates at a service or ceremony like a wedding, naming/blessing, or funeral. This is often a religious leader. And unless you have asked your cousin or good friend to get the Universal Life Church’s onlin...

02/26/2024

Think about this amazing wedding often. They wanted their guests to be very involved in the ceremony. They didn't want to feel like they were simply being put on display, so we talked about having me stand to the side instead of directly between them. This allowed them to stay cozied up to one another while looking out at their guests the entire time. It felt more like a circle or container than an audience watching a wedding pageant. This couple also had five readers and having the mic set up on the side made these transitions flow very easily.

If you schedule a free consultation with me about your wedding, we will talk through what you are imagining for your ceremony and talk through ways to make them happen. Every element should come from your wants and needs, not what you think is expected of you. I love seeing the wheels start turning when I give couples permission to dream into what they want and encourage them that it can happen.

Photo by () on IG.