Custom Ceremonies of Boston

31/01/2015

Scholar and author Stephanie Coontz explores the myths of traditional marriage. Coontz is a faculty member at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Wash., and ...

03/01/2015

The separation of church and state continues to be a work-in-progress in the United States.

A pledge taken by some pastors not to sign state marriage licenses has exposed fault lines in the conservative Christian world over the church’s connection to culture and government.

17/02/2014

Sealed with a kiss. And another kiss. and another...

Oxytocin, dopamine, and what the hineys of monkeys have to do with the faces of our lovers. "Any man who can drive safely while kissing a

17/02/2014

some wisdom here

I had decades of research at my fingertips to help my spouse and me figure out what it really means to be a good spouse. Why not harness those resources for our wedding?...

12/02/2014

for Valentine's Day: an interesting snapshot from long ago

This is a letter written in February 1477. The author was a young, well-born woman named Margery Brews, and she sent the letter to a young gentleman named John Paston. She and John were courting, and their parents were negotiating what each would contribute to help the young couple marry. It was not...

28/12/2013

aAnother view re "the wedding business…"

In actuality, the "billion dollar wedding industry" as seen in the media is, in reality, a loosely related network of creative professionals running very small businesses.

15/12/2013

this is distressing news.

Australia’s High Court has overturned a law allowing same-sex marriages. The original legislation had been passed on 7 December in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), a small…

15/12/2013

a full-bodied and well-balanced vintage!

15/12/2013

some wisdom here.

Choose the man who will take care of the laundry and change the baby's diapers when you've got the flu, rather than the one who spent a month choreographing his proposal so that the video of it would go viral.

26/07/2013

FAQs for same-sex couples and your families as you navigate accessing federal rights, benefits, and protections.

29/12/2012

A Festive Mood in Maine as Same-Sex Marriage Becomes Legal

PORTLAND, Me. (AP) — After waiting years and seeing marriage rights nearly awarded and then retracted, gay couples in Maine’s largest city did not have to wait any longer on Saturday. Licenses were issued just after midnight as a state law allowing same-sex marriage went into effect.

Among the newly married couples were Steven Bridges and Michael Snell, who held a commitment ceremony six years ago but made things official with a simple ceremony.

“It’s historic,” Mr. Bridges said. “We’ve waited our entire lives for this.”

Mr. Bridges, 42, and Mr. Snell, 53, who have been together for nine years, wore lavender and purple carnations on black T-shirts bearing the words “Love is love.”

With Mr. Snell’s two adult daughters looking on, the men exchanged vows in the city clerk’s office after getting the first marriage license issued to a same-sex couple in Portland.

Voters approved the new law in November, making Maine one of the first three states, along with Washington and Maryland, to allow same-sex marriage by popular vote. The law has already taken effect in Washington State; Maryland’s will do so on Tuesday.

Same-sex marriage was already legal in Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Vermont and the District of Columbia, but those laws were enacted either by lawmakers or through court rulings.

The Maine Legislature had once approved same-sex marriage, but a statewide referendum three years ago overturned it, to the disappointment of couples who had already made wedding plans. Supporters collected enough signatures to put it on the ballot again, and this time it was easily approved.

Gov. Paul R. LePage, a Republican, signed off on the certified election results on Nov. 29, and the new law took effect 30 days later. In addition to making same-sex marriage legal, Maine will now recognize such marriages from other states.

Falmouth joined Portland in granting licenses at midnight. A handful of other cities, including Augusta, Bangor and Brunswick, planned to hold special office hours later on Saturday.

In Portland, the mood was festive, with the crowd cheering and horns sounding at midnight as Mr. Bridges and Mr. Snell began filling out paperwork in the clerk’s office in City Hall. More than a dozen other couples stood in line to wait their turn. There were free carnation boutonnieres and cupcakes, and a jazz trio played.

Outside City Hall, a few hundred people cheered and began singing “All You Need Is Love” when Mr. Snell and Mr. Bridges emerged newly married.

Donna Galluzzo and Lisa Gorney also planned a midnight wedding, and theirs had all the trappings. They dined with friends on Friday night and then took a limousine to City Hall. They had their rings, flowers and a friend to perform the ceremony.

They ended up near the back of the line awaiting licenses, but that did not matter to them.

“We decided it’s a historic day,” Ms. Galluzzo said, “and we thought it would be awesome to be a small part of history, to say we got married on the first day it’s legal.”

But not everyone was getting married right away.

Suzanne Blackburn and Joanie Kunian of Portland were among those in line to get their license at midnight, but they did not plan to wed immediately. One of their grandchildren wanted them to get married on Valentine’s Day.

“I don’t think that we dared to dream too big until we had the governor’s signature,” Ms. Blackburn said. “That’s why it’s so important, because it feels real.”

31/10/2012

As a Celebrant, it is my wish that all may be married in ceremonies that are authentic to their beliefs and world view. No one should be forced to participate in ceremony that is contrary to their innermost values.

A national atheist organization claims Indiana’s marriage statute is unconstitutional because it allows people of faith to be married by religious leaders while denying nonreligious men and women the opportunity to be solemnized by secular celebrants.

22/10/2012

Saturday the rains cleared and it became the most perfect New England Fall day. Amit and Andrea married at Elm Bank, aka the Massachusetts Horticultural Society in Wellesley. Congratulations to them! They chose readings I had never heard before: a letter from Mark Twain to his soon-to-be bride, Olivia Langdon. And the grooms choice (an architect), I suspect...a short excerpt from the notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci on arches...which stand only because of a confluence of forces-leaning on each other-just like a marriage. Here it is:

From-Excerpt from The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci: Theoretical Writings on Architecture, edited by Jean Paul Richter, 1880.

WHAT IS AN ARCH? The arch is nothing else than a force originated by two weaknesses, for the arch in buildings is composed of two segments of a circle, each of which being very weak in itself tends to fall; but as each opposes this tendency in the other, the two weaknesses combine to form one strength.
OF THE KIND OF PRESSURE IN ARCHES. As the arch is a composite force it remains in equilibrium because the thrust is equal from both sides; and if one of the segments weighs more than the other the stability is lost, because the greater pressure will outweigh the lesser.
ON THE STRENGTH OF THE ARCH. The way to give stability to the arch is to fill the spandrels with good masonry up to the level of its summit.

May all your arches be stable!

Again, props to the great professionals involved: sound people and DJ Just Joan ([email protected]), wedding planner Lauren Thibault of Laurel Events ([email protected]), guitarist Linsday Straw ([email protected]) and photographer Jim Canole ([email protected]).

I always feel so humbled when a ceremony is finished and I am on my way home; happy that I could be a part of the mysterious moment in which a lovely couple moves forward into their shared future, together. I love my work!

14/10/2012

Best wishes to Kate and Sean! It was a perfect day for an outside ceremony at Zukas Hilltop Barn in Spencer MA...the changing colors of the leaves and the oranges and reds worn by the bridal party and guests were perfect. And the staff was wonderful as well, from Alyson (for the venue), DJ Shyne music and sound (playing amazing music Kate chose for the ceremony) and photographer Celia Kelly. I did manage to drive in circles on the way home a bit...but the scenery was beautiful!