Kim and Dom - Bayview Restaurant, MCRD

I will never forget how I met this couple! I was meeting with another couple in a Starbucks in January about their July wedding. After we were done, when I was in line to buy my favorite soy chai for the drive home, I was approached by a guy asking if I was a wedding officiant, and could he have my card. They sent me a note a few days later to set up a meeting!

They let me know that they wanted a non-religious wedding, but might want to include traditions from both their backgrounds (Jewish and Catholic). They wanted it to be relatively quick (and liked it when I talked about my norm of about 20 minutes). And about them and their relationship. We talked about different ways that we could do that, to satisfy both families, and still be true to them. We also talked about some other traditions that we could include, which weren't religious in any way.

So, what did we create together? We included a stone blessing, allowing everyone there to be participants in the marriage, and not just witnesses. They wrote their own vows, but shared them, so that they each recited the same vows to each other. We included the reading, "The Art of Marriage" by Wilferd Arlan Peterson. We ended with the breaking of the glass, which is such a fun way to end the ceremony - and you could hear everyone yelling a mixture of "Mazel tov!" "Congratulations!" and even just "Yay!" And, as always, we included stories about them and their relationship, from material they gave me through their homework assignment. The guests really saw the fun they have together, and the love they share, really come through in some of their answers...

And, one thing very different - since Dom was in the police academy at the time, they decided to have fun with some very different vows, which we used at the end, right after I pronounced them, before the kiss sealed their vows.

Kim, do you promise to love, honor, learn to cook for, clean up after, surrender your share of the blanket to, and relinquish the remote to Dom, until death do you part? [I do!]

Dom, do you realize that you have the right to remain silent, that anything you say may be held against you, and that you have the right to have an attorney present? [I do!]

The talented Heidi of heidiophoto really captured their relationship - check out her gorgeous photos below! And here is her blog post about this wedding with even more pictures: heidiophotoblog

Thanks again, Kim and Dom, for making me a part of your fun and loving relationship! I'm so glad you didn't hesitate to stop me and ask! Wishing you a lifetime of love and happiness...