Welcome to the newest version of the Ceremonies by Bethel website! I decided to start from scratch, on a new platform, to better express who I am, who my couples are, and what my business is all about. There are lots of officiants in the San Diego and Temecula region, and making it clear who I am and what I do (and why I do it) felt more important than ever.

I've been intending to write about this subject for a while.  It periodically comes up at my weddings, or as an "end-of-season" thought, so it was time to talk about it!

You may have noticed that I am wearing the exact same necklace in every single wedding photo, as, yes, I intentionally put that necklace on when a wedding day or weekend begins, and then I take it off when they are done until it is time for more weddings.

Why?  

Do you want to know more about me personally, and who I am and what makes me tick?  Well, in December 2004, my life completely changed.  I had dinner that night with a friend of a longtime and long-distance friend.  Deb told me that someone she worked with was moving to San Diego, and she would like to put us in touch, since he didn't know anyone here.  Of course!  Deb was someone I had known many years earlier in Tokyo, and we'd kept in touch plus randomly saw each other as we'd each moved all over (for me it was then New York and London, and for her, an Australian, it was in Australia and Chicago) - so, yeah, you help out folks who move around.

Banner/Thumbnail image by Betsy McCue Pictures, taken at Reves de Moutons, Paso Robles, California

It's funny, as the proposal story is something that I always include in my ceremonies (other than the elopements with no guests, for obvious reasons). And it is something almost always included on a couple's wedding website. Why is that? I think it's a great way to express who the couple is together and what makes them unique.

So, there are many things that I believe that I do quite well in my business, but blogging regularly is just not one of them.  One of the challenges of being a solo-preneur is that, as the only one really involved in the business, you have to wear all of the hats.  That means that some things slip through the cracks and/or intentionally get pushed to the side.  Naturally, writing and prepping for my weddings can't and working with my awesome couples can't (nor would I want either of those to, as that's what I most love doing and is WHY I do this), but blogging often can (and does).

You wanted to know more about me, personally?  Well, I can easily tell you one thing - I am a sleeper!  Not sleeper agent nor anything hidden under the surface that I don't let show regularly - I mean really a sleeper.  I love to sleep, long and late, and only get up early when is absolutely necessary or the right thing to do.

NOTE: This was one of the few really old blog posts that I decided to bring over to the new website, as I think that it says a lot about who I am and what matters to me. This was originally posted on July 4, 2013!

It's funny.  I just realized that it was almost five years ago that my husband and I were off on one of our big annual international adventures (we love to travel), this time visiting close friends of mine from grad school, who were living in Riga, Latvia at the time.  I had recently begun to think about the possibility of leaving my normal job to start my own business, doing something that I was passionate about.