Showing posts with label officiant. Show all posts
Showing posts with label officiant. Show all posts
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Monday, April 6, 2009
Including the kids
I thought it was about time to start writing about some of the special things we are considering doing to include the kids in the wedding.
Their biggest roles will be during the ceremony. Mr. B and I have decided against having attendants, so it will only be the 4 of us in front with the pastor. Originally I wanted Little A to walk me down the aisle. It was very special having my Father walk me down the aisle the first time and give me away. While I DO NOT want to take that from him, I also want to show that I am already independent of my parent's. Little A has said he wants to be the ring bearer though, so I will walk down on my own.
Miss G will of course be the flower girl. She is VERY excited about her role. I didn't want to do a traditional basket of flower petals, but I might need to just to keep the little princess content LOL.
During the ceremony we will acknowledge the fact that we are uniting not only as man & wife but as a family. I have found a few sample "vows" I thought I would share with you as well. We will take these two examples (and any others I might find along the way) when we meet with our pastor. Honestly I can't read thru them the whole way right now without getting teary eyed. Not sure how I will do in September.
Example #1
Pastor: "Before (Bride and Groom names) exchange their vows to each other, as husband and wife they have special vows to their children and their children to them. Not only are they entering into a covenant of 2 people but are uniting 2 families to one."
The Children are called forward to stand together.
Pastor:"This marriage is not just joining of (bride and groom); it is also the joining of (all children's names) as one Christian family. (Bride and Groom), do you promise to love (children's names) to nurture them and to protect them, to teach them and cherish them now and forever united by our Lord Jesus Christ?"
(Bride and groom) respond:" We do."
Pastor: (Children's Names) "Do you promise to love (bride and groom) as your parents, do you promise to respect them and cherish them now and forever as one family united by our Heavenly Father?"
Children Recite: "We Do"
Pastor: "(Bride Groom) have gifts for the children - as their wedding rings symbolize a reminder of how their love encircles them - these bracelets are a reminder to the children-that they are also encircled in a communion of divine love as a member of this family."
Groom places bracelets on the three oldest children. (Individually)
Bride places bracelet on youngest child.
As each bracelet is clasped, Pastor says: "Do you pledge yourself to Christ and (Child's name.) Bride/Groom say: "I do."
{source}
Example #2
In both the examples both the bride & groom had children. Our wording will be altered slightly since this isn't the case in our family.
I have also been researching doing a sand ceremony.
{source}
I haven't found wording to go along with this yet, so this is a maybe. I would also need to find a set of vases to use and colored sand.
The last option is a ceremony called The Family Medallion
{source}
The wording on the website is very simple:
(Presentation of the Family Medallion usually follows the pronouncement of the couple as husband and wife.)
Their biggest roles will be during the ceremony. Mr. B and I have decided against having attendants, so it will only be the 4 of us in front with the pastor. Originally I wanted Little A to walk me down the aisle. It was very special having my Father walk me down the aisle the first time and give me away. While I DO NOT want to take that from him, I also want to show that I am already independent of my parent's. Little A has said he wants to be the ring bearer though, so I will walk down on my own.
Miss G will of course be the flower girl. She is VERY excited about her role. I didn't want to do a traditional basket of flower petals, but I might need to just to keep the little princess content LOL.
During the ceremony we will acknowledge the fact that we are uniting not only as man & wife but as a family. I have found a few sample "vows" I thought I would share with you as well. We will take these two examples (and any others I might find along the way) when we meet with our pastor. Honestly I can't read thru them the whole way right now without getting teary eyed. Not sure how I will do in September.
Example #1
Pastor: "Before (Bride and Groom names) exchange their vows to each other, as husband and wife they have special vows to their children and their children to them. Not only are they entering into a covenant of 2 people but are uniting 2 families to one."
The Children are called forward to stand together.
Pastor:"This marriage is not just joining of (bride and groom); it is also the joining of (all children's names) as one Christian family. (Bride and Groom), do you promise to love (children's names) to nurture them and to protect them, to teach them and cherish them now and forever united by our Lord Jesus Christ?"
(Bride and groom) respond:" We do."
Pastor: (Children's Names) "Do you promise to love (bride and groom) as your parents, do you promise to respect them and cherish them now and forever as one family united by our Heavenly Father?"
Children Recite: "We Do"
Pastor: "(Bride Groom) have gifts for the children - as their wedding rings symbolize a reminder of how their love encircles them - these bracelets are a reminder to the children-that they are also encircled in a communion of divine love as a member of this family."
Groom places bracelets on the three oldest children. (Individually)
Bride places bracelet on youngest child.
As each bracelet is clasped, Pastor says: "Do you pledge yourself to Christ and (Child's name.) Bride/Groom say: "I do."
{source}
Example #2
Groom: “(children’s names), I want you to know that I dearly love your mother. We have become very good friends over the weeks and months and we have learned to love each other. As you have so graciously shared this wonderful woman with me, so will I share the love I feel for her with you.
Together, we will learn much more about each other. I promise also to be fair and to be honest, to be available for you as I am for your mom, and in due time, to earn your love, respect and true friendship. I will not attempt to replace anyone, but to make a place in your hearts that is for me alone. I will be father and friend, and I will cherish my life with all of you. On this day when I marry your mom, I marry you, and I promise to love and support you as my own.”
Bride: “(children’s names), I want you to know that I dearly love your father. We have become very good friends over the weeks and months and we have learned to love each other. As you have so graciously shared this wonderful man with me, so will I share the love I feel for him with both of you. Together, we will learn much more about each other.
I promise also to be fair and to be honest, to be available for you as I am for your dad, and in due time, to earn your love, respect and true friendship. I will not attempt to replace anyone, but to make a place in your hearts that is for me alone. I will be mother and friend, and I will cherish my life with both of you. On this day when I marry your dad, I marry you, and I promise to love and support you as my own.”
The bride and groom’s children then responded to the following vows when read by the pastor:
(Children’s names), do you promise to love your mother and her new husband?
Children respond: “I do.”
pastor:Do you promise to support their marriage and your new family?
Children respond: “I do.”
pastor: Do you promise to accept the responsibility of being their children, and to encourage them, support them, and accept them just as our heavenly Father accepts us?
Children respond: “I do.”
pastor:(Children’ names), do you promise to love your father and his new wife?
Children respond: “I do.”
pastor: Do you promise to support their marriage and your new family?
Children respond: “I do.”
pastor: Do you promise to accept the responsibility of being their children, and to encourage them, support them, and accept them just as our heavenly Father accepts us?
Children respond: “I do.”
{source}In both the examples both the bride & groom had children. Our wording will be altered slightly since this isn't the case in our family.
I have also been researching doing a sand ceremony.
{source}
Step1
Just prior to the ceremony, fill each of the vases with one color of sand and leave the center vase empty.Step2
Father or Groom pours a portion of his sand into the center vaseStep3
Mother or Bride pours a portion of her sand into the center vaseStep4
Each child pours all their sand into the center vaseStep5
Father and Mother pours the rest of their sand into the center vase simultaneouslyI haven't found wording to go along with this yet, so this is a maybe. I would also need to find a set of vases to use and colored sand.
The last option is a ceremony called The Family Medallion
{source}
The wording on the website is very simple:
(Presentation of the Family Medallion usually follows the pronouncement of the couple as husband and wife.)
INTRODUCTION: Often we think of a wedding as the union of two people. In reality, it is much broader. It is a coming together of families...
FAMILY MEDALLION PRESENTATION: Two merged circles often symbolize love. The Family Medallion has three circles to represent love that reaches out to include others...
PARENT'S PLEDGE: In presenting (this/these) Family Medallions(s), we pledge to you our continuing love...
FAMILY PRAYER: We give thanks, O Lord, for the relationship here celebrated. We are humbled by the recognition that today we face a new future, one where love is unfolding before our very eyes ... (prayer continues)
The family medallion could also be used with the first example of the vows. The medallion comes on necklaces, bracelets, key chains, label pins, rings ... so there are lots of options.
Last but not least, I am considering doing the "Father/Daughter" & "Mother/Son" dances and have Mr. B & I dance with the kids instead of our respective parent's. I have (again) already done the Father/Daughter dance with my Dad and Mr. B's mom isn't in the best of health and wouldn't physically be able to get up a dance. In my head this plan sounds like a good idea. I am just not sure it will work. We may just stick with Mr. B and I only doing our first dance and then just invite everyone out to party.
Are there any special ceremonies you are planning to include?
Friends ... Vendors - It's all the same
I am SO very blessed to have a wonderful collection of VERY talented friends to help with our wedding. Since these friends have all been confirmed I thought I would share our Friendors (thanks for the word Mrs. Hummingbird)
First up - Invitations
In town there is a (not so small) scrapbooking store called Mementos. She has expanded a few times since I originally met her in 2004 and it is much more than just a scrapbooking store. The owner, Lisa is a wonderful and VERY creative woman. I can't wait to sit down and put together our amazing invitations. She is an Envelopments dealer so we will be using their product line. I did some work for Lisa creating her blog so we are bartering some of the price of my invitations. What an awesome deal!
Photography
The 1st time I got married my mom tried to convice me to use this photographer that she met in our hometown in Arizona. At the time I lived in Orange County and wanted "the finer things in life" and we ended up booking with a larger photography company in Southern Arizona and was NOT pleased with the service we paid for. When I moved back to Arizona we started having family pictures done by my mom's photographer, Bill Bulter. He was so much fun to work with. Here is a family picture from that session:
Since then he has done a few more family sessions, a grandkid session and has even photographed a few of my kids birthday parties. I love when he captures the "real" moments:
Because we are returning customers (and we refer a LOT of people to him) we were able to create the package that we wanted for a price in our budget. He will be with us all day and has even promised to capture a grand exit photo for us (a little more on that later). We will also get DVD's of the high res images that should be ready when we get back from our Familymoon.
DJ Services will be provided by a close friend. You saw his wife's baby shower before on the blog. (She was the kid's nanny for years, and now they are expecting their own bundle of joy any day.) D-man has such a great personality and since he really knows Mr. B and I we are not stressing about music at all. D-man and his pal B-Man are better known as FranzAnelli Audio Services and are just starting out. I had the pleasure of seeing them DJ a wedding in March and they did a wonderful job.
The kids and I with D-Man on his wedding day.
D-Man is not the only one from his family that will be a Friendor. His FIL (Father In Law) will be our officiant. I have known him since I was a teenager and Mr. B is very comfortable with him as well. He was ordained a year or so ago and has only done one other wedding, but I am confident that he will be able to give us the relaxed yet meaningful ceremony we want to have. We will meet more with him in the upcoming months.
{source} ignore the bad church directory photo LOL
His son has also agreed to perform our ceremony music. He is a very talented musician and he and his friend have performed at other ceremonies. I still have to get them a list of music but I am not worried. You can hear a sampling of his music on his MySpace page
with his sister on her wedding day
Hair & Make Up
I already mentioned that my friend and long time hair stylist will be doing my hair & make-up for the big day. She is coming to us, since her house is about 30 min from my parent's house. We will be doing a trial as it gets closer and I am SURE I will need your advice & opinions about my hair. What I didn't mention is that her mom is a florist and if my DIY flowers are not coming together when we get them in I can call on her for emergency help.
There are some other "Friendors" in the works as well and once they are confirmed I will share those with you as well. Are any of your friends doubling as vendors for the day?
First up - Invitations
In town there is a (not so small) scrapbooking store called Mementos. She has expanded a few times since I originally met her in 2004 and it is much more than just a scrapbooking store. The owner, Lisa is a wonderful and VERY creative woman. I can't wait to sit down and put together our amazing invitations. She is an Envelopments dealer so we will be using their product line. I did some work for Lisa creating her blog so we are bartering some of the price of my invitations. What an awesome deal!
Photography
The 1st time I got married my mom tried to convice me to use this photographer that she met in our hometown in Arizona. At the time I lived in Orange County and wanted "the finer things in life" and we ended up booking with a larger photography company in Southern Arizona and was NOT pleased with the service we paid for. When I moved back to Arizona we started having family pictures done by my mom's photographer, Bill Bulter. He was so much fun to work with. Here is a family picture from that session:
Since then he has done a few more family sessions, a grandkid session and has even photographed a few of my kids birthday parties. I love when he captures the "real" moments:
Because we are returning customers (and we refer a LOT of people to him) we were able to create the package that we wanted for a price in our budget. He will be with us all day and has even promised to capture a grand exit photo for us (a little more on that later). We will also get DVD's of the high res images that should be ready when we get back from our Familymoon.
DJ Services will be provided by a close friend. You saw his wife's baby shower before on the blog. (She was the kid's nanny for years, and now they are expecting their own bundle of joy any day.) D-man has such a great personality and since he really knows Mr. B and I we are not stressing about music at all. D-man and his pal B-Man are better known as FranzAnelli Audio Services and are just starting out. I had the pleasure of seeing them DJ a wedding in March and they did a wonderful job.
The kids and I with D-Man on his wedding day.
D-Man is not the only one from his family that will be a Friendor. His FIL (Father In Law) will be our officiant. I have known him since I was a teenager and Mr. B is very comfortable with him as well. He was ordained a year or so ago and has only done one other wedding, but I am confident that he will be able to give us the relaxed yet meaningful ceremony we want to have. We will meet more with him in the upcoming months.
{source} ignore the bad church directory photo LOL
His son has also agreed to perform our ceremony music. He is a very talented musician and he and his friend have performed at other ceremonies. I still have to get them a list of music but I am not worried. You can hear a sampling of his music on his MySpace page
with his sister on her wedding day
Hair & Make Up
I already mentioned that my friend and long time hair stylist will be doing my hair & make-up for the big day. She is coming to us, since her house is about 30 min from my parent's house. We will be doing a trial as it gets closer and I am SURE I will need your advice & opinions about my hair. What I didn't mention is that her mom is a florist and if my DIY flowers are not coming together when we get them in I can call on her for emergency help.
There are some other "Friendors" in the works as well and once they are confirmed I will share those with you as well. Are any of your friends doubling as vendors for the day?
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