Heather was having a bad day.  A few bad weeks actually.  She had a wedding all planned and then, emergency surgery was performed.  Then she called about her wedding and they had all the times wrong!  She lost her officiant, her make-up artist, her photographer.  It was just not a good day.  

I received an email of desperation from Heather and was happy to get back to her right away and hopefully lessen it.  I think I did!  We were able to schedule the day she had planned here at the house.  She found a great photographer and we were able to marry them in the back yard!  Her dress was beautiful, her makeup perfect and her hubby is awesome too!!!!  I had a great time meeting Heather and Steve.  I'm so happy to have been able to marry them and that it all worked out.  

I do my best!  I really do.  I don't want anyone to be left in tears over their wedding.  Sometimes we can make it work out even better then the original plan.  If I can't do it, I'll find someone to do it.  I'm committed to this job and being the one call a couple has to make to ease their stress and find not only what they need but what they want.  Last weekend I got a desperate call from a bride her second officiant cancelled on her.  I hate those.  They make me so sad.  I want to help everyone.  It was a Saturday night but I found one of my associates online, available and able to say "YES!  I'd love to marry you!!!"  Just tell me when and where and I'll be there.  Often I meet brides for the first time with hugs!  I love that!  I'm glad to say  "we'll take care of it" and actually mean it.  

Thank you to everyone who gives us the opportunity!!!

13 years ago Milena's parents kissed her goodbye at the airport in Albania wishing her well as she came to study in America.  He sister studied here as well and they are both doctors!  Her parents followed soon.  Milena, even though in America still wanted an Albanian husband.  And that's what she got!  No only did she marry an Albanian man but he already knew her father.  I think they had actually worked together in Albania.  I'm not too clear on all the details but it was rather amazing how both of their families could have traveled from the same town in eastern Europe to end up in Indianapolis related by marriage.  

Milena is very romantic and wrote a beautiful wedding ceremony and both the bride and groom wrote their own vows.  We discussed performing some of their native customs which would be Eastern Orthodox but in the end, she decided against it.  Savri was the groom and his father did a reading in their native tongue but the rest was in English.  Me and the bride's brother in law were the odd men out as native english speakers but that was OK.  There was a great deal of joy among both families

The wedding was in their front yard and we had well wishers honking as they drove by!

Congratulations!!

Kristina sent me an email on Thursday asking me to call her. She wanted to get married.  I called her right away and told her we could marry her just as fast and she was surprised!  They applied for the license on like that night, Alan took off early on Friday so the two of them can pick it up and they came over and got married.  Their signed papers go out in the mail tomorrow!  They brought a camera and my husband was home so he took pictures.  They couldn't have been happier about it!  They had a great weekend planned enjoying golf and celebrating with their friends.

An affair to remember.....

Fountain Square Theater is an AWESOME place to get married!  The excitement of seeing your name in lights, your own personal movie poster.  You are literally at the center of your own stage!  They even have a really kewl bowling alley upstairs that made for a great rehearsal dinner spot.  

Tanya and Donny were married in a BIG way this past weekend.  Where do I even begin to tell the story?

I'm at a time in my life - my mid-40's - where, how do I put this lightly?  I really don't care what anyone thinks!  It doesn't cause me to be a bad-ass, it causes me to be my best self.  I'm finding myself at a time in my life where I get to take the best of all of my life experiences and use and enjoy them.  The cool part is it helps me so much in my business.  Relating to a couple and their wedding is part of the chemistry of the wedding.  

I'm married, I'm a mom, I've got experience in other countries with all sorts of cultures.  I've held several different jobs in many lines of work.  It's all been fun and if it wasn't fun?  It was an excellent learning  experience!  (muwahahahahahah)

Tanya and Donnie, I think, went looking for a needle in a haystack.  And, It was cool to be their needle.  I do shine pretty brightly.  They are all about family.  He comes from a big Italian family and she from a large German family.  Not only does Tanya come from a large German family but they are actually still speaking German and cooking German and baking German at Heidelberg Haus Cafe and Bakery on Pendleton Pike.  I always love running into Germans in Indianapolis and they talk about going their for their "Brotchen" which are rolls every German eats for breakfast.  They travel from near and far on a regular basis to get this authentic taste of home.  I know we went there within the first few weeks of moving to town.   You see, my Husband is German.  We were married in Germany, we've lived in Germany and heck, I even speak a little German.  And, not only that, I used to be a pastry chef and my husband is a Chef.  This is probably not what they were looking for in me. But it helped.  When Tanya's daughter crawled up and sat on my lap when we first met at my house that could have also been a pretty good sign.  I didn't bite and either did she!

What they were looking for was the right person that would get along with these families, understand them and not think they're crazy but wonderful and unique and fun, as they are!  Considering the father of the bride kept hugging me, often, I think I did OK.  Wow! Whatta guy!!  I even asked him in German "who gives this woman to be married."  It wen't right over his head!!!  

Tanya and Donnie put together a wonderful ceremony.  Longer then usual but I'm always OK with that.  By long we're talking 20 minutes.  Not an hour and 20 minutes.  They were becoming a family with Tanya's daughter and they put her right in the ceremony with a sand ceremony written just for them and about them.  They used Robert Fulgham's  "Everything I needed to know I learned in Kindergarten" and "Oh the places you will go!" By Dr. Seuss.  The Dr. Seuss was actually used as the pronouncement.  So, instead of a prayer or a blessing I read that.  But, really, reading that is more of a performance!   The version of All the things I need to know I learned in kindergarten is a version I expanded on to compare it to a good marriage. 

During the speech by the Matron of Honor, Tanya's sister they talked about how they would dream about their weddings when they were little girls.  Tanya either wanted to marry Patrick Swayze of River Phoenix.  Good thing Donny came along huh?  Considering they are both dead.  But, hey, they have their own movie poster:

Donny's dad makes wine!  Now a bad skill to have huh?  He did something really cool.  He made individual bottles of wine as wedding favors and put pictures of the bride and groom on them:

Tanya's family didn't cater the wedding.  The Fountain Square Theater did that and it was excellent!  But her dad did make the cake!  Tanya designed it herself.  It was tasty too!

I don't usually stay for receptions but they wanted me to offer the blessing at the dinner so I stayed.  For me, it was awesome!  I sat in between two older German Chef's and got to listen to them talk about their long career's and the Culinary Olympics in which they both received Gold Medals!   I was like a little apprentice baker again with my tongue hanging out, only now that I'm older I'm a much better flirt!

It was truly a family affair with little girls, lots of little girls, in dresses and shoes twirling around.  Cousins in matching dress shoes and mani-pedi's.  It was wonderful to see such a wedding where whole families were invited.  Kids and all.  I KNOW that's not for everyone.  But it was for these families and it was wonderful and delightful and funny and crazy!!!

Thank You 
Tanya and Donnie for allowing me to share in your special day!  I wish you a very happy and long marriage.  Like your parents have.  They must be doing something right and you learned well!

Today I got to go on a drive out into the boonies!  Meaning, Boone County.  Tammy and Bill live out in the country across the street from Bill's parents.  They decided they wanted to just have a small ceremony at home and have their reception later in the day for all their family and friends.  

Thanks for letting me into your home!  I'm always honored that people will invite a stranger in.  I loved their home. Bill has been building and expanding.  They've got a BIG hole in their back yard.  And a bulldozer right next to it.  The irony?  It's been a drought in Indiana all summer.  You can see it as you drive through the farmland on the way to their house.  The corn is short and dry.  Pond (the big hole)?  Still empty.  They planned a very nice backyard wedding and reception - you know, based on this sunny weather we've been having.  What happens the weekend of their wedding?  A hurricane!!!  When I emailed with Tammy earlier in the week she said she's gone from Bridezilla to Hurricanezilla!!  Although, I couldn't imagine her as a zilla of any kind - unless there is a sweetie-zilla?  They were just happy to be getting married. Even their pitbull is a sweetie!  They have a great balance though, Bill is a beekeeper with several hives in the backyard. 

The newlyweds will be honeymooning at home and thinking of planting trees to commemorate their wedding.  Weeping willows by the pond.  

Yep, I'll drive to the boonies or just about anywhere else to marry a happy couple!  I'm so glad to have been there at the beginning of their marriage.  May your home, garden and family grow over many, many wonderful years!! 

Or is that Purdue vs. Notre Dame?  I suppose ladies first.  She is a graduate of the former, He, a graduate of the latter.  Last night, the two become one. The bride's mother decided that since they are Notre Dame and IU people, Purdue, also being a well known university is acceptable in their mix.   I pointed out that he is as Irish as they come so the fighting Irish and all that stuff.....  I grew up in a college town and ended up graduating from culinary school out of state so...ummm....  whatever?  :-)  

The Groom? Was a confirmed bachelor.  Although, according to his friends, he'd been stalking his bride for a few years.  The bride?  According to her dad?  A babe!  Yes, a babe!  Nobody believed me when I said that's what he told me but I did double check with him and he confirmed it.  

It was....a giant cocktail party!!  Yes, guests were greeted with champagne before the ceremony and were treated to more cocktails and h'orderves afterwards.  You know, 250 of their closest family and friends.  The cocktails started the night before at the rehearsal.  It was a fun one!  No doubt!  The happy couple is already well established in their lives and a great big casual party is exactly what they wanted.  

When I first met with the couple they said they wanted a very quick 5-7 minute wedding but wanted to make sure their family and friends were acknowledged because they mean that much to them.  They are great friends!  They made sure the bride had a drink to mellow her out at the rehearsal and then made sure the groom had a cocktail to mellow him out the day of the wedding.  I have to say, for as much fun as was had, the friends really were the best.  They really knew the bride and groom and took very good care of them.  I'm always humbled by these kinds of friends.  They are lucky to have each other.  

Did the wedding last 5-7 minutes?  No, it was longer.  But, we made sure to make it fun and engaging.  Sometimes my inner stand-up comic comes out. This was a good place for it. I really had a great time!  To make it fun and memorable the bride and groom wrote their own "extra" vows.  


 Do you promise to let your bride:

•  organize and re-organize the house as she sees fit
  
• Make all the household decorating decisions
  
• Listen to most of the details of most of her stories,
  
• and cheer for Notre Dame at every game (except when they are playing Purdue)? 

Bride, do you promise to let your groom:

• Record every sporting event he attends and watch it over again when he gets home
  
• Make all the household technology decisions
  
• Listen to most of the details of most of his golf games,
  
• and cheer for Purdue at every game (except when they are playing ND)?
  

They then exchanged Purdue and Notre Dame cups filled with Champagne and took a drink. 

Things like this can really help to make your ceremony not only special but memorable and fun for everyone. Often, couples are just like this groom was - He made sure the date of the wedding was before football season so no one had to miss a game because they were at his wedding (he didn't want to miss a game either) - they wanted to make sure they don't have a long, drawn out, boring and uncomfortable wedding ceremony.  We accomplished that here. Everyone was relaxed enough with fun and laughter to enjoy themselves and the bride and groom felt good when it was their moment to exchange their vows and rings.  That's the most important part.  Making the time - the moment - you make your vows, memorable. 

It was a hot and humid Saturday in Indy and the rain did come through earlier but by the time 7PM came around there was a breeze, blue in the skies and sunshine.  As I said the Irish Blessing the breeze what at our backs, we were surrounded by friends and a beautiful green golf course.  Not to mention, JOY!

May the road rise to meet you
May the wind be always at your back
May the warm rays of sun fall upon your home
And may the hand of a friend always be near.
May green be the grass you walk on,
May blue be the skies above you,
May pure be the joys that surround you,
May true be the hearts that love you.

They rent out the zoo!  Why knew?  

I love White River Gardens.  My boys love White River Gardens.  Of course I knew you could get married there. Having been married for over 20 years I can't get married there.  But I was really looking forward to officiating a wedding there!  Oh my!!  I waited on pins and needs for this couple to book their wedding after our meeting.  The kewl part was - they were having their reception in the dolphin dome!!  Like, since I know kewl is not a real world I can just say this: double kewl!!!  I don't usually stay for receptions but still, the idea of if was just amazing!!

Well, hmmm...  if you live in Indy,or anywhere in the midwest, you may know it was over 100 degrees here.  Garden weddings were simply not appropriate this weekend.  At least not for 200 of your closest friends.  Maybe 50 in your back yard for 10 minutes but no.  We did have quick rehearsal outside on Friday but the wedding was cabaret style at the reception.  Doesn't that sound nice?  Cabaret style. That means your guests are sitting at the tables in the reception area while you get married on the dance floor.  I actually do many weddings like this since I officiate non-religious weddings it's an easy and comfortable way to use your venue and keep your guests comfortable.  

When I met with the couple, as when I meet with all couples, I ask general questions like will there be drinking before the ceremony to the point I'll be dealing with drunk people or were there going to be children?  The bride said there would be no drinking but yes, there will be and to simply let them be.  She had wonderful memories of family weddings when she was a child and all the kids just run around and it was relaxed and fun.  True to their word of not caring about the children in the wedding, they had a baby in the arms or her brides attendant mama!  The groom is a fashion designer and made all the dresses - including a matching dress for the baby to match her mom!   (cute, is not strong enough a word.)  There was no running around the gardens at this wedding but wow!  checking out the dolphins was a lot of fun!  The ring bearer was awesome and I think he had the most fun of all!   He enjoyed every moment!

This wedding ceremony?  The bride just wanted it to be over with!  She doesn't care for the spotlight.  She made it quite the clear the shorter the better.  I do believe, if didn't happen at all it would have been OK.  :-)  But, it was beautiful!!  They chose traditional vows and added updated wording to the end.  The bride also had wonderful memories about her father reading Dr. Seuss to her when she was a child.  We definitely included "Oh The Places You Will Go."  (I very much enjoyed the smile on her dad's face)  

I like to meet the other wedding professionals when I officiate large weddings.  Jackie Sabrosky is the Wedding and Events Sales Manager for the Zoo.   As you can see, pregnant and still working hard!  I think the outfit was amazingly cute!!  She was a VERY busy lady!  But, honestly, super friendly!  She called me at home the day before after the rehearsal to let me know the ceremony was moved inside and how to get where I needed to go with ease.   The groom said most of the planning was done via email which I find is easy for most busy couples and they had nothing but great things to say about Jackie and her staff.  Other couples I've spoken with who were still in the process of planning their wedding had great things to say about Indy Zoo weddings as well.  

Paige from Sweet Seductions in Canby, Indiana provided the cake.  It's a beauty huh? She and her daughter, (also referred to as her minion) Darby, were busy at work putting this work of art together.  Being a former pastry chef, I've gotta tell you, transporting a cake in this heat is not an easy task! Paige and Darby were dressed like guests as they were putting this together.  Check out their website if you are looking for a cake.  They were both great!  Be sure to make an appointment.  They are busy ladies!!

I actually own harp recordings.  Very relaxing!  This is Stephanie Hall.  Also very friendly! (and very pregnant!) I have a couple who is looking for versatile musicians that can play Hava Nagila for their.  Stephanie said she can but probably wouldn't have the same effect huh?  I'm www.marrymeinindy.com and she is www.IndianapolisHarpist.com.  We've got the names and web addressed down huh?  Check out Stephanie if you are looking for elegance! (And maybe a little Hava Nagila)

It was Rick and Brenda's day!  Each have two girls and one boy and now they all live under one roof!  Well, kind of.  There were many lovely young ladies in the the wedding as you can see.  And a son for a best man and a son to give mom away.  

God bless them all!!

The wedding was at Osprey Point Pavilion on Morse Reservoir in Noblesville.  Luckily, they had a place to take the wedding inside since it was 100 degrees that day!  The thunder showers came through a few hours earlier to cool everything off and the sunset was beautiful over the lake for the ceremony and pictures.  

Rick and Brenda wanted a more religious ceremony and wrote their own opening prayer.  It was complimented by a guest too. :-)  They committed themselves to marriage with answering the questions with "I will"  and then committed themselves to each other in their own words.  It was short and sweet and to the point. 

Congratulations!

Yep, it was the kind of wedding that I love.  It was different.  A surprise!  Well.  It was supposed to be.  

Nathan and Bree are going be be parents in August.  They planned a baby shower but decided that is where they would get married too.  It was supposed to be a big surprise.  I don't know about you but I'm not sure I could keep my wedding a secret.  I tried to keep my pregnancy a secret for a while but some things are just way too exciting.  

The wedding ended up being a bit of a surprise for some and not for others.  Her grandpa really wanted to see them married before the baby was born.  He was surprised.  But then quite upset because his wife knew and that was the first time she'd kept a secret from him in their 52 years of marriage.  I have a very nice conversation with him afterwards and I don't think he was any worse for the wear.  

Nate and Bree had it planned out well.  There was a video.  The first part was pictures of Bree's life and the next part Nate's life and then their life together.  When they got towards the end of their life together Nate got up, picked some flowers out of a vase on the mantel and gave them to her.  Then, I got up, joined them and married them.  It was extremely well done!  I must say I missed the ooo's and ahh's or surprise but still....  It was great!  They wrote their own vows which is always so very real and romantic.  They had their moment and it was perfect!   Because it was a baby shower and such an special time in their lives they used a lovely reading about childhoods.  It was very appropriate:

Today is a day of memories. We are remembering our childhoods; we are remembering, with gratitude, all that our parents have done to prepare us to lead independent and useful lives.
We remember, too, the day we met. We remember our first dates and the way our courtship progressed.

Now we begin to build new kinds of memories. From this day on, our lives will fuse in a new way and our memories will be not of you and me, but of us.

I promise that I will do all that I can to make your future memories happy ones.



 Nate even went on to BBQ the food for the party afterwards.  

I enjoyed speaking with people at this wedding.  I always do.  Usually I have the funny wedding stories to tell.  This time, it was better. There was a guest there telling me interesting stories about her job at Cirilla's.  

Don't you love all the things that make a wedding memorable?

Thanks Nate and Bree for allowing me to share in your day!  I wish the two of you a very happy life together with the yet to be names little boy that will be joining you soon.  I thought your family friends were great so I'm sure you will carry on the same traditions and be great parents.  

I'm a wedding officiant.  I marry just about anyone just about any way they want to be married.  It's not my place to judge.  You want to get married?  You need someone to do it?  Here I am!

There are two ways of looking at this.  I reach out to those who think - hmmm....most people get married in a church and that's just not going to work for me.  It may be their second or third or fourth wedding.  They may not have a religion.  There may be more then one religion involved and one church is not going to cut it.  Once upon a time, those people would have a Justice of the Peace wedding.   They would just go and "make it legal."   Now, with freedom of religion and churches like Universal Life Church Monastery people like me can legally marry couples.  At least we can in Indiana and that's where I live and that's all the matters to me.  Yes, someone like me can help you create and perform any wedding of your choosing and I can sign your marriage license and make it legal too.  You can have religion or not or a little of each.

That is one way of looking at it.  The other way?  I'm still waiting to marry someone at a football game, in a hot air balloon, jumping out of a plane, in costume, you know, something totally different and KEWL.    I want to do a Unity Cocktail Ceremony.  I want to make up totally different ceremonies.  I want to be part of something different!

Then, I get the call - from Samantha.  My gurl!!!  Yeah, I like Samantha and Kyle.  I had a great weekend at their wedding!  I like their mom's and dads, their families, the farm.  All of it.  What's so KEWL about Sam?  She wants her wedding featured on offbeatbrides.com.  It's a blog featuring weddings where brides do it "their way."  Not only does Sam want to be featured on the blog but she wants to outdo her sister who did make it on to offbeatbrides.com.

So what exactly made Samantha and Kyle's wedding offbeat?   Let me think about that...

The peacock colors.  Very different bridesmaid dresses.  I painted my nails to match.  That was about as offbeat as I could get as the officiant. We had one very religious family and one very not religious bride.  Like, the groom's brother and best man is in seminary religious.

The wedding was on a farm.  An AMAZING farm really.  Her dad's farm is filled with antiques.  Tractors, signs, pumps.  Her step mom has created a beautiful garden.  I mean, it's perfect y'all!  The red barn.  The mean dog.  The wedding was performed in the presence of all the chickens and the alpaca among other animals.

The bride?  Beautiful.  She had Blue ringlets interspersed in her perfect hair.  The dress - amazing.  (yeah right, like I'd say otherwise huh?  ;-)   She had a switchblade in her garter.  A pistol was also an option.  She was barefoot with some amazing foot bling too.  I'll post pictures.

The groomsmen and bridesmaids were so perfectly matching in a totally casual way. Somehow, I managed to keep in the peacock feather theme too.  But, the KEWL thing was as I looked around...literally, everyone matched!  It seemed like all the colors everyone was wearing blended in together.  Ahhhhh.....Harmony.

Alright.  That's just cosmetics. As KEWL as they are, I'm a wedding officiant and let's get real, a wedding is about the ceremony.  If two people were not committing themselves to love each other for life and to live in marriage there would be no wedding!

Have I ever mentioned that I love love?  Or that I love my job?  Oh, at least 10K times, if not more.

I love the romance of all of it.  The meaning behind the words.  How some can write and exchange the most perfect vows or somehow gather the courage to repeat after me with traditional vows or just get lost in being asked the question "Do you take..." and then saying "I will" or "I do."   The readings, the poetry, the prayers.  sigh....

Samantha  had her ceremony kind of planned.  When I first met her, she did have certain things she definitely wanted and it sounded like she was going to write the whole thing herself. She is a fabulous writer.  But, when I got to the rehearsal expecting to be given a printed ceremony I got this "I wanted to talk to you about that....I sat down to write and nothing came."  She trusted me to write it.  WHOO HOOO!!!!   The bride and the groom wrote their own vows.  They were doing a beer box ceremony and wanted "Everything I need to know I learned in Kindergarten" by Robert Fulgham   She also wanted a surprise opening from me.  Insert- religion for the non-religious.  I LOVE a good writing challenge.  I'm a channel and sometimes the neatest things come out when I write.

After the rehearsal and the dinner I had a bit of a drive home from Lafayette to Fishers and I was formulating in my head. Coming up with ideas.  It took a little while but it really came out well!  Click here to check out the ceremony.   I used Beetles euphemisms and excellent bible quotes and verses.

But what made it offbeat?

This ceremony lasted a little longer then most.  Most weddings I perform in about 15 minutes from procession to recession. This one was closer to a half an hour.  Yeah, I can be long winded - but I was witty!

Well, most ceremonies are that short because the bride and groom don't want to annoy people. They compare it to going to a large church wedding with a whole mass or communion for 250 people.  Endless boring sermons or blah readings or painful soloists.  My weddings are not this.  Weddings do not have to be like this.  Guests can be engaged in what's going on in your wedding.  They do listen and laugh or are truly touched by what is said and done.

WAKE UP!!!

Yeah, you heard me!  It's YOUR WEDDING CEREMONY!  Make it memorable, make it yours.  Make it this one day, one hour or 5 minutes of truly memorable bliss!  I always try to remind couples that the way in which they exchange vows is important.  It's wonderful the day you do it.  It's romantic, it's surreal.  But, you are making vows for a lifetime of marriage.  I've been married 21 years so far.  My parents, over 50.  That's a long time and it's not all fun and games. Its a journey, for sure.  Some parts of it are rocky and some up hill and some covered in very slippery ice.  Some days are spring-like and some are the dead of winter and the power is out.  Some day. when facing problems you may want to look back at your wedding day and how you exchanged vows.  How you exchange vows may be the way you need to solve your problems.  Was it funny?  Maybe you need to find humor in the current situation. Were your families important?  Or your friends?  Then they will be with you now to help you work through your problems.  Did you trust in God on your wedding day?  Then maybe God is where you should turn to help you work through your problem.    You know what I mean?

Think about it. Personalize it.

Samantha chose a traditional song for the parents to walk in to.  Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring.  Very appropriate.  Then, she mixed it up with The Beetles - only the songs done acoustic and sung by a woman.  The attendants walked into "I Wanna Hold Your Hand"  And, the offbeat part was, once the attendants were in their place, the music didn't stop.  It kept going to the end.  The lyrics were part of the ceremony.  The sentiment behind the words.  Friends hold your hand when you need it.  You attendants are your friends holding your hand.  There is meaning and 2 extra minutes to listen to a song is what the bride wanted to experience as she waited with her dad for her moment.  And then, her song?  "Here comes the Sun"  Same artist.  I wish I knew who - she's great!  And, the entire song played.  She wanted to walk down the aisle to the song.  The whole song had meaning.  It was her moment! Good for her!  Some of the guests seemed confused but - well, who cares huh?  It was their moment!  The bride and the groom.

The first reading was Everything I needed to Know I learned in Kindergarten.  I made it funny.  When they met, they talked about that poem.  The second reading was hmmm....  somewhat... erotic maybe?  Hey, I opened the ceremony with 2 verses from the Song of Songs.  It is a wedding you know.  Their vows - fabulous.  So heartfelt.

Offbeat?  The Beer Box!  Yep, the Beer Box Ceremony.  Kyle brews his own.  That adds personality to you ceremony!  This particular brew was a 5 year stout.  It will take 5 years for it to be ready to drink. They also added love letters, their vows and I put in a copy of the ceremony.  Traditionally, the box has wine or whiskey or something alcoholic.  You decide to open the box in the future - in this case on their 5th anniversary to celebrate with the beer and to remember their vows.  This is usually often referred to an an emergency box too.  If for some reason your marriage has reached the point of peril you open the box, relax a bit with a drink and then go into separate rooms and read what your spouse wrote to you on your wedding day.  I asked Sam what do you do with beer that's not ready?  Her reply was "if you have to open the box you deserve bad beer!"  So, my advice to them was if they have to open it before 5 years to read, re-evaluate, re-write and close the box back up.

I try to remember take a moment to have the bride and groom center and enjoy the moment because it goes by so fast.  At the end of this ceremony it felt like an actual experience had taken place.  That Samantha and Kyle were in it together. That was my intention and I hope it worked.   Of course, at the end of the ceremony its over, all the nerves and stress are gone, your moment is gone.  Deep breath!  At the end of this ceremony it felt like not only was the moment experienced but they were also moving on together in marriage.

The kiss was great.  The recession was great.  The pictures were taken.  Everyone was - happy and relaxed.

Why does that seem offbeat?  Not sure.  But, it was definitely offbeat in a good way!