What a joy this wedding was.! When I was first contacted and asked to officiate a Jewish/Pagan blended wedding I was totally thrilled! A great chance to let my creativity flow and this great couple were just so easy to work with that it was a pleasure. [By the way the photos are all theirs from Facebook] As usual I don’t get to be behind the camera, but luckily they took lots xD. The ceremony was held at the Moffat Ladd house and gardens in
beautiful Portsmouth, NH. I drove there from my office and was a little concerned about finding the place and parking and such like as I had not been there before. Yay for prior research. I always Google places and check out local reviews before I go and this time it paid off tremendously. I found a convenient parking garage one block from the venue and was early enough to be right inside the entrance. Much easier for me to carry my table and other items needed for the ceremony. A quick visit to the venue, checked out all the spots and the setup, chatted with the staff, and back off to my car to collect all the items. I did need to bless the space before I started in two different manners for this particular wedding, so I made sure I arrived in plenty of time. Found my couple, let everyone know I was around for when they were ready to start. And then just enjoyed the location.
Two wonderful young ladies were the sole musical contribution to the ceremony and their voices carried you along in a soulful manner to create the spirit needed for such an energy. When they started to sing, even the birds paused to listen. As part of the ceremony we began with a guided meditation to direct all the energies of the witnesses [and this included all Mother Nature‘s witnesses too!] towards the sacred taking of vows.
The seven blessings of the Jewish faith were given also, and I was honoured to have the Best Man, Eli, give the blessings in Yiddish, with an English translation by me. The couple shared wine, rings, blessings, a glass was broken and they also jumped the broom as part of their blending of rituals. This couple are well and truly married!
Congratulations to April and Nate!
****Thank you so much for your kind review [reproduced below from weddingwire]
Awesomely-April
Wedding:
07/16/2011
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07/29/2011Services Used:
Officiant
our officiant was her ability to make us feel at ease and her ability
to truly adapt what we had wanted, in our hearts, for our wedding
ceremony to be. Planning a wedding can be a stressful times, but with
each discussion with Deb she immediately de-spelled any feelings of
stress we had about the wedding ceremony and was always ready and
willing to answer any wedding related question we had throughout the
process. No question ever seemed irrelevant to her, even the smallest
of detailed question she answered with respect and thoroughness. We
had an interfaith wedding, a mixture of both Pagan and Jewish
traditions and we wanted it to be a loving and spiritually fulfilling
ceremony which paid homage to each religion. Before we had discovered
Deb, it was difficult to find an officiant as knowledgeable as her of
both faiths and that was also willing to do a mixed ceremony of this
style. Once we found Deb though, our prayers were answered! We were
able to easily work together and were able to blend the traditions
nicely. The ceremony flowed so magically thanks to Deb! I highly
recommend her as an officiant.
‘blush’ Thank you so much for the opportunity to share this day with you. I enjoyed every moment of it. I loved the finished ceremony and walked away wishing I could do it all over again! Congratulations and may your love always shine as brightly as it did that day! Debi.
Rev Deborah Ashe 