Celebrant Ceremonies Presents Wedding Rituals

I banded together with four classmates whom I met in 2004 while training at the Celebrant USA Foundation, after graduating, to create a friendly group called Celebrant Ceremonies. Our agenda continues to change over the years, but always we have spent time together talking about ceremony, and sharing rituals.

On a beautiful spring-like Sunday, February 8th, we invited the public to attend a sampling of wedding rituals with the gracious participation of two Montclair actors, Erika and Peter Daddabbo. At Amanti Vino, on Church Street in Montclair, Julie Laudicina, Celia Milton, Eve Young and I led the blushing bride and groom (and they were blushing!) through a ring warming, a draping ceremony, a hand fasting, and a wine sharing.

We were very grateful to several Montclair businesses for pitching in to help - with both generosity and creativity. In their newly magnificent space on South Fullerton Avenue, Bangz Salon and Spa pampered and prepared Erika for her pretend wedding, with romantic make up by Chris and a lovely "up-do" to her hair from Shanna. Beth at Ruby on Church Street not only dressed Erika in a creamy chiffon dress and glittering earrings, but also ran the dress next door so Jeff at Accents With Flowers could design a complimentary bouquet of ivory roses and pearls. Nancy at the wonderfully magical shop Parcel, around the corner on Bloomfield Avenue, created a program full of delicate flourishes for our afternoon wedding.

This is just one way we've thought of to explain and demonstrate how we, as Celebrants, use ceremony to mindfully mark turning points in a personal way. It was fun; we hope to do some more of this kind of theater...

Family and friends

This is a picture of Kat and Tom, a delightful couple, taken by Diana Bezanski, a tremendous photographer. Kat and Tom's family and friends followed their lead to a playful, gorgeous wedding at the Fonthill Museum. During the ceremony, they stood with them, sang for them, encircled them and laughed & cried as the couple got married; here Kat and Tom are showered with joy as they recess.


Your family and friends are probably the most valuable element of your wedding. Even if, say, you elope, the telling of that story cements the moment in the world around you. To share the feelings of joy, or love, or maybe of slight trepidation - binds your life with those you gather around you. It's a huge gift you give, and receive back.

I always love meeting the family and friends of a couple I am marrying. Usually, I have gotten to know the two of them over a period of months, and, at the rehearsal, I see them anew with the people who mean so much to them. A parent may call one of them by a childhood name that I don't know; someone might tease them in a way that indicates longtime and intimate knowledge; or maybe a brother stands off to the side, quietly observing his sibling's big step. Every one of these tiny specifics adds to the story of the wedding of these two people. It's a rich narrative, and something to treasure.

My husband and I have a friend, Silvere, who advised us during our wedding reception to "gather up all the love" that was surrounding us that day, and keep it for whenever we needed it. We did, and we do.

A Backyard Wedding in 1947

To kick this off, here's a home wedding. It has all the elements I love - friends and family pitch in to make it happen and the gathering is relaxed and joyous.

This is the wedding of my husband's mother and father - Carolyn Joyce Thomas and E. Leon Reamer, held on the lawn of her family's house in Lawnton, Pennsylvania, on the beautiful Sunday afternoon of June 1, 1947.

A family friend, Alberta, made the gown. She and Carolyn rode the bus into Harrisburg to pick out the pattern and fabric. Carolyn's father, O.D., took it upon himself to get a cake and to place blooming irises around the yard. The Methodist minister was a friend and neighbor, and his wife stood beside the couple as a bridesmaid, along with Leon's sister, Peggy. Carolyn's friend, Roberta, played music for the ceremony on a phonograph; it wafted through windows opening over the yard. Roberta's mother arrived on the bus, carrying a huge bowl of fruited jello.

The couple traveled on the train to New York City for their honeymoon. They saw the Broadway musical "Oklahoma!", went to Sardi's and took in the film "The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty."