Wedding Highlights for August 09

Among the weddings I performed this month included one for a NY1 news producer at The Water's Edge a lovely, lavish setting with a view of Manhattan from the East River. The venue provides its own ferry to E. 23rd Street. Another wedding was for a Muslim couple from the UK in a most unusual venue 632 Hudson Street, a town house, with unique decor, ideally suited for a small wedding. The couple flew in about 35 people from the UK. The couple had their Nikka (Islamic religious ceremony) a year before. The groom's family is Christian. The ceremony I created was mostly civil but a Sufi poem was included. The bride (of Bengali heritage) wore an elegant beaded (pearl) white gown (Western style) but a traditional red sari with gold trim for the reception. The sari...magnificent!!! The wedding was skillfully coordinated by Miche Griffin of Griffin Events. Miche was a pleasure to work with.

Another wedding also won a special place in my heart--that of videographer William Beebe and his bride Ajeia. Performing a wedding for a colleague is a great joy and particular honor. William is one of the best wedding videographers in NYC and one of the nicest people in this city. Enjoy this photo of William and Ajeia. And congratulations to all my August couples!

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Challenging Interfaith Weddings.

I've done 'em all--Chinese Buddhist-Jewish, Moslem-Baptist, Celtic-Retro, Yoga weddings, and in Spanish and French, as well as English. The more challenging, the better I enjoy creating ceremonies to touch the heart of every participant. But special challenges sometimes come up when parents do not support their son's or daughter's decision to marry out of their faith. While the wedding couple had given me a heads-up, I was caught a little by surprise when, a few minutes after my arrival, the father of the groom sat me down to express his discontent. The gentleman was educated in his faith pre-Vatican II, and mostly needed to vent. He was half-way there in his heart, wanting to accept his new daughter-- he just needed to know that his sentiments were being respected. We talked about his values, their values, the values both faiths held in common. And he was surprised that I would take about Jesus under a chuppah and that I would ask the Catholics to say a prayer in Hebrew, that Jesus would probably have said over wine. A little later, the old gentleman caught me by the elbow. With tears in his eyes, he said, "Thank you. I would never have believed it possible."
I have often said, that if at least one parent doesn't come to me with tears of gratitude, I wouldn't consider that I'd done my job properly. So, I was delighted to know that my words struck the right chord. Because the future of a couple, of an entire family can ride on an auspcious beginning, the good will, respect and inclusion of all the family members, skillful communication, care and compassion are essential ingredients in greating a wedding worth remembering.