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Wedding Planner

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ABOUT

About me

I became ordained because I wanted to provide loving, custom ceremonies to couples who did not want the traditional church service. When I married Dawn in 2010 I had a terrible time finding someone to perform our marriage ceremony. We did not want a traditional church wedding and service. We wanted a ceremony that focused on the love we shared. We wanted a ceremony that was inclusive, romantic, funny, but most of all, one that would touch the heartstrings of everyone gathered to share in our happy day.

To help others in this same situation, I studied with the Celebrant Foundation & Institute to learn the art and the craft of ceremony preparation and delivery. I learned to make the couple the center of the ceremony. My goal is to make your ceremony the best it can be. Hopefully the attendees will remember the ceremony long after they have forgotten the color of the cocktail napkins, or the vegetables served at the reception.

about you

You are in love with your best friend. You are standing up in front of your friends and your family to share your wedding day with them. This should be one of the happiest days in your life. You want your ceremony to be perfect. You want to tell the world of the love you feel for each other and express the hopes, dreams and wishes for a wonderful life together. So, pick up the phone, or start typing your contact info in the little spaces we’ve conveniently provided for you. Let’s work together to make your wedding ceremony the high point of the day and the reception afterward being the icing on the cake.

ABOUT US

The process works once you contact me to perform your ceremony. (If I’m not available we may still be able to work together through some wonderful associates I have). I send a short contract to ensure that we are all on the same page with date, location, and price of the ceremony. You also receive a questionnaire that tells me how you met, why you fell in love and wish to marry and other information that allows me to write the first draft of your ceremony. From there we refine and edit the ceremony until it is exactly what you want it to be. When we are finished it’s almost like a script to a play with the procession, music, your love story, readings, vows, and all components of the ceremony laid out to ensure that the ceremony flows as smoothly and efficiently as it can. After the ceremony you will receive a very nice keepsake of the ceremony so you can enjoy the experience over and over again as the years go by.

Get In Touch with Jim

WE WE DO

Weddings

I
’m first and foremost a wedding officiate. We work with you to ensure that your wedding ceremony is exactly what you want it to be, It should reflect exactly what you mean to each other. I work with all couples that wish to marry, elope, or otherwise spend their lives together. I have married couples in New York City, North and South Carolina, Washington, DC, California, and Wisconsin. I’ve officiated for same sex couples, interfaith couples, inter-race couples and even traditional couples. The ceremony is entirely yours. It will be as religious or secular as you wish it to be. If you are in any of the categories noted above, let’s talk.

Baby Naming/Guide Parent Ceremonies

This is actually my wife Dawn’s favorite ceremony. If you are religious and assign God-Parents in your church so-be-it. If, however, you do not follow an established religion very closely, but still want a very close friend or family member assigned to be a mentor or other very positive role model for your children the Guide Parent Ceremony is perfect for you and your family. In fact, if I performed your marriage ceremony, this would be perfect for any children you may be fortunate to bring into your lives.

Renewal of Vows

The wedding ceremony is a celebration of what may be. You don’t really yet know how things will turn out, but you are in love and you believe that getting married is exactly the right thing to do. The Renewal of Vows, however, celebrates the fact that your decision to marry was exactly the right thing to do. You can not imagine being with anyone else in the world than your spouse. It celebrates what you have and hold dear. It’s also a great excuse to have a wonderful party surrounded by those you love.

Funerals

One of lives indisputable realities is that our time on earth is limited. We help to celebrate the life of the departed in order to ease the transition from one stage of being to the next. We help you remember and cherish those held dear. As long as you hold them in your heart they are never truly gone. Celebrate the life!

Home Blessings

A new house is exciting. A new home is heartwarming. Let’s celebrate your new home together to ensure that your home will be a place of peace, sanctuary and love. Again, as in all the ceremonies we perform the Home Blessing can be as religious or secular as you desire.

cOOL WAYS TO CUSTOMIZE YOUR CEREMONY

GALLERY

MORE COOL STUFF

SAND CEREMONY

The Sand Ceremony is a wonderful way to include multiple family members and friends in your wedding ceremony. it’s very simple, yet may be tailored in a variety of ways. The essence is to have a container to hold brightly colored sand, and as many smaller containers of sand needed for the participants. Each participant will pour their sand into the larger container creating a truly beautiful sand sculpture and keepsake. There is language in the ceremony that states in the same way that once the sand has been joined it can never be separated into it’s individual containers again, the love between those participating can never be separated either. This is a great ceremony to include in marriages of blended families, as well as, in Renewal of Vows ceremonies where there are children present.

HAND FASTING

Hand Fasting comes to us from both the Celtic and Native American traditions. It is the ceremony that gave us the phrase, “Tying the Knot”. The ceremony begins by the couple grasping their forearms together palm to palm. A ribbon is draped over the forearms and a cord is laid over the ribbon. There is language outlining what the hands of your spouse will mean and do for you as you go through the years together. It is one of the most heartfelt and touching ceremonies performed. At the end of the ceremony the cord has been draped over the ribbon with each statement made regarding the couple. The couple pulls their hands apart. And the ribbon is then tied to create the cord as a beautiful keepsake.

UNITY CANDLE

The unity candle is a wonderful way to include very dear family members in the wedding ceremony. In the classic Unity Candle ceremony the Mother’s of the Bride and Groom light to white tapered candles standing beside a taller white candle. Once the two side candles have been lit they are passed to the couple. Together the couple take the lit candles they received from their mother and together light the tall middle candle. This ceremony tells of the light, the warmth and the power of the love shared by the couple and the families which will now be joined.

JUMPING THE BROOM

The Jumping the Broom ceremony comes to us from our Afro-American slave tradition. In the days of slavery blacks could not enter into contracts such as marriage, but as in Africa they had marriage as one of their historic traditions. To symbolize the union the couple would take a broom to ceremonially sweep away the past and provide a “clean”, new beginning for each other. At the end of the wedding ceremony a broom is laid on the ground with language explaining it’s purpose. The couple join hands and together either step, or jump over the broom to finalize the ceremony.

WINE BOX CEREMONY

The Wine Box Ceremony is another beautiful ceremony that is very heartfelt, and tender, while having the added benefit of providing a wonderful keepsake for the couple to have after the ceremony. Each fiancé writes a letter explaining what the other means to them, their hopes and dreams for the marriage and other tender thoughts. The letters are sealed and not read. They are placed in a box along with a very nice bottle of wine. The box is to stay sealed and the letters unread until the 5th wedding anniversary. On the day of the anniversary the box is opened, the letters are read, and the couple shares the wine on a very romantic occasion. The only reason to open the box prior to the 5th wedding anniversary is if the couple finds themselves in a situation where they are truly concerned at the stability of the marriage. Prior to making any irrevocable decisions to end the marriage the couple opens the letters and reads what the other has written. Hopefully the thoughts and sentiments expressed will give the couple the encouragement to work out any differences.

UNITY CANDLE

The Pinning the Tartan ceremony comes to us from Scotland. Each clan had their own Tartans or Plaids. As the couple come to the end of the marriage ceremony the Mother of the Groom drapes her families Tartan, scarf, shawl, etc over the shoulder of the bride. She then pins the Tartan closed signifying that the bride has now taken the “Colors” of the groom and is now part of the family. If you have kilts and bagpipes in your heritage this is a really nice ceremony.

RENEWAL OF VOWS

(Not a wedding ceremony, but in some ways even better)

The Renewal of Vows is a wonderful ceremony to celebrate the fact that you are more in love with your spouse today than when you first got married however many years ago. It is similar to a wedding ceremony in that it celebrates your love for each other, but it differs in that it celebrates the “What is” you share with your spouse, rather than the “What we hope will be”, of the original wedding ceremony.

Contact Us to Plan Your Perfect Ceremony