Hurray! Eclectic Unions was voted as a The Knot Best of Weddings Pick for 2012! This is the second year that I’ve received this award, and it means so much to me because it is chosen based on reviews left by my couples. So thank you to all of my awesome couples who took the time to leave me a review on WeddingChannel.com!
I’m so pleased to share that Eclectic Unions has won the Bride’s Choice Award from WeddingWire for the FOURTH year in a row! Yay!
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Awards are determined by a combination of four factors: Overall rating (quality), total number of reviews (quantity), review performance from 2011 (recency), and consistency of reviews from year to year (consistency) on WeddingWire.com
So a big thank you to all of my awesome couples for taking the time to review me on WeddingWire!
This was a great year for Eclectic Unions. This was the year of more than just weddings! I was honored to be a part of three wonderful baby welcoming / naming ceremonies.
My colleague Kim and her husband George welcomed their son Joey.
My dear friends Ben & Emily welcomed their daughter Sydney.
And my incredible wedding photographer Sarah Schulte and her husband John welcomed their daughter June.
And it was also a landmark year for weddings. Kicked off with my Offbeat Bride advertorial in late 2010, my ceremony writing services really took off this year! It was such a unique experience to work with so many amazing and creative couples, all over the country, to craft beautiful wedding ceremonies for their friends or family to officiate at.
Lexie & Alena were married in an aquarium, and had a water sharing ceremony!
Paul and Angie had a highly personalized tea unity ceremony, that drew on their own personal tea sharing ritual at home. (Photo courtesy of The Happy Couple)
And, on top of that, I also created and officiated at over one hundred weddings this year. One hundred weddings! When I started out as a Life-Cycle Celebrant in 2008, I never would have dreamed that I would be able to touch so many people’s lives and work with so many amazing couples and families.
A few photos of some of my awesome couples! Photos are from a variety of sources, please let me know if you’d like me to credit you.
Wishing all of you a very happy 2012. And to all of my couples getting married in 2012 – it’s almost your year! Can’t wait to celebrate with you!
xoxo
Monika and Marko were married at Maritime Parc in Liberty State Park in Jersey City, the day after the giant Halloween snowstorm here in New Jersey!
They are both such exuberant, passionate, and interesting people, and I tried to capture a little bit of that in their ceremony. To honor Monika’s Polish heritage, we did a special ritual at the very end, after the kiss. The bride and groom were offered salt and bread, to show how they will sustain and support each other throughout their lives, by their moms – and then had a vodka toast, smashing the glass for good luck!
Their personal vows had everyone laughing and crying, and there seriously was not a dry eye in the house! Monika and Marko also incorporated a few readings into their ceremony, including some of my favorites (Taylor Mali’s “Falling in Love is Like Owning a Dog” and a selection from Captain Corelli’s Mandolin) as well as some I hadn’t even thought to use as wedding readings before (Robert Fulghum’s “Everything I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten” – it works surprisingly well!)
Plus I just loved their polka dot theme. If anyone wants me to wear polka dots to their wedding – just let me know!
And their ceremony did include the story of one of the greatest pick-up lines ever:
Monika and Marko’s lives first crossed paths at a bar, when Marko overheard Monika discussing cheese, and offered this choice tidbit of trivia to her: “Did you know you can eat most things that grow on cheese and they won’t hurt you?” It turned out they had a mutual friend, so our couple was introduced – and Marko with a K met Monika with a K officially for the first time.
And included this wonderful line in the Love Story, too, which I just loved!
If Marko had to choose just one person he’d want in the Batmobile of life as his co-pilot, it would have to be Monika.
Congrats and much love to both of you!
Wow! It’s hard to believe that today is the one year anniversary of our wedding!
I didn’t blog as much about my wedding as I wanted to, for some personal reasons, but now that some time has elapsed, I feel comfortable sharing some details from my own wedding day!
Let’s start off with a sweet and easy tradition that many couples incorporate into their wedding day: something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue.
My Something Old.
(DK Designs Hawaii)
My wedding bouquet was wrapped in fabric that was cut from the dress worn by my grandma, aunt, and mom for their weddings. My grandma’s original dress had a long train, and, when it was hemmed to be worn again, extra fabric and lace was stashed away with the dress itself. It was this fabric that I use to create a wrap for my wedding bouquet, along with some of the beautiful, antique lace, that came from my great-grandmother.
My Something New
(Sarah Schulte Photography)
Though I had purchased my dress in 2008, nearly two years before my wedding, I think I could still consider it my ‘something new,’ as this was the one and only time that I got the chance to wear it. It’s a now discontinued Oleg Cassini dress, from David’s Bridal, and I loved it so, so much. I made the green sash, and had the bolero custom made to match.
My Something Borrowed
(Sarah Schulte Photography)
My best friend Lindsey was kind enough to lend me her wedding veil. Because her dress was white and mine was champagne, I dyed the veil with coffee grounds to get a beautiful, ivory shade.
My Something Blue
(Sarah Schulte Photography)
I gave Dan TARDIS cufflinks as a wedding gift, and carried one in my purse (pictured above with my veil), as my something blue.
Happy anniversary, Dan. I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you.
(Sarah Schulte Photography)
