Ritual Elements: A Chance to Make your Mark
A thank you note arrived in my inbox today. It was from Allison and Peter, who had seriously inspired me as they worked on their wedding ceremony. At every stage, they took the work to heart, and they dedicated time and many, many conversations to co-creating vows that spoke to the commitments they wanted to make with each other. At one point in our brainstorming session, we came up with the idea of 12 words which would be written on stones, and used as “guiding principals” in their marriage. They thought so carefully about those words, and what they meant, and how they could form vows to support the idea of the words. This is a line from their ceremony: “..It comes as no surprise to anyone that Allison and Peter are approaching this transition to marriage with plans. With intention, with focus and with an extraordinary willingness to embrace the potential it offers.Today, we support these two as they take their next steps– and I warn you now – prepare to be inspired. This is no walk in the park. This is full-on, expedition-ready preparedness…”
When I arrived at the venue the day of the wedding, I was delighted to see how they had transformed their ritual idea into a keepsake glass container, with the rocks nestled in bits of moss and twigs. During the ceremony, the last rock they placed in the container was for their family and friends. Their generous sincerity was touching and empowering, and it was one of the places tears sprang to the eyes. I had shivers more than once as we progressed through the ceremony, and I felt a bit like a proud mother when they kept us rapt during their complex vows.
This is the joy that can come with creating and inventing meaningful ritual elements – and I am so grateful for the couples that take the leap and approach the opportunity to explore the possibilities for themselves.
“Thank you. Words can not express how pleased we are with how the ceremony went. I have to email you, to tell you that countless numbers of our guests made similar comments throughout the day and continue to. Those are, “your ceremony was amazing”, “I have never cried so much in my life”, “you guys are an inspiration” and “this is the best wedding I have ever been to”. Barbara, without you, this would not have been possible. You were able to get us to think “outside the box” on our ceremony and create vows that were meaningful to us. People have commented on your sincere delivery of the ceremony and we are just so thrilled. Thank you also, for the package you put together for us of our ceremony, that is so special and will be a lovely reminder in the future.
Fortunately, one of our friends casually filmed the ceremony for us, and we have already watched it back. Wow it was wonderful!
Thank you so much again, from the bottom of our hearts for helping make our wedding day so darn special! Everyone was just so impressed and we truly couldn’t have done it without you!”