An Officiant for All Seasons

Bonus for August: sunflower bouquet with ceremony (while blooms last). My books are open for August but dates are filling up fast!! Let’s start writing your next chapter together!

New add-on to your wedding ceremony package: cyanotype art!

Would you like to get married among the sunflowers? How about under the beans? On your paddleboard, perhaps? Maybe in the woods?

Wherever you choose, I can be there. Let’s chat about how we can make your wedding what YOU want it to be.

Today is our 19th wedding anniversary. The date that also pointed me toward becoming an officiant as well, because there weren’t many options back then for folks on a micro budget (we spent a total of $450 2007 dollars on our wedding while I worked 2-4 jobs at a time. Things were ROUGH.)

Why am I posting this on my business page? Well, because my job is uniting couples. So I have old married people advice for those of you who are just starting out.

1. Before you say “I do”, remember that this person is supposed to be there for you on both your best day and your worst days- and you for them. Pay attention to how you both handle conflict and uncomfortable moments, because you may have to hold each other together through the loss of jobs, the loss of loved ones, health concerns, surprise disabilities, and the occasional 3 AM discovery that your dog has had a whole house fit of diarrhea or a kid has had exorcist level vomiting that is now a team effort to clean. You have to both be strong enough to rise to those challenges together and be each other’s strength. Strength can’t be a one person job.

2. You both still need community and friends outside of the two of you. Community supports a healthy relationship- people you can lean on and who can lean on you as well. It may seem counterintuitive, but those folks outside your household can help you develop into better and stronger people as a whole, and can help you when things go wrong. (As a person still trying to find a place in a new community, I can attest to how much more complicated life is without people I can call for help with stuff outside my wheelhouse locally.)

3. Learn to talk about money before you say “I do”. Trust me, it’s important to be able to openly talk about income, budget, and financial priorities.

4. Learn how to talk to each other. We all come to relationships with behavior patterns and communication styles that don’t vibe well together… and you can’t live happily ever after if you’re communicating like the ‘misunderstanding’ portion of every bad rom-com we’ve ever watched or read.

5. Have separate hobbies, but have respect for each other’s hobbies. Spousedude loves video games and action movies, I love making art and reading. Together we love hiking and signing up for races we are over enthusiastic and undertrained for. We understand that we each have a process to maintaining our mental health in our various pursuits and that what the other chooses is not less valuable just because it doesn’t work for both of us equally.

6. Therapy isn’t a sign of failure, it’s a support tool. I hope everyone who reads this has access to a real, human therapist when they need one, and that they can be open to applying the tools and doing the difficult work when things are rough.

7. Don’t give up who you are to be the other person’s ideal human unless you’re giving up an addiction or other harmful behaviors. You’re both going to change body composition/shape, you’re going to learn new things about the world and yourselves, you’ll both have to make compromises on a variety of things to keep peace or meet goals, and you’ll both grow in different ways over time… that’s normal. But surrendering your values, interests, aesthetic, etc. JUST for your partner’s love/acceptance is not healthy.

8. While relationships have their ups and downs, love shouldn’t hurt. Everything your kindergarten teacher tried to teach you about conflict resolution applies in marriage- because that is your friend you married, not your opponent in a boxing ring or an enemy at war.

I wish you all safe, loving relationships that stand the test of time because you both continue to choose each other every day.

Today is my 13th anniversary as an officiant. I would like to thank you all for trusting me with one of the most precious moments in your lives, and I hope you’re all doing well!

While weddings are my favorite, I do offer other services. Need a eulogy or obituary written? Need someone to honor your loved one in a celebration of life or funeral? I do that as well. From scratch, using zero AI input.

Today’s weather was perhaps nobody’s dream outdoor wedding weather at 25 degrees Fahrenheit, especially with that winter permacloud blocking what I’m sure was an amazing sunset… but friends gathered to celebrate a marriage tonight by this fountain, and that is the definition of love. People who show up even when conditions aren’t great.

Ceremonies written by a real human, no AI. $80 for basic service (ceremony, keepsake certificate and copy of ceremony, and filing.), $100 for expanded package with ten edited photos on disc with full printing rights.

Hi! I’ve been officiating weddings for eleven years. Every couple is unique, every love story is different. Let’s sit down and talk about YOUR love story, and how I can help you with your ceremony.

I also offer services for other stages of life- baby naming ceremonies, obituary writing, and various other celebrations of life.

It’s fall. You’ve found your forever person. The person you want to walk with on the road to whatever lies ahead.

Let’s chat about how I can help you make forever happen with personalized wedding ceremony packages to fit your budget!