Ushma and Josh's Interfaith Wedding at The Oaks at Salem!

Ushma's heritage is the Hindu faith and Josh's is Christian. They wanted two separate ceremonies but back to back. I've done this many times and so we got to work on the Christian Ceremony which was to follow the Hindu ceremony which was conducted by a Hindu priest.

Their wedding was June 15th, 2019. It was a bright, sunny and rather hot day. 

They chose the beautiful venue of The Oaks at Salem in Apex. This is a view of the ceremony site across the lake from the reception area.

When I arrived the Hindu ceremony had been going on for about 40 minutes. It is not uncommon for the guests to move around, get refreshments (they had an ice cream cart), and chat with each other. On this particular day folks were seeking the shade of the big unbrellas!

The Hindu ceremony was 1 hour and 45 minutes. Then we shifted to the Christian ceremony and the guests sat down as I began with a warm welcome to all. (The bride and groom were very warm in their colorful Hindu wedding clothing and had been standing a lot, so before I began, I asked them if they would like to sit down until we got to the vows. I got a resounding yes!)

Then we paid sweet tribute to their parents. 

A reading of First Corinthians followed. 

I love telling the story of how my couples met and fell in love and their journey from that day to their wedding day. Ushma and Josh have a good story having met at work in 2014.  Slowly their friendship blossomed into love. Then I shared with each of them and our guests what they told me in secret they love about each other and what they are looking forward to in marriage.
(photo courtesy of their professional photographer Erin Costa. Thanks, Erin!)

Since they had made their vows during the Hindu ceremony, we skipped to the exchange of rings. I asked Aaron, Josh's brother and best man, for the rings and blessed them.

Josh placed the ring on Ushma's finger as he said the words after me to her. 

Then Ushma encircled Josh's finger with his ring and said the ring vows. 

(Photo by Erin Costa)

A closing blessing for the couple.

I placed my hand on their joined hands and made the pronouncement of marriage and invited them to share their first married kiss!

(Photo by Erin Costa)

Woo hoo! The deed is done and they are finally married! Everyone cheered. 

I introduced them to their guests and invited the guests to go around the lake and enjoy the refreshments and the shade! I know Ushma and Josh were looking forward to getting out of the sun and changing in to cooler clothing!

(Photo by Erin Costa)

After the guests left, our couple headed back the other direction to change clothes for photographs. 

(Photo by Erin Costa)

Josh and Ushma! Fantastic wedding! You made it happen!  Thank you for choosing me to join you in marriage! I wish you the best always!

What a Fabulous Wedding for Phyllis and George!

Phyllis and George are such a delightful couple. I am so glad they found each other and then found me to officiate their wedding. They were having trouble finding a rabbi to marry them and decided to go with me and we were all really happy about that. I was available on November 22nd, 2014 and that turned out to be a perfect date for them. They had thought they might have their wedding in my garden or in a private room in a restaurant but finally decided to have it at their home in Cary which really worked out best for all.

A photo of Phyllis and her sweet rescue chihuahua, Romeo ("Romey" for short). Then on the right, a photo of our couple dancing. I think they are probably excellent dancers.

Kind of looks like they might start dancing here!

 Yes, we will have the ceremony in front of the fireplace. Is that okay with you?

Yes, but I am worried that if you try to break the glass on the carpet, it might be too soft for the glass to break. 

Oh, says George. I can fix that, whereas he proceeds to go get a board--looked like a shelf-- and places it between their feet onto which I would place the lightbulb which was tucked inside a sock (clever!).

 Are we ready?

 Surrounded by their children and spouses and a couple of neighbors, they were ready!

When I arrived for their wedding, George told me that their neighbors, Don and Delores wanted to speak with me privately. Oh my! They confided they wanted to surprise the couple with two readings. Being that my contract is with the couple, I don't usually allow any surprises from others in the ceremony. But I liked theirs a lot and knew Phyllis and George would too, so gave the okay. Delores read a poem "Touched by an Angel" by Maya Angelou.

Don is reaching for his reading which is a poem he wrote as if it was Romey, Phyllis' dog, writing it to Phyllis. 

 A POEM FROM ROMEY ON OUR SPECIAL DAY

At first I smelled him on your clothes...A stranger's scent upon my nose.

One day you came in very late and announced you had a date.

How sad for me, my life was doomed...No more walks or being groomed.

And then a knock upon the door...My life would change forever more.

And just as all my senses ceased...I heard the jingle of a leash!

Those worried days are in my past...with dog years time goes very fast.

And now you say that you will wed...I've just one question 'bout the bed.

I understand he's yours to keep, but where oh where now will he sleep?

He cares for us and now we are three...Happiness for you and me!

George and Phyllis, Romey too...My doggy dreams have all come true! 

 We all loved it! 

And so to continue with the ceremony...it was an interfaith ceremony. Phyllis is Jewish and George hails from the Christian Science school of thought. So we included a reading by Mary Baker Eddy from her "Science and Health Key to the Scriptures" on Marriage. We then had the cup of wine and seven blessings in the Jewish tradition.

 Phyllis drinks first.

 Then George....

 They exchanged vows then rings.......

I made the pronouncement of marriage then I placed the lightbulb at George's feet after explaining the meaning of the breaking of the glass, asked him to break the glass......

 Which he did with great gusto and a very loud stomp as we shouted Mazel tov! 

 A sweet kiss to seal the deal! 

 So happy to be married! 

 Another guest at the wedding!

Then I noticed Romey crouched down and trembling near the board where the glass was broken. I am pretty sure that George's stomping the glass really scared him! He must have thought "what's next, oh dear!"

 It's okay, Romey! 

Phyllis was telling us how the weekend before the wedding they took Romey to a "Bark-Mitzvah" in Cary and so now he is officially a Jewish dog and has a little star of David tag on his collar! Love it!!

What a delightful wedding! It was so much fun and so sweet. George and Phyllis, thank you for giving me the honor of joining you in matrimony! Congratulations to you both and to Romey!

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The Siena Hotel Hosts the Wedding of Rabia and Jon!

The Siena Hotel in Chapel Hill holds many fond memories for me going back 12 years ago when I officiated the wedding of Laura and Gus, one of my first weddings. Their rehearsal dinner was at the Siena. (Back then I attended rehearsal dinners.) The Il Palio chef prepared Laura's family's favorite dessert from the recipe given supplied by her mother. It was layers of lady fingers and whipped cream drizzled with an amazing home-made chocolate sauce. Yummy. So fantastic that I asked for the recipe and still treasure it today! Since that time I have done many weddings at the hotel, some big and some small. They can accommodate just about any size wedding and the staff and hotel are wonderful to work with. 

This is Arie, the events manager with the Siena. She is great to work with and took care of all the details of the wedding day!

Jon called me in mid-November to see if I was available to officiate his wedding to Rabia on December 3, 2011 at the Siena--just a few short weeks away. Fortunately, I was available so we scheduled a meeting quickly.  We did not have a lot of time so I crafted a ceremony based on what they told me they wanted, sent it to them and they loved it. They really liked the parts reflecting their different family heritages (Rabia is Muslim and from Pakistan and Jon was raised Christian and American although he was born in Germany) making it an interfaith ceremony. Rabia particularly liked the idea of using a poem by the Persian mystical poet, Rumi, as a meditative prayer. She told me that her parents who traveled from Pakistan for the wedding love the works of Rumi and would be very pleased (and they were). For a closing blessing, we used a prayer based on First Corinthians. We also included a tribute to both sets of parents who have intact marriages and serve as wonderful role models for our bride and groom. 

Marty and I arrived at the hotel at 10:15 for the 11:00 AM wedding. This gorgeous cake by Sugarland was hidden away in the reception room. Needless to say, the wedding color was a beautiful pink. 

The Fisher-Park String Quartet from Greensboro was already there and warming up. They were very good!

This the room all set up for the ceremony. I am amazed that my new camera got this low light shot without flash! Wow!

These are our flower girls all lined up early! 

 

Jon's parents, Helga and Dean, process in first followed by Rabia's mother, Tehseen, escorted in by her two sons.

 Then Jon and I.

 The cute (unrehearsed) flower girls trickled in slowly! 

Rabia was escorted in by her father, Javed, then he transferred her hand into Jon's.

I don't have any photos of it but we did a "water pouring" ritual after the wedding address, the vows and ring exchange. "We honor water, to clean and soothe your relationship that you may never thirst for love....Together may you always share kindness with one another that will ease any pain that may come between you. With all the forces of the universe, we pray for harmony and true happiness for you both." 

Joining hands again after drying their hands. 

"It is my pleasure and my honor to recognize you as husband and wife!"

Their kiss was so brief I had them kiss again but still we got no photo of the kiss! I think they were a bit shy about kissing in front of everyone.

Waiting for the quartet to start the recessional music. Isn't Rabia's ceremonial dress beautiful?

 And out they go!  

Jon and Rabia, I am so happy that you called me that day and that we could work together to make your ceremony so special for you. I wish you all the best always!  Thank you for your note the next day that said: "I just wanted to thank you for the wonderful job you did on our wedding ceremony yesterday.  So many people came up to us and told us how much they liked the ceremony - you really made it memorable. We even had one guest say that she and her husband would like to do their wedding over again with you as the officiant! So thank you very much."