A Story of: Transformation

This is a wedding story. This is a baby story. It is a story about the power of Transformation.

Sarah and Ryan were definitely the most creative and adventurous Bride and Groom I’ve collaborated with. Avid skiers, they wanted to be married on the Peak-to-Peak Gondola at Whistler Blackcomb, so that afterwards they could ski down the mountain in their wedding finery. The Peak-to-Peak Gondola isn’t just any gondola. It covers a record-breaking 4.4-kilometer distance between Whistler and Blackcomb Mountains.

The Peak-to-Peak Gondola:  an outward symbolic catalyst for Sarah and Ryan’s inner transformation

Let me explain what I mean by that. The day of, Ryan headed up the ski hill with the two unsuspecting witnesses. Sarah and I rode up together, alone on the chair lift. As we moved through the still mountain air, the sun broke through the clouds. I spoke to Sarah of transformation. How she was literally and figuratively journeying to a new phase in her life as we rose up the mountain. We both felt the ‘in-between-ness’ of those moments. It was there in Sarah’s eyes and on her face as I looked at her.

After loading onto the gondola, joined by the photographer, Sarah set about freeing her beautiful wedding gown from under her ski jacket. We quickly decorated the private gondola carriage for the wedding, just in time for the groom and their friends to load at the next stop. Seeing Sarah in her wedding dress came as a complete shock to their two witnesses. I think they lost the ability to speak for a minute! When they turned around, Ryan had taken off his outerwear to reveal a stylish black tux.

A covenant of the Heart!

And so… there in that carriage… we set in motion the transformation of two individuals into Husband and Wife. I began with these words: “This is not a carriage; it is a passage place of becoming, a portal through which Sarah and Ryan will create a beautiful new world, each for the sake of the other. In shedding one set of clothing to stand before us in wedding dress and tux, Ryan and Sarah reveal their intention to enter the spiritual journey of marriage, and thus to experience a richness of intimacy deeper than they have yet known.”

It was a deeply intimate ceremony full of heartfelt moments, laughter, and tears. What I especially loved about Sarah and Ryan’s wedding ceremony was that it really did take them on a journey. Metaphorically and truly they left behind one way of being as they entered the gondola carriage and they stepped off it transformed into Husband and Wife to walk the path of marriage. When a transformation feels this palpable, it’s imbued in every breath of air. I call it a Threshold Experience. Like a portal opens and we all walk through it.  Everyone present that day felt the powerful energy. As Sarah herself said, “PURE LOVE + BLISS”

And baby makes Three

Not long afterwards, the energy of the Wedding day transformed again! This time into the creation of a tiny blessed being. Sarah and Ryan were pregnant with a little girl. Vivienne Carrie was born almost exactly a year after the wedding day. Soon Sarah and Ryan and I will gather again in ceremony. This time to honour and bless their daughter Viv. Talk about transformation!

Different than other Wedding Officiants

Time for Individual Reflection:

Over the years I’ve developed a reflective process that is one of the signature elements of collaborating with me. Seemingly simple questions that are designed to help you express what lies within. Not perfect words but real, honest words. This helps me get to know each of you as individuals. You work on them at your own pace, with lots of time, and send them to me in the way that suits you best.

Getting to Know you as a Couple:

Another part of my creative process is to get together with the two of you for a relaxed in-person interview. It can be at your place or mine, and sometimes I even cook for you! I listen deeply to you, drawing out the most compelling threads of the experiences and feelings you share with me. My gift as a ceremonial writer and storyteller is to weave your words and feelings into the tapestry that will be your wedding ceremony.

Blowing the ‘Same-Old Same-Old’ out of the Water:

Modern Celebrant’s ceremonies are the complete opposite of mass-produced.  I don’t go anywhere near cookie cutter or template ceremonies. Whether it’s in the readings we choose together, the rituals I research and design for you based on your cultural or faith backgrounds, the stories we share, the way we talk about the connection you have with each other, and how we engage your family and friends in the experience — All of it, every word, written for you.

Who do I work best with?

The couples who are drawn to these one-of-a-kind wedding ceremony experiences are couples who want their first step into marriage to be powerfully experienced and collectively remembered. Couples of ALL orientations who value living and thinking outside the box. Whether a ballet dancer, artist, lawyer, boutique hotel owner, cardiovascular surgeon, celebrity chef,  community lawyer, film director, or overseas aid worker  — they share a desire to live a deeper and more meaningful life. (Yes, those are real clients!) Read More >

Planning your own Wedding? Check out the Notebook Planner

Many of my wedding couples use wedding planners to help them source the best wedding professionals and to keep track of the myriad of details. But certainly some do not. Jillian of Notebook weddings has come up with a great concept to support couples who want to do it themselves. I asked her to tell us about her Notebook concept and about what motivated her to start Notebook Weddings. Here we go:

With a background in fitness and dance, I’m often asked how I came about helping people to plan their own weddings, and it’s a good question.  When I got married in 2008, like many brides, I was both excited and nervous to plan such a large event and important event in my life.  My stepmother gave me a wedding planning book, as did one of my friends.  I figured I was set.  I had over a year to pull this shindig off, and was impatient thinking that the day would never get here.

Once all the big decisions were handled, date, venue, church, I started to coast into a year of planning, thinking I had plenty of time, staying on track with my task lists set forth from my books.  As long as I could tick off my monthly to-do’s I would be solid gold!  And for the most part, I was.  Of course as I came closer to the end of my engagement, the check lists got longer and I had to be extremely organized and on top of what had to get done before the big day.

Read More >

A Peak 2 Peak Elopement Ceremony

This is a wedding story. This is a baby story. It is a story about the power of Transformation.

Sarah and Ryan were definitely the most creative and adventurous Bride and Groom I’ve collaborated with.  Avid skiers, they wanted to be married on the Peak-to-Peak Gondola at Whistler Blackcomb, so that afterwards they could ski down the mountain in their wedding finery.  The Peak-to-Peak Gondola isn’t just any gondola. It covers a record-breaking 4.4-kilometer distance between Whistler and Blackcomb Mountains.

The physical space of the Peak-to-Peak Gondola, this carriage, was the outward catalyst for Sarah and Ryan’s inner transformation. Let me explain what I mean by that. Read More >