Check out Steven and Autumn's stories of how they met on yahoo personals (we married them so they shared this publication with us!):
http://dating.personals.yahoo.com/singles/successstories/1631/online-dating-story-we-were-a-100-match
Thank You Note from Beth & Seth
Dearest Joan & Yehudah:
A very warm thank you to both of you for performing our ceremony and for sharing with us in celebration of our marriage! We are both feeling truly blessed to have crossed paths and found two people who share in our spiritual sentiments. Your ceremony for us was perfect - something we will both cherish and fall bacvk on during trying times. Our liv4es together began in a grounded and spiritually connected way - whicvh has provided aq sense of support and love both internal and external. For this we are forever grateful.
We both look forward to crossing paths again sometime. All our best to you both.
Warmly,
Beth & Seth
A very warm thank you to both of you for performing our ceremony and for sharing with us in celebration of our marriage! We are both feeling truly blessed to have crossed paths and found two people who share in our spiritual sentiments. Your ceremony for us was perfect - something we will both cherish and fall bacvk on during trying times. Our liv4es together began in a grounded and spiritually connected way - whicvh has provided aq sense of support and love both internal and external. For this we are forever grateful.
We both look forward to crossing paths again sometime. All our best to you both.
Warmly,
Beth & Seth
Thank You Note from Jason & Claudia
Joanie,
Thanks for your calm presence at our wedding. We appreciate it and enjoyed the way you held space and officiated for us.
Take care,
Jason and Claudia
Thanks for your calm presence at our wedding. We appreciate it and enjoyed the way you held space and officiated for us.
Take care,
Jason and Claudia
Wedding Interviews
November 29, 2008
This is the season in which many couples are choosing their officiants. check us out. Joanie & Yehudah
This is the season in which many couples are choosing their officiants. check us out. Joanie & Yehudah
Interfaith Weddings: A testing ground for world peace?
Interfaith Weddings: A testing ground for world peace?
Picture this scene: On a hillside at Skamania Lodge, overlooking the majestic Columbia with mountains beyond, the sky emblazoned with fluffy clouds and sunshine that just burst onto the scene, the wind blowing slightly, a young couple is marrried under the traditional Jewish wedding canopy called a “chuppah”. The couple designed and constructed it themselves. It will eventually end up in their backyard as part of their landscape decor.
Grandma Phyilis tearfully reads a version of Psalm I. Grandma carries the Christian element and hails from Idaho. Everyone is choked up.
The siblings of the bride and groom read several stanzas from The Chinook Wedding Blessing,. The groom has some Native American blood in his heritage and wants to honor both that fact and the couple’s strong connection with nature, since they both work for the forest service.
The parents, all standing with the couple under the chuppah, read a contemporary version of the “Seven Wedding Blessings.” a traditional Jewish part of a wedding ceremony. The father of the bride says the blessing over the wine in Hebrew:
Baruch ata Adonai Eloheynu Melech Haolam, borey p’ree hagaffen.
Blessed are you, king of the universe, who creates the fruit of the vine.
plus the officiant reads an “astronomical blessing” that focuses on gratitude to earth, cosmos and the unknowable unknown.
The couple both have Irish blood, and so choose to do a handfasting, the Celtic style of
union, which involves the tying of their hands together:
"As the right hand is to the left hand, may you be forever one, sharing in all things, at home and abroad, in love and loyalty for all time to come."
Handfasting can be quite elaborate, with many strands. This one is simple. The essence is that it represents the strength of their bond. But since they cannot be physically joined all the time, rings replace the cord as the visible symbol of their marriage.
The ring ceremony ends with a reading of an Irish wedding blessing:
May you be slow to make enemies and quick to make friends.
May you see your children's children.
May you be poor in misfortune and rich in blessings.
But rich or poor, quick or slow,
May you know happiness from this day forward.
May the joys of today be those of tomorrow.
.At the conclusion of the ceremony the groom “breaks the glass” - the traditional ending to a Jewish wedding. The ceremony is a transformational process and the glass breaking carries ancient energy - the glass shatters as a reminder that relationships are fragile, requiring great care and, as well, there’s brokenness in the world and we have responsibility in helping to heal some of that brokenness.
After the wedding the couple will take some time for themselves, called “Yichud” in the Jewish tradition, which means “union” and “seclusion”., a time to just soak in the significance of the moment just passed
So - is this just a hodgepodge of cultural traditions thrown together into one ceremony? Or is it a magical blending of all of these traditions that, in the end, reflects who this couple is and who they aspire to become? If we go deep enough at this stage in the evolution of American culture most of us are some kind of conglomerate - and when we choose to marry another conglomerate we have quite the mixture of cultural traditions. This is what interfaith weddings are all about.
In the marriage ceremony above we have drawn from Jewish, Christian, Celtic and Native American cultures. Marriage is a time when couples have the opportunity to look more deeply into their heritage, more deeply into their beliefs and values. Every couple is different. In some, one heritage may dominate. In others, as this one, there is an openness to all their traditions.
We live in a time when tolerance, understanding and acceptance of all the world’s religious and spiritual traditions is paramount to promoting world peace. Perhaps interfaith marriages are testing grounds for how well people of diverse faiths can get along with each other. It is remarkable also how the families of these young people rise to the occasion. They embrace what is different from their own tradition. The love they have for their children and their wish for their happiness overrides any reservations they might have towards another cultural tradition. And so we see a breaking down of prejudice, suspicion, “other”. It’s at least one front on which, in the intimacy of a relationship, folks can practice the art of understanding someone from a different culture - hopefully with a strong chance for success.
Picture this scene: On a hillside at Skamania Lodge, overlooking the majestic Columbia with mountains beyond, the sky emblazoned with fluffy clouds and sunshine that just burst onto the scene, the wind blowing slightly, a young couple is marrried under the traditional Jewish wedding canopy called a “chuppah”. The couple designed and constructed it themselves. It will eventually end up in their backyard as part of their landscape decor.
Grandma Phyilis tearfully reads a version of Psalm I. Grandma carries the Christian element and hails from Idaho. Everyone is choked up.
The siblings of the bride and groom read several stanzas from The Chinook Wedding Blessing,. The groom has some Native American blood in his heritage and wants to honor both that fact and the couple’s strong connection with nature, since they both work for the forest service.
The parents, all standing with the couple under the chuppah, read a contemporary version of the “Seven Wedding Blessings.” a traditional Jewish part of a wedding ceremony. The father of the bride says the blessing over the wine in Hebrew:
Baruch ata Adonai Eloheynu Melech Haolam, borey p’ree hagaffen.
Blessed are you, king of the universe, who creates the fruit of the vine.
plus the officiant reads an “astronomical blessing” that focuses on gratitude to earth, cosmos and the unknowable unknown.
The couple both have Irish blood, and so choose to do a handfasting, the Celtic style of
union, which involves the tying of their hands together:
"As the right hand is to the left hand, may you be forever one, sharing in all things, at home and abroad, in love and loyalty for all time to come."
Handfasting can be quite elaborate, with many strands. This one is simple. The essence is that it represents the strength of their bond. But since they cannot be physically joined all the time, rings replace the cord as the visible symbol of their marriage.
The ring ceremony ends with a reading of an Irish wedding blessing:
May you be slow to make enemies and quick to make friends.
May you see your children's children.
May you be poor in misfortune and rich in blessings.
But rich or poor, quick or slow,
May you know happiness from this day forward.
May the joys of today be those of tomorrow.
.At the conclusion of the ceremony the groom “breaks the glass” - the traditional ending to a Jewish wedding. The ceremony is a transformational process and the glass breaking carries ancient energy - the glass shatters as a reminder that relationships are fragile, requiring great care and, as well, there’s brokenness in the world and we have responsibility in helping to heal some of that brokenness.
After the wedding the couple will take some time for themselves, called “Yichud” in the Jewish tradition, which means “union” and “seclusion”., a time to just soak in the significance of the moment just passed
So - is this just a hodgepodge of cultural traditions thrown together into one ceremony? Or is it a magical blending of all of these traditions that, in the end, reflects who this couple is and who they aspire to become? If we go deep enough at this stage in the evolution of American culture most of us are some kind of conglomerate - and when we choose to marry another conglomerate we have quite the mixture of cultural traditions. This is what interfaith weddings are all about.
In the marriage ceremony above we have drawn from Jewish, Christian, Celtic and Native American cultures. Marriage is a time when couples have the opportunity to look more deeply into their heritage, more deeply into their beliefs and values. Every couple is different. In some, one heritage may dominate. In others, as this one, there is an openness to all their traditions.
We live in a time when tolerance, understanding and acceptance of all the world’s religious and spiritual traditions is paramount to promoting world peace. Perhaps interfaith marriages are testing grounds for how well people of diverse faiths can get along with each other. It is remarkable also how the families of these young people rise to the occasion. They embrace what is different from their own tradition. The love they have for their children and their wish for their happiness overrides any reservations they might have towards another cultural tradition. And so we see a breaking down of prejudice, suspicion, “other”. It’s at least one front on which, in the intimacy of a relationship, folks can practice the art of understanding someone from a different culture - hopefully with a strong chance for success.
Meika & Calvin, Garden Vineyards, Hillsboro - June 30, 2007
Meika and Cal had just a picture-perfect day at the Vineyard. Yehudah officiated. The wide, expansive sky provides such a backdrop for two wonderful people!
Fernanda & Franklin, Anderson Lodge, Ariel, Washington, July 28, 2007
From: Fernanda Levy
Date: Wed, 15 Aug 2007
Hi Yehudah,.
I wanted to thank you once again for such a lovely ceremony. We
continue to hear, over and over, from many people that it was the most
beautiful, heartfelt ceremony they have ever been to. We agree. We
really loved every second of it. Thank you. Also, thank you for the copy
of the ceremony. We received it in the mail--it is nice to have a copy
of it to read later on.
Date: Wed, 15 Aug 2007
Hi Yehudah,.
I wanted to thank you once again for such a lovely ceremony. We
continue to hear, over and over, from many people that it was the most
beautiful, heartfelt ceremony they have ever been to. We agree. We
really loved every second of it. Thank you. Also, thank you for the copy
of the ceremony. We received it in the mail--it is nice to have a copy
of it to read later on.
Jill & Zack, Aug. 4, 2007, Harborside Courtyard
Yehudah officiated at Jill & Zack's wedding. It was just a lovely day. Jill's voice rang in every word of the ceremony - She took great pains to shift the wording to just suit her temperament. Their personal wedding vows were most memorable. And the weather was splendid!
Hindu-Jewish Wedding: David Bear & Ami Desai, Edgefield McMinnamins, May 20th
Joanie co-officiated this remarkable wedding with Swami Jagadish, a Hindu priest! The Hindu community present, mostly from Los Angeles, was so very interested in the ways in which the Jewish and Hindu ceremonies had some similarities - the mandap and chuppah (bridal canopies) had similar meanings; the 7 circles around the fire (Hindu) and the 7 Wedding Blessings (Jewish) - plus it was such a treat to hear both Hindu and Hebrew being spoken in the same ceremony!
Sarah Stein & Friedhelm Kirchfeld, March 18th
Sarah and Friedhelm remarried in our living room! These pictures are from their reception at their own house.
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