Yearly Archives: 2016

The December holiday season is the most popular time for engagements to happen, so I’d like to congratulate all you newly engaged couples who are beginning the wedding planning journey.

Welcome to Minnesota Life Celebrations, your source for personal, meaningful, secular ceremonies. As a Humanist Celebrant I’ve written and officiated at over 250 weddings since 2010, and am currently booking 2017 dates. I work with each couple to define, write and deliver the ceremony you want for your wedding day. Your ceremony will engage your guests and start you wedding day on a high note.

Please explore this website to learn more about me and the services I offer. On the Weddings page you can check out pictures of recent couples I’ve worked with, read testimonial comments from previous clients, and explore rituals to consider including in your ceremony. There’s even a gallery of Rochester wedding venues to check out. Then contact me for a no cost, no obligation initial consultation meeting. We’ll sit down together and discuss what you want in your wedding ceremony, explore options for all aspects of your ceremony, and create an outline for the ceremony I can create for you.

The best ways for newly engaged couples to contact me are via the online form you can find here, via e-mail at kathy@mnlifecelebrations.com or via phone at 507-250-4655. I’ll be happy to answer any initial questions you have, and to schedule your initial meeting as soon as you’re ready.

As the end of the year draws near, I would like to take a moment to say thank you to some of the people who made 2016 a wonderful year. First, thank you to all the couples I worked with this year. I truly appreciate you selecting me as your wedding celebrant, and opening your hearts and lives so we could create a wedding ceremony that reflected you and your story.

Next, thank you to all the other wonderful vendors I work with regularly. The the venue managers who so kindly refer me to couples seeking ceremony services and who work with the couple and me to ensure we have what we need at the facility. The DJs and musicians who set the tone before the ceremony even begins, and weave music through each ceremony. The photographers who work around the edges to capture the moments for the couples, but are respectful of the ceremony taking place. All these people come together to create a memorable ceremony experience for each couple.

I’d also like to thank my husband who accompanies me to weddings, and who all the couples meet. Rich provides technical support with sound systems and photography for my website, provides chauffeur service so I can practice ceremonies as we travel, and who moves all the heavy sound equipment to make sure all guests can hear the ceremony.

All of these people enable me to do this work of providing personalized, meaningful, secular ceremonies. I look forward to working with them all again in the new year, as well as meeting and working with a new set of couples, including those about to get engaged during the upcoming holidays. Thank you for the memories of 2016, and now it is on to 2017!

Memorable wedding ceremonies are focused on you, the couple being married. They are filled with stories and anecdotes from your time together. They capture your guests’ attention and allow them to feel more connected to you and to your wedding day. And they set the tone for a happy, fun party to follow.

So how do you create a memorable ceremony? First, start with a professional celebrant who knows how to craft a ceremony and can deliver it well. Then, work with them to include elements that are personal and meaningful to you. Look at your ceremony from the start of the processional to your walk back down the aisle for ways to make the ceremony truly reflect you as a couple.

While the tradition of entering the ceremony space with your parent(s) is lovely, it can feel a bit contrived if you have been living independently for a number of years, if you share a home, or if you’ve been married before. Consider walking in to your ceremony as a couple! This simple change at the beginning of your ceremony will have your guests sitting up and taking notice.

I’ve written often about unity rituals, and they remain a great way to personalize your ceremony. If you connect with one of the standard rituals, that’s great, but if not, a custom unity ritual may be just the thing. This season I wrote an ice cream sharing ritual for a couple who included ice cream in every one of their dates – it was fun, memorable and meaningful. Another couple did their first dance as their unity ritual – they weren’t having a dance at their reception, but wanted that traditional moment to remember, so we positioned it as their unity ritual.

Near the end of your ceremony, invite a few of your guests to stand up or step forward to extend wishes for your married life. This can be as scripted or spontaneous as you wish, but do make sure that all guests can hear the offered wishes. Another way to close the ceremony is with a toast. This can be especially appropriate if your venue is a winery or distillery. You can also use your signature drink for the toast, gracefully blending your ceremony into your social hour.

And finally, if you want a visual or auditory send off, consider placing ribbon sticks or bells on each chair that can be used to salute you as you walk back down the aisle. Both are environmentally friendly, but be careful with the bells if there will be children in attendance as you may be serenaded throughout the ceremony.

Each couple is unique and has your own story. You deserve to be celebrated on your wedding day, and your ceremony can do that in a personal, memorable way.

Congratulations on your recent engagement! As you begin the big job of planning your wedding day you’ll discover many decisions to be made and many vendors and service providers you’ll need to hire. So where does your celebrant fall in the list of To Do’s? The simple answer: As soon as you’ve set your wedding date and venue.

The fact is that there are not a lot of celebrants or officiants in southeastern Minnesota who offer custom, secular ceremonies that focus on you as a couple. If that’s what you want for your wedding day, it is truly never too early to begin your search. It is not uncommon for couples to sign on with me 18 months before their ceremony, and I really hate to turn couples away, so please don’t wait. You can contact me by submitting a form from my website, by dropping me an email, or by giving me a call. Start by providing your name, your wedding date and your ceremony time and venue.

With that information I can immediately tell you if I’m available. I am also happy to answer any initial questions you have, but it’s fine if you don’t have any right away. If I’m available, I’ll provide an overview of the services I provide and how I work with couples. If it sounds like what you’re looking for, we will make arrangements to meet face to face.

That initial consultation meeting is at no cost or obligation to you. It gives us a chance to discuss your ceremony wishes and get to know each other a bit. At the end of the meeting we’ll review the Agreement that documents the business side of working together (including pricing). You can decide right then that you want to secure my services for your date, or you’re welcome to take the Agreement with you and return it after you’ve had a chance to chat together.

I welcome your questions throughout and after our consultation meeting as you decide if you want to work with me to create and deliver your wedding ceremony. While it’s never too early to start your search for the celebrant you want to work with, it’s rarely too late either. I prefer to work with couples for at least six months to create your ceremony, but if you’re working to a close in date, please check with me – I may be able to accommodate your schedule. I look forward to hearing from more 2017 couples soon.

The wedding ceremonies I perform are almost exclusively at non-traditional wedding venues – ie not in a church. One disadvantage to these venues can be the lack of a focal point for the ceremony – there is no altar or stage to draw everyone’s eye. Using an arch or tall floral arrangements can solve this problem. They also provide an opportunity to express your personal style.

Maybe sculpted topiary is perfect for you, or maybe wild curly willow branches speak to you. Floral arrangements on an outdoor arch can also express your personal style, and allow you to coordinate with other wedding floral as one couple did with this lovely asymmetrical floral accent on a metal arch.

If your ceremony is being held indoors – in a ballroom, barn or museum, for example, the same situation exists. You want some way to bring people’s attention to the front of the ceremony space where the action will be, and you may also want to provide a more personal and festive touch to a basically blank slate. Draping and lighting can help create the ceremony focal point, but bringing nature indoors can be accomplished, too, as two couples demonstrated in very different ways at ceremonies this year.

The first couple opted for a more formal, elegant approach with a custom built white wooden arch that was topped with an extravagant floral display. This ceremony was planned for outdoors, but when weather forced us indoors, the floral arch helped bring the outdoors inside and created a beautiful focal point in the room.

And finally, one couple took a more rustic, natural approach to ceremony decor with a massed grouping of cut tree trunks, greenery and candles. This warm and welcoming display greeted guests at the back of the ceremony space, and was carried through with greenery on the aisle chairs and tall urns that combined natural branches and cut flowers marking the front of the ceremony space.

Creating a special space that reflects your style is a great way to welcome your guests to your wedding ceremony, and can provide an indication of the style and tone of the entire wedding day. This is a great place to get creative, whether your budget is large or small, and let your personality shine.