creating your own gay & lesbian unity & commitment ceremonies with wendy's book
Celebrate your love and union with a heartfelt ceremony declaring your devotion to each other and your commitment to the friendship and relationship.
At the moment, same sex marriages are not yet a legal option in Australia. However, the principles, stories and inspiring ideas for creating a fun, fabulous and personal ceremony in my book
Create Your Own Inspiring Wedding Ceremony are for all couples!
There are four commitment ceremonies included in the actual examples and two ceremonies were written for same sex couples.
Take the opportunity to honour your relationship in front of the people who are most important to you. It is a very special moment.
Work with the 'Love Letter' from the book to create vows that are meaningful and most importantly, an expression of your love.
There are lots of great ideas and stories that will inspire you and make your ceremony absolutely beautiful!
Buy Create Your Own Inspiring Wedding Ceremony
jen and helena's ceremony
Jen and Helena invited 30 of their closest family and friends to a small and intimate ceremony at Helena's family home. They had their little boy, Thomas as the ring bearer. Helena's mum and dad, walked her down the aisle to stand beside Jen who was holding Thomas. Jen's mum, stepped forward and took hold of Thomas and gave Jen and Helena a kiss.
Helena's father, who was a minister, spoke a prayer for their union.
The ceremony was an expression of Helena and Jen's commitment to each other and also to their role as parents. After Helena and Jen exchanged their rings and personally composed vows three of their close friends came forward and placed their hands around Helena and Jen's joined hands. Each of the friends spoke a short blessing and then were seated again. It was a joyous moment when I pronounced them to be 'partners for life'.
An afternoon tea garden party followed the ceremony once the family photographs were taken.
mark and peter's ceremony
Mark and Peter visited me nine months before their celebration and after an enjoyable time discussing their ceremony plans they took home a copy of
Create Your Own Inspiring Wedding Ceremony.
Four months before the ceremony I received an email from them both. I laughed so much when I received their notes - there were so many funny stories from their eight years together. As with any intimate relationship, there were also the challenges which they wrote about.
They had been through so much together - Peter's journey of coming out had been really tough with his family. It was likely that, with the exception of his sister, his family wouldn't be coming to the ceremony. Peter had come to terms with this and he asked that we acknowledge his love for them even if they could not accept his path.
I had a few tears when I read their vows. They were simple yet powerful. They had chosen to have a 'warming of the rings' ceremony and asked if I would invite all of the guests to stand in a circle as the rings were passed from one end to the other. During this time they selected a beautiful piece of music to be played by some friends who had offered to be the musicians for the ceremony.
On the day, we gathered at the resort and were treated to fine weather. Blue sunny skies and a gentle breeze. It was a perfect ceremony with lots of tears and laughter. Congratulations Mark and Peter!
There are many other resources on this website to assist you with the
planning of your ceremony.
About the Author
For the past 13 years, Wendy Haynes has been helping Australians
celebrate the significant occasions in their lives. Specialising in
ceremonies for all of life's important 'touchpoints,' Wendy is an
authority in the areas of weddings, name givings, funerals, and even
birthdays. Having conducted over 1,000 ceremonies, Wendy put her
experiences into writing and is the author of seven popular books.
Customer Reviews
This book is a definite must-buy for any couple wanting to have a truly unique and beautiful wedding ceremony.
- Kamini Rajarethnam, Group Editor, Wedding Magazine
Reading
your book helped us to go back and really think about what brought us
together and why we wanted to get married. We had a lot of fun with
your book.
- Jennifer and Aaron, Sydney, NSW
Your
book gave us an insight as to what the important aspects of a perfect
ceremony are. Had I not read your book I don’t know whether I would
have put so much thought into the most memorable part of our wedding.
- Candy and Lincoln, Sydney, NSW
I
really enjoyed your book! I devoured it today and have about 10
different ideas scribbled down that I plan to include in our ceremony.
About four times I actually had tears welling up in my eyes at some of
the beautiful words you have used in your ceremonies and I love your
chapter entitled Marriage 101 - it's not always 50/50; that was a
lesson I had to learn for myself after a squabble or two, but now I
understand that I'm just more passionate about the actual wording of
the ceremony but my fiancé is actually excited about marrying me. My
celebrant is Jill Webster and she did highly recommend the book, in her
words 'I think anyone who is planning their wedding ceremony should
definitely buy the book...heaps of wonderful suggestions' and she
really loved the Love Letter idea and so do I. Thank you so much for
your wonderful suggestions, I'm very much looking forward to having a
very personal, genuine and intimate ceremony using a number of them.
- Emma Bingley, Tasmania
I
always provide my couples with my own comprehensive book of ceremony
ideas and was reluctant to buy your books as it would be yet another in
a very full library. After attending your naming workshop at our
conference I was so impressed with your ideas and generosity that I
purchased your package with the intention of passing on your contact
details with my portfolio so every couple wanting that bit more could
do so easily. I must say your book is incredibly well laid out and in
reading it my couples could certainly enhance their ceremonies – so
thank you for your excellent work. I have conducted ceremonies for 16
years and I have tried to be as original as possible. I recall early
ceremony books were very traditional in nature and I successfully
provided alternatives. I believe we celebrants should embrace change
and constantly work at improving what we do. I welcome your ideas and
I hope to meet with you again in the future.
- Jill Webster, Celebrant, Newtown, Tasmania
I
found your book amazing: it is very practical and informative. Despite
being a celebrant for 16 years, with many ceremonies under my belt, I
have thoroughly enjoyed reading it. The chapters are very refreshing
and very well worded. You ought to be congratulated on your book.
- Silvia Levame, Celebrant, Enmore, NSW
I
have just finished reading your book and am amazed at the work and
effort you have put into it. You have written with warmth and insight.
You admit the difficulties that can arise in dealing with the very
differing parties to a marriage but give encouragement and ideas that
embrace their diversity. I am impressed.
- Annette Veitch, Registrar of Births, Deaths & Marriages, Jedburgh, Scotland
Buy Create Your Own Inspiring Wedding Ceremony
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