Tag Archives: wedding

Stacey + Jonathon (12.1.18)

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I don’t always get to see photos from couples, so when I received these, I was thrilled and knew I just had to share!

Vendors:
Venue – @vibianaevents
Caterer – @redbirdla
Photographer – @lovetribeweddings
Planner – @mongeamoreevents
Florals – @thetangledvine
Video – @shutterandsound
Rentals – @edgedesigndecor
Beauty – @allaroundglambykim
Calligraphy – @calligkatrina
Cake – @layers_and_co
Photobooth – @viralboothoc
DJ/MC – #RRMixshow
Bride – @_itsstacey
Groom – @j_ar_
Officiant: #themerryministers
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Couples’ Choice Awards 2019!

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Well, it looks like all of those weddings from 2018 paid off in more ways than one: I was recently notified that The Merry Ministers is a recipient of the Couples’ Choice Awards for 2019!

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This is awarded by WeddingWire, where I receive most of my client referrals from, and is based on the quantity and quality of customer reviews (so yes, potential couples, I WILL be asking you for a review!).

These distinguished vendors exhibit superior professionalism, responsiveness, service, and quality when interacting with the five million monthly consumers who turn to WeddingWire to help ease their wedding planning process.

Officiating is not my full time job, but it is a passion job.  I love connecting with couples.  I love being a part of such an intimate and memorable moment in peoples lives.  I love standing next to the groom as he sees his bride walking down the aisle.  I love been privy to those little conversations the bride and groom exchange while I’m officiating (“you look beautiful!” “we finally made it!”).  It’s such an honor to know that couples are happy with the work that I do, which makes this award pretty significant for me.

So, thank you to all my couples, from 2018 and before, and all my future couples: I love being a part of your day!

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Thank you to Love Tribe Weddings for capturing this image!

Ceremony Idea for the Travel Enthusiasts

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I’ve had a few couples that really love to travel, and love incorporating this idea into their ceremony.

The idea I’ve had a couple different couples is to have a map on an easel, either of a certain place (i.e., place where they got engaged/married/live), or the country, or the world.  The map can have markers on it already of places they have been to already as a couple, and during the ceremony they can add markers to places they want to go.  The markers of where they have already been would be in one color, and the ones for the places they want to go still would be in a different color.

Or, they can just add a marker to the place where they are currently getting married, and tell guests that as they go places, they will add their markers to their map.

The actual map can be of so many different materials: metal/magnetic with special magnets for markers, cork and push pins, wood and maybe using  permanent markers or pre-made vinyl markers.  You get it: the possibilities are endless!

Super Secret Civil Ceremony

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Back in January I had the distinct honor of officiating the wedding ceremony for a very dear friend of mine from college.  They got married through the Catholic church and had their big reception in June, so the January ceremony was just for family and a few close friends, and was kept a secret until their big wedding day.  It was hard to not post any pictures right after the ceremony-I was so excited to be a part of this moment for them!

The intimate ceremony took place in front of the water fountain in Echo Park, which is where Ana and Jose had their first blind date.  The location therefore had a lot of significance to them, and it was great to be able to come to them and marry them in the exact location they wanted.

It’s pretty amazing that what started as a random request from a law-school friend to officiate her wedding has allowed me to officiate for so many of my dearest and friends from all walks of life (college, law school, co-workers from my Starbucks days, etc.).

Excited to see where this little journey takes me next!

Ceremony Ideas for the Outdoorsy-Type

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I am currently working on a wedding for a couple that is very active and loves to go on hikes, and I was brainstorming ways to incorporate that into their wedding since they did not have any commemorative portion planned for their ceremony.  Here are a few things I came up with:

  • Plant a bamboo plant with rocks collected from different hiking trails you’ve been on together
  • Plant something else with dirt that you’ve collected on different hikes (can have the dirt in mason jars with trail names)
  • Have a map of Mammoth (where groom proposed)/California/United States and mark trails on there with string or hears or some kind of marker-either that you’ve been on or would like to go on; or map of Mammoth and mark the spot where the proposal happened
  • Kind of cheesy, but maybe instead of a wine box you have a “hikers backpack” that you pack during the ceremony with stuff you’ll need for your next hike–you can include a Polaroid of everyone at the ceremony, maybe a bottle of your favorite alcohol/wine and you can take a shot before you put it in your backpack, or items that you can explain why they’re important to you/him each other (can be cheesy or romantic).

The bride loved the bamboo idea, and since they are Chinese there is extra significance to this.  I’m excited to see this come to life at their wedding at Serra Plaza at the end of October.

 

Bouquet Toss Alternative

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On Saturday I saw a bouquet toss alternative that was so cute and different that I had to share!

Instead of tossing the bouquet, the bouquet was placed inside a bird cage which was locked.  There was a display of vintage keys on an easel, that was moved to the dance floor along with the bird cage, and all the single ladies lined up to pick a key and see if it unlocked the bird cage.  There were enough keys for almost two rounds, and it seemed like the ladies enjoyed this much more than standing and trying to catch the bouquet–and subsequently there was no injury to the bouquet!

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Busy year ahead!

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Hello there!  Wow, has it really been over 2 years since I’ve blogged on here?  This might just be a huge coincidence, but it’s also the exact age of my son, haha.  We’ve got baby #2 coming in April (boy name suggestions are welcome!) so I can’t promise I’ll be much better, but I can tell you that it doesn’t mean I haven’t been busy with wedding stuff!

2015 has been a busy wedding year and I still have one more wedding scheduled on Thanksgiving weekend.  I was able to officiate two very special weddings this year (among many other awesome ceremonies): one for my friend Bobby and his beautiful wife Alison, who got married in Temecula, and another one for my very dear college friend Maria, and her husband, Jose.  Both of these ceremonies were so personal and touching, and I was just so happy that I was invited to be a part of them.

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For the last couple years I started getting more involved with event coordinating with Events by Katherine, and this has been such a wonderful experience.  I’m starting to run my own weddings through Katherine which is incredibly exciting, and I have several weddings booked with her for 2016 already.

I’ve also been working on my Wedding Wire page for the officiant side of things, and have already booked 2 wedding ceremonies for 2016, which is very exciting!

On top of that, my cousin is getting married next year (yay!!!), as well as one of my best friend’s from college, and I’m happy to be “all hands on deck” for both of these.  I’m excited to be able to share with both of them all of the wedding knowledge I’ve gleaned from my own events throughout the last few years, and that they both know they can call me with any random wedding questions they have.  It’s so nice to be able to provide the comfort of knowing what you’re doing to people who are going through something for the first (and only) time.  I’m still trying to convince one of them to have a mashed potato bar during their cocktail hour, but I don’t think I’m going to win that one…but seriously, have a mashed potato bar during your cocktail hour…you won’t regret it!

Here’s to a busy, bright, and awesome 2016 wedding year!

And we’re off!

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If someone had told me five years ago that I would be starting a website to perform wedding ceremonies, I wouldn’t have believed it.  But here we are!  A great friend asked me to perform her wedding last year, and I thought “sure, why not.”  It was meant to be a one-time deal, but after performing her wedding ceremony it got me thinking: I can do something pretty neat with this.  Brooke is one of my bestest friends, and she’s been performing wedding ceremonies for years now, so it was only natural for us to join forces and see how many lives we can change by performing custom-made and heartfelt wedding ceremonies.

What do we want to accomplish with this website?  Obviously we’re trying to create a little source of revenue, but with the rates we’re charging, we’re not planning on becoming millionaires.  We want to provide an honest and impressive service, for a reasonable fee.  As female ministers, we’re already in the minority of ceremony officiants.  But we like that.  We don’t want to be your standard and dull wedding minister: we want to perform a ceremony that your guests will remember, whether that’s because it was funny, heartfelt, or ridiculous, that’s for you to decide 🙂

My plans for this blog started humbly, but they are growing by the minute.  I want to share with you new and creative ideas for your wedding, I want to keep you posted on the latest trends, I want to give you alternatives to the traditional wedding ideas that are out there.

So, check us out, stay tuned for updates, and feel free to contact us if you have questions about our rates and/or services.

Oh yeah, welcome to the Merry Ministers!

(Alexandra)