Eclectic Unions - Custom Wedding Ceremonies by Celebrant Jessie Blum
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Beautiful, original, custom wedding ceremonies by Celebrant Jessie Blum.
I will create a ceremony that embodies the love and passion of your relationship, while still capturing the individuality and personalities of both parties. I take elements and rituals from your backgrounds and weave them into your love stor...
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Reviews for Eclectic Unions - Custom Wedding Ceremonies by Celebrant Jessie Blum
I wish there were more words to describe what a wonderful pick Jessie was as an officiant for our wedding. From the moment I started emailing her, she showed nothing but warmth and light, but at the same time being very professional.
The first time my husband and I met her was on our wedding day, as we were having a destination wedding. It didn't matter that we'd never met her face to face...it felt like we knew her for years.
There were no surprises during the ceremony as she cleared everything with us first. Her happy and cheery personality just added to the beautiful ceremony that she wrote. Thank you so much, Jessie!!
Jessie is amazing. She was sooo quick to respond every time I contacted her. She is very organized and professional. She has such a kind demeanor and gentle yet fun personality. She wrote an amazing ceremony for us and created a keepsake for us with our vows and ceremony. The price included a rehearsal the evening before. Thank you Jessie for making our day so special!
We are so glad we found Jessie. She worked with us to create a ceremony, and offered suggestions for readings and rituals to personalize our ceremony. Her guidance was invaluable, and she was always so prompt in answering my emails and questions. Our wedding ceremony was so special, sweet, and funny, and we got SO many compliments at the reception. We couldn't have asked for a better ceremony, and I can't imagine what my wedding would have been like without the ceremony. If you want a beautiful ceremony, you need to have Jessie officiate.
When we started planning our wedding my mother went on line to find us an officiant. She called me and told me to look at Jessie's website. She got a good feeling from her smile. Now I know that is not the best way to judge anyone, but it was a feeling from my mother's gut. AND...she was right!!! Jessie was easy to work with, flexible, honest, down to earth, and charming. Our wedding ceremony was beautiful! Our friends and family continue to comment on the wonderful job Jessie did. We were extremely happy with Jessie and have recommended her to people already. She made our day memorable!!!!!
Very impressed with all the feedback regarding Eclectic Union. We are interested in having a very personal and unique wedding.
Jessie is the best!!! My wife and I had conducted a search online and came across Jessie's website. From the start, she was very professional, very attentive, and very helpful. She worked with us every step of the way to ensure that the ceremony was exactly how WE wanted it. We highly reccommend her!!!
Jessie made our ceremony incredible. What made her so different from other celebrants is that she put her heart into creating our ceremony. She got to know us, and the love between us. And she dedicated herself to conveying that love to our family and friends. Jessie, you are an amazing woman. Thank you for making our ceremony so incredible and so memorable. We will forever be grateful to you!
Jessie is absolutely awesome, fabulous, and fantastic. She was unbelievably flexible, professional, responsive like no other and simply phenomenal. I am extremely happy with the results of my ceremony. It is everything I wanted and then some. Everything that Jessie did exceeded expectations. Thank you so much Jessie, I could not have asked for a better ceremony!
Jessie was a dream to work with. From day one she worked so hard to make sure that every aspect of the wedding reflected our wishes and who we are as a couple. Every aspect of the ceremony from the “love story” of our relationship to the vows were performed with professionalism, honesty and heart. It is no wonder that so many of our guests, including a minister who has performed many weddings herself, told us that ours was the best, most personal and meaningful wedding they had ever attended. We are so grateful to Jessie for making sure that our wedding ceremony would be a special, meaningful and memorable experience. Thank you!
Jessie was fantastic – she put together a highly personalized ceremony for us with just the right tone. She was receptive to what we wanted and gave us total veto power over what would/would not be included in the text. We were thrilled with her delivery of the text at the ceremony, and afterwards many of our guests remarked how much they enjoyed what Jessie had written. Choosing Jessie as the celebrant for our wedding was one of the best decisions we made and we recommend her without reservation and with great enthusiasm.
John and I were struggling with our decision to use a Justice of the Peace and have an impersonal ceremony. We really wanted something that would reflect us, tell our story, and talk about what is most important in our lives, and the woman that we originally selected for the ceremony wasn’t willing to do that. Switching to Jessie was the best decision that we made! After our initial meeting to discuss our ceremony with her, John and I were both so relieved and knew that it was going to be just what we hoped for. She introduced us to some unique ceremony ideas, like handfasting, and she went along with some of our crazy ideas, like planting a tree together, our Circle of Love, and having our readers surprise us the day of. When John and I think back on our wedding day, we are so happy that we made the switch to Jessie. Our ceremony was meaningful, thoughtful and so personal. So many guests came up to us afterwards and thanked us for having such a personal ceremony, they really appreciated getting to know us a little better through it. I will happily recommend her to anyone.
Jessie is awesome! She was very flexible when it came to meeting with us and dealing with our busy schedules. She helped with creating our vows when we had writers block, and was very inspirational for our ring vows. Because of her – our ceremony was VERY personal and intimate. Our family and friends enjoyed the ceremony and pretty much everyone made a comment on how great it was. There was not a dry eye in the room. Jessie made our ceremony feel like a conversation amongst friends and tailored it specifically for those who attended. A wonderful day….
About Eclectic Unions - Custom Wedding Ceremonies by Celebrant Jessie Blum
I will create a ceremony that embodies the love and passion of your relationship, while still capturing the individuality and personalities of both parties. I take elements and rituals from your backgrounds and weave them into your love story to create a unique ceremony just for your wedding.
Of course, this is your wedding, and you have the ultimate control. I will create this unique ceremony based on the parameters you give me. All traditions and backgrounds are accepted and honored. The possibilities for the ceremony are nearly endless! I can also suggest rituals or ceremonies to include if you are looking for ideas, as well as help you with your vows, and readings.
The ceremony will be original, touching, and beautiful, and one that you, as well as your family and friends, will remember forever.
I am a Celebrant and non-denominational minister, and legal to perform weddings in New Jersey. I provide unlimited consultations on your ceremony script until you are happy with it. In addition, if you'd like a rehearsal, I can provide one for you.
The central theme of the ceremony will be your love story; the original tale of what events have brought you both to where you are today. Indeed, your wedding is just the beginning of this story, and I would be honored to help guide you into this next chapter.
Blog: Eclectic Unions - Custom Wedding Ceremonies by Celebrant Jessie Blum
New Blog!
Hello my wonderful blog readers,
I’ve officially transitioned over to a new blog location, on my website! Please take a moment to update your bookmarks / Bloglines / Google Reader / RSS feed so you can make sure to continue to get updates from Eclectic Unions on creating an awesome and beautiful wedding ceremony!
See you there!
All the best,
Jessie
Wedding: Ingrid & Elan
For every human being there rises a light that reaches straight to the heavens. When two souls who are destined for each other find one another, their streams of light flow together and a single, brighter light goes forth from their united being.
Ingrid and Elan were married at the Astoria World Manor in the beginning of December. I worked closely with them to incorporate many different rituals and traditions within their ceremony – as Ingrid put it, a mixture of the traditional and the new.
We included a unity candle ceremony, but with a twist – while a friend of the couple performed Shawn Colvin’s “When You Know,” I walked to the back of the chapel, and lit the candles of a guest on each side. The guests passed the light up to the front of the room, until it reached the mothers. The mothers came up and lit the individual tapers, that the bride and groom used those candles to light the central votive. It was a beautiful and very physical demonstration of the love and support that the room was literally filled with.
From our first correspondence, Ingrid and Elan were adamant about including a feet washing ritual in their ceremony. They told me they had both decided it was the one thing they wanted to include in the ceremony, independent of each other. I did a lot of research and prep to find a way to make this ritual egalitarian and about the ideals that Ingrid and Elan wanted to develop and keep important in their relationship. This foot washing ritual was placed at the end of their wedding ceremony, just before the final reading and closing remarks.
Our couple’s relationship has been built upon their friendship, their open discourse and trade of knowledge, and their respect for one another. To touch someone’s feet is a sign of respect – it is a way to say “I respect your knowledge, and look to you for guidance.”
Ingrid and Elan will now take part in a foot washing ritual. The root of this rite is an act of love – to physically and symbolically wash the feet of their partner. It is a purification, and cleansing of negative karma, obstructions, and the past – a way for our couple to have a new beginning with each other today. And it is also a sign of humility – a sign that they will serve each other, and be open to their partner’s kindness in return – a sign that they will care for each other, and be cared for by the other. Just like a marriage, it is a flowing give and take of love and respect.
After the explanation, I performed a reading while they gently removed their shoes, and showed their devotion and their commitment to each other and to a life of service and love and caring for each other by washing their feet with wet cloths, and then dried them.
We also had the traditional Jewish stepping on the glass at the end (but they both stepped on glasses, instead of just the groom!), and had some wonderful readings from the bridal party.
This was one of my final ceremonies for 2009, and was a wonderful way to end the year. The devotion and love and respect that Ingrid and Elan had for each other was really inspiring, and I did my best to capture it in their ceremony. Congratulations again!
Coming soon!
Hello blog readers!
I just wanted to throw up a post to say hi, and let you know of some exciting blog posts, coming your way by the end of December:
- A beautiful at home wedding, including some fun Italian rituals, that the couple put together in two weeks!
- A wedding ceremony that included a candle lighting ceremony, a foot washing, and was grounded in light, service, and the couple’s open discourse and pursuit of knowledge.
- A breakdown of Eclectic Union’s first full year of weddings! And a sneak peek at what is going on for 2010!
- Delicious photos of the cake served at Dan and my engagement party last weekend
- Information on the charities I gave back to this year, thanks to my couples.
So you’ve got lots to look forward to! I’m taking a brief vacation this weekend, but should be back in action early next week. I hope your holidays and wedding plans are going well!
Wedding: Nicole & Sinan
Nicole and Sinan were married at the Warwick, in Philadelphia, PA in mid-October. Nicole found me through Weddingbee, and I was more than happy to make the trip down to Philly for her wedding ceremony. Nicole is American and Jewish, and Sinan is Turkish and Muslim, so I worked with them to create a multi-cultural ceremony with a few elements that reflected each of their backgrounds – combined with their incredibly Love Story and lots of laughter.
A few days before the wedding, Nicole emailed me and said that there was a Turkish tradition they wanted to include – the bestowing of jewelry on the bride! Just after being declared husband and wife, the groom’s family were invited up to the chuppah, where they SHOWERED Nicole in beautiful jewelry (gold is traditional). Necklaces, rings, bracelets, and earrings were presented from her new in-laws. It was a wonderful way to show their happiness and excitement to welcome Nicole into their family!
Click to see bigger!
The couple was married under a chuppah, the Jewish wedding canopy, and this was the explanation I gave:
Our bride and groom stand under the Jewish marriage canopy, the chuppah. This represents the home that they will create and share in their married life. Just as Sinan and Nicole are opening their hearts to each other today, so are the sides of the chuppah open, to let in the love of their beloved guests today. So will their home always be open to all of you. The heart of every home is the family the resides within – today, our couple will become each other’s family.
We included two other Jewish elements – the breaking of the glass at the end, and bestowing the couple with (non-religious) seven blessings at the end of the ceremony. The Seven Blessings are a favorite of mine to include in an interfaith or non-religious wedding with Jewish elements, because, though the ones I have written capture the ideas of the original Seven Blessings, they are much more about seven ideals or thoughts that I hope my couples keep in their marriage together. They don’t mention God, or a higher diety, but are still a nice Jewish touchstone to include in the ceremony – and a wonderful way to conclude it as well!
Dan and I had so much fun with our mini-road trip down to Philadelphia, and I was so happy that I got to meet Nicole and Sinan (one of the rare times I don’t meet the bride and the groom prior to the wedding!) and be a part of their incredible day. Congratulations again!
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