October 2011

Oops, They Did it Again

A year or so ago, I wrote a rather stinging critique of Bethenny Frankel’s haphazard decisionmaking process in selecting the officiant for her well-chronicled wedding, featured on Bethenny Getting Married.   However, the ceremony seemed to get equally paltry attention in the record-setting wedding of celebrity Kim Kardashian and her athlete husband Kris Humphries. Two months after […]

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The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Last weekend, I officiated a lovely wedding for Elizabeth & Danny at E-Space in Hell’s Kitchen.  They selected an unusual (and unusually)  sweet passage as a reading….an excerpt from The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery: The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery “What does that mean–‘tame’?” “It is an act too often neglected,” said

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Marriage: The Personal & The Political

When thinking about weddings—even on the grandest scale—they are perceived to be individualized occasions, honoring the love between a bride and groom and the affection they share with family and friends. However, with the recent passage of New York’s “Marriage Equality Law,” same-sex marriages are not only personal celebrations, but events that make a political

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Come Rain or Come Shine: Eloping at the 3 West Club

By far the most popular spot for elopements/destination weddings in New York is Central Park. The Park offers innumerable beautiful locations to exchange vows. Moreover, even for those requiring a permit (for weddings with about 25 or more attendees), the cost is about $25 (and the process could be done online). A couple of weeks

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Halloween + Wedding = A Very Happy Day at Wave Hill

As Halloween approaches, I recall fondly a private wedding I officiated–in “costume” for a very nice local couple. The couple had met when they were very young. They went on separate journeys and reunited many years later. Pure romance. In a sweeping romantic gesture, the couple “eloped” and planned to surprise their friends and family

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Music for the Day

Even with large, elaborate weddings, music selection for the ceremony may be a marginalied part of the wedding planning.  Understandably some couples, who may have little in the way of formal music training, are intimidated in selecting the processional and recessional music, which is often classical in nature.  Authors Barbara Rothstein and Gloria Slerov have

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