TRADITION: College Football's Rose Bowl and Prime Rib = the Beef Bowl?!

American society has so few ties to custom and ritual in this day and age.  That's why it's so interesting to see how sports and athleticism is the one area where tradition is not only expected, but it is also honoured and perpetuated.

An article from the Los Angeles Times wrote about the Beef Bowl, a five decades-long tradition of serving prime rib dinners in a fine dining setting to players of both teams competing in the Rose Bowl (on separate days, of course!). The two teams are invited in to a Los Angeles establishment to communally feast on a prime rib dinner with Yorkshire pudding, potatoes, salad etc.  Inevitably, the event turns into a eating competition each year.  (Here's a tip for you wagerers: supposedly, the team with the most amount of meat consumed is statistically significantly shown to become the winner of the Rose Bowl game...)

Photo by Todd Wawrychuk of ESPN.com

[PLEASE NOTE:  For the record, i have been a vegetarian for over 20 years, and do not personally approve of such overt displays of excess when it comes to something like food and hunger...but i DO enjoy tradition and so i wanted to share this story with you!]

ELEMENTS: Purple and Yellow Los Angeles Lakers Colors Inspire Wedding or Party Décor

You can incorporate a sports or other theme into the text of your wedding ceremony...just ask and we can make it happen!  www.ceremonyceremony.com

Whether you call yourself a fanboy / fangirl, obsessive, geek or otherwise, you can take your love of something to the next level, and express it in your ceremony!  If you love gaming, chess, Jeopardy and/or surfing for example, or if you both share an interest in books, a sports team or MMA/UFC fighter, you can make your celebration all your own. 

Consider how deep or actively involved you want your theme to be.  Do you want the overlying scheme to be incorporated into every aspect of the day?  Or, do you prefer a more indirect approach?

Above, photographer CAROLINE TRAN shared images from a 40th birthday party in early 2010 with a Los Angeles Lakers theme and colour scheme. The event was designed by THE SPECIAL DAY.  And, OneWed ran a variation of the birthday party photos for weddings.

LGBT: Proposition 8 Courtroom on TV: CSPAN 12/6/2010 - Don't Forget!

Proceedings from the Proposition 8 appeal will be broadcast live on Monday, 6 December 2010 at 10am Pacific Time, according to SF GATE and the LA TIMES.  It will be the first trial of any federal court in California to be broadcast on television or on the internet.

Set your television, TiVO or watch the trial online!  It's scheduled to be broadcast on CSPAN.

BTW here's a handy overview, courtesy of DALLAS VOICE ; it's a viewer's guide to the Prop. 8 arguments.

OPINION: Officiants, Photographers and Other Vendors Need to Communicate!

My brother sent me an email the other day:

Hi~! 

How goes?

So the last couple weddings I went to, this happened (pics attached)...This is my view of the ceremony...  "WedB" is the kiss...  Does this happen a lot?

Thanks,
~  K

The email made me think about the dozens of postings i have seen online and on Twitter, written by photogs who all passive-aggressively exclaim something similar to: "Hey, minister/reverend/officiant/clergyperson!  You should've gotten out of the way when the couple kissed at the end of the ceremony!" [BTW WedB is this one --->  ]

Was a shot ruined because the officiant was standing in between a kissing couple?  Possibly.  Undoubtedly, however, the guests attending a ceremony will be disappointed if their view is blocked by a less-thoughtful photog, videog, or anyone, really... 

And so, dear Event Professional, on behalf of most confident, experienced and well-adjusted officiants, I encourage you to approach whoever is leading the ceremony you are working or documenting, and discuss where you would like for us to stand at which point in the ceremony...because we want you to capture the ceremony as much as you want to!  And tell us where you plan to be, as well. 

Yes, this officiant WILL move out of the way for photographers... [but only if the photographer returns the kindness.  :)  Just kidding.]  Let's work together to create and record unforgettable, positive memories for our clients!  Thank you very much.

A Non-Denominational Ceremony: Modern Officiant & Certified Life-Cycle Celebrant® in Orange County, Los Angeles, Inland Empire, Palm Springs, Ojai, Ventura, Catalina Island, Big Bear/Lake Arrowhead and greater Southern California for your wedding, funeral/memorial/celebration of life, pet/animal, new child or baby, business, divorce, retirement, transition, ribbon cutting, deployment, rite of passage or any public or private occasion or event.

INTERESTING: Resentment & Wedding Complainers on Post Secret

This one was called "Wedding Revenge".

from POST SECRET week of 21 Nov. 2010

INTERESTING: Another Way to Reduce, Reuse, Recycle? [via Post Secret]

Here's another appropriate POST SECRET submission from the week of 11/21/2010 (please continue reading after the image):

Later, someone in the Post Secret community shared the following:

-----Email-----
I had the very same calendar collecting dust in the corner.  It's now been folded into hundreds of paper cranes that were hung from the ceiling at my wedding.

POST SECRET is an ongoing community art project where people mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a postcard.

Want an Invite to The Aisle NY's Wedding-Focused Flash Sale Website?

Get ready, to-be-weds and the just engaged!  The latest private member-only online sale website is THE AISLE NEW YORK (TANY).  Gilt, ideeli, Groupon and similar sites, which post various bargains, deals and items for a limited-time only are all the rage these days...but TANY is the only one centered on the wedding market.

Invitation from The Aisle New York, the web's only
wedding-based flash sale site...  :)

A NON-DENOMINATIONAL CEREMONY has a handful of The Aisle New York 's invitations to join, in case you're curious to learn what it's all about.  Please leave contact information in the comments of this blog, or email celebrantvenus [AT] gmail [DOT] com directly!  First come, first served, and you're under no obligation to our officiant services (although, we'd love to ask you about your ceremony plans!).  For more information, please read on.

Lovely art from The Aisle NY's homepage.

According to a press release issued on eWEDNEWS.com, the website's founders consist of David Yassky (former Fashion Editor and Stylist at Women’s Wear Daily and W Magazine, where he covering the bridal industry in-depth); corporate attorney Shara Levy; Deborah Moses (of Moses Media and previously Elegant Bride Magazine's Editor- in-Chief and Creative Director) and Mark Ingram (owner and founder of New York City’s Mark Ingram Bridal Atelier).  Pre-registration for TANY began in August 2010.

The press release went on to say:

"Most featured merchandise including wedding dresses and gowns, veils and headpieces, designer and fine jewelry, lingerie, shoes, and evening bags are promotionally priced, passing along significant consumer savings.  The site also offers select new collections and designer initiatives at regular prices. Merchandise ranges from one-of-a kind runway pieces, coveted designer archives, new custom-made orders, and exclusive designer capsule initiatives.  The platform’s editorial section [vks - read: online magazine!], Inside The Aisle, features dynamic content for everything wedding, from aspirational fashion imagery, to ecommerce shopping guidance, and tips and pointers from industry experts. And to spread the love even further, The Aisle New York donates a portion of proceeds from every gown sold to the charity of the designers’ choice."

 Of course, please visit our website if you need an officiant (also known as a minister, reverend or clergy) for your Southern California ceremony!

LGBT: Sheila Alexander-Reed Performed Skype Wedding in D.C.

Has anyone, not just an LGBT couple, been married via Skype in the U.S. before?

You may have heard about the Skype-officiated wedding ceremony of Mark Reed and Dante Walkup.  While the couple and their loved ones were in Texas, the officiant was in Washington, D.C. where all people, whether in same sex or breeder relationships, may legally be married.

The officiant SHEILA ALEXANDER-REID (also named "Shiela Reid-Alexander" in the wedding video) runs a lesbian-owned wedding officiant business with Deborah Thomas called MARRY ME IN D.C. 

"After serving the LGBT community for over 15 years, and working so hard for Marriage Equality in the District of Columbia, it only seems fitting that I would continue to serve my community through Marry Me in DC." 

Thank you, Sheila.  You are an inspiration to all of us! 

BTW see this article about Alexander-Reid which was printed in 2007 in the Metro Weekly, Washington, D.C.'s gay and lesbian news magazine. 

Own Your Equality and Use Technology - And as i continue to follow the developments of this story, i will try to research the legal aspects of the wedding ceremony and explore its ramifications.  Please stay tuned.

And CONGRATULATIONS, MARK AND DANTE!

READING: Eloquent Excerpts from 'The Little Prince'

Are you considering using a short quote or literary passage in your ceremony? 

from The Little Prince
by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

“Meeting you was fate, becoming your friend was a choice, but falling in love with you I had no control over.”


“Perhaps love is the process of (someone) leading you gently back to yourself…Life has taught us that love does not consist in gazing at each other, but in looking together in the same direction.”

When you can't find just the right excerpt or passage, need help writing your ceremony, or want assistance from a professional officiant / minister / reverend and certified Life-Cycle Celebrant, contact A NON-DENOMINATIONAL CEREMONY for your civil union, commitment, engagement/betrothal, anniversary, vow renewal or wedding ceremony in Los Angeles, Orange County & Southern California.

Operation: Secret Wedding!

Congratulations to this Washington state couple, married in a wedding ceremony at a Southern California Amusement Park, also known as the "Most Joyful Area on This Planet".

Discreet Los Angeles Wedding Officiant, originally uploaded to FLICKR.

The day they chose in November 2010 happened to be their 15-year anniversary to the day!  The couple brought just two other people to witness the special morning event. Best of all, the bride and groom each wrote their own wedding vows and read them to each other off their own Blackberry.

Mission impossible?  NO, because you CAN have your wedding your way!  If you are seeking a discreet Orange County officiator or Los Angeles Wedding Officiant to make your non-traditional ceremony vision come true, even at Disneyland, underwater, or any place of your choosing, please contact www.ceremonyceremony.com .

DISCLAIMER: The above wedding was planned solely by the couple, and i complied as their officiant.  Please note, some private and public properties do not encourage, nor allow, impromptu weddings and other gatherings to occur on their premises.