JAPAN: White Weddings Require White Officiants?!!?

The term 'western' equals fashionable, trendy and white...as in Caucasian. A fascinating story on PRI's The World goes on to say:

"The “white wedding” in Japan copies an archetypal Western ceremony...But perhaps the most essential part of the event is a minister who looks the part. In other words, a white person."

The wedding industry is in full effect around the world, and according to the report, "Wedding services often use white grooms in their advertising material. It’s a common scheme to sell the “white wedding” fantasy to Japanese women".  Let alone the wedding fantasy in general! Hear the full story below.

SO weird, but to me not a good weird...  Maybe i'm taking it a little too seriously, but this makes me a little embarassed to be Japanese (albeit i'm actually Japanese-American). Heck, i'm just AMERICAN!

If you simply want a modern officiant to provide the ceremony you want, race or ethnicity aside, please contact A NON-DENOMINATIONAL CEREMONY for your Southern California wedding.

SYMBOLS & TRADITION: L.A. Roadside Memorials

"Homemade monuments to those we’ve lost are all over town, built by friends and loved ones as reminders to be careful—and as a way of saying good-bye."

-- from Los Angeles Magazine

For more detailed information about this artistic roadside memorial, and the motorcyclist whose death unfortunately affirmed the dangerousness of Mulholland Drive, see Shrines: The Giving Tree in LA Mag.

PHOTO: 30 Rock Wedding - Liz Lemon Marries Criss Cross

from Season 7's episode "Maazel Tov, Dummies" on NBC, originally uploaded by dj venus.

"I reject the wedding industry's phallocentric fairytale grotesquerie."

As one should!

Liz Lemon, left, in her Princess Leia wedding dress, married boyfriend Criss Cross in a civil ceremony last night. With Jack Donaghy, far left, and former boyfriend and pager king Dennis Duffy on far right.

YOU can reject the grotesquerie, too! Have the wedding ceremony YOU want. Contact A Non-Denominational Ceremony for your wedding officiant in Los Angeles, Orange County and greater Southern California.

Via Flickr.

VIDEO: NYPD's "It Gets Better" for LGBT Youth

In light of today's Supreme Court discussion to consider whether or not to take on the same-sex marriage issue, i discovered this video featuring New York Police Department's Gay Officers Action League president; NYPD Commissioner Kelly; their LGBT community liaison and NYPD officers.

NEWS: $30k really the average cost of a Southern California wedding??!

You don't have to spend the cost of a new car to have your wedding in Orange County or Los Angeles... do you? The latest comprehensive report by the Wedding Report website has been released for the Orange County and Los Angeles areas. Among other things, it states the average cost of a Southern California wedding is over $30,000 (thirty thousand dollars)??!!

The report states the following statistics for the 2011 Orange County wedding industry: Number of Weddings 20,314. Average Wedding Cost $31,975. Market Value $650 Million. Average Number of Guests 142 - 152. Online Market Value $158 Million. Number of Wedding Businesses 2,228 - 2,475.

According to the same website, in the Los Angeles/Long Beach/Santa Ana metropolitan area, the following represents the wedding market in 2011:

Number of Weddings in Los Angeles/Long Beach/Santa Ana 78,508. Average Wedding Cost $30,245. Market Value $2.4 Billion. Average Number of Guests 135 - 145. Online Market Value $474 Million. Number of Wedding Businesses 10,007 - 11,119.

Contact A NON-DENOMINATIONAL CEREMONY if you need a modern, inclusive wedding ceremony officiant. You CAN have the wedding you want, even if it means choosing to spend less!

Statistics via © 2005 - 2012 The Wedding Report, Inc., All rights reserved.

VIDEO: Crystal Cove Wedding near Newport Beach, CA

Lovely ceremony footage begins at 2:30 mark!!! ♥♥♥

Harley & Kristia Hylton - Feature from Unscene Visuals on Vimeo.

Beautiful work shot by Ryan, ®Unscene Visuals.

TRADITION: Wine Box - Handmade for Ceremony with Family Participation

WINE BOX WEDDING TRADITION. (clockwise from top left:
wine with wedding year vintage; wine box handmade by couple; copy of wedding vows: photo;
wedding invitation [under photo]; nails and hammer.)

Recently, a couple i wed chose to include a made-by-hand wine box (or is it winebox ?) in their wedding ceremony.  Their box included a bottle of wine from 2012, the year of their marriage; a copy of marriage vows; a  picture they took together, and their wedding invitation. These items served as symbols and as a reminder of their love for one another, on this day, and leading up to it. 

The wine box was built of wood and the couple constructed and stained the wine box themselves.  Once the box was filled during the ceremony, the couple invited their parents to come forward and help them hammer the nails to seal the box shut.  The box is like a wedding time capsule, because it will not be opened until their tenth anniversary.

Other alternatives or variations of winebox contents to consider: wine from the year you first met or began dating; ticket stub from concert or event at which you first met; the first photo you took together; a souvenir or symbol from an important shared occasion (e.g. a party favour from New Year's Eve; fortune of fortune cookie from your first date; etc.)...  Or, in line with the time capsule concept: if you are having a small wedding (or not!?), ask your guests to bring an item that represents your friendship or relationship to contribute to the box.  The possibilities are many, and limited only by what you consider appropriate!

For more information, please contact A Non-Denominational Ceremony at www.ceremonyceremony.com .

READING: Love is a friendship that has caught fire...

Sounds like an adaptation or modern-ish wording and expansion of that ol' passage from Corinthians... 

"Love is a friendship that has caught fire. It is quiet understanding, mutual confidence, sharing and forgiving. It is loyalty through good and bad. It settles for less than perfection, and makes allowances for human weakness. Love is content with the present. It hopes for the future and it doesn’t brood over the past. It’s the day-in and day-out chronicle of irritations, problems, compromises, small disappointments, big victories, and working toward common goals. If you have love in your life, it can make up for a great many things you lack. "

MANY thanks to RaSmi, my coworker, who sent this to me. She'll be reading it at a friend's wedding back home in Wisconsin!

i want to attribute this passage to its rightful author, yet googol has failed me...  Lots of websites state names of different people who wrote this: among them, Caron Farnham and an advice columnist.  For now, i will say the author is unknown.  If you definitively know who wrote this, and can authenticate, PLEASE leave a comment or email me through my website.  Thank you!

NEWS: National Marriage Equality Day is 7 August 2012

DISCLAIMER: Please note, venus kitagawa-stojsic, officiant and Life-Cycle Celebrant® of A Non-Denominational Ceremony,  fully endorses, supports, believes in, officiates ceremonies for and advocates LGBT causes and marriage equality but is not listed on the above website because its vendors must pay to advertise.

WEDDING: Officiant for Outdoor Garden Ceremony in Pasadena, CA

Happy Trails Catering Garden Wedding, originally uploaded by dj venus.

The deck surrounding the camphor tree was a lovely garden setting for a wedding!

 

Congratulations, Gary & Shawna!

For more information: www.ceremonyceremony.com