In Short, My Husband Rocks!

Originally this was a much longer post, but I think that was way more detail than anyone would be interested in so I will get to the important parts. 

Saturday was my first “double”—two ceremonies in one day, in two different locations, the first involving my PA system. It was going to be a lot of running around and coordinating.

Despite having a migraine the night before and waking up with a headache, Wookie was there. He was great, as usual at the first ceremony—setting up the PA, coordinating with the DJ use of the limited number of electrical outlets at the outdoor location, and snapping pictures, then packing up the PA while I hunted down the necessary parties to get the paperwork signed.

It was a very busy morning and his work should have been done when we arrived at the second ceremony. I wasn’t supplying the PA for that one. He should have been able to hang out, till I was done with nothing to do but snap a few pictures of the ceremony. Instead, when there was a problem with the DJ’s PA and no mic for me, it was Wookie to the rescue. In about 15 minutes he had the PA up and tested and mics for me and the two singers.

When my mic failed, I only had to speak a few lines without it. I just stuck my hand behind me and he was there, sneaking in with a new mic. It was all but seamless. AND he got pictures of the ceremony.

Finally, because the ceremony started very late, he packed up the PA in the dark while I, again, tended to the legalities—marriage license, etc.

There was a lot going on with that second wedding. People were late due to traffic, we were losing the light, tension was high. But thanks to Wookie, the couple was able to have a ceremony their guests could hear. I didn’t have to worry about anything, the moment I said there was a problem, he jumped in to fix it—leaving me to deal with other issues like discussing backup plans and making sure everyone was ready for their part in the ceremony.

He really saved the day, not just for me, but more importantly for my clients and their guests. I could not ask for a better partner. I’m the Celebrant, but Inclusive Ceremonies wouldn’t be what it is without my Wookie. 

The Aqua Wookie in his native environment. His amphibious nature makes the Aqua Wookie a superb SCUBA Instructor as well as sound engineer, roadie, assistant, sherpa, and photographer for weddings and other ceremonies.
I would not be doing the work I love if not for him.

Timing is Everything

Today was one of my busier Saturdays. It began with a long drive to Hamilton, NJ for a baby blessing ceremony. I had been anticipating the same kind of cold, damp, dreary weather we’ve been living with for the last week, but it turned out to be a lovely, sunny day. Good weather, as it turned out to find myself running back and forth across the Garden State Parkway.

Now, I don’t know why this is, but in five years of being a Life-Cycle Celebrant®, I have yet to have a ceremony start on time. Today’s ceremony was about an hour late. As I am currently not in the habit of double booking myself, this was okay. My only concerns for the rest of the day were for getting to the pet store before it closed.

[Addendum: I did also stop on the way to take a picture.]

It was my need for cat food that led me to get off the Turnpike on the way home in favor of the GSP—a more familiar road for me and one I consider easier when I have to go to the pet store.

And because of the cats and the late ceremony, I once again found myself the first responder at an accident. I didn’t see today’s accident happen. It must have occurred a few miles and minutes ahead of me. But when traffic backs up, I start looking and when I saw the first of the three vehicles involved had it’s airbags deployed it was time to pull over and call 911.

Let me take this opportunity to say—and I can’t emphasize this enough—always wear your seat belt. There were three families in three cars involved in this accident and I have no doubt that seatbelts and child safety seats saved their lives. The front of one vehicle was gone. The car it hit was pushed to collide with another car so those people felt the force of impact from the front and the rear. The car the middle car hit was impacted so hard the back windshield shattered. While multiple ambulances were called to the scene, I am sure it would have been worse without seatbelts.

After I made the 911 call I spent my time running back and forth between the three vehicles checking on the passengers, making sure everyone was breathing, and encouraging everyone to stay put. As none of the vehicles were smoking or on fire, the best place for the passengers was in their cars both to avoid getting hit by oncoming traffic and to prevent moving something they might not realize had been injured.

I am very grateful to the corrections officer who also stopped to assist at the scene. With one car on the right side of the road and two in the left lane, it was good to have someone with the passengers of the third car. They had already exited the vehicle when I stopped, their car was full of glass. He was able to alert the EMTs of the need for another ambulance when one of the passengers of the third car complained of back pain.

©Cristina Kollet 2010

On the flip side, I am annoyed with the other motorists. At first everyone was driving past slowly. But eventually traffic began to resume a more normal pace and that was dangerous—first for those who’d been in the accident, then for me and the corrections officer, and finally for the EMTs and police who responded.

Complain as we might about rubber-neckers it is good that people slow down when passing an accident. You don’t know if someone might suddenly exit a vehicle either because they are in shock and don’t know what they’re doing or because the vehicle has caught fire. It’s also safer for rescuers. EMTs, police, and fire personnel who may have to cross traffic either in their vehicles or on foot. No matter what you’re rushing to, it’s not worth hitting rescuer to be on time.

I’m going to close this post with my hope that the people involved in the accident (six adults and five children) are all safe and well. I know this was a scary day for them.

The Ceremony Project

I admit a certain bias when it comes to weddings. I think the ceremony is what makes it a wedding. The cake, flowers, etc. are icing on the cake. But it's been my experience that ceremonies often get the short end of the stick when it comes to wedding planning. (Twice I've been contacted about weddings where the couple had all the details planned and then realized they forgot to plan the ceremony.)

I've wanted to write about this for a while, but I wanted to take it beyond my anecdotal evidence. Till today, I wasn't sure how to do that.

Today, I was playing with StumbleUpon and I had an idea. Take a random sampling of wedding-related sites as revealed by StumbleUpon and see what attention, if any, they give to ceremonies.

I set the StumbleUpon filter to weddings and clicked Stumble! 30 times. Each time I saved the website for review later. At a glance I have a variety of sites, wedding blogs, photographer sites, boutiques, wedding planners and more. It will be interesting to see what I find.

The results will be revealed on my Inclusive Ceremonies blog.