Your Wedding is Your Day!

Your Wedding is Your Day!

by Charmaine Doumanian News

So often we hear couples stressed about their wedding. They get so many suggestions and ideas from so many different people that they don’t know what to do. Planning your wedding should be fun. Couples shouldn’t feel pressured into doing something they can’t afford or don’t necessarily want to do just because someone else has done it or what someone else thinks you should do. Your wedding is YOUR day. The bottom line is you are getting married to the person you love most. The wedding should be what you should want and feel comfortable with, as well as, what works within your budget. The internet offers so many wonderful resources to help couples in planning their wedding. A great source for wedding planning ideas is Pinterest. On Pinterest you can find anything from wedding dresses, makeup, shoes, invitations, ideas for small, medium, large or elopement ceremonies you name you will find it on Pinterest. But it also can make you crazy!! Keep in mind many of the images you see on Pinterest are from styled wedding shoots with very very large budgets.

Wedding planning making you crazy

Keep Calm! Your Getting Married!

Depending on the size of your wedding a great stress saver would be to hire an experienced day of  coordinator. Your wedding coordinator can handle all the timeline of events and insure that everything runs smoothly. The last thing you want on your wedding day is to be stressed. We offer full service wedding day of coordinator service in the Tallahassee area. We offer partial day of coordinator service throughout the Tampa area which is perfect for couples on a budget. If your wedding is small a coordinator isn’t necessary.

A professional wedding officiant can guide you with all you need for a smooth ceremony including preparing your vows and performing your ceremony. When considering an officiant service price is frequently one of the first questions. Our officiant services reflect our professional services and years of experience. We hear some nightmare situations where officiant cancelled, got nervous and backed out last minute, or showed up unprofessionally dressed. There are many things to think about that quite often when considering a friend or co-worker perform your ceremony that can be overlooked. We are always available to answer any questions or concerns you may have in planning your wedding. Have fun with your wedding planning. It’s your special day.

Wedding Officiant Clearwater Beach Florida

Our prices reflect our years of experience and professional service. We urge you to consider quality and price when selecting wedding vendors.

 

How to Include Children in Your Wedding Ceremony

How to Include Children in Your Wedding Ceremony

by Charmaine Doumanian News

We are often asked about If and How to Include Children in Your Wedding Ceremony or Vow renewal ceremony

Yes, you can certainly include children into your ceremony. These are are few ways, of how to include children in your wedding ceremony:

  • Unity Sand Ceremony
  • Family Poem
  • Unity Candle
  • Giving a gift to the children

Unity sand ceremony- The unity sand ceremony has an empty vase on a table, along with bottles of colored sand for each member participating in the sand ceremony. The couple and each child participating can have their own bottle of color sand. The officiant will invite the children to join the couple. The sands are blended together into the empty vase on the table. Each container of sands represents each individual participating in the ceremony. When the sands are blended together they symbolize the uniting of the children along with the couple being married or renewing their vows. Just as the individual containers of sands can never be separated into there own containers so will your lives be joined together as one family never to be separated. This is a beautiful way to symbolize the joining of families and children have fun being involved in the ceremony with the pouring of the sand.

Family Poem-  the officiant will invite the children to join the couple being married and the family will join hands. The officiant would then recite the family poem as the family is joined together. After the poem is recited the family is asked to give one another a loving family hug. The poem can also be done along with a unity  sand ceremony.

Family Poem

Hollis Garden Wedding Officiant

Including your children in your wedding ceremony is a beautiful memorable touch

A family is …..The sweetest feelings, The warmest hugs, Trust and togetherness
Unconditional love
The stories of our lives written on the same page
The nicest memories anyone has ever made
Treasured photos
Thankful tears
Hearts overflowing with all the years
Being there for one another
Supporting and caring
Understanding, Helping, Sharing
Walking life’s path together
And making the journey more beautiful because …..
We are a family…..
And a family is Love.St Petersburg wedding ceremony

Unity Candle Ceremony- children can also participate in unity candle lighting ceremony. Similar to a unity sand ceremony there is a center candle then each family member has their own candles. The individual candles are light then during the ceremony the family will take their lit candles and together light the center candle.  As the center candle is lit the flame symbolizes the brightness of each individual’s own lives that they bring to the family.

Jewelry or gift– often the couple being married wants to give their children a gift to remember this special day. We enjoy incorporating the giving of this gift into the ceremony. Before the couple exchange their rings the parents will give a gift to their children. The gift can be a piece of jewelry, pocket watch, or anything you feel is special. We recently had a couple get bracelets made that had the coordinates of the wedding location engraved on it.

We have officiated a number of ceremonies with children participating. All very loving and bonding a true family relationship.  Often marriage is viewed as the union of two people. Yet marriages not only unite the couple, it unites the families. With the changing structure of what a family is in today’s world we are offered unique and wonderful opportunities to simply increase the number of loving caring relationships we have in our lives.

Carrabelle Beach wedding officiant

Hold hands as a family during your wedding ceremony. Wedding ceremony at Carrabelle Beach

 

 

Summertime Morning Wedding Ceremonies

Summertime Morning Wedding Ceremonies

by Charmaine Doumanian News

Summertime Morning Wedding Ceremonies are the best!!!

Sunrise or very early morning is the nicest time of day for a beach wedding in the Florida Summer. Also if you want a quiet, peaceful atmosphere for your summertime wedding ceremony morning is by far the nicest time for just that. Summers in Florida get very hot and humid as the day goes on. In the morning it isn’t as hot and humid making it so much more comfortable thus why we highly recommend summertime morning wedding ceremonies.

A Beautiful Wedding in Florida had a beautiful sunrise vow renewal ceremony on Sunday for Brenda and Kenneth. We were the first and only ones on the beach at Sand Key Park in Clearwater at 7:00 AM. George Sr and I made a fresh rose petal heart in the sand and George SR took photos. Brenda and Kenneth were celebrating their 25th year wedding anniversary on that day. They were vacationing in Florida from Missouri. Brenda and Kenneth chose to commemorate their ceremony with the giving and receiving of communion recognizing their spiritual commitment and showing their participation in the body of Christ. The quiet ambiance at the beach allowed us to just listen to the waves of the ocean and have a very undisturbed vow renewal ceremony.

Immediately following Brenda and Kenneth’s vow renewal ceremony, we had a wedding ceremony at 9:00 AM on Honeymoon Island in Dunedin. George Sr. and I met Hope and Wendy at the beach before the beach crowds started to arrive. We setup the arbor on the white sand where no beach goers had arrived yet then had a lovely wedding ceremony. Hope and Wendy chose to participate in a unity sand ceremony with pink and purple sands to be blended.

Summertime morning wedding ceremonies are popular! We officiated another morning wedding ceremony before the Honeymoon Island park opened. Bonenita and Jody were married outside of Honeymoon Island State park before it opened! They are fishermen and chose to tie the knot with the fishermen’s knot ceremony.

Quite often summertime morning wedding ceremonies or sunrise ceremonies are celebrated without guests but guests are not excluded. After the wedding ceremony you can have a celebrotary reception brunch or beach day. We always say “It’s your day” have fun with it.

Tampa 4th of July Wedding Ceremonies

Tampa 4th of July Wedding Ceremonies

by Charmaine Doumanian News

Beach, Barbecue, and Tampa 4th of July Wedding Ceremonies

For some it was celebrating 4th of July by going to the beach, barbecuing with friends and family, and fireworks. Others celebrated by getting married or with a celebratory vow renewal ceremonies. We did it all.

The entire weekend we kept busy with Tampa 4th of July wedding ceremonies. We started on Saturday with a sunrise wedding ceremony at Sand Key Beach Park for Natalie and Terrance. Terrance is a sergeant in the US Army and Natalie is a US Veteran. They had an very intimate beach wedding ceremony with just two close friends, Jamia and Jeff, in attendance.  Natalie vowed to take Terrance as her beloved king and Terrance vowed to take Natalie as his beloved queen.  They chose to commemorate their marriage through the celebration of a Foot Washing Ceremony, “The feet of the twelve disciples were caked with the dust of daily travels. The job of washing feet was reserved for the slave of the home. Yet, in striking fashion, Jesus – the one who spoke galaxies into existence – dons the towel of a poor slave and wipes the muddied feet of his friends. What a display of love – a love that would bend as low as necessary to lift up, a love that would enter into the mess so it could make things once again clean. This is what Jesus not only does for us, but calls us to do for one another – love by serving and humbling ourselves.” The love Natalie and Terrance was infectious as their wedding ceremony was performed.

Natalie sent a review a few days later, “Amazing. Mrs. Charmaine was a true God-send. She stayed in constant communication with Terrance and I. She made us feel comfortable. When she was reading the vows we picked, she was reading them as if they were special to her too.”

That same Saturday evening our associate officiant, Ellida, performed  Jamia and Jeff’s ceremony (Natalie and Terrance’s two friends that attended their morning wedding) at sunset at Sand Key Park in Clearwater.  Jamia and Jeff were also a military couple. Jamia and Jeff radiated with the love they have for each other. Their ceremony was recognized with a sweet treat that will bring joy to their lives and nourish their souls. They shared a delicious chocolate bar promising to always be present for each other in darkness and in light in sweet and in titter in dismal and delicious!

On Saturday at sunset I officiated Bruce and Patricia’s 20 year vow renewal ceremony at Redington Shores Beach. Bruce totally surprised his wife Patricia. Bruce arranged for over 30 family members to be at the ceremony. Many of the family members hadn’t seen one another for years. Bruce had a plan and George Sr captured the moment as Bruce got down on one knee and proposed again to his wife…..She said “Yes” 😉

Bruce wrote a few days later “Great to work with. Very nice people. Everything was just beautiful.”

It was a busy weekend and we still had a few more Tampa 4th of July wedding ceremonies!

Amy and Chuck thought they were eloping until the word got out. Monday evening they had a beautiful sunset wedding ceremony at Ft Desoto Beach Park.

Also on Monday, Brandon and Tracy eloped at Sand Key Beach in Clearwater.

Pam and Lonnie thought they were eloping on the 4th, but word got out and they had a number of guests attend their ceremony at Honeymoon Island. Pam wrote the following day “Thank you we were very touched by the ceremony you made it very special for us we will always remember it and we wish you a lifetime of happiness”

What a great weekend for so many wonderful couples!! After all the Tampa 4th of July wedding ceremonies, we still had a little time for barbecuing, pool, family and fireworks.

 

 

Sand Key Park Clearwater Beach Weddings

Sand Key Park Clearwater Beach Weddings

by Charmaine Doumanian News

Sand Key Park Clearwater Beach Weddings where you can get married with your toes in the sand!

Clearwater Beach is such a great place for a wedding ceremony, vow renewal or elopement. Not only is Clearwater Beach a gorgeous beach there are a number of extravagant resorts, hotels, restaurants, and things to do.

Because we love Sand Key Park Clearwater Beach weddings, we created a number of wedding special packages for Clearwater Beach ceremonies. When asked where we would suggest on Clearwater Beach to have a wedding ceremony our first recommendation is Sand Key Park. Sand Key Park is a beautiful beach park that over looks Clearwater Beach. The park is on a beautiful beach and has a lovely ambiance for a beach wedding. Their is also sufficient parking for guests. Quite often we can find a spot that isn’t too populated with beach goers to have the wedding ceremony. Depending on the size of wedding and what setups are being used a permit may be required.

There’s also a location off Mandalay Ave on Clearwater Beach that we would suggest as well.  Not as much parking is available, but has a beautiful open beach.

We have performed sunrise, sunset, vow renewal, elopements and many different types of setups ofor Sand Key Park Clearwater Beach weddings. Large or small we can provide it all. Contact Us to plan Sand Key Park Clearwater Beach Wedding.

Sand Key Park sunset vow renewal with white arbor rose petal aisle runner. Shelly and Jason celebrating 13 year wedding anniversary.

 

 

Where should I have my Tampa wedding?

Where should I have my Tampa wedding?

by Charmaine Doumanian News

Where should I have my Tampa wedding? We can help! We often get asked for suggestions on where in Tampa to have a wedding. Recently, I got a call from a bride to-be who was in North Dakota and planning a Tampa Florida beach wedding. She had just been surfing the internet about locations and had contacted a resort in Marco Island. The resort told her to contact us, A Beautiful Wedding in Florida, for help answering her question on where to have her Tampa wedding ceremony.

Barb contacted me and asked, where should I have my Tampa wedding? I guided her with suggestions and ideas for her wedding, places to stay ,and restaurant ideas for after the wedding.  Barb’s wedding would consist of no more than 10 guests and she wanted it on the beach. She said she knew nothing about the Tampa area. As Barb and I spoke, we discussed options and ideas for her wedding. Barb decided she would have her wedding at Sand Key Park in Clearwater. Barb looked at our website,  reviewed our packages, and a la carte items. Barb was so pleased and excited that we put together plans for just the wedding she had been envisioning. She decided on: Officiant,  flowers, photographer, cake, and tiki torches. I helped her put it all together and she couldn’t have been more pleased.

Wedding cake with topper

Wedding cake with topper

Barb emailed me two days later letting me know she got her flights and more of her family were interested in coming. She thanked me again and let me know how excited she was.

I thanked her for contacted me and allowing us to be a part of her special day. As Clearwater wedding officiant service this is what we do. We are always glad to give suggestions on locations for the wedding, fun things to do while you’re in the Tampa area, and we can always help with wedding ideas. Your Tampa wedding ceremony doesn’t have to be at the beach. If you’re not sure where in the Tampa area to have your wedding contact us, we’d be happy to recommend a number of park locations, gazebo’s, homes, and gardens.