Happy Holidays from our Wedding Officiant family to you

Happy Holidays from our Wedding Officiant family to you

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During the holiday season, our Wedding Officiant family’s thoughts turn gratefully to those who have made our success possible. It is in this spirit, we say thank you and best wishes for the Holidays and the upcoming New Year!

Our Wedding Officiant family hopes you and yours have a beautiful holiday season. We do have wedding officiant services available in Tallahassee and Clearwater during the holidays. If the spirit of the season makes you want to tie the knot please don’t hesitate to contact us.

 

 

Clearwater Wedding Officiant on the Importance of Sleep and your Wedding

Clearwater Wedding Officiant on the Importance of Sleep and your Wedding

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Sleep or shall I call it beauty sleep!!

As a Clearwater wedding officiant, I have noticed most couples forget about something very important when planning their wedding… SLEEP!!  It’s so important to think about getting proper sleep and realize how important and necessary it is when planning such a special occasion your as wedding day.

Improper sleep can add more unnecessary stress, increase irritability and even effect how you look. Mistakes can be made, many things can be overlooked and lack of sleep can cause sickness.

Travelling can make it difficult to get proper sleep. If you are planning a destination wedding where you will be travelling to a different time zone your sleep schedule will be affected. Sleeping in hotels or places outside of your home, will also affect your sleeping habits. A suggestion to consider if you are planning a destination wedding plan on arriving a few days earlier so you can adjust to the time zone and recover from jet lag. If you have a comfy pillow take it along. Pamper yourself with a nice massage, take some time to listen to some peaceful relaxing music, go for a leisurely walk or attend a yoga class. These are few things that can promote calming, and relax your brain so you can get a good night sleep.

Without the proper sleep stress and anxiety will likely affect your thoughts, feelings, moods and emotions. All of the things you don’t want for on your wedding day!! Getting a good night sleep before your wedding is so important. Weddings planning can be so hectic. We often hear how little sleep one gets when planning a wedding. Be sure to get your beauty sleep and have a beautiful wedding.

Your Wedding is Your Day!

Your Wedding is Your Day!

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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.

 

Florida Marriage License Fee Decrease

Florida Marriage License Fee Decrease

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Florida Marriage License Fee Decrease!!

Getting married in Florida is simple, and now it just got a little less expensive! This week, Governor Scott signed House Bill 1-A.This bill eliminates the “Displaced Homemaker Trust Fund,” of which $7.50 was allocated from the $93.50 marriage license fee.  The bill is effective July 1, 2017.

Therefore, effective July 1, 2017, the marriage license application fee will be $86.00.  Please note that the application fee for couples who complete premarital counseling will remain at $61.00 as the $7.50 “Displaced Homemaker Trust Fund” fee was already waived for completion of counseling.

FEES EFFECTIVE JULY 1, 2017

Item Fee Amount
Marriage application and license (includes one certified copy of license) $86.00
If pre-marital class certification filed (3-day waiting period waived) $61.00
Providing a certified copy $3.00

We notarize a lot of Florida Marriage Licenses. Whether you want to have a big fancy wedding or simply have a notary sign your marriage license, we can do it. Many Florida courts do not offer civil wedding ceremonies anymore so if you’re looking for an affordable way to get married please contact us.

Palm Harbor-   727-641-3374 

Check out our Clearwater Wedding Specials https://abeautifulweddinginflorida.com/clearwater-beach-wedding-ceremony/

Tallahassee-  850-322-0911

Check out our Tallahassee Wedding Specials https://abeautifulweddinginflorida.com/tallahassee-wedding-ceremony-specials/

Florida Marriage License Fee Decrease= less expensive to get marriage in Florida!

 

Types of Wedding Ceremonies

Types of Wedding Ceremonies

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Your wedding ceremony is personal! It’s the time where you stand in front of your family and friends and vow to be with someone for the rest of your life– a very special and personal moment. So why wouldn’t there be different types of wedding ceremonies?

Kelly and Daniel had fun with their wedding....and we did too! Photo by Black and Hue Photography.

Ring exchange during a Cape San Blas wedding ceremony. Photo by Black & Hue Photography.

When we started officiating weddings in 2001 our goal was to provide all couples with a way to celebrate their love. We when we say, “Let us celebrate your love with the wedding ceremony of your dreams!” and we mean it. Whether you simply want a Notary Public to legalize your marriage license, have recently been divorced, are an interfaith couple, same-sex, young, or old we are more than happy to work with you on your wedding ceremony.

These are the most common types of wedding ceremonies:

  • Civil or secular– there will be no mention of God in any form and no blessing will be given. Added readings can range from humorous to romantic to philosophical. Ceremony will include wording about family, love, commitment, and values shared by the couple.
  • Spiritual- this is broad because spiritual can mean different things for different people. Some people are spiritual in nature, in leaders or teachers, or ancestors. Some couples chose to have a spiritual ceremony  to share variations of their faiths like Christian and Jewish.  A spiritual ceremony would typically be for those who follow Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Shinto, Zoroastrianism or Sikhism. Spiritual ceremonies are neat because they can be written to fit your spiritual following. Some couples will have mentions of God and blessings included in their spiritual ceremony and other’s do not.
  • Interfaith or intercultural- this is when a couple from two difference religious gets married. One time I officiated a wedding that included Christian bible readings, a reading from the Velveteen Rabbit, and a Jewish glass breaking at the end of the ceremony. Interfaith weddings can sometimes take a little bit of research to figure out the best way to blend the traditions, but end up wonderful because both families are happy.
  • Religious- you can have a religious wedding and not be married in a church. Religious wedding ceremonies can be performed anywhere that makes you happy- a park, beach, venue, garden, or one’s home. Although we are not affiliated with a church we are happy to officiate a religious wedding ceremonies. Only a Catholic priest can perform a Catholic mass and discuss Catholic married life wedding ceremony.
  • Vow renewal- the couple is already married and is having a celebratory vow renewal. We love vow renewals. Vow renewals can be planned, a anniversary surprised, or super of the moment.
  • Commitment ceremony-this is not a legally binding marriage. Sometimes couples request to commitment ceremony as a way to pledge their love to one another.

All of these ceremonies can be adjusted to fit your personal wedding ceremony preferences. For example adding a unity sand ceremony, include a hand fasting, or have your favorite poem read. Your wedding ceremony should be exactly as you want. When planning your wedding ceremony you’ll get a lot of feedback from others. Some will be helpful and others not. Remember it’s your wedding ceremony so do what makes you happy.

When we begin working with a new couple, we encourage them to have a wedding ceremony will reflect reflects their personalities, family traditions, spiritual, religious, or non-religious beliefs. We guide them through the different types of wedding ceremonies and are always open to new ideas.

Celtic Hand Fasting ceremony picture by Megan Pitts

Celtic Hand Fasting ceremony picture by Megan Pitts

Clearwater Beach Wedding at the Clearwater Recerational Center

Clearwater Beach Wedding at the Clearwater Recerational Center

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Last Saturday night, I officiated Nichole and Rick’s Clearwater Beach wedding. The wedding and reception was held at the Clearwater Recreational Center. They had a Hawaiian theme for the wedding. Guest were greeted by Hawaiian’s in costume giving everyone a flowered lei to wear and a shell that would be tossed in the ocean at the end of the ceremony.

Hawaiian greeters at Rick and Nichole's Clearwater Beach wedding.

Hawaiian greeters at Rick and Nichole’s Clearwater Beach wedding.

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For the shell toss I said, “On the count of 3 we will all toss our shells into the water & as the ripples touch & intertwine with one another may our love & best wishes also join together for Nicole & Rick.” “Ready 1-2-3- TOSS!”

The wedding was outside on the lawn facing the gulf. They had over 100 guests in attendance. Weddings & Events by Suda coordinated the day of events. Suda had everyone lined up, and was very timely and organized.

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They even had me decorated with Hawaiian lei

Bridesmaids wore mint green dresses all knee length except for maid of honor who was wearing a gown. Groomsmen were comfortably dressed beige slacks, vest and ties. Nichole looked so beautiful. She wore a strapless off the shoulders white dress with a pretty pearl and jewel necklace that just accented her neckline and bead work on front of her dress. They all got their dresses at David’s Bridal.  Nichole had a Hawaiian version of here comes the bride played as she walked down the aisle. She was given away by her parents. At the end of the ceremony the guest were asked to go to the water’s edge for the shell toss. Guest were asked to make a blessing and a wish for the happy couple. Then at count of three toss the shells into the ocean.

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The reception was inside following the ceremony. Delectable’s Catering did the catering and  Chantilly’s cakes made a beautiful cake.

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Clearwater Beach wedding and Hawaiian themed cake

Rick and Nicole were very pleased and happy with everything. They weren’t going on a honeymoon just yet as they had out of town guest visiting. Nichole and Rick were a great couple,  I enjoyed performing ceremony and being a part of their special Clearwater Beach wedding.