A Loving Unity Wedding Officiant! 207 590-6339 www.LovingUnity.com

My greatest honor is to create and officiate customized wedding ceremonies.  Gillian and Tam were such a beautiful couple, and I enjoyed every moment of the planning of their unique wedding that was held at the Vinoy in St. Petersburg.  The Tea Garden was the perfect location for their intimate ceremony.  The ceremony was written to incorporate Gillian and Tam's ethnic and religious traditions.  The ceremony incorporated Catholic and Buddhist rituals, and demonstrated their spiritual nature and their desire to live the life of kindness.



The Tea Garden of the Vinoy was decorated with magnificent flowers designed by Scott of Apple Blossom Florist.  I hope that the pictures I have chosen to share with you will give you an idea of the beautiful colors and how they were incorporated with the traditions of the couple.  Even the readings that were selected encompassed the different cultures.

A table set to the side held pictures of the deceased ancestors, and was the altar where the couple brought the relatives to mind, lit incense to honor them, and ask for their blessings upon their marriage.  The flowers that had been placed on that table are offerings representing beauty, love, compassion and peace.

At the beginning of the ceremony, a bell was rung three times, and rose petals that had been placed in perfumed water were strewn at the couples feet to bring to mind the sacredness of the ground. 

Some of the Wedding Professionals responsible for the success of this wedding:

Flowers:  www.AppleBlossomsTampa.com   813-985-6409
Event Management:  Sarah Fairbarn  813-624-5484  www.onefinedayinc.com
Rev. Virginia Bishop  LovingUnity.com 727 532-6186
  

Labels: ethnic weddings, Florists in Tampa, interfaith weddings, tampa bay area weddings, tampa weddings, Vinoy, Wedding Flowers

Labels: Beach Wedding in Florida, customized weddings, destination maine weddings, non-denominational minister, Reiki wedding, tampa bay area weddings

Ann and Jon spent a great deal of time vacationing in Tarpon Springs and when they decided to tie the knot, they knew exactly where they would like to do that. With their toes in the sand, the breeze blowing through the palm trees and the ocean lapping the shore, they had a very intimate and beautiful wedding ceremony. They spoke their own custom vows, and the love they have for each other was very evident! Congratulations to Ann and Jon, may you have a long, happy and healthy marriage!

Labels: ceremony locations, destination florida weddings, elopements florida, tampa bay area weddings, Wedding Venues

Times sure are changing!  As they say in the wedding business, "It's not your mothers' wedding anymore"!  That's right.  More often that not, I have met couples who have a close friend or a relative who they would love to have officiate their ceremony.  If you are in that situation, and they are a notary, or have permission for a one day officiating for you, then let me write your custom ceremony and your personalized vows!

I would be honored to work with you to create a ceremony of your dreams, including the vows that you would like to share with each other.  I will talk with you personally to get the feel for your wishes and style, and then write the ceremony and mail it to you for your own use.

The fee for this custom ceremony would be  $100.00 and I would mail the ceremony to you within two weeks of our conversation.    Please email me at lovingunity@gmail.com and we can get the process started!!

Labels: Custom Weddings Florida, tampa bay area weddings, Wedding Vows, Writing your own vows

Congratulations Andrea and Scott! We just LOVED the Davis Island Garden Club for this wedding venue. The weather was magnificent,sunny, with a light, gentle breeze, and a great view of the water. Andrea was radiant, Scott was attractive and the love between them was very apparent! Their ceremony was simple and elegant, and her flower selection of daisys just seemed to be the perfect petals to pick for their ceremony! Andrea and Scott exchanged beautiful, meaningful vows, and a blended sand ritual. The music for their ceremony and reception was provided by Rob Strange. Rob had quite the array of music talents and we was truly impressed! Andrea processed into the wedding to peaceful flute sounds. Andrea and Scott shared beautiful vows with each other that they were inspired from Conversations With God. As an officiant, we feel so blessed to be present at this most intimate time. One of the most beautiful and meaningful rituals of their ceremony involved the creative exchange of rings. It was such an honor to work with this magnificent couple as they created a truly unique ceremony that represented their own wishes and style and brought tears to the eyes of all of the guests. Andrea and Scott, thank you, for allowing us to have the honor of working with you on the most important day of your life!

Venue: Davis Island Garden Club
Music: Rob B. Strange 727-520-6650 www.bufflostrange.com
Catering: Amici's Catering www.amiciscatering.com
Officiant: Rev. David Bishop www.lovingunity.com

Labels: catering, ceremony music, Davis Island Garden Club, tampa bay area weddings, unique wedding venues, wedding music

Congratulations Billie and Julio!!!

Labels: creative photography, Custom wine, florida wedding cakes, florists, Islands Banboo Garden, perfect wedding guide, tampa bay area weddings, unique wedding ceremonies, unique wedding venues

I enjoy meeting happy couples at Bridal Showcase's and Bridal Expos, but it also gives me an opportunity to meet and greet vendors who may be of interest to you in your wedding planning!

This is a great opportunity for you! There will be a Bridal Showcase coming up.


Come and view the beautiful Boca Ciega Ballroom with ceiling swag decorations, and mock reception tablescapes. Visualize a ceremony on the edge of Boca Ciega Bay. Meet with the best of the Bay Area's caterers, chocolatiers, photographers, DJ's and more.


All registered guests will be entered to win a 4 hour rental in the Boca Ciega room for the rehearsal dinner, sower or reception.

For rental information call Kelly Poole at 727-363-9245 or email her at k.poole@stpetebeach.org

Hope to see you there!!!

Labels: Boca Ciega, Bridal Showcase, florida weddings, tampa bay area weddings, Wedding Expo

I just love this location!!! It is truly unique and intimate, and perfect for your wedding ceremony if you enjoy the outdoors and nature, and have 80 guests or less.  Karlyn and Kelly Bradshaw have done an outstanding job preparing this area to be an impeccable location!  The venue is great for a wedding and reception for groups of 80 or less, seated.  It can accomodate 100 for a cocktail party.  In addition to an attractive Guadua Bamboo Arch that was 100% designed by Kelly, the site has a garden atmosphere, with Koi pond, waterfall, fountains and tiki torches.  There are outside bathrooms, and ice machine, outdoor sound system, dressing room for the bride, and inside reception area available.  They do have custom packages available, with rental of the garden  at a pice of $500. which includes use of all the facilities for your private functions. 

They are located conveniently in Pinellas Park, Florida, directly off 66th Street at 85th Avenue North.  One mile north of Park Boulevard and 2 1/2 miles south of Bryan Dairy road. 

6540  85th Avenue
Pinellas Park, Florida
727 548-0595

Labels: customized weddings, florida officiants, Garden Weddings, Islands Bamboo Garden, Loving Unity, Out of the Box Weddings, tampa bay area weddings, Unique wedding locations

Step Parent Issues

The Delicate Issue of Steps...

...And I don't mean the staircase you descend on your wedding day!

Consider yourself unusual if you and your spouse-to-be both have parents that are still married to each other (not your parents to your fiancé’s parents of course, cuz….well….that would be just…well….WRONG, but you know what I mean—both of your respective biological moms are still married to your respective biological dads!) I don’t have any firm statistics, but based on the number of couples I’ve seen, I’d offer a guess that only about one in 10 fit this mold. The rest of you have parental units that are some mishmash of divorced, divorced and single, divorced and remarried, divorced and living with a significant other, divorced and gay, or even divorced, remarried and divorced again. Multiply that by four and the possibilities for stress are endless!

The first thing you need to do is assess the situation. Remember that you are under no obligation to include anyone and everyone in your wedding ceremony. It’s your day! Easier said than done, however, if you are trying to be respectful to everyone but your mother won’t get near “that” woman and your dad will not acknowledge your stepfather’s existence. There are some however, some tips to get you through the worst of it.

Much will depend on the timing. If your parents divorced when you were young and the “step” was an integral part of your upbringing, then you will probably want to give them a higher level of involvement than the step who didn’t come into your life until your adult years.

For the most part (and I will acknowledge that there are exceptions to every rule) it is probably best to put a priority on the feelings of your biological parents—unless they just being plain unreasonable. Always mention them first and include in your ceremony in the highest places of honor. Generally, these include escorting the bride down the aisle, helping the bride get dressed (definitely reserved for your biological mom!)lighting the unity candle, the etiquette of being seated (i.e. bride’s mother is always the last to be seated, with the groom’s mother just before her), being given front row seats, inclusion in the prayer of thanks to parents, being thanked via a toast at the reception, inclusion in the receiving line (of there is one) etc.

Regardless of the closeness of the “step” relationship, please remember to give each parent (and “steps” are parents even if they are not biological ones) a corsage/boutonniere. It’s inoffensive to all, inexpensive, and subtle and the gesture will be appreciated.

Here are some other ways to include your step-parents in your wedding day, based on the comfort level of all involved:

Have your step mothers seated as part of the processional. Just make sure they are seated before the biological mothers.

If your stepfather has been an important part of the bride’s life, then think about having him escort you part of the way down the aisle, or joining you and your dad as you arrive at the front row. Check with your dad first!

Have your dad escort the bride down the aisle (in traditional fashion). When the officiant asks, “Who gives their blessing to this marriage?” ALL the parents (even the groom’s) can answer “We do.”

Have one of your step-parents do a reading or recite the final blessing.

Include your stepparents in the prayer of thanks to the parents. Out of respect for your parents, you’d have the officiant refer to your biological parents first, then your stepparents after that.

Blow off the entire idea of including any of your parents. Walk down the aisle alone (or with your groom) and just have all parental units be guests. That way, no one gets offended!

Have your biological parents do all the honors for the wedding, but include a special word of thanks to your parents AND stepparents in the program.

As far as seating goes, traditional etiquette (which can always be flaunted in unusual circumstances) dictates that married couples should be seated together. According to the rules of those etiquette mavens in the know, it should look like this (it’s the same for both bride’s and groom’s side, so we’ll just list the bride’s side). Your mom gets the first row and she should be seated next to her husband/significant other. Stepmom goes in the second row, seated next to your biological father. In cases where there is enough seating and everyone gets along, then all four parents (if there are that many) can be seated in the first row. The order should be (from outside in) mother, stepfather, father stepmother. Of course, if your father and stepfather are ready to kill each other, you’ll need to modify this arrangement. Use your common sense and get your officiant to help you—etiquette rules are there to make people comfortable. If following them has the opposite affect, then toss them and make up your own rules.

If the situation among your parents is really tense and you truly like and respect your stepparent but want to respect your biological parents’ wishes, then go along with your biological parents’ wishes for the big day, but be sure to arrange some special time with your step parents beforehand so that you can tell them how much you value them in your lives. Take your stepmother out to lunch, have dinner with the groom’s dad and his wife a week or so before the wedding. Make them feel special and let them know you are glad they will be there on your special day, in spite of possible difficult circumstances.

Alert your officiant and your wedding coordinator, if you have one, to possible volatile situations, sources of friction, etc. We’ve got experience in this field and a word from us in a recalcitrant parental ear often works wonders!

Labels: children in wedding, creative baby rituals, customized weddings, Interfaith officiant, step parenting issues, tampa bay area weddings