The Wedding Journey: A Guide to Your Ceremony, Personal Vows & Joyful Marriage

By Rev. Hannah Desmond

The Wedding Journey is a unique guidebook that couples contemplating marriage will value. Rev. Hannah Desmond incorporates both ancient teachings and leading-edge thought in the crafting of wedding ceremonies for twenty-first century couples. She offers sage advice and assistance for creating your wedding ceremony, personal vows, and a fulfilling marriage. Hannah has created authentic, contemporary wedding scripts, which can serve as complete wedding services or as templates in the creation of your own ceremony. The ancient Celtic wedding practice of Handfasting is included, with a full explanation of tying the knot.

You receive guidance as you begin the process of creating your ceremony, accessing your deepest emotions, and verbalizing your true feelings through your wedding vows. Beneficial practices and exercises are included to help alleviate the stress that may arise as you plan your wedding and prepare for your transition into married life. Hannah introduces effective techniques for harnessing the power of your thoughts, words, and emotions to alleviate distressful misunderstandings and allow for greater communication and a deeper bond in your marriage.

With humor and compassion, Hannah helps you avoid some of the wedding pitfalls she has witnessed in her twenty years as a wedding celebrant. There are anecdotes to make you laugh and advice on a myriad of unique wedding elements from using your astrological flower in your bouquet to incorporating a unity ritual in your ceremony.

The information and assistance offered throughout The Wedding Journey provides couples with fresh ideas and the emotional support and understanding necessary to create a deeply meaningful wedding ceremony, powerful and enduring vows, an awakened heart, and the flow of great love, prosperity, serenity, and joy into their marriage.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Balboa Press
• Release date: Dec 20, 2011
• ISBN: 9781452539928

Rev. Hannah Desmond

Rev. Hannah Desmond, founder of HeartLight Weddings, has been creating and performing ceremonies for two decades. Hannah brings the wisdom of her years as a Holistic Therapist, the joy of her 35 years of marriage and her experience as a wedding celebrant to her writing. She lives in Asheville NC

Book preview

The

WEDDING

JOURNEY

A Guide to Your Ceremony,

Personal Vows & Joyful Marriage

REV. HANNAH DESMOND

BalboaLogoBCDARKBW.ai

Copyright © 2011 by Hannah Desmond

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Balboa Press books may be ordered through booksellers or by contacting:

Balboa Press

A Division of Hay House

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.balboapress.com

1-[phone]

ISBN: 978-1-4525-3993-5 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4525-3994-2 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4525-3992-8 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2011917692

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use of any technique as a form of treatment for physical, emotional, or medical problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. The intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for emotional and spiritual well-being. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, which is your constitutional right, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Printed in the United States of America

Balboa Press rev. date: 12/15/2011

Contents

In Gratitude

Introduction

PART I

The Components of the Ceremony

Helpful Suggestions for Your Wedding Day

Your Wedding Day, Your Way

A Deeper Look: Heart Centered

Living And Your Wedding Vows

Tips For Creating Your

Personal Vows

The Bride’s Preparation

For the Groom

The Night Before The Wedding;

PART II

Presenting: The Journey of Love

The Journey of Love Wedding Ceremony

Presenting the Wedding of Joy and Bliss

The Wedding Of Joy And Bliss

Presenting The Spirit Of

Love Ceremony

The Spirit Of Love

Wedding Ceremony

Presenting The Wedding Of Positive Vision

The Wedding Of Positive Vision

Presenting The Handfasting Ceremony

Handfasting/Wedding Of

The Four Elements

The Grandmother’s Wedding Prayer

PART III

Benefits Of The Unity Rituals

Unity Candle Ritual

The Sand Pouring Ritual

The Ring Warming Ritual

The Gemstone Ritual

The Love Letter Ritual

The Planting Ritual

The Wine Ritual

Jumping The Broom

PART IV

The Wedding Chart

Your Astrological Sun Sign, Flowers,

Metals, Gemstones & Colors

PART V

Developing Heart Centered Awareness,

The Emotional Response Guide

Emotional Response Dialogues—

Putting it into Practice

The Journey To Self—

Keys To A Joyful Marriage

Meditations for the Bride and Groom, the CD by Rev Hannah Desmond (order form)

In Gratitude

With Gratitude to all of the couples I have married through the years. Being part of the happiest day of your lives was a great privilege.

Thanks to my husband, Tom, who believes in me and supports all of my endeavors.

Thanks to Lois Clement for sharing her computer wisdom.

Thanks to Elaine Kolp for her assistance with the astrological portion of this book.

Love and gratitude to Shauna Mathis for her clear vision and kind words.

Introduction

The opening of the heart to love is an experience we all long for. When you experience the joy of giving and receiving unconditional love and acceptance with that one special person, your thoughts turn to commitment and marriage. As you begin to plan the wedding you also begin to search for the words to honor and express the feelings you have for your relationship. For some the words flow easily, for many there seem to be no words to express their joy. The information in this book assists couples in expressing, in a variety of ways, their feelings of love and commitment and provides methods of accessing the deeper emotions they wish to express.

When my husband and I began to create our wedding ceremony thirty five years ago, we knew we did not want a traditional wedding but we were not sure what form our ceremony would take. Together, we worked on creating a ceremony that would reflect our authentic selves, our life philosophy and, most importantly, our love for one another. Those weeks of sharing and exploring our hearts together were one of the most meaningful times in our relationship. The deep conversation and phrasing of our vows deepened our relationship and our appreciation of one another.

Working with couples and assisting in the creation of wedding ceremonies for twenty years, I have seen many couple who wish to have a unique ceremony that truly expresses their love, beliefs and the vision they hold for their life together. Couples often want to create personal vows in a light hearted, poetic or deeply personal way. There are those who easily express their feelings and those who struggle to express their heartfelt emotions. I have included within this book information, techniques and tips to assist you in creating your personal wedding vows and wedding scripts to inspire your ceremony.

The components of the ceremony are explained, both the traditional unfolding of the wedding itself, and the meaning of the different parts. As you understand the purpose of each part of the ceremony, you are prepared to change, omit, add to, or reconfigure your wedding to reflect your beliefs, life philosophy and loving commitment to one another

Each wedding script serves as a template you can work with to create something that is uniquely yours. You may want to use parts from several scripts. Read the ceremonies with your fiancé; feel which parts resonate with you and create the wedding that genuinely expresses your bond of love. The Intention section of each ceremony can serve as an inspiration for your own personal vows.

Included in the wedding ceremony section is information on the Celtic ritual of Handfasting. This ancient rite is enjoying a new popularity in the modern weddings of today. Handfasting is a ritual that can be incorporated within a wedding or used alone. This ancient ceremony is where the term tying the knot originated.

A variety of unity rituals are described following the wedding scripts. From the lighting of a candle together to the gifting of gemstones to the combining of wines, there are rituals which symbolize your union and can include family members and friends.

The wedding ceremonies, vows, blessings and unity rituals within this book serve as