Looking for a Jewish, Spiritual or Secular Ceremony That Reflects You!?
In my fourth year of rabbinical school, one of my great joys in life is officiating weddings, baby namings and other life cycle events. I believe passionately in the importance of creating a ceremony that is meaningful to who you are, as a person or couple. Weddings, funerals and baby namings are among the most important milestones of our lives, and if the ritual doesn’t reflect your values, the officiant has not done her job!
Please contact me directly for details on funerals or baby-naming rituals.
For weddings, I can offer two kinds of ceremonies and pricing:
1) Customized Wedding
Through a series of meetings, in person and by phone, we will craft a ceremony that reflects your values. This can mean:
* Secular (completely non-sectarian, with poetry, readings and other blessings)
* Secular Jewish (with Jewish elements, but without any God language)
* Spiritual (with non-traditional God language)
* Interfaith (combining elements from two religious traditions)
* Traditional Jewish
Please email me to schedule a (no-obligation) phone call to discuss the date and location of the event, what kind of wedding ritual you might like, and the religious backgrounds and beliefs of the two parties. From there, if you’d like to proceed, we plan a meeting in person (or by Skype) to get better acquainted.
After this meeting, if you would like to have me officiate, we will agree on how to communicate going forward. Payment for the wedding itself is due on the date of the ceremony; the only ‘deposit’ I require is your verbal commitment after our meeting.
or 2) Short and Sweet Wedding!
For those on a tight budget, or with limited preparation time, I can offer a short, beautiful and poignant ceremony that I believe offers much more “heart and soul” than you might get from a Justice of the Peace. All I need to know is your preferences in terms of “God” language.
Pricing depends not on the size of your wedding party, but rather on how much preparation and travel time is required. I am located near Delaware and Montgomery counties in western Philadelphia.
Contact me, Joysa, so we can discuss! Joysa@aol.com. (Please be aware it usually takes me about two days to respond to emails. I have very young children and don’t check my account every few hours!)
Here are a few blog posts where I have addressed some common questions engaged couples have asked over the years:
What a Few Happy Couples Have Said
Thank you so much for conducting what was a beautiful and meaningful ceremony. So many of our guests told us that it was one of the most wonderful ceremonies they had attended and when all is said and done we are very happy that the “wedding” portion of our wedding was a stand-out as it was the most important piece to us.
– Sarah and Jacob
Just would like to thank you very much for the great service at our ceremony. Our families and we loved your ceremony speech – THANK YOU!
— Elena and HowardWe wanted to thank you for the amazing job you did with our wedding ketubah signing and ceremony. It was so touching and even more wonderful than we could have ever hoped for. You really captured our relationship together and beautifully incorporated our backgrounds. We really cannot thank you enough. Everyone we spoke to said how wonderful it was. You truly have a gift.
– Kim and RyanI want to thank you for the wonderful job you did with Becca and Asaf’s marriage ceremony. Your presentation was beautiful and you projected a great feeling of joy. Everyone who was there was moved.
— Andrew (bride’s father)Thank you so much for the beautiful ceremony and your help to start Sean’s and my marriage with the thoughts of things that matter. Everyone came to tell us how lovely the ceremony was, and we have you to thank. — Love Ann and Sean
First, let me thank you for the ceremony — it was perfect. Lots of guests told us how much they liked it and we had a very diverse group — Jews, atheists, Christians of various denominations! Also, thanks for sending the marriage license to quickly. — Best wishes, Ruth (bride’s mother)
