"This Sand Reminds Us that Sometimes Love Requires Patience..."

I save the day.

A while back a wedding planner contacted me saying that she had a couple that she wanted to have me officiate for. While she said that she would be getting back to me, she didn't. Months later I received a call from an anxious bride who was concerned that her wedding was the next day we had not yet spoken. I apologized saying that it was my oversight and that I was there to help.

I got her a couple of sample ceremonies to choose from and asked for the address of the venue (the beach on the bay side of Coronado). The next day at the wedding, the couple told me that they wanted a sand ceremony included. I was able to improvise the addition off the top of my head. These newer wedding rituals tend to be done by combing a special, colored sand. The couple however, wanted to take theirs from the beach.

The bride reached down, scooped up some dry sand from the top layer, poured it through a funnel, and the sand flowed easily into a jar. As I talked about how the sand represented their connection, mingling, melding together into one form to add their best to the whole, the groom reached down and scooped up some damp sand. As he poured it into the funnel, it clumped, clogged, and came to a halt.

This moment of tension could have proved disastrous. Quickly I thought on my feet: "As the sand represents your love, and love in general, we are reminded of a valuable lesson--sometimes love requires patience."

The couple, the wedding party, and the entire assembled body of guests all burst into raucous laughter. If there is a problem, I make sure that it is fixed. If there is something that goes wrong, I smooth it out on the fly and make it memorable and endearing.

Weddings are stressful enough-that is why I am your ideal officiant. I make sure that when something goes awry (and every wedding has enough moving parts that if only one thing goes awry, you are ahead of the game), that you either don't notice it, or it becomes a cherished memory that you are still looking back at years later with laughter and love.