MOBILE  REVEREND - Wedding Officiant
  • Home
  • About Mobile Reverend
  • Ceremonies Offered & Fees
  • Traditional Filipino Wedding
  • Hawaiian Style Wedding
  • InterCultural/InterFaith Weddings
  • Same-Sex/LGBT Weddings
  • Contact & Reserve Your Date
  • Let’s Get Married: The Process
  • The Marriage License
  • Readings, Quotations & more
  • Wedding Traditions Near & Far
  • Love Celebrated Blog
  • Marriage Miscellany
  • SPECIAL OFFERS

Welcome! Mabuhay! Namasté!

2/28/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
“Welcome!  Mabuhay!  Namasté!  We are gathered here today to celebrate one of life's greatest moments and give recognition to the worth and beauty of love.  Today we celebrate the joining of two hearts in marriage.  And, evidently we are not alone for according to the Braham Sutra ‘When the one man loves the one woman and the one woman loves the one man, the very angels desert heaven and sit in that hour and sing for joy.’  So, again I wel-come you, friends, family… and angels.” 

And, thus began the intercultural / interfaith wedding ceremony of Cristina and Abhishek – she being a Filipina and a Christian, he being Indian and a Hindu. 

Initially Great Officiants recommended me to Cristina's and Abhishek's wedding planner as she was clear in communicating that what she understood the couple wanted was a ceremony that included traditional Filipino elements. However, when I read the groom’s name on the referral, it was evident to me that he hailed from a culture that was itself rich in tradition and offered much with which to celebrate in the context of a wedding.

Picture
What resulted was a blending, in equal measure, of Cristina’s and Abhishek’s cultures.  Ceremony highlights  included my initial suggestions including a read-ing from one of the Upanishads that paired nicely with a reading from one of St. Paul’s letters, and the exchange of flower garlands (or jaimala) which in the Hindu wedding is symbolic of the bride and groom mutually accepting each other as their wedded partner.  

Some Hindu elements we were not able to incorporate into the wedding itself because of time restraints or other limitations, I was able to at least reference.  For example during the Filipino ritual of the pinning of veil, I related that “the symbolism of the veil is similar to the Mandap, a canopy under which Indian brides and grooms traditionally marry, as it is also a representation of a home filled with a love that has its source in the Divine.”

Picture
As enjoyable for me as it was creating this unique celebration of two individuals, true satisfaction came in waves during the wed-ding ceremony as I often found  Abhishek’s parents nodding in agreement to the words I used to describe traditions with which they were very familiar.  Afterwards, both his father, Tilak Raj, and mother, Tiran, thanked me enthusiastically for the way I honored their culture and religion.  Indeed, I felt the same angels that abandoned heaven to sing because of Cristina and Abhishek finding love also came to my aid to help celebrate that same love.

This was just another example of a www.GreatOfficiants.com ceremony!
0 Comments

    Author

    Mobile Reverend is A.Mauricio Lubong.  He believes in love, but knows that it is not always easy, rather it can be hard, to find.  So, whenever, wherever and with whomever one finds it, it should be celebrated. 

    Mobile Reverend is now on Facebook!  You are sincerely invited to "Like" him!

    Archives

    September 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    February 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed