ANYWHERE is a great place to have a wedding!  This past weekend, I performed weddings on La Luz Trail in the Cibola National Forest, at the Prairie Star restaurant on the Santa Ana Indian Reservation, at Artichoke Cafe in ABQ, and at a private home in Rio Rancho.  Each wedding had a different personality and each wedding was filled with love and good times.

Sarah and Andrew are both avid rock climbers.  They met at an indoor rock climbing wall and wanted the great outdoors to be part of their ceremony.  So they chose the spectacular La Luz trail just below Sandia Peak.  After a five minute hike, we came to the location they chose and the wedding was performed - followed by toasts!

Congratulations to Sarah and Andrew!
At the Rio Rancho wedding (no photos yet!), the bride and her attendants all wore beautiful long gowns and colorful low-rise sneakers. (Much easier to walk on grass with sneakers!)  With harp music playing, the groom and groomsmen arrived, followed by Ashley and her bridesmaids. Ashley and Daniel set up an arch decorated with fall flowers and leaves in one corner of the shaded back yard and offered guests traditional Mexican food after the ceremony.  An easy, relaxed time for all!

On Sunday afternoon, I took part in the Dillard's Bridal Fair at the Sheraton Uptown where I met the first wave of 2010 and 2011 brides!  It's hard to believe it's almost 2010!  The Sheraton is a beautiful facility with a huge ballroom and several smaller rooms for more intimate weddings.  Wedding gowns and bridesmaids gowns were modeled as brides-to-be sampled cake and talked with photographers, DJs, video-graphers, and more.  Thank you to all the brides who visited the AwakenedWeddings.com booth!  If you have any more questions about our ceremony services, I'd be happy to answer them.  There are so many wonderful ways to make your ceremony special!

I just received some photos from a wedding I performed earlier in September.  It took place a Desert Greens Country Club.  I loved the way the trees made a beautiful dappled pattern down the aisle and shaded the guests and bride and groom during the ceremony.  A spectacular blue-sky day in the perfect location.
In the "sun-dappled" photo below, Shianne and Richard are facing their parents for the "Parental Honoring."  This optional part of the ceremony gives the couple a chance to recognize their parents for all the love and care parents offer to their children. 
Thank you to William of Sweet William Photography for the photos!

Performing weddings around Albuquerque and Santa Fe, I have the good fortune to work with many great people.  These wedding professionals are dedicated and experienced; and I know the wedding will go without a hitch when they show up.  This past weekend I once again worked with Jim Gross of Carousel of Music.  Jim is an accomplished guitarist and great DJ.  He always scouts a venue before the wedding or event to determine the best sound level and always asks me about the details of a ceremony so his music will flow smoothly with the unfolding wedding.
I also bumped into Rick Meiers of Dry Heat Photography again this past weekend.  He was shooting my Friday night wedding.  You might recall the great deluge we experienced on Friday.  It was very serious rain!  The rain ended about an hour before the ceremony and the wedding went off without a hitch under dramatic gray skies.  Just after the ceremony, as I was leaving, I noticed the sun peeking through the clouds for a beautiful sunset...Rick noticed it too and in a flash had the newly-weds posed on the balcony with the sunset as a backdrop.  Beautiful.
It's not just the photographers or musicians that make a wedding special!  This past weekend, I had the pleasure of working at three local venues where the event managers make an extra effort to make sure a wedding goes smoothly.  At Los Poblanos, Sheli Armstong is always a pleasure to work with and always available during those last few minutes before a ceremony starts.  In fact, she spent those extra minutes finding paper, scissors, and tape for a paper funnel for the Sand Ceremony.  (Sometimes the keepsake container for the sand is beautiful, but the opening is too small for two people to pour sand into it!)   Thank you, Sheli!

At Desert Greens Country Club, Desiree took great care of the bride and groom and their families, even carrying water and glasses out for their refreshment during the post-wedding photo session.

And at Sandio Resort and Casino, Genie Rossetti managed a slightly late bride, a misplaced table, and a looming rain storm without skipping a beat.  The result?  A very happy couple and a beautiful ceremony.  Great wedding pros at work!

There are many wonderful reasons I love performing weddings.  It is a very special moment when two people pledge love to each other!  Very powerful.  Love uplifts and inspires not only the couple, but me and all the guests too! 
The brides always look radiant in their gowns, the mothers and dads beaming with pride as they wipe away a tear...
What a joyful time!  And I get to perform weddings at many beautiful locations in Albuquerque and Santa Fe.

A few days ago I performed an intimate wedding at the beautiful and elegant La Posada in Santa Fe.  La Posada is tucked away on Palace Ave just a few blocks from the Santa Fe Plaza.  For the wedding, their Library was decorated with red rose petals and white votive candles.  The ceremony was performed in front of the fireplace which had three beautiful red rose and red orchid bouquets displayed in tall vases among the candles and the rose petals. The combination of the tiny orchids and the rich red roses was exquisite.  (Flowers by Marissa)

David Stone, the event manager of La Posada and Jennifer Rick welcomed guests and deftly handled all the little details that make a wedding flow smoothly.  At last, as the candles flickered and the last guests arrived, the bride entered and the ceremony began.

I performed another intimate ceremony last weekend at the Corrales Winery in Corrales.  As I waited for the couple and their guests to arrive, I sampled a sip of a couple of their wonderful wines.  I tasted and enjoyed their Blendido, a fruity and sweet red, and the Muscat Canelli, a sweet white.  A row of about 20 bottles with gold and silver medals adorns one side of the tasting room.  Very impressive!  (and, no, I was not tipsy!)

This coming weekend I'm off to beautiful Los Poblanos in Albuquerque and Sandia Resort and Casino for wedding ceremonies.  Back soon!

Five weddings this weekend and three of them have Sand Ceremonies!  Most summer weddings in New Mexico take place outdoors - we're so lucky with great weather!  When couples have an outdoor wedding, it makes it very difficult to have a unity candle lighting as part of their ceremony.  The slightest breeze can make lighting a candle impossible!  So, many couples are choosing to add a sand ceremony to their wedding.  Sand ceremonies symbolize the blending of two lives into one.  Two vials of colored sand, one for the bride, one for the groom, are poured into a single glass container. The two colors of sand make an interesting design behind the glass and the couple as a beautiful keepsake of their ceremony. This ceremony is great for blended families, as each child can participate in the sand pouring with his or her own color of sand. Opps!  Getting late.  Got to go to a rehearsal.  More later!

One of the most spectacular wedding locations in Albuquerque is at the top of Sandia Peak.  It's not the easiest place to have a wedding as it involves transporting the bridal party and all the guests up on the tram.  But once you are at the top, the views are breathtaking!  Especially looking east, past the ski lifts, you can see miles of earth, untouched by development.  Very inspiring!

I worked with a wonderful couple from Hawaii last weekend and they pulled off an intimate Sandia Peak wedding with style and grace.  The ceremony was held on the public deck outside the High Finance restaurant in the late afternoon. About 25 guests and a bridal party of 10 close friends and family members rode up on the tram at 4pm.  The bride wore a long deep red velvet cloak to hide her dress from her husband-to-be. The weather was beautiful and the deck was sunny but pleasant.  A few tourists looked on as the bridal party processed down the ramp toward the farthest edge of the deck.  A light breeze ruffled the bride's veil and the ceremony began.  The couple even did a sand ceremony, with the sand vessels placed on a silver tray held by the bride's niece. At the end of the ceremony both the mother of the bride and the mother of the groom spontaneously moved to the couple to hug and offer their blessings! Such a perfect ending to the ceremony! It was such a warm and close-knit group!

After signing the license and enjoying the view a few more minutes, I hopped on the tram, took the scenic ride to the bottom and headed to the Hotel Albuquerque for an early evening wedding.  The bride and groom took special care to include their four children in the ceremony.  Their sand ceremony included 6 different colors of sand, one each for the bride, groom, and the four children, poured into a large rectangular vase.  The result was one of the most beautiful sand vases I've ever seen!  The different colors of sand created a tiger-stripe design in the container.  What a beautiful keepsake and a graphic symbol of blending 6 lives into one. 

This weekend, I have a wedding in a backyard, a wedding at a country club, another at a Corrales winery, and another at the Garden Center.  Then on Tuesday, it's up to La Posada for an indoor wedding.  More details next week!  Have a great Labor Day weekend.

About a month ago, I had the pleasure of officiating at a wedding for a friend, actually a wedding planner here in Albuquerque.  Bentley wanted her own wedding to be intimate, elegant, and relaxed; and she achieved all three!  From the parking lot, I took a meandering path past a fountain and into the cool rooms of the beautiful Los Poblanos hacienda, an old rancho with gracious gardens and a lavender-growing farm on the grounds. 
Bentley's floating dress of beige with a brown tulle embroidered overlay completely captured the "garden party" atmosphere she was hoping for.  To begin, she and her dad strolled into the lush and green garden where the ceremony was held.
The ceremony began with a special prayer by Bentley's grandfather and contained the traditional vows...but every moment was filled with warmth and light-heartedness.  It certainly helped that the guitarist, Jim Gross, and Karen Stallard, the wedding planner, and I have often worked together to orchestrate a smooth ceremony.
Afterwards, kids romped on the lawn and guests were treated to a candlelight dinner under the portal.
The mood of the day was deftly captured by Desiree and Seth of Jones Photo Art.  Here are a few of the photos.
To Bentley and Sean - May you have many joyous years together!
   

Albuquerque has some of the most beautiful locations for weddings...especially for summer sunset ceremonies.  Last weekend, I performed a sweet and intimate ceremony at the Elena Gallegos Open Space while the sky put on an incredible show.  Justine and Buddy made their promises of love with while the sun slowly set in a brilliant sky.  Justine and Buddy offered beautiful gifts to Justine's children right after their vows to include them in their new family.  Then there was sparkling apple juice, cake, and a giant chocolate chip cookie.  A beautiful day!

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