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As I’m working on adding wedding stories to my redesigned blog (coming soon!) I’m having so much fun recalling all the wonderful couples and families I’ve worked with. Yesterday was Megan and Richard’s 5th anniversary, and I just couldn’t help but share the best groom’s cake I’ve ever seen! 🐙 Here’s the story behind the octopus cake: One of the two things that were very important to Richard was the groom's cake (the other was video, in case you're curious). As a rabid Redwings hockey fan, he worked closely with our baker For Goodness Cakes to create a larger-than-life stadium cake, with the purple octopus rising up from the middle of it. It was truly an amazing work of art! One of his uncles in particular had fostered his love of the game, so Richard had the idea to bring him into the ballroom during cocktail hour for a sneak peek at the cake. Watching him being led in by Richard, with his eyes closed, and then seeing (and hearing) his joy at the cake was so worth it! The cake, which was actually mostly made of Rice Krispies, was sent home with Richard's parents (unbeknownst to him), to make another surprise appearance at the hockey game watching parties later this year. So fun! 🍰 Stories like this remind me once again that our connections are the most important part of life. This is the beauty and magic of weddings: the ongoing joy they bring us with the wonderful memories they invoke. To Megan and Richard and all my beautiful couples: thank you for the chance to create beautiful memories with you. I cherish you all! 🥰 Wishing you ongoing joy and love, wherever your paths have led you. 💖🙏🏻✨ Namaste ~ Blessed Be 🌀 https://www.instagram.com/p/B_dC7LuDvRo/?igshid=w44fvox9vwo4

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I woke up today singing one of my favorite Van Morrison songs, These Are The Days. These are the days of the endless summer These are the days, the time is now There is no past, there's only future There's only here, there's only now Oh your smiling face, your gracious presence The fires of spring are kindling bright Oh the radiant heart and the song of glory Crying freedom in the night These are the days by the sparkling river His timely grace and our treasured find This is the love of the one magician Turned the water into wine These are the days of the endless dancing and the Long walks on the summer night These are the days of the true romancing When I'm holding you oh, so tight These are the days by the sparkling river His timely grace and our treasured find This is the love of the one great magician Turned water into wine These are the days now that we must savour And we must enjoy as we can These are the days that will last forever You've got to hold them in your heart ❤️ Oh yes indeed, these are the days. There’s only here, there’s only now. And the endless dance of love. 🌀💖💫 Happy one month anniversary to my beautiful couple Becca and Zach. May you always hold each other oh so tight. All will be well, my loves. Namaste ~ Blessed Be Photo by @loveandstory_photo at @ivyhall_rmc_eventscatering https://www.instagram.com/p/B--9IBzD4mf/?igshid=ixk2a7qbbtff

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From Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis de Bernières: “Love is a temporary madness; it erupts like volcanoes and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of eternal passion. That is just being in love, which any fool can do. Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident. Those that truly love have roots that grow towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossoms have fallen from their branches, they find that they are one tree and not two.” This beautiful reading is one of my all-time favorites for weddings. It also seems perfect in a larger sense for spring and the holidays honoring renewal (Passover, Easter and Ramadan), for Enchanted April, for the trees whose gradual yet abrupt change I am privileged to watch daily. I took the photo of the dogwood tree in my mom’s backyard a few days ago, when it was in full bloom. Now, many of the blossoms have blown away in the fierce winds… revealing not bare branches… but new green leaves. 🌿 When we lose something, how easy it can be to focus on the lost thing. What if we focus instead on what is now revealed? In the space created by the losing, what now has room to grow? 🌱 What is being revealed as our own fleeting, fragile blossoms blow away? 🌸 And now, a brain teaser… How does the meaning of the reading change if we substitute “life” for “love”? ❤️ All will be well, my loves. Namaste ~ Blessed Be 🙏🏻🌀 https://www.instagram.com/p/B-3WD0tDe20/?igshid=va8xe48rfztg

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Wedding Stories: Classic Connecticut Wedding

Zeena & Ramsey May 19, 2018 · Greenwich, Connecticut

“Daria!!! You are truly amazing! I can’t thank you enough for everything you’ve done these past few months. Sooo incredibly grateful for you and your unique skillset. Sending you love!” ~ Zeena (bride), the morning after the wedding

See more beautiful photos from Magic Flute here! 

About The Wedding

Zeena’s mom Layla found me by pure luck, and we are both so grateful she did! Just about the time she was starting to get nervous about pulling all of the details together for Zeena and Ramsey’s wedding, I stepped in and together we planned the rest of the big day in Zeena’s hometown of Greenwich, CT, while Zeena and Ramsey continued their work as medical residents in Boston. From a custom-designed flower for Zeena to carry, to the song composed by the church’s music director for Zeena’s processional, to the flash mob singing the recessional, to the clouds of baby’s breath and exquisite orchids on the tables, to the Lebanese dancers who drummed Zeena and Ramsey into the reception and later performed a traditional Lebanese dance, to the elegant four-course dinner at the beautiful Delamar Hotel on the water, it was an unforgettable event! Even the flip flops for dancing matched the gold color scheme! The guests definitely made use of them, as DJ Paul and DJ Moe kept them on the dance floor the entire night. 

My Favorite Detail

Zeena and Ramsey had a fabulous hashtag (#Ramzeen2018). Their wedding party was mixed genders on each side (a trend I love!), and everyone got dressed at Zeena’s parents’ home. Everyone had T-shirts to wear, with either Team Bride in gold or Team Groom in silver (I couldn’t choose a side, so I went without!). The group had great fun taking competing group photos before the couple’s First Look photos!

My Favorite Moment

This was my first Lebanese wedding, and I loved the dancers! The zaffeh (drummers introducing Zeena and Ramsey into the reception and enticing everyone onto the dance floor for a wild welcome dance) and the dabke (a fascinating blend of acrobatic dance performance and a group dance that is very similar to the Jewish Horah, but done to Arabic music) were so personable and entertaining - the perfect addition to honor Zeena and Ramsey’s heritage.

Venues Ceremony Second Congregational Church Reception The Delamar Hotel

Services Officiants Rev. Max Grant and Rev. Sinote Ibrahim Ceremony Music Alexander Constantine Photographer/Videographer Magic Flute Hair Maria Livsey Salon Makeup Elizabeth Bellom Florist Greenwich Orchids Catering L’Escale at The Delamar Hotel Baker By The Way Bakery DJ James Daniel Entertainment, DJ Paul Lacano Lebanese DJ BrightLoud Entertainment, DJ Moe Lebanese Dancers Afra Events Transportation Red Oak Transportation Welcome Dinner Gabriele’s Italian Steakhouse

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Today I am celebrating Circle of Love Weddings’s 14th birthday! 🎉 Another turn around the sun complete... 🌞 And so many new gifts to share in the upcoming year. Stay tuned… the refreshed brand and website are coming this week! In the meantime, we’re enjoying pumpkin cupcakes that my mom @wilksgage just happened to bake this morning. #delicious #thanksmom 🎂 And I’m overflowing with gratitude for all my friends who have been my companions on this beautiful journey. Without you, there would be no Circle of Love Weddings. 🌀 Thank you for your camaraderie on the path… past, present and future! You’re all in my heart, and always will be. 💖🙏🏻😭✨ Namaste ~ Blessed Be https://www.instagram.com/p/B-qPwlfDDC4/?igshid=1hpp2tpaff2f1

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Monet Refuses The Operation by Lisel Mueller Doctor, you say there are no haloes around the streetlights in Paris and what I see is an aberration caused by old age, an affliction. I tell you it has taken me all my life to arrive at the vision of gas lamps as angels, to soften and blur and finally banish the edges you regret I don’t see, to learn that the line I called the horizon does not exist and sky and water, so long apart, are the same state of being. Fifty-four years before I could see Rouen cathedral is built of parallel shafts of sun, and now you want to restore my youthful errors: fixed notions of top and bottom, the illusion of three-dimensional space, wisteria separate from the bridge it covers. What can I say to convince you the Houses of Parliament dissolve night after night to become the fluid dream of the Thames? I will not return to a universe of objects that don’t know each other, as if islands were not the lost children of one great continent. The world is flux, and light becomes what it touches, becomes water, lilies on water, above and below water, becomes lilac and mauve and yellow and white and cerulean lamps, small fists passing sunlight so quickly to one another that it would take long, streaming hair inside my brush to catch it. To paint the speed of light! Our weighted shapes, these verticals, burn to mix with air and change our bones, skin, clothes to gases. Doctor, if only you could see how heaven pulls earth into its arms and how infinitely the heart expands to claim this world, blue vapor without end. 🙏🏻 May we See clearly: a universe of objects that know each other a world of people who are connected, in spirit. 🌀 May we refuse to forget the teachings of this time. And may we absorb and become each other’s light, in this apparent darkness. For without darkness, we cannot discern the light. ✨ All will be well, my loves. Namaste ~ Blessed Be https://www.instagram.com/p/B-VnYtJjOQp/?igshid=auw91nqbwx6n

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Happy 5 year anniversary to Sara and Jacob, married 28 March 2015 May you be enveloped in love! ❤️ I’d like to share the parents’ blessing from this beautiful ceremony, which they recited as they wrapped the couple in the talit: "The love of each home and family begets a new generation of family, home and love. Within this symbolic home, the chuppa, we your parents wrap you in this tallis, which embraces you in your own sacred space. We stand here today, parents, son and daughter, surrounded by the spirit and memory of generations gone before us, to consecrate with pride and joy this newest branch of the tree of life. May you always be enveloped in love." I remember this moment of their ceremony so clearly, because it brought me to tears then, as it does now. May we all always be enveloped in love. ❤️ We need each other now, more than ever. 🙏🏻 We are all together under one chuppah: the sky. 💫 We are all in Divine hands at this tenuous time (and always). And we are loved. 🌀 All will be well, my loves. Namaste ~ Blessed Be Photo by @abartelski @thereason_chrisallie https://www.instagram.com/p/B-Rzz1Zjqnp/?igshid=18c0lskk2n7w5

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There are many types of rituals, most of which deal with transition (changes that have happened, are happening, or may happen). It’s an important part of life and community to honor and be present with our life transitions, whether they are small or large, trivial or significant. Rituals can be categorized into the following types: Birth/Rebirth - birth of a child, starting a new job or business, moving into a new home, entering puberty, becoming a grandparent, etc. Keywords: Beginnings, purification, cleansing, initiation, origin Merging - marriage, getting a roommate, business mergers, etc. Keywords: Balance, heart, unity, relatedness, connection Cycles - birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, seasons, etc. Keywords: Cyclical (wheel of life), celebration, seasonal, movement, deepening Death - physical death, divorce, leaving a job, completing a project, etc. Keywords: Endings, releasing, finishing, completion, liberation Healing - for any kind of imbalance, whether it’s in the body, mind, heart or spirit; and can be for the self, another person, a relationship, a group, the planet as a whole, etc. Keywords: Wholeness, unity, balance, manifestation, embodiment, health To this I would add a sixth category: Personal Awakening - anything that one does daily or regularly to bring structure, comfort, spiritual growth and development, join with community, etc. To connect personally to something larger than yourself, whether that means mind-body yoking through a yoga or Zen meditation practice; connecting with Jesus and the Holy Spirit in the liturgy; or simply the act of making your coffee while your body wakes up and prepares for the coming day. All rituals speak to connectedness, which, as we learned, is the essential purpose of any ritual. Thus, many of these types of rituals (and their keywords) overlap and combine. (Some info adapted from The Art of Ritual, Renée Beck and Sydney Barbara Merick) https://www.instagram.com/p/BpXfG0zg5CG/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1fg11nyf522ym

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Happy one year anniversary (plus one day) to Jesse and Alex! What an honor it was to plan and officiate their perfect, intimate Maine wedding. I still remember the gorgeous fall day, the love of their families surrounding us in the ceremony circle, and the radiant joy that Jesse and Alex exuded. Wishing you two this same love and joy for years to come! ❤️ 📷 Photo courtesy of Sarah Morrill Photography https://www.instagram.com/p/BorzbCbghiB/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1fkuw0szoaty6

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What Is Ritual? Rite, Ceremony, Symbolic Act, Intention, Connection A vital part of any ceremony or rite is ritual. A ceremony depends on ritual to imbue it with meaning. Rituals themselves are ceremonies, in that they “fit together” (the root of the word ritual) and honor the turning-point events of our lives, as well as our daily activities. Ritual is metaphor. A ritual uses symbolic acts to remind us of a truth, or to embody a concept by engaging the senses and the imagination, to enable us to see beyond what’s literally occurring, and experience different levels of meaning. For example, when a couple lights a unity candle during their wedding ceremony to symbolize the blending of two families, this is a symbolic act, and a ritual within the ceremony. In its most basic sense, a ritual is any action that we do with intention - whether just once or many times - as opposed to a habit, which is done regularly but perhaps mindlessly. A ritual connects us to the present moment, enabling us to become mindful, and attentive only to what we’re doing at that moment. For example, washing your hands could be a mindless habit. Or, you could decide that each time you do it, you’ll focus your attention and transform the act into a moment of gratitude for your hands, and everything they do for you and for others. The intention makes it a ritual. (Thanks to Rob Spencer for this idea!) Ritual connects us to levels of consciousness beyond the physical. It’s a beautiful opportunity to practice the gift of co-creating with the Divine, manifesting the sacred in our daily lives. (Some info adapted from The Art of Ritual, Renée Beck and Sydney Barbara Merick) https://www.instagram.com/p/BoZeKJzH-GH/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=qaud9wbx97fp

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This weekend we in the Northern Hemisphere celebrated the Fall Equinox. In the wheel of the year, this is a time of balancing, where day and night are equal length, as we shift into the fall and winter seasons. It’s a time of harvesting seeds that were planted in the previous spring. It’s also a time of planting seeds that will burst forth in the following spring. In the dark half of the year, like Persephone, we go below and inward, we descend into the depths, we embrace the mystery of chaos. We look inside ourselves for the next steps, and we prepare to rest before new growth occurs.

This is exactly what is happening with me and with Circle of Love Weddings. As I enter my second year of seminary, training as an interfaith, interspiritual priestess-minister, Circle of Love Weddings is officially on sabbatical. I’m taking this time to study and travel, to enable me to focus on learning to create ceremonies and rituals, so Circle of Love Weddings can blossom into a new company with expanded offerings.

This year, I am open to taking on a limited number of wedding planning or coordination clients, as it fits with our travels. I am also very willing to officiate ceremonies of all kinds: weddings, baby blessings, memorial services, and any other ritual for any life transition or celebration.

In this space, I plan to share what I’m learning in seminary this year. I welcome questions and dialogue about weddings, ceremonies, ritual, ministering and the Divine.

I honor with gratitude all the people and the experiences that have converged to create this path of service that I am traveling.

I anticipate with joy our future work together. If I can be of service to anyone, please reach out.

Blessed Be and Namaste. I love you all. xo, Daria

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Sending love to my past clients (you’re always in my heart!) as I am updating www.circleofloveweddings.com with recent weddings! Happy anniversary to Sarah and John, married 6/10/17 at the Ritz-Carlton Buckhead, now @thewhitleyhotel. Hugs and kisses to you both! Photo courtesy of @laurastonephoto

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In honor of #valentinesday, I'm sharing one of my all-time favorite wedding readings: I Like You by Sandol Stoddard Warburg. Check out this hilarious, sweet little book about friendship and love. A quote: "I like you because when I tell you something special you know it's special and you remember it a long long time. You say remember when you told me something special and both of us remember. When I think something is important you think it's important too. We have good ideas." And my favorite part, from the end: "I would go on choosing you and you would go on choosing me over and over again. That's how it would happen every time."

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Happy Candlemas and Groundhog Day! Winter is turning toward spring, I'm seeing daffodils blooming (so early!) and on #throwbackthursday I'm thinking of this beautiful February wedding at @summerourstudio. In the dark of winter the space was suffused with candlelight - so beautiful! I loved Kristin's handmade sign on her chair. Instead of the typical Mr. and Mrs. signs, they invited their guests to come and say hi. So sweet! Happy almost anniversary, @kristinmharris and Jeff!

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L.O.V.E. this seating chart idea (as seen in @martha_weddings): it's a map of the night sky and each guest is seated at a table named after a constellation. I really want one of my brides to do this! Who's in?

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Tonight I am honored to be a part of A Night For Brides at @faithflowersatl. We're going to showcase Laura and team's gorgeous flowers, and I'm going to talk to the brides and moms about #hardtruths – Hard Truths About Wedding Planning. The five topics are Decision-Making, People Behaving Badly, Guest List, Budget and Emotional Issues. Looking forward to a fun event!

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#Throwback Thursday again already? Today I am thinking of a beautiful winter wedding from 2014, in a January where it was actually cold, LOL. @isa_berbert was one of the most elegant brides I've ever seen - just look at how she rocks that @oscardelarenta gown! @biltmoreballrooms was stunningly decorated by @faithflowersatl and a good time was had by all. Happy anniversary, Isabel and Tayloe! 📷: @timharmanphoto