Creating your ceremony

Your wedding day is one of the most important and
meaningful days of your life. It should reflect your values, your
spirituality, your personality and above all, your love.
     Our first step will be to meet and get to know each other. We
will discuss who you are, how you met and fell in love, what
you believe. We will also talk about how you would like to
include friends and family in your ceremony as well as service
elements such as vows, a ring ceremony, a unity candle or
sand ceremony, or traditions which reflect your cultural
heritage.
    After that, I will create your unique ceremony for a memory
you will cherish forever. I will email, mail or fax it to you for
your approval before your wedding day so that we are
confident it reflects who you are and what you want to say to
each other and the loved ones who are witnessing this joyous
event.

Only love can bring individual beings to their perfect completion, as individuals, by uniting them one with another,
because only love takes
possession of them and unites them by what lies deepest within them.
—Teilhard de Chardin

Creating the perfect ceremony
Here are a few things to think about and discuss:

Where will the wedding be?
How many guests will we have?
Will there be flower girls or a ring-bearer?
Who will walk with the bride during the processional?
Do we want special music or readings during the ceremony
Will we be writing our own vows?
Do we want special ceremony elements such as a unity candle, sand ceremony or handfasting?
Do we prefer a spiritual tone with prayers and blessings or a more civil style ceremony?
What traditions from our families' ethnic heritage do we want to include?

I look forward to meeting you and creating a unique and memorable ceremony with you!

  When my fiancé and I were looking for an officiant to preside over our wedding ceremony, we met with several ministers who, while all very nice, offered the typical wedding ceremony in which we had to work within their restrictive style.
  Meeting Rev. Toni Maddi was refreshing and encouraging. She took the time to learn about us as a couple and listened to the ideas we had envisioned for our own ceremony. The result was a personalized ceremony that reflected our own individual style. Rev. Maddi helped make our wedding day very special and memorable for our guests and us. We are still receiving compliments on how wonderful our wedding ceremony was!
                                                                                    ~S. Hitchcock

You helped me more than you know during a time
when my brain abandoned me [just before the
ceremony]. It actually checked out saying, "You're
on your own, Jarren, I'll be in the bar when you're
finished." Your calming presence was a Godsend.
~J. King

Thank you very much for everything. The ceremony was absolutely beautiful! I can't tell you how many compliments we received about the how the ceremony was organized, ran and the overall message you spoke of. We loved every moment of it.
~K. & E. Lukes

Photo by Fred Fox Studios

Thank you again for officiating a wonderful ceremony. What a perfect day and Julie and I both appreciate your role in making it
so!
~D. Kahl

For samples of ceremonies, please contact me at weddings@tonimaddi.com

To read some of my sermons, given at Unity Temple in Oak Park, Illinois, please click one of the following links