My Promise to You:
"If all you want is a cookie-cutter, 'change the bride and groom's names ceremony,' I respectfully ask that you call someone else. You and your guests will feel that my delivery of your elegant, authentic ceremony is teh most meaningful, memorable and sincere ceremony you have ever heard or your money back! You ceremony -- this once in a lifetime opportunity to appreciate life and love -- will be delivered with genuine emotion for all to hear and appreciate. If you are not pleased, I will refund your payment!" ~ Kim Kirkley
Here is another testimonial:
Dear Kim,
We cannot thank you enough for making our wedding day ever so memorable. Our guests all noted that you made each and everyone of them feel part of the ceremony, both on a personal and spiritual level. Ronnie and I feel privileged to have had you as our Celebrant, consecrating our bond.
Warmest regards,
Amy & Ronnie
Their ceremony took place at The Waldorf-Astoria
* 100% Moneyback Guarantee
* Same-Sex Couples Welcome
* Elegant, Authentic Ceremony Process TM
* Pre/Marital Coaching Available
* Payment Plans Available
Don't Gamble When Choosing the Person Who Sets the Tone for Your Ceremony, Wedding Day & the Grand Adventure that Lays Ahead!
Celebrant Kim Kirkley is dedicated to making your ceremony elegant, distinctly yours and unforgettable! Since 2002, she has personally celebrated more than 400 weddings -- so she won't be "practicing" on yours.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Friday, October 30, 2009
Raving Fan!
This couple went through premarital Coaching with me and are just wonderful!
Kim,
Thank you so much for participating in our big day. We’ve had a number of compliments about the ceremony and your performance under less than ideal weather conditions. We had a wonderful time, were pleased with how things went, and really enjoyed working with you. And personally, until we met at the Marriot I couldn’t see how we were going to do a ceremony at all. Working with you really helped me see what was possible in a ceremony, and that it was possible to transform something that has a lot of weight and tradition into something that we felt a connection to. One of my few regrets is that after spending so much time with you we didn’t get to visit with you more on Saturday, but I feel that way about the guests too as we were being pulled in 105 directions at once.
We hope you enjoyed yourself Saturday, and we hope to see you again in the future!
Thank you again!
Ed
Kim,
Thank you so much for participating in our big day. We’ve had a number of compliments about the ceremony and your performance under less than ideal weather conditions. We had a wonderful time, were pleased with how things went, and really enjoyed working with you. And personally, until we met at the Marriot I couldn’t see how we were going to do a ceremony at all. Working with you really helped me see what was possible in a ceremony, and that it was possible to transform something that has a lot of weight and tradition into something that we felt a connection to. One of my few regrets is that after spending so much time with you we didn’t get to visit with you more on Saturday, but I feel that way about the guests too as we were being pulled in 105 directions at once.
We hope you enjoyed yourself Saturday, and we hope to see you again in the future!
Thank you again!
Ed
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Baby Dedication, Baptism, Welcoming, Naming Ceremony
I am delighted that I have been performing more baby dedications, blessings, baptisms, naming and welcoming ceremonies in the NYC area. Depending on the belief system, these ceremonies are called many things. There is one thing that every one of them shares, a sense of boundless joy and optimism because there is a new life in the family. Baby dedications are wonderful because they give unaffiliated families a meaningful and heartfelt way to celebrate. Many times the parents are couples I have married, other times they are folks who found me just to honor their child. The couple you see above are my neighbors and I was thrilled to performed their darling daughter's dedication. It is a wonderful thing to be able to help people honor their families, ancestors and feel a part of their community. I look forward to celebrating many more new arrivals.
One thing that many people often don't consider is having a welcoming ceremony for a child that is in your life due to marriage or adoption. I believe that we need to find a way to let every child in our families and communities know that we are glad to share this earth with them. As an African proverb states, "Children are the reward of life." A ceremony is a great way for all of us to cherish these living treasures.
Monday, May 4, 2009
A Bride & Groom Make a Difference in Bed-Stuy
Here's the press release for a wonderful event. Jen and Hooper, the couple that I married on April 5, 2009 in Central Park at the Ladies Pavillion, made a sizable donation to the Bedford Stuyvesant Volunteer Ambulance Corp. In a gesture of good will, I donated my services to the couple and in turn they presented a donation to the award-winning volunteer ambulance corp in my under-served community. The Bedford-Stuyvesant Volunteer Ambulance Corp is a grass-roots organization that saves lives and over the years has fostered the careers of 5 doctors, and hundreds of emergency medical technicians. Their website is http://www.bsvac.org.
PRESS RELEASE
RECESSION REJECTION: WEDDING CELEBRANT AND HER CLIENTS CONTINUE TO GIVE IN THESE DIFFICULT TIMES
A marriage unites the boroughs in action for a worthy cause when a wedding Celebrant trades her services for donation to a volunteer ambulance service.
Queens couple Jen Bandini and Hooper Turner were planning their wedding and searching for a secular officiant to perform the ceremony. The two artists were working on a tight budget yet, but as soon as they met Kim Kirkley, they knew they wanted her to officiate. Kirkley, a Brooklyn resident, offered her services in exchange for a donation to a charity. Together they chose the Bedford-Stuyvesant Volunteer Ambulance Corps, the nation’s first minority-run volunteer ambulance corps, which was founded in 1988. The donation will be made in person to this award-winning community group on….
As weddings can often be self-centered events, Bandini and Turner welcomed the opportunity to give aid to others while celebrating their union. They also feel that Kirkley’s willingness to trade her time in order to enable this act of charity deems her a caring and conscientious person, exactly the kind of person they would wish to officiate. The couple have an interest in community groups as Bandini has helped start and run a program that donates books to prisoners in the Southeast as well as a volunteer-run vegan café and library in the Northwest. Both have been teachers, and welcome any opportunity to better their community.
Kirkley was the one who introduced the couple to the BSVAC. A Modern Bride Trendsetter and modern minister since 2002, Kim Kirkley of www.OurElegantCCeremony.com was troubled that economic concerns were preventing people from giving to worthy organizations like the Bedford Stuyvesant Volunteer Ambulance Corp, who are operating out of a trailer as they wait for their new facility to be finished. Having moved to Bed-Stuy in the last year, Kirkley, is impressed by BSVAC’s commitment to providing emergency medical response to this underserved area. Kirkley says, “I like knowing that people in my neighborhood have access to quick, professional care in emergency situations. No one plans to need an ambulance and we know that the quicker someone receives help the more likely it is that they will be able to make a full recovery. I like feeling that the donation of my services and Jen and Hooper’s financial contribution will make it easier for BSVAC to do what they do so well – help a neighbor at a crucial time. Their volunteer efforts are the kinds of things that make Bed-Stuy a wonderful place to live. I am glad to be able to honor BSVAC in this way.”
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Celebrant YouTube Video
The Celebrant Foundation has created a new video that describes the elation, openess and joy of a Celebrant led ceremony. My remarks are featured in it! Take a look...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NALw-4eHkI
Friday, March 6, 2009
Poked By a Christian on the "C" Train
It’s Wednesday - my “me” day, I’m listening to my ipod and dozing on the train to Manhattan, when I’m poked! I look up and a young guy with a bit of facial hair and a blank look is standing in front of me. “That’s not cool, man!” Having officiated at more than 400 wedding ceremonies and practiced law on and off for 15 years, that’s all I could think to say!?!
As a modern minister who specializes in creating custom tailored weddings, I tend to work evenings and weekends. Wednesdays I spend mornings with my niece at toddler story time at my local library. I call it the happiest hour of the week. We sing happy songs with babies. Then we watch the kids play with toys and get to know each other and share the trials and triumphs of life with toddlers. Then I go for acupuncture. Anyone can see why I savor my Wednesdays.
With all that being said, who would want to be poked on a subway? I could tell Pokey didn’t mean any harm. He didn’t look like the kind of kid who was familiar with NYC subway etiquette. The Poker looks over to a very tall stern young guy. It seemed like Pokey was “just following orders.” So, I look at the big guy, I’m not captivated by him or the literature they passed out. I go back to dozing and listening to a spiritual talk. Ironic, huh? Then the big guy starts raging at me. I don’t believe he was pointing but he was definitely shouting. I can’t really hear him since I am listening to Abraham Hicks talk about spiritual principles and the law of attraction. He says something about his church. I remember Iyanla VanZant’s wise direction, “When you see crazy coming, cross the street.” As the train continues to rock and roll toward Manhattan, I change my seat. I’m not afraid just annoyed. Here I am peacefully getting in touch with my own appreciation for the divine and they intend to disturb my peace and plunge me into their own Crazytown Christianity. Uh, no thank you?
Do they really think this is the way to share their message? How could I feel anything but offend by being poked out of my peace? One of my favorite quotes is “Lord, please protect me from your followers!” I can’t help but wonder if my prayer called these kooks to me. As I get off the train, I see that the Rager, Pokey and friends get off too. And, I see a cop. I briefly think about telling the police officer that I had been “assaulted.” I quickly throw that idea away. I hope Pokey got the idea that you don’t touch sleeping people on the subway. I hope Rager takes a sedative and gets some anger management training.
I refuse to demonize them. I am examining the ways in which I have been so attached to my point of view that I couldn’t, wouldn’t respect another person’s experience. I tend to have good social skills, so for me it is not about touching strangers on the subway. But, I know I have given my sister advice she didn’t request or judged someone’s for not picking up a crying child. I am getting better at these things but I remember being contemptuous of happy people. Thinking --how dare they be happy when people are hurting and there is injustice and what about their eternal soul? Maybe they were operating on the wisdom of Mark 8:35:
“For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”
I wonder if that is what those kids thought when they saw me? I probably was slightly smiling. That tends to be my way. Besides, I was listening to principles that inspire me. They had something that they thought would save me. Here is the lesson that this experience reinforces for me: We can never know what is going on in another person’s head. Here, I was accessing my own salvation and because they couldn’t here what was going on in my head, they assumed they had something better. I respectfully ask that each of us -- when confronted by a situation where it seems like we have the solution and the other person is too boneheaded to notice – that we take a step back and simply ask if we can offer something. Then listen and follow the response. To push our point of view only pushes the other person away. Let us respect people enough to allow them to listen to the voices they choose. Anything else is like poking oneself in the eye.
Until the next time,
Kim
As a modern minister who specializes in creating custom tailored weddings, I tend to work evenings and weekends. Wednesdays I spend mornings with my niece at toddler story time at my local library. I call it the happiest hour of the week. We sing happy songs with babies. Then we watch the kids play with toys and get to know each other and share the trials and triumphs of life with toddlers. Then I go for acupuncture. Anyone can see why I savor my Wednesdays.
With all that being said, who would want to be poked on a subway? I could tell Pokey didn’t mean any harm. He didn’t look like the kind of kid who was familiar with NYC subway etiquette. The Poker looks over to a very tall stern young guy. It seemed like Pokey was “just following orders.” So, I look at the big guy, I’m not captivated by him or the literature they passed out. I go back to dozing and listening to a spiritual talk. Ironic, huh? Then the big guy starts raging at me. I don’t believe he was pointing but he was definitely shouting. I can’t really hear him since I am listening to Abraham Hicks talk about spiritual principles and the law of attraction. He says something about his church. I remember Iyanla VanZant’s wise direction, “When you see crazy coming, cross the street.” As the train continues to rock and roll toward Manhattan, I change my seat. I’m not afraid just annoyed. Here I am peacefully getting in touch with my own appreciation for the divine and they intend to disturb my peace and plunge me into their own Crazytown Christianity. Uh, no thank you?
Do they really think this is the way to share their message? How could I feel anything but offend by being poked out of my peace? One of my favorite quotes is “Lord, please protect me from your followers!” I can’t help but wonder if my prayer called these kooks to me. As I get off the train, I see that the Rager, Pokey and friends get off too. And, I see a cop. I briefly think about telling the police officer that I had been “assaulted.” I quickly throw that idea away. I hope Pokey got the idea that you don’t touch sleeping people on the subway. I hope Rager takes a sedative and gets some anger management training.
I refuse to demonize them. I am examining the ways in which I have been so attached to my point of view that I couldn’t, wouldn’t respect another person’s experience. I tend to have good social skills, so for me it is not about touching strangers on the subway. But, I know I have given my sister advice she didn’t request or judged someone’s for not picking up a crying child. I am getting better at these things but I remember being contemptuous of happy people. Thinking --how dare they be happy when people are hurting and there is injustice and what about their eternal soul? Maybe they were operating on the wisdom of Mark 8:35:
“For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”
I wonder if that is what those kids thought when they saw me? I probably was slightly smiling. That tends to be my way. Besides, I was listening to principles that inspire me. They had something that they thought would save me. Here is the lesson that this experience reinforces for me: We can never know what is going on in another person’s head. Here, I was accessing my own salvation and because they couldn’t here what was going on in my head, they assumed they had something better. I respectfully ask that each of us -- when confronted by a situation where it seems like we have the solution and the other person is too boneheaded to notice – that we take a step back and simply ask if we can offer something. Then listen and follow the response. To push our point of view only pushes the other person away. Let us respect people enough to allow them to listen to the voices they choose. Anything else is like poking oneself in the eye.
Until the next time,
Kim
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Feeling lucky?
The purpose of many wedding customs is to make sure the couple has a lucky, fruitful marriage. Have you ever wondered why a bride is to be carried across the threshold? Evil spirits were thought to live in the threshold and they were supposed to easily get through the souls of the feet. It seems that grooms were thought immune, the evil spirits seem to be in the hearth to protect those who dwell in the house, but, as a "stranger" the bride was susceptible. Therefore, she needed to be carried across the threshold in order to escape harm. Once she dwells in the home, then those family spirits would see her as one of "theirs" and not be inclined to harm her.
Do you intend to be carried across the threshold?
Do you intend to be carried across the threshold?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
