Your interfaith wedding : a guide to blending faiths, cultures, and personal values into one beautiful wedding ceremony

311 Pages·1953·1.09 MB·English

Your Interfaith Wedding
Also by Laurie Sue Brockway
Wedding Goddess
The Goddess Pages
Pet Prayers and Blessings
Your Interfaith Wedding
A Guide to Blending Faiths, Cultures,
and Personal Values into One Beautiful
Wedding Ceremony
Laurie Sue Brockway
Copyright 2010 by Laurie Sue Brockway
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review, without prior
permission in writing from the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Brockway, Laurie Sue.
Your interfaith wedding : a guide to blending faiths, cultures, and
personal values into one beautiful wedding ceremony / Laurie Sue
Brockway.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-313-37801-0 (alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-313-37802-7
(ebook)
1. Interfaith marriage services. 2. Interfaith marriage.
3. Weddings—Planning. I. Title.
HQ1031.B79 2010
395.2'2—dc22 2010021208
ISBN: 978-0-313-37801-0
EISBN: 978-0-313-37802-7
14 13 12 11 10 1 2 3 4 5
This book is also available on the World Wide Web as an eBook.
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Praeger
An Imprint of ABC-CLIO, LLC
ABC-CLIO, LLC
130 Cremona Drive, P.O. Box 1911
Santa Barbara, California 93116-1911
This book is printed on acid-free paper
Manufactured in the United States of America
To the wonderful couples who have allowed me the special honor
of being a part of their weddings. They have shown me time and
again that even the most unique and diverse blended families can
find a common bond when love is present.
And to Ray Summer, who left us too soon.
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Contents
Acknowledgments xi
Preface xi
Introduction: The Prevalence of Mixed Marriages xv
Quiz: Are You Ready for an Interfaith Marriage? xix
PART ONE CLEARING THE PATH TO THE ALTAR
1 You Can Express Your Love in a Sacred Ceremony That
Includes Everyone 3
2 Facing Your Fears: Talking It Through Together 11
3 Winning Over Mom and Dad: Family Issues 19
PART TWO HOW TO PUT TOGETHER YOUR CEREMONY
4 Deciding on the Kind of Ceremony You Want 31
5 Finding the Right Officiant 37
6 What Are the Elements of the Wedding Ceremony? 41
7 Choosing Meaningful Wedding Vows 47
8 Wedding Blessings, Prayers, and Readings 59
9 Selecting Rituals and Customs 73
viii Contents
10 How to Include Family, Friends, and Children
in Your Ceremony 87
11 Celebrating Your Love Story 101
12 Seal Your Relationship in a Love Contract 119
PART THREE R ESOURCES I: A MULTIFAITH VIEW
OF WEDDINGS
The Jewish Wedding 129
The Muslim Wedding 131
The Hindu Wedding 133
The Buddhist Wedding 135
The Catholic Wedding 137
The Christian Wedding 139
The Greek Orthodox Wedding 141
The Sikh Wedding 143
The Wiccan Wedding 145
The Unitarian Universalist Wedding 147
PART FOUR RESOURCES II: CEREMONIES TO INSPIRE YOU
More Christian than Jewish: Courtney and Ray 151
More Jewish than Christian: Jodi and Dennis 159
Mystical Catholic, Multicultural, Costa Rican: Annie and Arturo 167
Catholic, Mormon: Suzanne and Jake 177
Buddhist, Sri Lankan, Christian: Rachel and Sanith 185
Celtic/Scottish: Elle and Eddie 193
Nondenominational Filipino: Robert and Michelle 201
Hindu, Jewish: Shari and Sanjai 207
Nondenominational Chinese: Betty and David 215
Japanese, Christian: Kiko and Yoshi 221
Pagan, Nondenominational: Amy and Joe 227
Contents ix
Nondenominational Vow Renewal: Zak and Terry 237
Highly Personalized: Claudine and Michael 243
PART FIVE P ARTING WORDS 255
Notes 261
Bibliography 273
Index 27