WEDDINGS
"Kenny was a truly amazing addition to our service and incredibly open to our unconventional ideas of how we wanted the ceremony to go. His generous spirit helped to put me at ease on a day when most brides feel overwhelmed with stress."
-Laura Krey
I think Judaism has great traditions around the wedding ceremony - preparing for the wedding, the ceremony itself and things you might do just after the ceremony concludes. If you are two Jews getting married, we will talk about all the different possibilities and variations, while preserving the core of the ceremony and those elements that make a wedding ceremony uniquely Jewish.
If you are two people coming from different faith traditions, or if religion is not where you live much at all, we can talk about how we might blend elements from various traditions (Jewish or otherwise) into a ceremony that honors all the people, customs and values that come together when two people plan a wedding.
In answer to frequently asked questions about my involvement in wedding ceremonies
I am happy to officiate or co-officiate at an interfaith wedding
Pretty much any venue for the wedding ceremony is fine with me
I will of course officiate at the wedding of people who self-identify in the LGTBQI world
Regarding the timing of your ceremony, if you have already picked a day and time for your wedding that coincides with Shabbat, I am very willing to accommodate your needs
My fee varies with the situation, i.e. how far do I have to travel to get to your venue; will you want me to attend a rehearsal the previous day/evening; etc. That said, generally the fee will land somewhere between $1000-$1350, but that is all-inclusive, meaning whatever we agree upon is what you will pay, whether we speak 5 times or 25 times prior to your ceremony. Furthermore, I wouldn’t want financial concerns to get in the way of our working together, so I’d want you to tell me if my standard fee is beyond your budget.
"We wanted to create a simple, yet very intimate and meaningful wedding celebration with our families in our back yard. We had a feeling that Kenny would be perfect, and for that reason we flew him in from Massachusetts to Arizona to be our wedding officiant. What we didn't know was just how personal and inclusive it would be. We were all blown away by his ability to seamlessly weave our Buddhist/Yogic leanings with the teachings of Judaism. Andrew is Jewish and we wanted to include some of the ritual from that tradition. Kenny brought his vast knowledge of spiritual practices, his compassion, his wisdom, his gifts of intuition, and his warm-hearted and humorous nature. We laughed often during the ceremony, we cried (of course) and we all walked away uplifted. Kenny not only enlightened everyone present about the power and meaning of the marriage ritual, but also bonded us together into a tighter sense of connection. It would not be an exaggeration to say that his presence was a very big part of what made our wedding memorable. We know this because it was he who was glowingly commented upon by family and friends, far more than the food, flowers, dresses and music."
-Andrew Rivin and Desiree Rumbaugh
