Weddings or Commitment Ceremonies
We will help you craft a ritual that best expresses your own relationship and your journey of commitment to each other. Using a Buddhist wedding outline, or your own outline, we will create a ceremony that includes vows, readings, symbolic gestures and/or songs that are meaningful to you.
Options for Weddings and Commitment Ceremonies
Basic Wedding/Commitment Ceremony
All of our weddings and commitment services are personalized to create a ceremony that is uniquely your own. We provide not only a temple priest, but also a ceremonial attendant. Typically, the temple priest would do the following to cultivate a wonderful wedding or commitment ceremony for you:
- meet with you as a couple once or twice before the wedding
- ensure that the proper paperwork is completed for the legal documentation of your marriage
- help with the rehearsal
- arrive one hour prior to the wedding ceremony to ensure the proper set-up
- help with any last-minute details
- arrange for an attendant to help with the rehearsal and ceremony
Wedding/Commitment Ceremony with Pre-Marriage Counseling
Pre-marriage counseling gives you the tools that help you build a strong marriage, allowing you to enter more deeply into a wondrous and enriching relationship. As marriage is one of the most significant events in your life, why not nurture it in the best way possible? For pre-marriage counseling, you’ll both take an inventory we’ll use the results of the inventory as a jumping off point for discussion and growth. The basic inventory is the Prepare/Enrich inventory. Sosan Theresa Flynn also offers the Myers-Briggs Type Indication as an alternative. A customized pre-marriage counseling plan may also be arranged. Talk to the individual priests for more information. Typically, the counseling will include the following topics:
- identifying strength and growth areas in the relationship
- learning and practicing mindful speech and deep listening
- dealing with conflict and afflictive emotions
- seeing causes and conditions of suffering: family background and life experiences
- planning for the future: goal setting and attitudes towards money
Wedding/Commitment Ceremony with Rental of Clouds in Water Zen Center
This includes all of the elements of the basic wedding/commitment ceremony (above) plus rental of Clouds in Water space for the wedding and reception. Reception must be self-catered and the couple must provide two to three people to come early to help with set-up and stay later to help with clean-up. Clouds in Water space rental is only available for small weddings (up to 70 people).
Pre-Marriage Counseling Only
Perhaps you already have someone who will perform your wedding but you would like to have pre-marriage counseling. This may be an option, so let us know if you are interested.
Cost of Services
Suggested donations for these services range from $400 – $1,400, depending on the menu of services you choose. Please discuss the services you are interested in with the priest of your choice as well as the suggested donations for those services. Many of our priests are willing to negotiate a solution that will work with your financial situation.
Choice of Officiant
Please select the priest you are most interested in working with from the list below.