Wedding Goodness

Life-cycle celebrant and officiant Alisa Tongg shares special ways she’s seen couples honor the children in their lives.

The officiant of a wedding can have a huge impact on everything about the day, from the overall vibe to the big “I do” itself.

The Wedding Ceremony Master Class for Friend Officiants includes an inclusive starter ceremony so the friend officiant can use their energy making it sparkle with personality.

The Wedding Ceremony Master Class for Friend Officiants includes an inclusive starter ceremony so the friend officiant can use their energy making it sparkle with personality.

Over the past decade, I’ve preformed almost 700 weddings and most of those (like 98% of them) have been with a same-day rehearsal.

Celebrant Alisa Tongg, Rev. Cynthia Cherish Malaran and Humanist Celebrant Cynthia Manchester will be officiating the civil wedding ceremonies for free to all couples on a first come, first joined in marriage basis, Sunday November 29th, 2020 12 Noon-4pm at Pomme Radnor, wedding and events venue on Philadelphia’s Main Line.

Lots of wedding plans that have been a year or even two years in the making, are having to shift and adapt this week as we, as a society in earnest, adjust our behavior to flattening the curve of the COVID-19 outbreak. Here are 7 things you can do to prepare for marriage in the time of a global pandemic.

I’ve cracked the code on writing and performing meaningful and inclusive 20-minute ceremonies, and every aspiring Friend Officiant will receive my tried and true, universally appealing, Starter Ceremony, with simple, straightforward and most importantly, non-gaggy language, so that they can use the bulk of their creative efforts making that ceremony personal, charming and memorable for all the right reasons.

We need you now! We are almost there! Our Pennsylvania Civil Celebrant Bill SB 833 has been introduced by Sens. Farnese, Fontana, Blake and Brewster and the bill is similar to the NJ Civil Celebrant Law R.S.37:1-13 amending their marriage statutes to expand their list of who is authorized to solemnize marriages in the state. Along with judges, mayors, and clergy, they added a new category of people professionally trained to create and perform ceremonies–Civil Celebrants.

We’re very excited to share that Senator Larry Farnese, of Pennsylvania’s first district Philadelphia, is proposing legislation to modernize the Pennsylvania marriage officiant statutes to include certified civil celebrants (people with my formal training in ceremony) and he is currently seeking co-sponsors on the bill.

The Knot’s 2017 Wedding Study reported that only 26% of couples hosted their weddings in a “traditional” religious institution. Furthermore, according to PRRI Surveys, 40% of individuals under 30 claim “no religious affiliation.” The current Pennsylvania marriage statute leaves this growing majority of the population who are looking for a ceremony that elegantly blends their family traditions, faiths and story, behind.

We understand that there are a lot of factors that come into play even when planning a simple wedding. Here are the most frequently asked questions that people have when trying to determine if Promise Ridge is the right fit for them and their families.