What I've learned about weddings, vows, ceremonies, and the NYC venues we know by heart. Notes from a working officiant.https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/en-ushttps://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/caribbean-wedding-traditions/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/caribbean-wedding-traditions/A couple sat in my office in Crown Heights, both second-generation, one side Guyanese and one side Trinidadian, and the bride said, "We want it to feel Caribbean, but we don't.Mon, 15 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTceremonyposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/governors-island-wedding/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/governors-island-wedding/The first Governors Island wedding I officiated, I spent the ten minutes before the processional doing math on a ferry app instead of reading my notes. Half the guest list was.Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTlocationsposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/how-to-officiate-wedding/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/how-to-officiate-wedding/How to officiate a wedding when you've never done it before, from someone who's coached a lot of nervous first-timers through their first ceremony.Fri, 12 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTofficiantposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/vow-renewal-anniversary/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/vow-renewal-anniversary/A couple I worked with spent years saying "we'll do it at 25." Then her mother got sick, and waiting four more years for a tidy number suddenly felt absurd. They renewed at year.Tue, 09 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTvowsposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/unity-ceremony-guide/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/unity-ceremony-guide/What a unity ceremony is, where it fits in your wedding, and how to choose the right ritual, from an officiant who's performed them at 300+ weddings.Mon, 08 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTceremonypillarhello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/one-day-officiant-license-nyc/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/one-day-officiant-license-nyc/NYC has two ways to legally officiate a wedding, and most articles confuse them. Here's the one-day license, the full registration, and which is yours.Sun, 07 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTofficiantposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/african-wedding-traditions/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/african-wedding-traditions/A few years ago I stood at the front of a Brooklyn ceremony while the bride's grandfather poured palm wine onto the floor of a rented loft and called the names of three people who.Sat, 06 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTceremonyposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/elopement-nyc/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/elopement-nyc/Last spring I married a couple at Wagner Cove on a Saturday in May, peak season, the lake full of rowboats. They'd braced for chaos. We tucked under that little wooden gazebo, the.Fri, 05 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTplanningposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/family-involvement-ceremony/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/family-involvement-ceremony/A menu of real ways to give parents, grandparents, siblings, and kids a role in your ceremony, matched to comfort level, plus honoring a loved one who's passed and how to keep it from running long.Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTceremonyposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/lasso-ceremony/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/lasso-ceremony/The wedding lasso explained: el lazo's meaning, who the padrinos are, how it works in a Catholic Mass, and the full script, honored properly.Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTceremonyposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/hindu-wedding-ceremony/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/hindu-wedding-ceremony/The first time I stood at a mandap, I was the Western half of a co-led ceremony, and I had exactly one job for the next twenty minutes: stay out of the pandit's way and watch. The.Mon, 25 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTceremonyposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/vow-renewal-officiant/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/vow-renewal-officiant/A couple who'd been married twenty-two years got on a call with me and asked, almost sheepishly, who they were supposed to "get" to make the renewal official. I told them the.Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTvowsposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/interfaith-wedding-ceremony/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/interfaith-wedding-ceremony/At a Brooklyn ceremony I officiated, the bride's grandmother held a Catholic rosary in one hand and watched a glass break under the groom's foot. Both sides cried at the same moment. Here's how you build that.Thu, 14 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTceremonyposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/friend-officiate-wedding/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/friend-officiate-wedding/How to have a friend legally officiate your wedding, write the ceremony, and avoid the one mistake that actually matters, from an NYC officiant who's seen it go both ways.Sat, 02 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTofficiantposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/ring-exchange-wording/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/ring-exchange-wording/A groom once handed me both rings before the ceremony with the kind of relief you give someone holding your wallet at the beach. Twenty minutes later, mid-vow, his hands were.Fri, 01 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTceremony-scriptsposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/how-to-get-ordained-online/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/how-to-get-ordained-online/A groom's older brother texted me three days before the wedding, fully panicking. He'd gotten ordained online months earlier, felt great about it, and had just found out the.Wed, 29 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTofficiantposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/wedding-traditions-explained/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/wedding-traditions-explained/An NYC officiant traces where common wedding traditions actually come from, which romantic backstories are myth, and how to keep, cut, or reinvent each one with respect.Mon, 27 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTceremonyposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/unity-sand-ceremony/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/unity-sand-ceremony/Everything for a unity sand ceremony: the word-for-word script, a color-meaning chart, the blended-family version, and the pouring mistake that muddies the layers.Wed, 22 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTceremonyposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/wedding-ceremony-mistakes/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/wedding-ceremony-mistakes/A few summers ago I stood at the front of a Brooklyn rooftop ceremony, mic in hand, facing about ninety guests who were all squinting and sweating. The couple had picked 4 p.m. in.Mon, 20 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTceremonyposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/nyc-city-hall-wedding/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/nyc-city-hall-wedding/I met a couple in the gift shop at the Marriage Bureau once, both dressed up, both a little stunned. They'd just gotten married upstairs and the bride said to me, almost.Sun, 19 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTlocationsposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/diy-wedding-ceremony/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/diy-wedding-ceremony/Two summers ago I sat in the third row at a friend-officiated wedding. The couple wanted me there as a guest, not a vendor, so I left the clipboard at home. The best man stood up,.Sat, 18 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTceremony-scriptsposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/wedding-officiant-checklist/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/wedding-officiant-checklist/A working officiant's checklist for before, during, and after the ceremony, including the items first-timers forget most often.Fri, 17 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTofficiantposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/jamaican-wedding-traditions/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/jamaican-wedding-traditions/The first time I officiated a wedding for a Jamaican family in Brooklyn, the bride's aunt pulled me aside before the ceremony and whispered a question. Had the cake been soaking.Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTceremonyposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/how-to-write-unity-ceremony-script/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/how-to-write-unity-ceremony-script/The exact 5-step formula I use to write unity ceremony scripts that don't read like greeting cards, plus movement cues, personalization questions, and how to script around wind, fire, and awkward silence.Tue, 14 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTceremonyposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/what-does-wedding-officiant-do/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/what-does-wedding-officiant-do/The officiant's job is far more than the ten minutes you see. Here's the visible and invisible work, from someone who does it and teaches it.Sun, 12 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTofficiantposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/wedding-processional-order/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/wedding-processional-order/At a rehearsal in Central Park last spring, the bride's divorced parents hadn't been in the same room in eleven years. We had ninety seconds of aisle to get through, and the whole.Sat, 11 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTplanningposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/nyc-marriage-license-guide/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/nyc-marriage-license-guide/A couple once called me from a hotel lobby an hour before their rooftop ceremony, panicked. They'd picked up their license at 4 PM the day before, and the rooftop slot was 3 PM..Fri, 10 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTplanningposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/handfasting-ceremony/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/handfasting-ceremony/Handfasting explained: the real origin of 'tying the knot,' a word-for-word script, cord color meanings, and the binding technique that leaves a real knot.Tue, 07 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTceremonyposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/microwedding-guide/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/microwedding-guide/A couple booked me last spring for nineteen guests in a SoHo loft. Halfway through their vows, the groom's grandmother, who had flown in from Kingston and barely knew a soul in.Fri, 03 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTplanningposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/do-you-need-an-officiant/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/do-you-need-an-officiant/A few summers ago a groom pulled me aside ten minutes before his ceremony, gray in the face, and whispered, "My cousin was supposed to get ordained online and marry us, but he.Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTofficiantposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/bilingual-wedding-ceremony/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/bilingual-wedding-ceremony/A few years back I stood in front of a couple where the groom's side had flown in from Bogotá and spoke almost no English, while the bride's grandparents in the front row spoke.Tue, 31 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMTceremonyposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/nonreligious-ceremony-readings/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/nonreligious-ceremony-readings/A best man once stood up at a Brooklyn rooftop wedding holding his phone, scrolled, squinted, and read four minutes of a poem he had clearly found that morning. The screen dimmed.Wed, 18 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMTceremonyposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/wedding-ceremony-script/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/wedding-ceremony-script/A full wedding ceremony script you can read or adapt, with the legal wording included and an officiant's notes on where to slow down and look up.Thu, 12 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMTceremony-scriptsposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/jewish-wedding-ceremony/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/jewish-wedding-ceremony/The first time I stood under a chuppah, I was the non-rabbinic half of a co-officiated ceremony, and a cantor leaned over to me right before the procession and said, "You hold the.Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMTceremonyposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/brooklyn-bridge-park-wedding/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/brooklyn-bridge-park-wedding/The first time I officiated on Pier 1, a tourist holding a hot dog stopped dead in the middle of the promenade, figured out what he was watching, and started clapping before I'd.Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMTlocationsposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/wine-ceremony-wedding/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/wine-ceremony-wedding/What a wine ceremony is, how wine blending works, the two main versions, how to keep the blend from tasting awful, non-alcoholic options, and a full script. From an officiant who runs them.Sat, 14 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMTceremonyposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/getting-married-nyc/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/getting-married-nyc/The marriage license, the 24-hour wait, who can legally sign, City Hall vs Central Park vs a venue, real costs, and a working timeline. From the officiant who files the paperwork.Fri, 13 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMTplanningpillarhello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/vow-renewal-vs-wedding/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/vow-renewal-vs-wedding/A couple sat across from me last spring, planning what they kept calling their vow renewal. Twenty minutes in, the wife asked me, almost shyly, whether they'd "sign something" at.Thu, 12 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMTvowsposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/wedding-officiant-speech/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/wedding-officiant-speech/The groom's college roommate stood at the front of a Brooklyn rooftop with eight pages of single-sided printer paper in his hands, and the wind took page three right off the edge.Mon, 09 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMTofficiantposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/wedding-ceremony-order/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/wedding-ceremony-order/I was three feet from a couple in Central Park, mid-ceremony, when the bride leaned in and whispered, "Wait, are we married yet?" They were. They'd been married for about ninety.Sun, 08 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMTplanningposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/ring-warming-ceremony/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/ring-warming-ceremony/How a ring warming ceremony works, the wording for guests, when to use it, and the simple ribbon trick that solves the lost-ring fear. From an officiant who runs them.Sat, 07 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMTceremonyposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/conservatory-garden-wedding/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/conservatory-garden-wedding/I officiated a wedding in the South Garden last spring, and an hour before the ceremony the bride asked me whether we could move the chairs into a half-circle. There were no.Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMTlocationsposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/unity-ceremony-blended-family/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/unity-ceremony-blended-family/How to plan a blended family unity ceremony that fits your actual family: five ritual formats with honest failure modes, a word-for-word script, step-parent vow lines, and the consent conversation almost nobody talks about.Tue, 03 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMTceremonyposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/wedding-ceremony-readings/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/wedding-ceremony-readings/I once watched a groom's college roommate read the "becoming Real" passage from the Velveteen Rabbit at a rooftop ceremony in Brooklyn, and by the third line I could see the front.Thu, 29 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMTceremonyposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/wedding-ceremony-programs/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/wedding-ceremony-programs/I was standing at the front of a Brooklyn rooftop while the couple's grandmothers wound a cord around their joined hands, and I watched a woman in the second row lean over and.Sun, 25 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMTceremonyposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/catholic-wedding-ceremony/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/catholic-wedding-ceremony/A few summers ago a couple sat across from me, half-laughing and half-panicked. His grandmother wanted a Catholic wedding, she was raised Methodist, and they'd already put a.Tue, 20 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMTceremonyposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/how-to-elope-in-nyc/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/how-to-elope-in-nyc/The marriage license, the best locations, how to tell your family, what the day actually looks like. Everything from a NYC officiant who has done this hundreds of times.Fri, 16 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMTplanningpillarhello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/vow-renewal-ideas/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/vow-renewal-ideas/I once officiated a vow renewal that cost more than my first car, and the room stayed dry-eyed the whole way through. Gorgeous florals, a string trio, a couple in second-look.Wed, 14 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMTvowsposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/vow-renewal-invitation-wording/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/vow-renewal-invitation-wording/I was standing at the front of a garden renewal for a couple celebrating thirty years when I caught a guest in the third row lean over to her husband and whisper, loud enough for.Wed, 26 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMTvowsposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/central-park-wedding-locations/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/central-park-wedding-locations/I once had a couple stand at Bow Bridge at 7am on a Tuesday in October, completely alone, the water flat as glass behind them. Ninety minutes later, after we'd finished and walked.Sat, 18 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMTlocationsposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/vow-renewal-ceremony-script/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/vow-renewal-ceremony-script/The couple I renewed last fall had been married twenty-six years, and the husband cried before I'd gotten three words out. His wife squeezed his hand and whispered, "We made it,".Sun, 21 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMTvowsposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/black-wedding-traditions/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/black-wedding-traditions/A few summers ago I stood with a couple in a Brooklyn backyard, both of them in their forties, both a little nervous about the broom leaning against the fence. The bride leaned.Thu, 18 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMTceremonyposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/wedding-ceremony-script-examples/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/wedding-ceremony-script-examples/A few years back, a bride's brother stood up to officiate with his script printed in a font so small he had to hold the page at arm's length. He read the whole thing head-down,.Sun, 24 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMTceremony-scriptsposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/vow-renewal-vows/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/vow-renewal-vows/I was standing beside a couple at their 25th when the wife read the line, "and the year I was in the hospital, you slept in that terrible chair every single night." The front row.Mon, 18 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMTvowsposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/wedding-officiant-cost/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/wedding-officiant-cost/What a wedding officiant really costs in 2026, broken down by type, region, and what's included, from an NYC officiant who's done 300+ ceremonies.Sat, 02 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMTofficiantposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/how-to-write-ceremony/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/how-to-write-ceremony/A blank page is the scariest part of officiating. Here's the proven ceremony structure that takes you from dread to a finished draft in one sitting.Tue, 22 Jul 2025 00:00:00 GMTceremony-scriptsposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/central-park-wedding-permit-guide/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/central-park-wedding-permit-guide/Last spring I married a couple at Bow Bridge who had spent six weeks getting their permit exactly right. Fifteen minutes before their vows, a tour group of forty wandered onto the.Wed, 16 Jul 2025 00:00:00 GMTlocationsposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/renew-vows-hard-times/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/renew-vows-hard-times/A few years ago I stood with a couple in their backyard, twelve folding chairs, the two of them married nineteen years. She had finished chemo eight weeks before. He had spent.Sun, 06 Apr 2025 00:00:00 GMTvowsposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/unity-ceremony-ideas/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/unity-ceremony-ideas/Every unity ceremony idea worth considering, ranked and explained by an officiant who's performed them at 300+ weddings, with a compare-at-a-glance table and how to choose yours.Sat, 11 Nov 2023 00:00:00 GMTceremonyposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/love-lock-ceremony/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/love-lock-ceremony/A couple once handed me a padlock thirty seconds before their processional and asked me to make sure it worked. I clicked it shut on the program table, popped it open again, and.Fri, 10 Nov 2023 00:00:00 GMTceremonyposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/tree-planting-ceremony/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/tree-planting-ceremony/How a tree planting unity ceremony works, the script, and how to pull it off even in an apartment, from an officiant who's performed it outdoors and in.Thu, 09 Nov 2023 00:00:00 GMTceremonyposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/wagner-cove/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/wagner-cove/The first couple I married at Wagner Cove said their vows at 7:15 on a Tuesday morning, and there were six of us total: the two of them, two friends standing as witnesses, the.Mon, 20 Mar 2023 00:00:00 GMTlocationsposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/shakespeare-garden/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/shakespeare-garden/I married a couple here on a Wednesday in late April with eight people watching, and at one point the whole garden went so quiet you could hear a robin somewhere up by the castle..Sun, 19 Mar 2023 00:00:00 GMTlocationsposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/ladies-pavilion-central-park/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/ladies-pavilion-central-park/Halfway through a ceremony here last spring, the bride's grandmother reached out and closed her hand around the cast-iron rail. She was 88, she had insisted on standing, and the.Sat, 18 Mar 2023 00:00:00 GMTlocationsposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/intimate-wedding-venues-nyc/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/intimate-wedding-venues-nyc/I once officiated a wedding in a restaurant private room rated for eighty people, with twenty-two guests inside it. The couple was glowing, the food was good, and I spent the.Fri, 17 Mar 2023 00:00:00 GMTlocationsposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/gapstow-bridge-central-park/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/gapstow-bridge-central-park/My first Gapstow ceremony started at 6:50 in the morning. Two people, two friends as witnesses, and a photographer crouched at the water's edge. By the time I said "you may kiss,".Thu, 16 Mar 2023 00:00:00 GMTlocationsposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/cop-cot-central-park/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/cop-cot-central-park/The first time I married a couple at Cop Cot, the sky had been threatening all morning, and twenty minutes before the ceremony it opened up. Their friends scattered under store.Wed, 15 Mar 2023 00:00:00 GMTlocationsposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/cherry-hill/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/cherry-hill/The first time I officiated at Cherry Hill, the couple had booked Bethesda Terrace, then walked it the week before and panicked at the four other photo shoots stacked up under the.Tue, 14 Mar 2023 00:00:00 GMTlocationsposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/bow-bridge/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/bow-bridge/A couple asked me three days out whether I could "get the bridge cleared" for ten minutes so their vows would be private. I told them the truth I tell everyone, which is that.Mon, 13 Mar 2023 00:00:00 GMTlocationsposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/bethesda-terrace/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/bethesda-terrace/The first time I married a couple at Bethesda Terrace, a saxophone player set up about thirty feet away right in the middle of the vows, and a golden retriever ran a victory lap.Sun, 12 Mar 2023 00:00:00 GMTlocationsposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/become-officiant-nyc/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/become-officiant-nyc/A man called me three weeks before his sister's wedding in Fort Greene, half in a panic. She had asked him to marry her and her fiancée, he had said yes on the spot, and then he.Wed, 08 Mar 2023 00:00:00 GMTofficiantposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/write-wedding-vows/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/write-wedding-vows/A groom once handed me his vows folded into a tiny square, the paper soft from being opened and refolded a hundred times. He'd written one line on it: "I don't know how to do.Tue, 28 Feb 2023 00:00:00 GMTvowsposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/vow-renewal-in-nyc/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/vow-renewal-in-nyc/A couple married 22 years asked me to meet them at Wagner Cove on a Tuesday morning. Twelve people, no chairs, a thermos of coffee going around, and him reading vows off the back.Mon, 27 Feb 2023 00:00:00 GMTvowsposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/unplugged-ceremony/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/unplugged-ceremony/I was at the front of a loft ceremony in Brooklyn, mid-sentence, when a guest in the third row stood straight up and stepped into the aisle to film the bride walking in. Phone.Sun, 26 Feb 2023 00:00:00 GMTceremonyposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/wine-box-ceremony/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/wine-box-ceremony/How a wine box ceremony works, what to write in the letters, the full officiant script, and the variations that make it yours, from an officiant who's performed it.Mon, 20 Feb 2023 00:00:00 GMTceremonyposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/whitby-castle-weddings/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/whitby-castle-weddings/The first time I drove up to Whitby for a ceremony, I'll be honest, I was bracing for a Disney facade. What I found was a real stone castle on a hill in Rye, with Long Island.Sun, 19 Feb 2023 00:00:00 GMTlocationsposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/whiskey-unity-ceremony/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/whiskey-unity-ceremony/Everything for a whiskey unity ceremony: the word-for-word script, the barrel and spirit-type mistakes that ruin the blend, the infinity-bottle alternative, and how to do it if one of you doesn't drink.Sat, 18 Feb 2023 00:00:00 GMTceremonyposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/get-married-westchester-ny/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/get-married-westchester-ny/Last spring I stood under the stone archway at Whitby Castle in Rye, wind coming off Milton Harbour, while a couple from Brooklyn read vows they'd written on the train ride up..Fri, 17 Feb 2023 00:00:00 GMTplanningposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/unity-candle-ceremony/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/unity-candle-ceremony/The word-for-word unity candle script I use, the supplies, the blended-family variation, and the graceful save for when the flame won't catch.Thu, 16 Feb 2023 00:00:00 GMTceremonyposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/secular-wedding-ceremony/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/secular-wedding-ceremony/A few years ago a couple sat across from me and one of them said, almost apologizing, "We don't want any God stuff, but we also don't want it to feel like the DMV." I've thought.Wed, 15 Feb 2023 00:00:00 GMTceremonyposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/jumping-the-broom/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/jumping-the-broom/Jumping the broom, explained by a Black NYC officiant: the real history, what it symbolizes, how to do the jump, and how to honor the tradition with weight.Tue, 14 Feb 2023 00:00:00 GMTceremonyposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/lgbtq-wedding/https://www.robynashleyweddings.com/blog/lgbtq-wedding/Two brides stood at the back of a garden in Brooklyn and neither of them moved. Both of their dads were waiting to walk them up, and nobody had decided who would go first, because.Thu, 19 Jan 2023 00:00:00 GMTceremonyposthello@robynashleyweddings.com (Robyn Walker)