Rituals
“Experiencing Sera Beak guide a bride and groom thru their wedding ceremony is like watching an expert artist at work. With exquisite sensitivity she weaves together elements of spirituality, practical wisdom, humor, unique experiences and insight from the couple, and a spirit of zest and hopefulness for the future. Sera helps us realize that the wedding day is a magical experience which also initiates a marital relationship containing wonderful surprises as well as formidable challenges. We enthusiastically recommend her.”
–Elizabeth and Tom Ventura
Officiating wedding ceremonies is hands down, heart open, one of my most favorite things to do!
A yoga teacher of mine, Sofia Diaz, says that the veils between worlds are the thinnest at birth, death, and marriage ceremonies. I have been deeply honored to play a role in all three of these life-shifting events for loved ones and hold my role and responsibilities quite seriously. I give an incredible amount of divine attention and intention to the wedding ceremonies I am asked to officiate.
I have officiated everything from my sister’s wedding with 250 guests on a plantation in South Carolina that was featured in Martha Stewart’s Magazine, to a 40 person intimate wedding in a Christian church in New York City, to a 100 person pagan wedding on the beach in northern California, and in the summer of 2010 I will officiate a wedding in a nightclub in San Francisco (that’s a first!).
We work together to create the perfect ceremony that reflects your unique relationship. You will have access to my enormous storehouse of spiritual information about marriage including traditional and non-traditional rituals, readings, discourses, and poetry from around the world that I have carefully collected over the years.
Bottom line: I delight in creating a sacred space for Love to have it’s way with you!
(I am an officially ordained minister and can legally perform weddings, but will have to check with each state for specifics.)
RITUALS:
Besides weddings, I create rituals for a wide variety of life’s important changes – birth, death, a break up, a move, a new way of being. Any and all personal shifts can be - and in my humble opinion, should be – stamped with sacredness.
For all ritual inquiries contact info(at)serabeak.com
TESTIMONIALS
“I’ve been to a lot of weddings–of friends, family, a few strangers, and even an ex-girlfriend. What I remember most about services is the same thing each time: they felt generic and scripted, lacking a personality, or even a pulse.
Sera’s officiation for our friends was not only clear and composed. It was heartfelt. She tailored her service to what she had already discovered of the individuals and their families, not a pre-packaged notion of what the union of marriage should ideally be.
It’s always difficult to articulate the essence of two people and their love for one another, but Sera unearthed what was most unique between our friends, digging deep to find the perfect metaphors that suited them best, making us laugh a lot and tear up a bit, too.
Although she shone brightly in the chapel, she never eclipsed the true stars of the day, making her presence felt just enough to fully celebrate the very special love of two very special people. In this way, she became the conduit through which we could truly witness the commitment that our friends were making to each other.
It was a memorable day, made that much more so by Sera’s professional focus, her warmth and compassion, and her reassuring smile.” –Paul Morris
“Meggan and Joseph’s wedding ceremony was the most beautiful, loving, personal and spiritual service I have ever attended. Much of this was due to Sera Beak’s role as the officiant. Sera took the time to understand Meggan and Joseph, their lives and their love for one another. She wove their history together in a most beautiful and poetic story of understanding, commitment and love. We all felt witness to a very special union of two people, united by an understanding of where they had been and a commitment to the their future, thanks to Sera’s gift as a spiritual and wise person.” –Margie Wheeler, mother of the bride
“I was present for one wedding that Sera officiated and it was the most AMAZING wedding I had ever been to! The thought and care that she put into was unbelievable and made me really look at my relationship with my husband (in a good way of course!). She has such an open and unique view on life and made the service so spectacular. There are not enough words to say what a wonderful job she did. I also have to say that she is the sexiest officiant I have ever seen wearing a red dress, which did not detract from the bride/wedding at all! I don’t think that I will ever be able to be a part of such a wonderful wedding again!” – L. Carter Gray, MD
“I want to write to tell you that I attended a wedding that you officiated and that I was very impressed with the ceremony. I think that your ceremony captured the right mixture of the sacred and the divine, while not losing the thought that the individuals are marrying themselves. You made everyone attending feel comfortable and warm and I could tell that the couple was relaxed with your handling of the service. Your talk during the service was fresh and insightful. I think it was a great way for this couple to begin their years together. Best wishes in the future and I hope that more people are able to make use of your wonderful services.” – Paul Schmidt Evanston, IL
“Like many people, we have participated in many marriage ceremonies. Sometimes we really know the couple–other times we know the parents of the couple, and although we are happy to celebrate the happy occasion with them, we really don’t know anything about the couple themselves. Last November, however, we were part of a lovely wedding where the officiant, Sera Beak, delivered a beautiful message that was so personal that we felt as if we knew the couple personally. It wasn’t a traditional religious ceremony, but definitely a spiritual one, not for just the couple but for the people attending as well. Each word seemed so meaningful. It was obvious that Sera had put much thought and effort into the event.” – Elise and Les Detterbeck, Charleston, SC.
A few Brides…
“Months before the ceremony, Sera sent me and my then fiancé, Joseph, a list of questions that she wanted us to send back to her without sharing our answers with each other. Now this list was no ordinary list- the questions Sera asked us led us both through a process of seeing the light, the intensity, the beauty, the pain, and ultimately the crazy-amazing transformative journey our love had been. The questions were all ones I had asked myself but I had never taken the time to fully answer and look at directly. Having those answers gave me a clarity as I approached the ceremony that was among the greatest gifts I could have ever been given. I not only knew exactly why I was marrying Joseph, I knew what he meant to my soul.
Sera used the information from the answers we shared with her to create the most unique and loving ceremony I could have ever imagined. To hear Joseph’s answers laced throughout her ceremony- to hear his reasons for wanting to spend his life with me- there’s no other word but to say that it’s was magical. Non-stop goosebumps across my skin. I was more moved than I could have prepared for.
But also, with Sera, there was such an intense light, as in a levity, to the ceremony. There was an urge to cry but from overwhelming amounts of joy- fierce joy. I laughed through the tears- and the moment the ceremony had ended- I seriously wanted nothing more than to do it all over again. It was my favorite day.
March 7th 2009 was the most stunning day of my life. Sera gave us the container to let our immense love for each other come bursting out in full radiance for our family and loved ones to celebrate. Sera’s expertise in holding a space large enough, light enough, and profound enough for our union was recognized by everyone who attended. The love that she helped us witness that day was contagious- we had many married friends and relatives tell us that our ceremony renewed and inspired the love that they have for each other. In my memory then, March 7th wasn’t really a wedding-wedding, it was much more of a sacred love-fest, which Sera’s officiating helped create.” – Meggan Watterson
“When reflecting on a wedding, most people these days remember the bride’s dress, the flowers, the band or the bridesmaid’s dresses. It’s easy and natural for people to recall those visual details. But if you ask any of the 250 guests who attended my husband and my wedding, the thing that most stands out about that rainy, November afternoon was the intimate and heartfelt ceremony performed by Sera Beak.
Yes Sera Beak is my sister, so one might consider me biased. But because she is my sister and it was “my day,” one might say that I was also her biggest critic. And I can honestly and proudly say, Sera created the most loving and welcoming atmosphere. The guests became participants and the room was overflowing with love. It sounds cheesy, but it was quite the opposite. It was everything a ceremony celebrating a union of two souls should be. It was inclusive, loving, inspiring. Not complicated, typical or fixated on ritual.
This was not by happenstance. Sera planned every tiny detail of the ceremony. The months leading up to the wedding Sera sent my husband and I pages of questions. The questions were neither random nor intrusive. Some questions, she asked that we answered separately and others that we work on together. Each was thought provoking and amidst the chaos of planning a wedding, these questions brought us back to the reason why we were doing all of this – because we love one another and can’t imagine life without each other!
For our readings, Sera sent a collection (about 40 pages) of excerpts and quotes from various poets, mystics, authors and passages from the bible, Torah and Koran, many of which I had never seen. I actually keep a copy on my bedside table for when I need a bit of inspiration after a long day.
Looking back, my husband and I now agree that the time we spent choosing the readings and thinking about our answers to those questions, is one of the few highlights of the normally hellish wedding planning! Just one of the many talents of Sera Beak. She gently guides you back to what’s most important. And the way Sera crafts the ceremony with your words and her spiritual knowledge is remarkable. Every part of our ceremony was infused with my husband and my personalities and energy. Sera was able to capture the essence of who we are as individuals and as a couple. Who we were, are and hope to be.
To say she blew everyone away is an understatement. Sera was eloquent, composed, inviting and natural. The energy and work she put into every word and moment made our wedding day the most unique and memorable day…not only for my husband and I, but also for our guests. What more can a bride ask for?” – Caroline Beak
