It is always fun when I have the opportunity to marry multiple members of the same family.  Two and a half years ago I married Kelly and David at Milford Hills Hunt Club.  I will always remember their wedding day because it was also the day that my daughter went into labor with my granddaughter.  So I was delighted when Kelly's brother Alex and his fiance Kelli asked me to officiate their wedding too last July at the Bridal Barn and Gardens.  What a wonderful and fun-loving family!  When I saw Kelly and David again I mentioned that I would always remember their wedding day and they told me that they were so impressed that I showed up for their wedding when my daughter was in labor.  I told them that nothing comes ahead of a couple's wedding day.  I know this is one of the biggest days of a couple's life and I have made a commitment to show up despite what is happening in my personal life.  

Thanks to Errin Hiltbrand for sharing these fabulous photos with me.  There are a few photographers I love working with and Errin is one of them.  I always adore her photos and she is fantastic to work with.  So was Kelli and Alex.  They were such a wonderful couple to work with in planning their wedding day.    

I love working with Laura Zastrow Photography LLC.  Laura is one of my favorite photographers and we have done a number of weddings together.  Here are the photos she recently shared with me from Lindsay and Carmello's wedding last summer at the Central Branch of the Madison Public Library.

I particularly enjoyed working with this really cool, laid back, wonderful couple and got to work with them again when they asked me to come over to their new home and do a house blessing and space clearning for them. 

Also, many thanks to Lindsay for writing this very nice review for me on Wedding Wire: 
"Pat created a customized ceremony that included everything that was important to us and nothing that was not. She delivered it professionally and perfectly. She also blessed our new home as part of our journey of together forever."

We've all done it. You're enjoying dinner with your partner and you get a text message. You check it, and before you know it, you're engrossed in your phone while your partner eats in silence, waiting for your attention.
Or, at night, your partner scrolls through their Facebook feed while you're trying to vent about your hard day at work.
In The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work, Dr. John Gottman writes that "most of us readily turn off our mobile devices at houses of worship or movie theaters. We need to extend that same respect and courtesy to our spouses."
When you ignore your partner in favor of your device, you're turning away from their bids for emotional connection.
It's important to turn toward your partner and respond to their bids. Carve out "no screen time" and have a real face-to-face conversation. Your newsfeed can wait. 
Additional reading

• How Your Smartphone Might Sabotage Your Relationship​
• How to Repair the Little Things So They Don’t Become Big Things​​
• 10 Questions Happy Couples Are Constantly Asking One Another​​

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Kate and Ryan had their wedding last October at Bishops Bay Country Club.  The ceremony was outside and may have been one of the windiest weddings I have done.  But the weather didn't deter this adorable couple from creating a magical day.  I joked that because Kate and Ryan had a Irish themed wedding that the day cooperated to have weather similar to what might be found along the Irish coast.  

I will also give Ryan a hand that he may have had the best groom's entrance when he arrived by boat.  Overall, it was a wonderful day despite the wind and rain and Shannon and TJ from Uttke Photography and Design did a stunning job capturing this wonderful and delightful couple's day.  

​Congratulations wedding couples on your new journey! Working in the wedding business I know how much effort it takes to plan a wedding while keeping your relationship healthy. My goal is to not only help you plan your wedding, but to honor your commitment to each other. To help couples strengthen their union, I offer a relationship building course to both engaged and newly married couples. 

Transitioning to married life requires specific skills to ensure your marriage remains healthy well into the future. This half-day workshop will allow you and your spouse to learn the skills to strengthen the loving foundation that brought you together. The key elements we will be exploring are the Root Cause of Conflict, Effective Listening Skills and Empathy. These powerful skills are applicable to the situations and challenges you will face throughout your marriage. Keeping the marriage healthy in good times is easy, now you will have the skills to keep the marriage healthy in challenging times as well.

The Key Elements to a Healthy Marriage is a half-day workshop Rev. Pat offers with her colleague, Delores Kokinos, owner of  The Empowerment Cafe. This workshop will help you establish early patterns of open and effective communication with your partner.  It will be held twice a year in the spring and fall.   

Saturday, March 24, 2018 
9:00 am - 1:00 pm 
Cost: $199/couple  
Includes: lunch and materials

If you have further questions and/or would like to sign up for the upcoming workshop please feel free to contact me.  Or fill out the Registration Form on the BOTTOM of Other Services page. A more detailed Registration Form will be emailed to you upon filling out this form. 

I really enjoyed working with Melissa and Anan.  They are serious marathon and triathlete competitors.  Although they live in Chicago, they decided to have their wedding in Madison at UW Picnic Point.  It snowed the night before so the ground was white but it was also pretty cold for a sunrise ceremony. (The two pairs of long underwear I wore came in handy.)  Despite the cold, it was an AMAZING wedding.  It was a small and intimate ceremony with just immediate family since they are having a bigger wedding in India later in January.  But they wanted their family to be warm so they had a campfire, handwarmers and hot tea for their guests during the ceremony.  I'm looking forward to see the photos that their photographer, Laura Zastrow, took.  Here is a review that they wrote for me on both Wedding Wire and The Knot.

"My husband and I wanted to plan a small outdoor ceremony in December. We do not live in Madison and needed to find somewhere to get started. We are so happy that we found Pat! Not only did she do an amazing job on the ceremony, she also had some great ideas to help us get started. We used quite a few of her suggestions, from wedding photographer to outdoor location. She took the time to meet with us before hand and was always very responsive to our questions. We know that our ceremony would not have been as amazing as it was without her involvement. On top of everything she braved the cold winter weather to help us achieve our dream of an outdoor wedding at sunrise!"
Melissa and Anan married on December 9, 2017 at UW Picnic Point, Madison, WI