Wedding Goddess Wisdom ®

Celebrating Soulmates

By Rev. Laurie Sue Brockway

It's May Day. Love is in the air.

Those of you who have found true love and are getting ready for marriage can sit back and enjoy the day with the one you love. If you are still searching ... today is a great day to reflect on the relationship you want and say a prayer for true love.

Meeting your love match often requires a combination of consciousness and conscious effort, making choices and allowing things to happen as they are meant to be. It requires some level of faith and believing in love, even when romance seems far away. A little help from experts never hurts!

Several years ago, my friend Arielle Ford did a wonderful book about real lovers who found each other in mystical ways, Hot Chocolate For The Mystical Lover: 101 Stories of Soul Mates Brought Together By Divine Intervention, and this month she launches her "Soulmate Kit" offering a step-by-step process for finding "big love."

I was happy to be included as the expert on how to use Feng Shui to magnetize true love.

Arielle often says, "You never know what is around the corner" when it comes to love. That is SO true. One day you are yearning to meet the love of your life ... next minute .... that person is standing before you.

Her personal love story is an inspiration. She's convinced that a prayer and prophetic dreams set the stage to bring her together with her beloved. It began one night when she whispered her prayer for true love into the ear of her spiritual teacher, Ammachi, and asked to be healed of anything that might be standing in the way of love. Soon, she had dreams that gave insights about the man she would soon meet and fall in love with.

A few weeks later Arielle, then 44 and working as a hugely successful book publicist, was sent on business to Portland, to work on a project that involved Brian Hilliard. Although they had never met, they had both had dreams that told of finding each other. A year to the day of whispering her prayer, they were wed by her spiritual teacher and another ceremony followed, officiated by their friend, singer Kenny Loggins.

Having known Arielle before Bri, and being dear friends with them both since they've been together, I can attest to the fact that theirs is a match made in the heavens! They've always been an inspiration. In fact, Arielle was a bridesmaid at our Las Vegas Elvis Wedding at Graceland Chapel and Brian walked me down the aisle!

Check out my interview with Arielle about soulmates.

By Rev. Laurie Sue Brockway

It's May Day. Love is in the air.

Those of you who have found true love and are getting ready for marriage can sit back and enjoy the day with the one you love. If you are still searching ... today is a great day to reflect on the relationship you want and say a prayer for true love.

Meeting your love match often requires a combination of consciousness and conscious effort, making choices and allowing things to happen as they are meant to be. It requires some level of faith and believing in love, even when romance seems far away. A little help from experts never hurts!

Several years ago, my friend Arielle Ford did a wonderful book about real lovers who found each other in mystical ways, Hot Chocolate For The Mystical Lover: 101 Stories of Soul Mates Brought Together By Divine Intervention, and this month she launches her "Soulmate Kit" offering a step-by-step process for finding "big love."

I was happy to be included as the expert on how to use Feng Shui to magnetize true love.

Arielle often says, "You never know what is around the corner" when it comes to love. That is SO true. One day you are yearning to meet the love of your life ... next minute .... that person is standing before you.

Her personal love story is an inspiration. She's convinced that a prayer and prophetic dreams set the stage to bring her together with her beloved. It began one night when she whispered her prayer for true love into the ear of her spiritual teacher, Ammachi, and asked to be healed of anything that might be standing in the way of love. Soon, she had dreams that gave insights about the man she would soon meet and fall in love with.

A few weeks later Arielle, then 44 and working as a hugely successful book publicist, was sent on business to Portland, to work on a project that involved Brian Hilliard. Although they had never met, they had both had dreams that told of finding each other. A year to the day of whispering her prayer, they were wed by her spiritual teacher and another ceremony followed, officiated by their friend, singer Kenny Loggins.

Having known Arielle before Bri, and being dear friends with them both since they've been together, I can attest to the fact that theirs is a match made in the heavens! They've always been an inspiration. In fact, Arielle was a bridesmaid at our Las Vegas Elvis Wedding at Graceland Chapel and Brian walked me down the aisle!

Check out my interview with Arielle about soulmates.

Deeper Dating

By Laurie Sue Brockway

Wedding Goddess Wisdom

I've had about 20 single women and men come up to me at weddings in New York in recent weeks and tell me they are hoping to be the next down the aisle. If you live in these parts, want to let you know about a workshop I discovered that helps add a little soul to the dating experience.

So brides, pass it along to your single bridesmaids and groomsman.

Rumor has it that Deeper Dating is the hottest thing to hit Manhattan. It’s designed for New York women and men in their 30s and 40s who are searching for something a little deeper than just a night out on the town. A combination singles mixer and seminar, it is meant to inspire soulful connections, meaningful conversations and a “structured” opportunity to slip your card to anyone you would like to get to know a little better!

“We called it ‘Speed Dating with Soul’,” says Kathryn Janus, a Manhattan psychotherapist, who along with founder Ken Page, LCSW, will offer a Deeper Dating event at the 92nd Street Y, 92nd Street and Lexington Avenue, November 19, 7 to 10 pm. (Tickets are $30 in advance; $35 at the door).

Janus says the event boasts a sense of intimacy and openness that puts everyone at ease. “I think Manhattan needs these events because people are tired of going to parties or bars and talking about their work, their apartments ("Do you rent or own?") or politics. These events teach participants how to talk to people about subjects that really matter.”

The hallmark of Deeper Dating is that it draws participants who are committed to deeper values. “It begins with an illuminating mini-lecture on dating and intimacy followed by a series of exercises enabling people to meet many opposite sex participants in an enjoyable and less-superficial way,” says Janus, who has been happily married for 10 years. “I think that someone who comes to these events is looking for a more meaningful connection - a relationship with the possibility of a future! “

Where speed dating sends you rushing through short “interviews” with potential dates, Deeper Dating puts singles into small groups as well as one-on-one situations where they are given specific, evocative questions to discuss. Instead of “what’s your sign” is may be “what’s your purpose in life.”

“The questions are lively and fun and help folks get to know each other at a deeper level,” says Janus.

Although the 92nd Street Y event is for men and women, there are also events available for gay and lesbian singles. Find out more at www.DeeperDating.com or register at http://www.92y.org.

© 2006, Reverend Laurie Sue Brockway

Rev. Laurie Sue Brockway is one of New York's leading interfaith and non-denominational wedding officiants. She creates unique ceremonies for couples of all backgrounds and faiths, and is also widely recognized as a bridal stress expert and columnist. She is author of WEDDING GODDESS: A Divine Guide To Transforming Wedding Stress into Wedding Bliss (Perigee Books, May 2005). Visit Rev. Laurie Sue Brockway at www.WeddingGoddess.com.