Wednesday Wow: I Do’ Too! Solemization

It’s Summer and officially wedding season! If you’re in North or South Carolina, I’m ya girl!

Okay, so what began as a way to bring more money into the home, has grown to something so much more. Yes, I’m creating marriages, but I’m also creating more  ways to be a part of my children life. That really excites me!

It cost me less than $200 and I can use this new asset in all 50 states for the rest of my life. To all my mama friends, readers- you gotta do it!

I’m still getting used to being called Minister Kelle, because I am a southerner, and grew up thinking of ministers sorta differently. But then I thought about it and said to myself, “Girl, you’re more real than a lot of them out there. -Girl You Good!”

So with my ordination, I can do many things.besides solemnize a wedding  I could also:

1. Perform A Baptism/ Welcome To The World Ceremony

2.  Preside Over A Funeral

3. Be A Chaplain

   We can touch the lives of others in a prison or hospital. Sick and dying patients in hospitals around the country have been comforted by our church’s members, and prison officials actively encourage those who are eager to bring religion to others to come to their institutions and rehabilitate their inmates.

4. Start A Church ( I know right? Wow!)

5.  Ordain others

   The perfect couple for me would be laid back, spiritual but not too religious, fun loving , don’t have a church home and most times open minded.

For me, it’s important to know the couple and meet them way before they get to the altar.I want to know if couple has any religious or cultural rituals that they want to include. Do they want to break a glass? Jump a broom? Do they want to include any Buddhist poetry? Will there be any readings or songs in the ceremony? Of course I offer counseling, but it’s not required. But I will pray with the couple before the wedding and commit to pray for them all the way to the wedding day.

 And I was thinking, for now, I’ll offer my services to the moms of Queen City Stay At Home Moms at a discount as a member perk. Everyone else $220 for a basic service and rehearsal rate. I really don’t think   I would marry anyone out of the Carolina’s.

Which works out fine based on the research I’ve done already. It is said, that in

North Carolina:   Marriage Officiants:/ordained minister of any faith who is authorized to perform marriages by his church may do so.

In North Carolina, I must return the license in SC….. the couple can once completed,return the license to its office of issuance (usually by mail) within 30 days of the wedding. The license is then recorded by the state and the marriage becomes a legal binding contract.

Marriage in South Carolina is governed by Chapter 1 of Title 20 of South Carolina’s Code of Laws.

SECTION 20-1-20. Persons who may perform marriage ceremony.

Only ministers of the Gospel, Jewish rabbis, officers authorized to administer oaths in this State, and the chief or spiritual leader of a Native American Indian entity recognized by the South Carolina Commission for Minority Affairs pursuant to Section 1-31-40 are authorized to administer a marriage ceremony in this State

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HERE! Cute wedding Script- < HERE> Beautiful Wedding script.   More Wedding Info —-here

Need wedding ceremony scripts? Click here.  Here’s some fair trade companies…..
What to Ask Your Wedding Officiant Here & Here !  My last reading on the industry-here

 

Wednesday WOW: NC Sheroes; “Moving Forward”

Sometimes Sheroes are right in our back yard!  They are the ones that get up everyday, no matter what’s going on at home, in their mind, or in their account and make it happen. No excuses , no delays- they are unselfishly walking in their calling and impressing the world one day, move, and thought at a time.

You may or may not  know their names, or ever spoken to them, but you’ve seen them or results of their incredible work. They are “Sheroes; Moving Forward!”

 

 

 

On April 2nd, at 11″30 am, We will honor our sheroes by resting their capes and revealing why they are so bold, brave and unstoppable!

 

In honor of Women’s History Month, the Charlotte Mecklenburg Public Library presents NC SHEROES  “Moving Forward!”

 

THIS IS OUR 2nd year celebrating with MomsRising NC  and my moms group Queen City Stay At Home Moms.

 

We will honor 6 amazing women, who have made significant contributions to the Women’s movement right here in North Carolina.

After an introduction, we will award each Shero. Then go into a Round-table. Come prepared to find out why women matter and should be empowered to have a voice! Bring a child with you. It’s lessons like these that stick with them!

 

Here is our impressive line up!

Tawanna Ross- Award wining Gospel Hip Hop artist

Asha Sims- Gentle Yoga instructor

Melody Gross- Doula

 Nadine Ford – Farmer/gardener

Cassie Pressley- Teen Vegan Baker

Tina B. – Social activist

Special Guest TBA later.

Sweet Right?!  We’ll see you there! This ceremony is complete with  refreshments! So don’t worry about stopping for breakfast. And …Yes bring the kids, we’ll have a station for them to entertain themselves need be.

April 2,2016

11:30 Am

Beatties Ford Public Library, Charlotte NC

All are welcomed and encourage to attend. Free Parking, Refreshments and Admission

RSVP Here or Here! 

 

This is from last year. More videos are on YouTube. (go on and click it, it’ll show)

Sweet Minions: A Magical Moment in February

The room was filled with blue and yellow. These”Sweet Minions” didn’t have a clue of the night of treats they were in for. It was the 3rd annual Family Valentine’s Day Party in the QC! There was a live DJ, a vegan dessert bar, vendors selling goods for no more then $5 an items and a real magician!

Last Saturday was cold but a few of the families from Queen City Stay At Home Moms ventured out to celebrated the sweetest week end with their tin-inset heart.

Houdini must have performed 6 or more magic tricks. All Of Them Were Amazing! I shared one here,but you can swing over to my YouTube channel to see more.

 

To see more from the celebration, click here.

Queen City Stay At Home Moms is the leading mom group in Charlotte. They attract a certain type of mom. Those that want to be celebrated ans not degraded for choosing to put their family first. They host weekly gatherings that meets a few goals.

Moms can make mom friends like them that understand the challenges that come with being a mom, wife, work from home mom, new mom, older mom, homeschooling mom and everything in between. Because moms come from all types of background, they are encouraged to bring their skills to a group that will help her prepare for when* she returns to the corporate world, should she choose too.

The group provides resources for moms to grow from where they are by offering product review opportunities,  group discounts, women only workshops, job placement, member only discounts on perks like doula, wedding officiants, child care, lactation support and priority opportunities to vend at the yearly Total children’s Wellness Fair. (You can join here)

 

http://www.meetup.com/QueenCitySAHM/

 

One last gift from that night! If you have a vegan high school senior looking for college money, you may want to check this one out.

Vegetarian Resource Group Scholarship
Sponsor: Vegetarian Resource Group
Amount: Up to $10,000
Deadline: Feb. 20, 2016
Description: Applicant must be a U.S. high school senior graduating in the spring of 2016. Applicant must be a vegetarian and have promoted vegetarianism in their school and/or community.

 

See you next time!

Jabela

I Will Now Pronounce You Husband & Wife…SELECTING A WEDDING OFFICIANT

Before you say “I do”, do a little homework on who you select to marry you. The right marriage officiant can make a world of difference in your wedding, marriage and entire life.

A religious ceremony, performed by an ordained officiant such as a priest, rabbi, or minister, is recognized not only by the state, but also by the affiliated religion. 

A civil ceremony is performed by an officiant who has been certified in accordance with state laws — a county clerk, justice of the peace, mayor, or celebrant affiliated with a nonreligious organization.

The officiant you choose can enrich your overall wedding experience and help you prepare for married life. Getting to know your officiant and discussing what you can expect from each other will help eliminate unnecessary anxiety on your wedding day.

Planning my wedding was one of the most empowering things I have ever done. I loved everything about it. Our wedding was a love story. I’ve learned that every couple has one. As a recent Universal Unitarian Wedding Officiant I love helping couples share their story. Being a wedding officiant as I’ve learned is much different than planning a wedding.  Learning on the job has been a blast. I’ve put together a few things that should be covered by both the couple to be wed and the officiant. This is kinda large in volume so I broke it up in two blog post. 

 After the date has been confirmed, find out: 

1. What is your main responsibility as an officiant?
2. Can you recommend other wedding vendors?
3. How much interaction can we expect leading up to the wedding? Are you available for questions?
4. What is your biggest challenge when officiating a wedding?
5. What is the funniest or oddest moment in a wedding you celebrated? 
6. What is your wedding officiant attire?
7. What is your rock bottom wish for every couple?
8. Will you be responsible for mailing the license to the state after the ceremony? 
9. Can you do personalized rituals within the ceremony, e.g, Hand Blessing, Rose Ceremony, Unity Candle, or Sand (uniting of your two families) Ceremony? 
10. Do you require any pre-marital counseling or religious class?
11. Do you have a written agreement or contract?
12. Would you like to join us at the reception? 

What are your credentials? 

Ensure that the officiant is licensed or registered to perform a wedding in your state by contacting the city clerk. You can also ask the officiant which seminary he or she was ordained through, then contact that seminary. Years down the road, you wouldn’t want to discover that your marriage is not legal.

How much do you charge?

Know what, exactly, you will be paying for. Talk about deposits and types of payment, as well as cancellation and refund policies. Inquire about fees for traveling out of town, which include transportation costs, hotels and meals, and costs of (commuting) time. The wedding officiant is the person who must fill out the wedding certificate and send it in. 

Here are a few important questions to ask yourselves:

• Do we feel comfortable in the presence of this officiant? Does he or she seem flexible?
• Does he or she seem genuinely interested in us as a couple, and honor our spiritual beliefs?
• Do we intuitively feel we can entrust ourselves to this person for this important and tender part of our wedding?

More great information here- —->CLICK here <—

Looking to get married in the Charlotte are? Click Here for more information on our newest service from QC supermom!

LOVE, Jabela

Smash Cakes: Because your Baby is the King/Queen Of All Babies!

Nine babies and I only had 2 smash cakes! What was I thinking of? They are so cute, fun, and just plain smart!

I know a great vegan baker in Charlotte NC. See Cassie Sweetz

Who wants a cake a lil hand all over their cake? REALLY??? Lil Mikey can be the cutest thing since Kermit the Frog, but uuugh, I’ll pass on the booger laced slime delight.

A smash cake is typically given to the birthday child at the first birthday celebration and is to be smashed, smeared, enjoyed and eaten by the birthday boy or birthday girl (remember to take lots of photos for the album!). Increasingly, people are making two cakes for the 1st birthday party: a smash cake and the main decorated birthday cake. The birthday guest of honor gets to have fun with the smash cake while the main birthday cake can be enjoyed by the guests, untouched by little hands.

There are several ways to create a first birthday smash cake. A smash cake is usually a mini cake that matches the party theme, however any cake will do. The smash cake can be as simple as a vanilla cupcake (a giant cupcake is perfect) or as complex as a smaller version of the main cake. The possibilities are endless!

Remember to remove any cookie sticks, decorative pix or candles before you serve the smash cake and be sure to spread newspapers under your child’s chair to catch the mess!

Order it from Cassie’s Sweetz or make it your self! Or you can click on the links of each picture for more details.

PRETTY IN PINK CAKE

Rose Levy Beranbaum’s white velvet cake is my go-to cake for birthdays. You can pair it with almost any frosting or filling. Although Beranbaum prefers a non-chocolate frosting on this cake like this one, I think a silky chocolate buttercream frosting works just fine here if it’s not overly chocolate-y.

If you have only two 9-inch pans like I do, follow this recipe to make the first two layers. After they have cooled and you have another pan available, halve the recipe to make a third layer. This will give you three 1 1/8-inch cake layers.

INGREDIENTS:

For The Cake:4 1/2 large egg whites
1 cup milk
2 1/4 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 cups sifted cake flour
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature

DIRECTIONS:

STEP 1: MAKE THE CAKE

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease two 9-inch cake pans with butter and line the bottoms with parchment paper. Grease tops of parchment paper and dust lightly with flour.

Combine ¼ cup milk, the egg whites and the vanilla in a bowl and set aside.

Add the dry ingredients to a large bowl or the bowl of an electric mixer and mix on low for 30 seconds. Add the butter and remaining ¾ cup milk, and mix on low speed until the dry ingredients are moistened. Increase to medium speed (or high if you’re using a hand mixer) and beat for 1 ½ minutes. Scrape down the sides, and add the egg mixture in 3 batches, beating for 20 seconds after each addition.

Scrape the batter into the pans and smooth the tops with a spatula. The pans should be about ½ full. Bake 25-35 minutes or until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean. You will want the cake to spring back when pressed lightly.

Cool the cakes for 10 minutes, then loosen the sides with a knife or spatula. Remove from pans.

STEP 2: MAKE THE FROSTING

Make your favorite frosting. I am partial to an Italian meringue buttercream.

STEP 3: ASSEMBLE AND FROST THE CAKE

Using a cake leveler, evenly cut the tops off the cake so the layers are equal height.

Spread an even layer of frosting on top of the first cake layer and stick the cake in the freezer for 10 minutes or until the frosting is set. Add the second cake layer and repeat with frosting and freezer time. Add the third layer and spread a thin layer of frosting on top of the cake and around the sides of the cake – this is your crumb coat. Put cake in the freezer for 5 minutes or until frosting is set. Add a final thin layer of frosting to the top and sides of the cake, making sure it has a smooth finish. Place the cake in the freezer, covered, until you’re ready to decorate.

STEP 4: DECORATE THE CAKE

For the final fondant decoration, please see Not Without Salt’s instructions. I used 2 lbs of red buttercream fondant (with some leftover) and 4 lbs of white buttercream fondant (with some leftover). I used “antique white” to cover the cake and “wedding white” to make the strips.

If you’re making a 9-inch cake, you will need another set of hands to help you wrap the fondant around the cake, that is, unless you come up with a better system or technique than I did. If so, please share!

It’s your baby’s first birthday! Let him dig into his first birthday cake toddler-style with an adorable smash cake that’s almost too cute to eat. Almost.

101 More ideas-

Everything Else to Know about Smash Cakes

Just a lot of pretty ideas-

(Be sure to click all of the links in this post for more details)