For the past 15 years in the U.S., Life-Cycle Celebrants® have officiated personalized ceremonies for Weddings, Baby Blessings, Funerals, Celebration of Life, and other milestone occasions. The couples and families that we serve consider themselves to be interfaith, “spiritual but not religious”, atheist, agnostic or secular. If you count yourself among this growing demographic, you probably can relate to the dilemma of who will officiate your wedding. You don’t want to go to City Hall and have a civil ceremony, nor do you want to marry in church. Maybe you and your fiancé(e) are from different faiths, and neither church will allow you to marry there unless the other partner converts. You want a meaningful ceremony that focuses on your love and values at a venue of your choice. You might not feel comfortable being married by a Minister if you’re not religious, or you hope to find one who can accommodate your ideas and unique ceremony needs. Certified Life-Cycle Celebrants® are your professional Officiant, highly educated through the Celebrant Foundation and Institute. Our specialized training gives us the knowledge and skills to work with couples and families from diverse faiths and cultures, including the LGTBQ community. We work collaboratively with our clients to craft and Officiate a genuine ceremony that reflects who they are and what marriage means to them. Sometimes couples come to us with stories of the Officiant they saw at a friends’ wedding who cracked tasteless jokes, bumbled through the ceremony, or unexpectedly started preaching religion. They are relieved to have found a Celebrant and know that they will receive excellent guidance throughout the process, word for word approval of the ceremony, peace of mind that their ceremony will be exactly what they want it to be, conducted in a warm and professional manner. Currently, Life-Cycle Celebrants® cannot legally officiate weddings and sign the marriage license as a Celebrant, we have to become Ordained Ministers and sign the license as a Minister. We want to add the title of “Civil Celebrant” to the list of legal Officiants, as a dignified option for non-traditional couples and families. Only those Celebrants who have fulfilled specified education requirements would be eligible. This law will enable more individuals to benefit from this service, and make it easier for them to find a qualified Celebrant for their wedding. The Celebrant profession is a viable career and the demand for this service grows. Life-Cycle Celebrants® work with local wedding venues and vendors including: hotels, inns, restaurants, DJs, musicians, photographers, and wedding planners. This bolsters the host of New York wedding businesses that prosper from the services of Celebrants, and of course increases tax revenue for the state. In 2013 Washington D.C. enacted a proclamation, and in 2014 NJ enacted this as an economics bill into law; making Certified Civil Celebrants legal Officiants in those locales. Let’s make New York the third to join them in celebrating our diverse population. In the future, we hope to pass this law in every state. Take a look at this link to read the wording of the Bill S4189, which is now being presented to the New York Legislative Committee: https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2015/s4189 Feel free to vote “yes” on that link too, but be sure to sign the petition below. Please help us to #PassNYS4189!