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Weddings, Renewals and Committments
The Gazebo at Hawk's Cay Resort in the Middle Keys Paul became a notary when we learned you could not marry couples on your boat unless you were one. Being a captain is not enough. What makes a marriage legal is not the ceremony but the notary's stamp on the marriage license. There is a saying in the Keys: "Everyone's first name is Captain." It is probably equally true that everyone's middle name here is Notary. The Florida Keys are a wonderful, romantic, memorable place in which to be married. If you have in mind a large ceremony at a resort, we can help you with your accommodations (see our group policy), and/or refer you to either the resort's own staff or one of several experienced local wedding planners to help you pull everything together. We are not event planners and officiate weddings because small, romantic ceremonies in which a loving couple comes together accompanied by several close friends/family are joyous moments. If you are planning a major event, we will happily refer you a local company that specialized in them. If your plan is to sneak off alone or in the company of several close friends or relatives, we may be able to help. Not only can we help you with your accommodations, we can also help you select just the right spot in which to exchange your vows, perform the ceremony, and take a few electronic pictures for your use and for publishing on our web site. Our fees start at $175 (includes gratuity) for a brief, simple, small ceremony on Sombrero Beach and increase depending on the size of the wedding and travel time from Marathon. Payment of our fees in advance is required to secure a specific date and time. We have many beautiful beaches throughout our islands which are available with little notice or cost, if any. Bahia Honda and Sombrero are extraordinary in their natural beauty and well-kept amenities.
Important: One of the most popular sites for weddings in Key West is Ft. Zachary Taylor, a state park on the west end of the island which has been - historically - a popular site for weddings at the southernmost island. As of July 1, 2005, the wedding concession and other places for parties have been privatized and new rules prohibit small inexpensive weddings such as ours from performing ceremonies there due to the costs they now charge for the use of the beach. The operator's rules include limiting specific wedding sites to four, with fees of $100-500 depending on the site, requiring the same liability insurance as is required for other park concessions, and limiting small weddings (our specialty) to locations without clear views of either water or sunset. These charges are in addition to the charge the officiate or wedding planner must charge for his/her time and fuel costs.. Because of the changes, we and other officiates can no longer offer this is an option for those seeking an inexpensive simple ceremony. There are beautiful sites in Key West which are quite romantic and at nominal cost which are unpublicized. Do talk with us about these hidden natural wonders if Key West is your wedding destination!. You can write your own vows if you choose, or we can use ours (below). Nancy will take a few pictures, (we do not pretend to be professional photographers or videographers), but which we will email you or send to you on CD. If you permit, we will also publish an announcement of your ceremony on this web site for no additional charge. If you would like to consider having us solemnize your wedding in the Keys, call us to discuss your interests and our availability. Please keep in mind that we require payment in advance to reserve a date and time. Please don't forget the hotel reservations for yourselves and wedding party! This is "the bread and butter" of our company and we are happy to arrange them and your excursions.
It has been an honor and a joy for us to participate in the wonderful and hopeful beginnings of Mikhail Klimov and Iryna Chestna of Orlando, Florida, who were married at sunset on Sombrero Beach in the Middle Florida Keys on April 13, 2008.
And also of: Below are the vows we prepared for use by the couples we join together. Any ceremony we perform for you, however, would be entirely up to you. You are free to write your own vows or even have your witnesses participate actively in the ceremony. Remember, the ceremony can be anything you want it to be. It should be yours to remember and cherish always. To discuss your wedding plans in the Keys, call us at 800 403-2154. Vows We are invited together today on this beautiful evening in the Florida Keys to share one of life’s great moments: the joining of two of us in marriage. We are invited here to recognize the worth and beauty of love and commitment. We are invited here to witness and celebrate the joining of <bride> and <groom>. If there is anyone who believes this couple should not be joined in marriage, please step forward now or forever hold your peace. <bride and groom>: You have each made a place for the other in your life. You must now work each day to ensure that that place remains always a safe place, a loving place, a place that remains welcoming even when the world around you is not. To do this, you will have to laugh together every day. You will also have to share each other’s fears and sorrows, risks, triumphs and failures. You should be prepared to give each other a hand up when life offers a special challenge, and shout out a warning when danger is approaching. You should share a quiet meal together every day and talk about what is to come and what has come to pass. Show each other passion and kindness, love and desire, trust and respect. Trust in each other. Look to each other for companionship, understanding, perspective and guidance, because as you grow together, you will know each other better than anyone. Be friends together. Be lovers. Be partners. Be pals. Be family together. Work together. Never stop playing together. Be serious together when there are serious issues to be addressed. Be one together, but as you are being one, never stop seeing that your partner is an individual, with special knacks and feelings and unique ideas. Because if you do this, you will keep the joy of wonder and surprise in your life, a fundamental element of the phenomenon called happiness, and the reason you are here together today. You will have to be able to stop and really listen to each other. You will need to be positive and clear toward each other with your needs and feelings about each other and the events and people in your lives. This will help you share with each other the good things that will happen in your lives. And it will make you stronger and healthier and better able to confront bad times and hard decisions should they intrude. Most of all, you should remember to commit anew each day to the promise you make to each other today, the promise to create in your heart and your life a safe and loving place for the other. Do it when you wake up together in the morning or go to sleep together at night. Do it when you are alone or with others, when your love can not be near. Because, as you surely already know, a loving and supportive relationship is not an automatic thing. It needs to be maintained with constant effort and active participation. Prayers, Hopes and Wishes If anyone would wish to add their thoughts and prayers to this ceremony, please speak now. Thank you. Commitment <Groom>, do you here and now proclaim your love and devotion for <bride>? Do you promise to affirm her, to trust her, to respect her, and care for her during times of joy and hardship? Do you commit yourself to share your feelings of happiness and sadness? Do you pledge your faithfulness to her? <Bride>, do you here and now proclaim your love and devotion for <groom>? Do you promise to affirm him, to trust him, to respect him, and care for him during times of joy and hardship? Do you commit yourself to share your feelings of happiness and sadness? Do you pledge your faithfulness to him? Rings From our earliest times, the circle has been to us a universal symbol of completeness, of wholeness, of one. In marriage, it symbolizes a commitment to never ending companionship and love. It is our hope that whenever either of you looks at or touches or thinks about this symbol, you will be reminded of the commitment that you make to each other here today. As a token of mutual fidelity and deep, abiding affection, your rings will now be given and received. Vows <Groom>, please repeat after me.
<Bride>, please repeat after me.
Joining From the Bible, from Corinthians, we learn: if you love someone, you will be loyal to him no matter what the costs. You will always believe in him, always expect the best in him, and will always stand your ground defending him. You will always have a safe and loving place for him in your heart and in your life. Treat yourselves and each other with respect, and remind yourselves often of what brought you together. Give the highest priority to the tenderness, gentleness and kindness that your connection deserves. When frustration, difficulty and fear assail your relationship - as they threaten all relationships at one time or another - remember to focus on what is right between you, not only the part which seems wrong. In this way, you can ride out the storms when clouds hide the face of the sun in your lives - remembering that even if you lose sight of it for a moment, the sun is still there. And if each of you takes responsibility for the quality of your life together, it will be marked by abundance and delight. And now, by virtue of the authority vested in me under the laws of the State of Florida, I am honored now to declare you to be husband and wife. |
