Help Marriage Equality Wedding Rev!
Donation protected
I am seeking your help to strengthen and grow my wedding ministry, and to focus particularly on Marriage Equality.
I am an Ordained Minister in the United Church of Christ. I have been a hospital and hospice chaplain, as well as a parish minister. Had anyone told me that my ministry would evolve into a Wedding Ministry in America's #1 destination wedding location, I would have had a great laugh.
I started Wedding Belle Rev, LLC in November of 2012. I quickly understood that I was heeding the Call to help couples navigate the waters of combined family dynamics and re-focusing the wedding process into a marriage process. I've developed a premarital counseling program that is well received.
This wedding ministry is truly a Calling for me. My ministry includes all of the following:
*developing close relationships with couples and their families,
*providing premarital counseling (I am not a counselor; this is simply the name of the thing that ministers do),
*celebrating uninhibited joy of holy matrimony as well as God's love for all people,
*striving to promote and protect marriage equality,
*expressing God's extravagant hospitality,
*advocating for and upholding marriage between two people, regardless of gender, and
*continuing my relationships and availability with couples long after the wedding cake has been sliced and served.
In South Carolina, a wedding officiant must be either a Notary Public or an Ordained Clergy Person. Most wedding officiants freelance as Notaries or work out of a specific house of worship. Charleston is a destination location; the majority of the couples who come to Charleston to get married do not work with a particular house of worship, but find an officiant through Google or other websites such as The Knot or Wedding Wire .
As it stands, I have the most unique qualifications offered by any Charleston wedding officiant: My work is freelance, I am formally educated and ordained in a mainline Protestant denomination, and I am Marriage Equality friendly. Most of my brides and grooms consider themselves to be "spiritual but not religious." They seek a progressive and open-minded minister without the trappings of organized religion. This gives me an opportunity to talk about The United Church of Christ. The UCC and I are examples that there is a place even in "organized religion" that will offer love and respect, engaging in conversation and quest rather than age-old dogma.
Even though I am an ordained minister and the church of which I am a member supports me [spiritually] in my ministry, I am a freelance business person. If I served a congregation, tithes would pay my salary. As in any freelance occupation, I am self-employed and struggle to make ends meet. While my faith is strong, manna has not yet rained from the sky.
My business, www.CharlestonWeddingBelleRev.com has recently acquired a new business and the #1 website for wedding officiants in Charleston: www.CharlestonWeddingOfficiant.com .
My mentor, a remarkable and wonderful man, has retired and sold me his business. He is accepting monthly payments for this purchase. I am forever grateful. But I still owe $4000.
Wedding Season in Charleston is seasonal. There are very very lean months. My belief is that eventually Wedding Belle Rev, LLC and Charleston Wedding Officiant will be self-sustaining in a year or two. Until then, there is work to be done.
My goals that lead me to this Go Fund Me Campaign are:
*Complete the purchase of the second business ($4000),
*Help same-sex couples think about Charleston as a viable location for a hospitable wedding destination,
*Market like crazy the fact that I, an Ordained Minister, will happily, and with great glee, officiate same-sex weddings,
*Self-publish and copyright my original Premarital Counseling Program,
*Connect in a large way to the Human Rights Campaign, and
*Surive the lean months that are not "Wedding Season."
If you are an advocate of Marriage Equality, I hope you will consider a donation. My contact information is available on my websites. I welcome any conversations or questions you may have.
With gratitude, love, and never-ending hope,
Blessings and Cheers,
Kristen
I am an Ordained Minister in the United Church of Christ. I have been a hospital and hospice chaplain, as well as a parish minister. Had anyone told me that my ministry would evolve into a Wedding Ministry in America's #1 destination wedding location, I would have had a great laugh.
I started Wedding Belle Rev, LLC in November of 2012. I quickly understood that I was heeding the Call to help couples navigate the waters of combined family dynamics and re-focusing the wedding process into a marriage process. I've developed a premarital counseling program that is well received.
This wedding ministry is truly a Calling for me. My ministry includes all of the following:
*developing close relationships with couples and their families,
*providing premarital counseling (I am not a counselor; this is simply the name of the thing that ministers do),
*celebrating uninhibited joy of holy matrimony as well as God's love for all people,
*striving to promote and protect marriage equality,
*expressing God's extravagant hospitality,
*advocating for and upholding marriage between two people, regardless of gender, and
*continuing my relationships and availability with couples long after the wedding cake has been sliced and served.
In South Carolina, a wedding officiant must be either a Notary Public or an Ordained Clergy Person. Most wedding officiants freelance as Notaries or work out of a specific house of worship. Charleston is a destination location; the majority of the couples who come to Charleston to get married do not work with a particular house of worship, but find an officiant through Google or other websites such as The Knot or Wedding Wire .
As it stands, I have the most unique qualifications offered by any Charleston wedding officiant: My work is freelance, I am formally educated and ordained in a mainline Protestant denomination, and I am Marriage Equality friendly. Most of my brides and grooms consider themselves to be "spiritual but not religious." They seek a progressive and open-minded minister without the trappings of organized religion. This gives me an opportunity to talk about The United Church of Christ. The UCC and I are examples that there is a place even in "organized religion" that will offer love and respect, engaging in conversation and quest rather than age-old dogma.
Even though I am an ordained minister and the church of which I am a member supports me [spiritually] in my ministry, I am a freelance business person. If I served a congregation, tithes would pay my salary. As in any freelance occupation, I am self-employed and struggle to make ends meet. While my faith is strong, manna has not yet rained from the sky.
My business, www.CharlestonWeddingBelleRev.com has recently acquired a new business and the #1 website for wedding officiants in Charleston: www.CharlestonWeddingOfficiant.com .
My mentor, a remarkable and wonderful man, has retired and sold me his business. He is accepting monthly payments for this purchase. I am forever grateful. But I still owe $4000.
Wedding Season in Charleston is seasonal. There are very very lean months. My belief is that eventually Wedding Belle Rev, LLC and Charleston Wedding Officiant will be self-sustaining in a year or two. Until then, there is work to be done.
My goals that lead me to this Go Fund Me Campaign are:
*Complete the purchase of the second business ($4000),
*Help same-sex couples think about Charleston as a viable location for a hospitable wedding destination,
*Market like crazy the fact that I, an Ordained Minister, will happily, and with great glee, officiate same-sex weddings,
*Self-publish and copyright my original Premarital Counseling Program,
*Connect in a large way to the Human Rights Campaign, and
*Surive the lean months that are not "Wedding Season."
If you are an advocate of Marriage Equality, I hope you will consider a donation. My contact information is available on my websites. I welcome any conversations or questions you may have.
With gratitude, love, and never-ending hope,
Blessings and Cheers,
Kristen
Organizer
Kristen Barner
Organizer
Charleston, SC