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Interfaith Wedding Ceremonies
There is nothing more important to a strong marriage than a beautiful and personally inspiring wedding ceremony.
As an ordained interfaith minister Rev. Donna serves many religions and spiritual paths. She has over ten years of
experience creating and performing very carefully planned and deeply meaningful wedding ceremonies.
By offering couples the choice of wedding elements from many traditions and philosophies, and using her experience as a guide to the
different ways of putting those wedding elements together, the ceremony will express the essence of the couple and the
foundation of their relationship in the most lyrical terms, bringing them a wedding that will truly enrich their lives together.
A wedding ceremony created with great care gives the couple’s
family and friends a wonderful demonstration of just why their relationship works so well. It speaks to the depth and breadth of t
heir intentions and commitments to one another, and provides them with a bonding day experience based on love, honesty, and
caring, that will sustain them in substantial ways as they live and grow together in their marriage.
Read more about Interfaith Wedding Ministry, or a recent wedding article here.
If you are planning your wedding, please check the Wisdom Quests Calendar for availability.
Interfaith Ministry
Rev. Donna ministers to the full life circle; christenings and baby dedications,
coming-of-age rituals, marriage ceremonies, wedding and birth blessingways, birthday rituals,
retirement, croning and eldership rituals, death preparation and funeral services. She seeks to be of
service during all important passages in life.
Rev. Donna Miller Watelet
I was ordained as an Interfaith Minister in 1994. The various types of work I do serve people of all religions, spiritual paths and life philosophies. I did my ministerial studies in spiritual counseling at the New Seminary in New York City, New York. The New Seminary was founded 25 years ago by Rabbi Joseph Gelberman, with the help of a Catholic Priest, a Muslim Imam and many other devout and well-educated people from a variety of walks of life. The seminary’s purpose is to train people to serve the varied spiritual needs of our modern world by creating bridges between cultures and traditions based on the understanding that they meet one another in the ultimate spiritual truths of our world. I graduated and was ordained as an Interfaith Minister in 1993.
I have a personal ministry serving those who wish to plan special ceremonies marking important events in their families: weddings, funerals, blessingways for expecting mothers, baby dedications, and other rites of passage. In addition, I offer spiritual direction, pre-marital and private counseling.
Wedding work often begins with an introductory phone call during which we get to know one another. I next meet with the two of you for a longer session. During that meeting, we go over a copy of a very unique and lovely marriage ceremony, the core of which was beautifully composed by two deans from my seminary. I give or send you that along with a collection of readings and rituals from various religious, secular, and spiritual traditions for you to consider using in your ceremony. The choices I guide you to make will be based on who each of you are as individuals, what beliefs you hold and the specifics of your commitments to one another. And in the process, I will to begin to learn who each of you are as individuals, what beliefs you hold, and the specifics of your commitments to one another. If I have that, then any guidance I offer you will come from that understanding.
We can use the ceremony as it is written or you can choose to use only some of its elements & rituals as a part of your wedding day ceremony. I invite you to make suggestions for any deletions or changes you would prefer. You might choose to write your own vows. You can write any of your changes or additions yourselves, or ask me to write them since I love to write. Or, perhaps you have plans for how you see the whole ceremony coming together. I can help by guiding the order of its elements into a smooth progression and helping polish it into a finished marriage ceremony. Whatever you choose to do, I'll assist you as much or as little as your needs dictate. This wedding is yours and should reflect what the two of you wish to express.
This work requires time and great care during our meetings and outside of them for me, and to some degree for you. And the other ceremonies and rituals I design and perform are planned in much the same manner. I will use my many years of experience and all my resources to see that your wedding and your marriage, or any other work we do together, are well and deeply served by the work that I do for you.
In wedding planning as I get to know you in our sessions together, I can offer you guidance, which can lead to the opportunity for deeper exploration of your relationship to each other and to yourself. I can offer you some insightful tools for personal growth to assist you in building a still stronger foundation for your marriage. It is important to me that you get the strongest start possible. I also know that you must make your own choices together for that strength to be fully realized. And to support you in the future, I will also commit myself to being of service to you in any way I can be as your married life continues to unfold after your wedding day.
Take care and enjoy yourselves as you plan!
Most sincerely,
Rev. Donna Miller Watelet
Baby Dedications
Ceremonies that dedicate the adults in a new child’s life to their protection and
loving spiritual direction can be celebrated in a variety of ways. Traditional christenings, dedication
ceremonies and baby naming ceremonies each have a somewhat different focus while offering parents the
chance to gain support for their child from those closest to them.
Pastoral Counseling
If you need guidance on your faith journey, with spiritual life questions or any
aspect of your spiritual journey, Rev. Donna is available for pastoral
counseling in person, by phone or through email. Write to her at
Donna@wisdomquests.com to schedule an
appointment to speak with her. faith journeys, & discoveries. Phone and email consultations available.
Death Preparation
Dying and death are events that can tear people apart or bring them together. Rev. Donna
is a trained grief facilitator, trained to support both adults and children as they face their own death and to counsel
the families and friends of the dying to create as peaceful a passage as possible.
Funeral Services
Rev. Donna has experience in creating and leading funeral, memorial and internment
services for people of various religious and spiritual backgrounds and can travel to many locations to be of service.
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Rev. Donna,
We just wanted to thank you again for all your help with planning our wedding ceremony!
Everything worked out perfectly, in fact, people seemed to enjoy the ceremony better than the
reception! Everyone commented about it, and are still talking about it today! Thanks again for
making it perfect!
Love, Ashley, Bill & Austin
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