celebration

Eileen is my friend who I call "the fun time girl" because she's the life of the party! We found just about everything worth giggling about during her wedding weekend! (Here she is getting ready being tended to by Jennifer, her maid of honor, and Mista, a fellow bridesmaid.)

I've determined that there are 4 key ingredients to make any gathering - a wedding, birthday party, holiday gathering or simply dinner with neighbors - a smashing success!

1. Family and Friends - it may be stating the obvious but the best celebrations in life involve the people we love the most. Weddings in particular are a wonderfully special time where all aspects of your life (from childhood to now!) can collide for a brief few hours. Eileen and Lars had people from all over the country (and 3 from overseas!) fly in for the weekend. It requires energy and effort on everyone's part but the end result is often priceless!

2. Ambiance - finding the right location and setting the mood for your gathering makes all the difference in the world. Eileen knew that she wanted to get married at the beach. Even though the weather didn't cooperate for the bridal party to take photos on the sand, just being near the ocean with the salty air and the breeze put everyone in the spirit!

3. Planning with Intention - Eileen comes from a large Irish Catholic family from New Jersey - Lars comes from a small Baptist family from Georgia. Definitely two different worlds! So they combined elements of the two to make for a rich experience for all. For example, during their ceremony, two of the readings were from their favorite performers - Alan Jackson and Jon Bon Jovi!

4. Sacred Elements - there were many holy and divinely inspired moments during the weekend. Exchanging vows is usually a very sacred ritual and their Celtic hand tying ceremony was touching and beautiful. Another sacred moment came when Eileen's three nieces did a dance routine they'd learned in school. Perhaps it wasn't a "traditional" sacred moment but anything that inspires delight, bring joys or move people to tears is considered sacred in my book.

My favorite part of the whole weekend was when Dexie's Midnight Runners (remember them?!) blasted "Come On Eileen!" and the place went wild! Eileen's brothers hoisted her up on their shoulders, everyone rushed to the dance floor to boogie and there was my friend for 17 years ~ Bean~ beaming in the middle of the crowd of friends and family as she kicked up her heels with her new husband.

It doesn't get much more sacred and precious than that!

My dear friend Licia Berry and I have finally done it! After months of talking about it (mostly Licia bugging me saying 'c'mon, Elizabeth - it's fun!' - she has 2 successful radio shows already on the air), we have launched The Celebration Station on Blog Talk Radio.

Our first episode is called "Much Ado About Mamas" and we spend 30 minutes talking about the mother figures in our lives - both the external real live women in our lives and the internal mothering we give to ourselves.

We chose this as our first topic because of the upcoming Mother's Day holiday and our Loving Your Inner Feminine retreat in New Mexico on Saturday, May 10th.

Whether you can join us in New Mexico or simply want to take time reflecting on the mothers in your life and the mothering you give to yourself, I encourage you to click here to listen, learn and be inspired to celebrate all that you've learned from the mothers in your life and be reminded that even once you're grown, you can still mother yourself!