Katie and Shane’s intimacy as a couple glows saliently in their images. Mutual, warm, and affectionate glances and touches make their photos all the more real, animated, and earthy. That they’ve been together for years could not be more obvious! Furthermore, I cannot get over how sharp they looked. Nearly navy blue seems to suit them perfectly. I wish all my couples would choose to add splashes of color to their ensembles! They exchanged vows in a sweet and brief commitment or engagement ceremony in the Shakespeare Garden with post-ceremony photos taken at the Belvedere Castle Plaza, in the Ramble, and beyond.
I have this sense that engagement ceremonies — a/k/a commitment ceremonies — are going to increase in popularity soon. Although the reasons why a same-sex couple would opt for an engagement / commitment ceremony are obvious, allow me to take a moment to explain why other couples choose them too. First, do keep in mind that for centuries, betrothal ceremonies were essentially binding for couples. Secondly, some couples opt for a commitment ceremony out of sympathy for those who cannot legally marry yet (it’s a sort of protest ceremony). Other couples, including those who are very religious, feel that the State should be kept out of the bedroom and private sphere. Some have a commitment ceremony while on vacation simple because they wish for it. Another group uses an engagement ceremony as a means to celebrate their love just prior to having engagement photos taken, especially if they plan a long engagement period to save up for the big day. And, finally, couples may want to tell their family and friends that they had a commitment/engagement ceremony as a smokescreen: they really did secretly elope, but they don’t want their families and friends to get upset.
Whatever the reason, a promise to marry by your spouse-to-be is an occasion for reveling and marveling. After their betrothal vows, Katie and Shane wandered around Central Park. Katie is perhaps the only bride-to-be I’ve met that can sincerely comfortably walk in heels. “I wear them eight hours a day,” she told me, as I remarked with awe over how easily she walked. Too often, women wear heels without a spare pair of shoes, thereby creating sore, achy feet. Katie, by contrast, was fantastically relaxed and comfy in her heels.
Hi Judie and Liam,
Katie and Shane
Wedding Officiant in NYC and the Hudson Valley 