Justice of the Peace

Commonwealth of Massachusetts

 

My first commision was issued to me on my birthday, May 21, 1996. Of course as a Justice of the Peace, it takes time to put your ceremonies in place, get some sort of advertisement out, and then be retained to do your first ceremony.

 

I was lucky, the first couple that contacted me were Tony Ianerelli and Rene Authier. Rene is the daughter of one of my first cousins. (Ray can be seen in the far left hand corner of their picture below) I actually used to baby sit Rene and one of her brothers, Mark. Therefore I was really excited to officiate at my first ceremony and have it be someone special.

 

As I improved in my ceremonies, increasing them from one borrowed ceremony to perhaps 50 or so, of which I wrote most of them, more couples started to seek me out. Word of mouth and the phone book were the only real advertising I did. Things improved so much that I now average two weddings per weekend.

 

At this time, I can now offer ceremonies that give a couple a wide variety of choices. When we work together to find a ceremony that seems like a couple wrote it themselves, then we know we have the right ceremony

 

Pictured below are pictures of the couples that marked serious hallmarks in my time as a Justice of the Peace. As of this writting, I have just completed my 561st wedding.

 

Some of the highlights during my two (2) commissions have been:

 

Obviously my first ceremony with Tony and Rene.  My wife and I had to laugh when the brides aunt (another first cousin) asked if I was kidding when I started to put on the Judicial robe I wear.

 

Having been selected to officiate at the first two (2) "Marriage on the Midway" at the Eastern States Exposition.

 

Officiating at the wedding of one of my sons friends. Erik and Matthew played soccer for many years. It was the first time I have even been rained on during a wedding ceremony.  My record stands at 568 non raine on to 3 rained on.

 

The ceremony where we stood in a meadow overlooking the location in Quabbin Reservoir where the brides grandmother and mother were born and raised. (This location is now underwater) During the ceremony a deer ran into the clearing behind us. Those with camaras rushed to get a picture but many missed. When the deer reached the opposite side of the meadow, we expected it to jump into the underbrush - however - the deer ran back through the meadow to where it had come from and offered everyone a chance to get the picture they missed the first time

 

At a wedding at the Log Cabin Banquet house, as I was pronouncing the couple Husband and Wife, two birds flew behind us and crossed paths.  Of course the couple and myself did not see it, but we were assured that many people caught the event on camara

 

Officiating at the wedding of the son of the woman who did all of the flowers for our son Matthews' wedding. The couples parents stood in as the persons of honor.

 

Officiating at my first same gender ceremony. Not only were the couple nervous, so was I - What if I said the wrong thing?

 

And now the 481st wedding - Several months ago I was contacted via e-mail. The bride wanted to know if I would be available to do a wedding ceremony at Northfield Mount Herman School. I had to think about that one for a while as it would require an hour and a half drive, one way, to get there. For some reason I decided to accept the ceremony.

 

The week before the wedding the bride sent me a list of the people involved in the wedding and one name sounded more than vaguely familiar. However Evans is a fairly common name here in New England

She then went on to mention that the mothers would light the Unity Candle and wondered if I would introduce them - Maria Estrada and Barbara Evans

Well now we had a retired minister named David Evans who had wife named Barbara - I wondered if it could possibly be ----------- I e-mailed the bride, Helen, and asked if her dad was the Rev David Evans from St Pauls Church in Holyoke?  It sure was - amazingly, not only had David officiated at our own wedding over 35 years ago, but he also baptized our son Matthew.   What are the odds of something like that happening?

As one gentleman put it in church yesterday - A coincidence is the way God works!

 

I look forward to the next ten (10) years as a Justice. How many people find so rewarding an occupation?