On Ceremony - Page 3 - Alisa Tongg, Celebrant

As a fellow wedding industry professional serving Pennsylvania, I know that our current marriage laws are often a source for confusion and uncertainty for our wedding clients. According to The Knot’s 2017 Wedding Survey, only 26% of couples chose to be married in a “traditional” religious institution. For those of us in the Pennsylvania wedding industry, we see first hand how quickly the culture and expectations surrounding weddings is changing.

Earlier this year, I was privileged to perform a ceremony in the misty woods of Union, Washington, to reunite a young man with his birth mother and her family. The experience was one of catharsis, healing and new beginnings.

For those who are looking for something other than Pachelbel’s iconic,”Canon in D” to walk down the aisle to, here’s a list of some of the most interesting tunes my real couples have chosen.

When people find out that I also write and perform funerals and memorial tributes, inevitably tones become hushed, there’s nodding and a slight (at least I perceive it) sense of unease at the serious and somber nature of all that entails. It is true, that the responsibility for delivering someone’s