meet the women behind the words
Hi, I’m jen.
In a world that seems to place a lot of value on rapid, transactional interactions, I take pride in diving deep and moving at the pace of a turtle. It is always a challenge to advocate for thoughtfully slowing down in a world/culture that seems to always want to go go go, but here at mid-life, I have found it easiest to just be me. I love helping folks pause through ceremony: to celebrate what connects us, to say thank you for all the goodness, and highlight the magic and mystery of life on planet earth. In ceremony, we weave stories together that not only unite us, but that give us a good dose of beauty and joy to take with us when the ceremony is complete. That's my inspiration for Owl and Rose Ceremonies as well... to empower folks to create their own soulful ceremonial moment. To help folks find the words to celebrate interconnectedness, to help them luxuriate in kinship and love and beauty.
“To be alive: not just the carcass. But the spark. That’s crudely put, but… If we’re not supposed to dance, Why all this music?” Gregory Orr's succinct words remind me that no matter how much ugliness there might be in the world, there is so much that is breathtakingly beautiful. Whether the simple delight of a nice walk with a friend, or watching a robin splash in a bird bath, or gazing at a spectacular sunset… there are so many reasons to dance when you’re paying attention to the music.
Hi, I’m naomi.
I grew up super religious. But in my early twenties I found myself asking some difficult questions about religious fundamentalism and the divisiveness and violence often enacted in the name of God. I traveled and I sought, I read and I studied, I apprenticed with indigenous elders and wisdom keepers, and completed more trainings in health-healing-spirituality-ceremony than I can count. Eventually I began officiating wedding ceremonies. I LOVE creating moments of beauty, connection and wonder for couples and their communities. It nourishes me to my core. When I left my religion of origin to explore other traditions, philosophies and points of view I quickly learned about the universal importance of ceremony. Ceremony was a huge missing in my life after I left my religious community. I still wanted to experience meaningful milestones and life-affirming transitions, but in a less outdated, dogmatic and formulaic way. I know I'm not the only one who feels this way - that there are others out there who know what they don't want but who don't yet know how to articulate (or find) what they do want for their ceremonies and milestones. This is a big part of why I co-created Owl & Rose Ceremonies with my gem of a friend - to provide couples with ceremony resources that focus on the universal themes of presence, connection, gratitude, inclusivity and love, without any doctrine, dogma or religious overlay.
Rebrand. Revival. Renaissance.
We truly believe that the ceremony is the heart of the wedding, and we are hoping to have a hand in the return of ceremony to its rightful place as the centerpiece of the celebration. Viva la ceremony revolución! We have dedicated our lives to creating rich and robust ceremonies to help people mark big milestones in meaningful and magical ways!
Fun facts.
Jen’s a Cancer and Naomi’s a Capricorn. Jen lives in Boulder, CO, and Naomi is based in Santa Cruz, CA. Jen has a son, a teenager named Albie, and Naomi has a dog daughter, a Cavapoo puppy named Leela. Jen is Argentinian-American and bilingual. Naomi is a native New Yorker, world traveler and former ASL interpreter. In addition to being ordained ministers and successful wedding officiants, Jen and Naomi are both certified life cycle celebrants with specialized training in end of life ceremony creation and facilitation.
our Approach
All of our wedding ceremony scripts are gender neutral and free of pronoun assumptions.
inclusivity & accessibility
We deeply value inclusivity and accessibility. That’s why we made our wedding ceremony scripts, vow writing tutorial, elopement scripts and self-solemnization ceremony guide spiritually, sexually and culturally inclusive, bilingual, and super affordable. Si, tenemos guiones de ceremonia de boda en español y bilingües!
non-preachy
Nobody likes being told what to do. And we don’t feel like it’s our job to talk at you and tell you how you should do your marriage. We do our best to create ceremonies that offer beautiful possibilities that you can try on (or not) without any “we have all the answers, this is how it’s done” type of content.