Wedding Ceremony – Wedding Orator – Celebrant and Master of Ceremony – Zen Master Father Reding asks for your Marriage Blessing

Path of the Family - Part of a larger Whole

One is many, many are one. The family path is both dialectical synthesis and harmonization of values. It is a higher and greater value beyond self and others. Here is the truth of family: When faced with opposites, the path of family does not lead to conflict and separation, but greater value comes from the two opposites of man and woman.

The husband gives his wife children and she gives him a family.

Your Marriage - Holy Covenant

What does it mean to get married and enter into marriage? Marriage is a sacred covenant, you become one. You sacrifice your ignorance and voluntary blindness in favor of a long-term goal. Marriage is based on a deep respect between the spouses, whereby both strive for an equal partnership. The union forms a harmonious mix of different strengths and weaknesses. For the couple, getting married means creating a framework for mutual development and promoting psychological and spiritual growth under all circumstances.

Wedding Orator & Mystic - Zen Master Reding

After ten years of monk training in the Zen monasteries of Japan and Korea, Zen monk Father Reding founded the Zen order in Switzerland in 2014 with the mutual trust of lay people and clergy.

In gratitude for the training as a Zen monk, he made a pilgrimage all over Japan in the traditional alms walk (3000 miles).

As founder and abbot, he presides over the rustic Honora Zen monastery in Reichenburg and the Eremita Zen temple in Einsiedeln.

Zen: Religious experience and mysticism. It is the living core of every religion in which the only thing that matters is practice - religious experience, realization.

Our family tradition is to find “Church in one’s own mind and God in one’s self.” A traditional teaching of self-cultivation, long forgotten by many in the East (Zen) and long lost in the West (Mysticism).

Symbolic Wedding - Wholeness

SYMBOLIC means bringing together or becoming one. The wedding ceremony is the ritual of this coming together by the beginning family. The wedding rings are symbols of this covenant. Without symbols we have no story and therefore no meaning. Symbols help each individual to accept the part of the greater.

The tragedy of our culture is that so many people no longer believe in symbolic language. And so they try to satisfy a spiritual longing with something physical, which never works. There is no saturation point for a spiritual longing with physical means. Unless that symbol is alive as a living symbol, it cannot do its work of bringing us into our wholeness.

Symbolic: unifying, bringing together, divine       Diabolical: divisive

Blessing of the Wedding Rings - Love & Loyalty

Ring blessing (blessing of the wedding rings): "Bless these wedding rings and bind the two who wear them in love and fidelity." The symbol of marriage and family is expressed through wedding rings. It is the symbol of spiritual growth, which allows spouses to grow beyond themselves and accept their own shadow.

Beginning of your Family - Responsibility

Because in this way each individual can accept the challenges of life and death. And consequently take on the greatest possible responsibility. Each individual becomes and remains a part of something larger, their own family. Then we become father & mother, grandfather & grandmother and can pass on our wisdom. Show our children how to live and die so that they have the basic trust and courage to lead a truly meaningful and responsible life. Because mothers give life and fathers show death. (Father Reding)

Wedding Night - YES, I DO!

Marriage and family is a holy sacrament. In this way, sexuality and intimacy will gain in value again. Bless the faithfulness, bless the worries, bless the journey that fathers and mothers make together! It is often difficult for parents to have the courage to have a child. Let them say a bold “YES”! Do not let their good will weaken, do not let their joy in sacrifice grow cold, and send them the happiness of domestic peace. (Prayer Book) Do you want your wedding to be truly unforgettable? How about no sex until your wedding night?

Wedding Ritual - Dance of Husband & Wife

Wedding ritual - family ritual: The wedding ritual and family ritual symbolizes the importance of family. The common path until death and beyond death with the respective tasks of the expectant husband and father and the expectant wife and mother. The dance of marriage and family begins back to back. So that we can learn to trust and protect each other from our blind spots.

Phoenix Ritual - Rebirth into the New Role

Phoenix Ritual: To symbolize the change in life, a pinch of incense and sandalwood is burned at the end by the bride and groom and the guests present. Together we celebrate the phoenix being reborn into the new responsibility as a family.

Candle Ritual - Symbol of The Good

Candle ritual: The candle ritual marks the end of the marriage and celebrates the birth of the family. The light symbolizes the good and wisdom that will guide one's family. The couple subordinates themselves to the good of the family. This creates compassion for family members and yourself. What's best for the family!

Mandala Ritual - Harmony & Connection

Mandala Ritual: The sand ritual expresses the harmony and connection between men and women. Every little grain of sand is part of the whole. At the end, the token of appreciation is handed over to the water and floats away. This ritual symbolizes the union of man and woman and thus the creation of the family.

Wedding Vows - Renewal Ceremony

Wedding vow renewal ceremony: The loyalty and lifelong duration of marriage provide space for security, intimacy and reliability. They enable marriage to become a path and a school of true humanity; where one learns to perfect love, to be considerate of one another, to forgive one another and to bear one another's burdens. (see marriage anniversary).

Wedding Location - The Whole World is one Flower

Switzerland & international: Whether in a church, castle, hotel, barn, on the mountain or outdoors, you decide on the location and type of wedding ceremony that best suits you.

Your Wedding - Non-Denominational

The wedding ceremony is non-denominational, meaning members of all faiths are welcome. We would be glad to discuss your personal ideas, wishes and prayers for the wedding ceremony with you.

Center of the Family - Humility & Sacrifice

Once one has the courage to complete the soul (voluntary sacrifice), family life will take on a meditative and religious character. The center of the family is becoming more and more conscious and attentive. However, in the search for completeness we often get off track and pursue the goal of perfection. Perfection is the tyranny of the mind that should be avoided at all costs. In this regard, the children (chaos) help the mind to constantly practice humility.