Justice of the PeaceNewsletter
October 2011
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In This Issue: JP Conference at Hartford CapitolOne JP's Ramblings Weirdest Wedding Featured JP: Patrick Benner More Competition for JPs? Conference Registration Form |
Last Call!
JP CONFERENCE IN HARTFORD
Friday, October 28th, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Capitol Building, 210 Capitol Ave.
Room 310
- § Enjoy a day Networking and Learning from Other JPs
- § Meet Denise Merrill, Connecticut Secretary of the State and Jane Purtill, State Registrar of Vital Records
- § Be Inspired by Wedding Guru Peter Merry
- § Breakfast (starting at 8:30), lunch and gift package included
How to register:
Online
or
print and mail form below.
Share a
Conference Flyer with colleagues.
One JP's Ramblings - Part Deux
As Dave
was saying last month...
"I always leave the couple with a printed copy of the ceremony. I almost always receive compliments on what I said (most often from older guests); one lady even went so far to call me 'a class act.'
I almost always wear a suit (I once had to climb a mountain and changed into it behind a rock; my climbing days are over – I slipped twice on the way down and ended up with a bloody leg. I am thinking about buying a robe and/or stole but still haven’t yet.
In seven years, I was only sick once and called a friend. I have never been late -- except once when there was a fatal highway accident and traffic was stopped for an hour. Fortunately, it was just two people and a mother in a living room; I usually arrive about 30 minutes early.
No one has passed out or run. The only advertising I do is through findajp.com. My fees have ranged from a $25 Wal-Mart gift certificate to ... well, I live in a fairly depressed rural area, so I don't charge a lot. I have done a couple of freebies (one donated for a fund-raising auction and another for an active-duty military soldier).
So, how do we compare? What are some of your high (or low) points?"
Dave Berman is a New Hampshire JP and a blogger. His ramblings can be read at www.bermansbits.com and jpdave.blogspot.com
Editor: Anybody wear anything unusual to a wedding? Have you risked your life to accommodate a couple's request? Do you have back-up in place if an emergency keeps you from the wedding? Any fainting bride or worse? Anybody stop the wedding in mid-stream? Let's give Dave some feedback! Reminder: it's not too late to respond to Dave's questions from last month: What's your smallest, largest, shortest, longest, hardest, strangest... wedding?
News Flash: First Entry Received for Weirdest Wedding!
"I was
called a couple of months ago by a 15 year-old girl wanting to get
married. I explained that I could not marry her until
she was 16 and then her parents would have to co-sign my
contract as well as the marriage license. She agreed and two
weeks after she turned 16, everything had been done correctly.
Eight years
ago, he woke up to the fact that he was a lucky man and resolved to give
back to the community. "Everything in my life is perfect," he says
today. Despite economic and other worldly woes, "when I
look inward, everything is all right."
That's when he became a JP.
He also volunteers as a firearms safety instructor, police officer
(in-office duties only), and at his church. "My wife Loreen is
responsible for 85% of my happiness," he says. "Every time I follow her
advice, it comes out flawless. When I don't, it's the opposite." Married
for 32 years, Loreen is "my high school sweetheart, my first love and
my last love." Their three children are all married or soon-to-be.
Helping "one couple, one service at a time" lets him go to
bed at night fulfilled. He has created "one more happy family,"
which is the important thing, not the income. Like Dave Berman, Patrick
charges couples a low fee. (He looks forward to the results of the September survey
about fees and other facets of being a JP, which will be published in the next issue of the JP
e-newsletter.) Also like Dave, Patrick gets all of his business
from his www.findajp.com listing. Editor:
Thanks
for saying so, Patrick. (Non-members, take heed!)
He hasn't been officiating long enough to celebrate
any of his couples' 25th wedding anniversaries, but he is hopeful. "If
they follow my example, it's bound to happen."
We predict many vow renewal
ceremonies in Patrick's future.
MAIL-IN JP CONFERENCE REGISTRATION FORM I
will attend the JP Conference at the Connecticut State Capitol on Friday, Oct. 28, 2011.
First Name
_____________________
Last Name_________________
Nickname
(for nametag) _________________
Address _______________________ Town/City ___________________
Please mail with check to: Justice of the
Peace Association • 8 Webb
Road • Westport CT 06880.
Enclosed is my check for $ ______.
We welcome your help publicizing the conference and
encouraging other JPs to attend.
Here's a
conference flyer to share. PRE-PAYMENT
MUST BE RECEIVED BY OCT. 25th. At the door:
$50 Directions to the JP Conference
are on the website.
On the appointed evening, I arrived to find the groom and groomsmen all
wearing black suits, black shirts and black ties -- and old-fashioned
black and white Keds sneakers with white laces! They all had long black
curly hair. At first I thought I had stumbled into an Hasidic
wedding. But then two (female) guests arrived with day-glo bright pink hair
accompanied by a young man with a day-glo pink Mohawk. When the bride entered, she
was barefoot, as was her maid-of-honor who wore a bright red mini, also
with day-glo pink hair. Definitely one of my stranger weddings." Elizabeth Steffen,
Old Saybrook CT
Featured
Justice of the Peace: Patrick M. Benner, Sr.
South
Burlington, Vermont
"Weddings
are the highlight of my life," says Patrick Benner, who has done
about 400. He officiates at up to eighty weddings
per year in addition to
his full-time job as plant manager of the South Burlington Recycling
center.
More Competition for JPs?
New Colors for Monogrammed Stoles Match your colors to the wedding party!
Fuchsia
Primrose Pink
Turquoise
Purple
Rich Brown
Wine Red
Gold
Salmon
Jet Black
Your Position
(JP/TC/DJ etc.) ______
State _____ Zip_________ Phone
________________________
Email
____________________________________
For further information:
203-226-1710 or Email:
conference@jpUS.org
$40 for Justice of the Peace Association members
$45 for non-member JPs
$35
non-JP Wedding Professionals : Peter Merry presentation only