Meet the Juror!

Hello again Beautiful Person! It's time for interview number three for the 2011 Bunny with a Toolbelt Engagement Story Contest! Next up is Steve Sharp who has married dozen of couples through his business A Beautiful Ceremony NW.

Bunny with a Toolbelt: What was your path to becoming a wedding officiant?

Rev. Steve: I started my business when my daughter Dionne asked me to perform a wedding ceremony for her best friend. Soon after that, another couple who felt that participating in a wedding ritual held no meaning for them asked me to put together a simple ceremony that would enable them to legalize what they considered a very private commitment. The groom came to me after the ceremony with tears in his eyes and said “Now I get it—There's something about making a public promise that just changes everything”--and that's when I started to see that I could offer people a valuable service by helping them create their own personal rite of passage into a new part of their lives.


Bunny with a Toolbelt: What do you like best about your job?

Rev. Steve: As Reverend Steve I regularly get the chance to be right in the middle of an incredible burst of joyful energy and faith in the future, which is a great antidote to all the doom-and-gloom of world events. Being part of this industry enables me to meet interesting people like Hilary who have created their livelihood by using their natural talents to help people celebrate a momentous occasion. It's one positive, sociable group of colleagues!


Bunny with a Toolbelt: Awwww shucks! Thanks Steve! Would you mind sharing your own personal engagement story?

Reverend Steve: When I met my wife Leslie, she was living on a houseboat on the Columbia River, and as a lifelong fisherman I thought of her as an especially wonderful creature I was determined to pluck from the water and bring home. When I proposed to her at a restaurant (on the river), I slid out of the booth and got down on one knee to propose. At our wedding I recited a favorite Richard Brautigan poem to her called “My Catfish Friend.”

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So I have a few contest entries waiting in the wings....will return to post them after you've let these interviews sink in. Click here to see the contest rules--and don't delay if you want to be eligible to win one of two custom wedding cake toppers!!