Maureen Thomson

When my daughter was in kindergarten, she completed a project that was entitled \\\"The Most Important Thing About Me\\\". It was a great idea, because it taught the kids to really sift through the many facets of their lives and produce one \\\"best\\\" thing. I guess if I had to tell you the \\\"most important thing about me\\\" in regard to my role as your officiant, it would be that I am passionate about my work. I love what I do and it shows in the quality of the work that Lyssabeth\\\'s offers.. I love the creativity we express through a wonderful and innovative ceremony; I love getting to know new people, learning about them and their stories and how those can be incorporated into a memorable ceremony. I take particular delight in trying new things for ceremonies and sharing ideas that have worked for other couples. There is simply no better job than working with a couple to create an intimate, unique and memorable wedding day experience. With a degree in Social Work and a background in fundraising, marketing and event coordination, I soon became passionate about self-employment (my own and other people\\\'s!). So, in 2001. I took my talents for writing, public speaking, organizing, creativity, and event coordination. and began looking for a new direction in which to channel them. As usually happens when I go looking for opportunity, it found me in the form of a gorgeous, but somewhat dilapidated old Victorian house in Denver, Colorado. I bought the house, restored the downstairs to its glorious 1892 splendor and opened our doors to host small weddings. Shortly thereafter, I obtained my ordination through the Universal Life Church and began performing the ceremonies myself. I am now licensed to perform ceremonies in most states (which feeds my love of travel and seeing new places). Most of my weddings are performed right here in sunny Colorado. I no longer hold weddings in the Victorian, for the most part, although I am happy to host small elopement ceremonies (just for the couple and perhaps a witness or two) in the parlor of my Victorian, which I made my home in 2003 and where Jeremy and I happily hang our hats between adventures. My spiritual philosophy is to respect all beliefs and religious values as long as they do no harm to others. I am most fortunate to have met so many individuals with diverse beliefs and I have learned much along the way! Other things about me that are also \\\"most important\\\" are that I grew up in Rhode Island, but have managed to lose most of the accent (although if dropping the letter\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"R\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" is important to your ceremony, rest assured, I can do so in a heartbeat!). I moved to Colorado in 1995 and love it, although I miss the ocean. I have two daughters--after whom the business is named--Bethany (26) and Alyssa (22) who, along with granddaughter Kaydi, never cease to amaze me. I have been blessed to find the love of my life, my husband, Jeremy, who enthusiastically supports me in everything I do. He is my best friend and my true hero. In addition to my friends and family, my other passions include reading, hiking, cooking, entrepreneurship, biking, enjoying the Colorado mountains, traveling, and anything to do with the written or spoken expression of the English language (which lends itself to a very annoying insistence on proper grammar, punctuation and spelling in written ceremonies, so I\\\'ll beg your indulgence in advance). As Lyssabeth\\\'s has grown, I have had the privilege of adding delightful and creative staff to write, perform and photograph ceremonies. I couldn\\\'t manage without their wonderful talent and enthusiasm.