Hi Vjers

Thi and I want to have a small backyard wedding with a combination Christian/Buddhist ceremony in April. I was born Christian but haven't been to a church in years. The closest religious affiliation I have is with the Self Realiztion Fellowship based in LA. (They do only SRF tradition weddings) Thi of course is a Vietnamese Buddhist. The internet hasn't been much help in finding someone to perform the ceremony so far. The conbination weddings explain the traditions but not describing Vietnamese Buddhists. Most listings are about Thai or Japanese Buddhists and I don't know what the differences are. The Vietnamese Christian churches in the area don't have any info about weddings on their sites. I was wondering if anyone here has any ideas. I live in Sherman Oaks/LA,Ca.

Thanks

Peter and Thi

I-129F Sent : 2007-05-26
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I'd just send email or call the closest match. Even if they can't help you themselves, they might know someone who can. I've had to deal with the same thing to try to locate Japanese/English bilingual clergy in the Catholic Church-- it's a harder prospect than I'd thought. In my case, I may need to investigate inviting candidates from Japan....

I don't know much about the specifics of the situation in Vietnam-- I understand that they supposedly enjoy religious freedom, but that the reality is a bit less rosy. Anyway, if you can find a group that operates in the country, or has some other ties to the country, you might be able to track down someone to help you that way.

All this might be more work than you want to put in, but for those who take the religious angle pretty seriously (as I do), I think some creativity is required.