Welcome to The Matara Centre
By admin | November 19, 2008
Freedom to create your perfect wedding…
Matara provides an open, welcome space that is relaxed, beautiful and inspiring. It is built will all the love and care that could be poured into a place. With no budget, final design or finishing date, the building naturally emerged, beyond anything that could be imagined. Matara is a East West fusion of artifacts celebrating the cultures of the world and their unity to the whole. The relaxed meditive feel has inspired people to create their own unique expression. Matara is dedicated to the full expression of the human spirit. We are in the experiencing profound changes as one era draws to a close and a new era emerges. People are no longer are prepared to accept unquestioningly the tradition ways and want to express their own deep honest feelings. A marriage is a perfect time to share the uniqueness of a relationship with close family and friends. The values shared as well as the different values brought to the relationship.
We have had some wonderful weddings at Matara from an Italian family who held their banquet in the courtyard, providing a rich social, family gathering, sharing laughter and food together.
We had a pagan wedding within the grounds, inspired by the labyrinth and healing spiral at Kingscote.
Musicians have brought their love of music to their celebration.
One bride to be who has wonderful purple hair has requested a purple magnolia for their tree dedication.
You invited to share your own unique living expression – living, loving, vital and spontaneous – we are alive, lets celebrate our life together.
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Joyful Weddings
By admin | November 19, 2008
People are generally attracted to Matara because it provides an alternative relaxed space that has a spiritual essence and welcomes all cultures, faiths and beliefs from around the world. In this spirit we offer Kingscote House to close family and friends of the bride and groom to relax and to feel at home before and during their wedding celebrations. To be able to spend time together, get to know each other and participate in the preparation of the wedding day becomes an enjoyable community affair. Weddings can be stressful, especially if you plan the perfect day. The closer the day comes the more fearful you are likely to be, imagining all the things to do and everything that could go wrong. Perfection is unforgiving and lacks any sense of joy.
We encourage joyous celebrations where you can just relax and naturally be yourselves. When we are being joyous we help others to be joyful. When we are having fun, we are inviting other people to have fun. When we are fulfilling the innate joyful nature we naturally feel our connection with everyone; we know our place and feel at home. Sing at though no one was listening Dance as though nobody is watching Love as though you have never been hurt Wine, music and dance are universal and help us relax and feel part of the community. Music can be woven throughout the whole day, changing the rhythm and moods. Music is usually is only considered for the entertainment in the evening. I don’t feel like writing a poem, instead, I will light the incense-burning vessel filled with myrre, jasmine, and frankincense, and the poem will grow in my heart like flowers in my garden- Student of Hafis Ritual at Matara You guests can participate in the ribbon ceremony at our wishing tree. Tree dedication can be an opportunity each anniversary to renew your vows of. One of the guests at the end of their marriage service, gave each other their first gift – a red rose. They promised to renew their first gift on each of their anniversaries.Think of your lives as a treasure chest. What do you value you would you put in your own treasure chest?
How might you express them at your wedding? Here are some:* If you are having a fairly small wedding ceremony, give each guest an unlit candle. Light the first guests candle. They in turn light the candle being held by the person next to them, and so on until all the candles are lit. Finally, the bride and groom light their unity candle together. This variation is a wonderful way to include your friends and family in supporting the union. * Your Family and friends are an important part of your lives. Honour them with a prayer or blessing, acknowledging and thanking them for their support on your wedding day and in the furture. * Another quaint Quaker is to have all the guests sign the register at a wedding. Take the idea of this custom and have a poster made of your wedding vows or wedding invitation, which the guests can sign as they enter for the ceremony. For those that might have missed out, put the poster up at the entrance to the reception after the ceremony.*At a mexican reception, the guests will form a “circle” around the bride and groom in the shape of a heart. The bridal couple will dance their first dance within the heart.*If you happen to have several generations of guests at your reception, have the DJ play a series of songs starting with the oldest to the youngest. This is a wonderful way to bring back memories of days long ago. *Find out who the oldest married couple is at the reception and present them with the bouquet.*Pass around a blank journal book and have guests write down advice, thoughts and wishes for the happy couple. At the end of the evening, present the journal to the bride and groom. *If this is a second marriage for one or both of you, and if you have children from the previous marriage, a beautiful way to honour your blended family is to set up a photo tree at each guest table as your centrepieces. Feature photo’s of the children, yourselves and some special times you’ve all had together. *Instead of giving your guests a frivolous favour, a lovely idea would be to make a donation to a special charity of your choice then make up certifivates to place at each place setting letting each guest know that a donation was made in their name. For more good ideas please visit: www.wedthemes.com
Comments from the Bride & Grooms who attended Sunday 11th may 2008: Hi,we both really enjoyed it. It was helpful for us on two main counts Firstly just to spend time at Matara and really feel comfortable being there and Secondly, it was great to talk to yourself and other couples about the whole wedding experience in terms of what works, what doesn’t, reasons for getting married. I guess it also gave us an energy booster as well. One can get dragged down in the organisational side of things and the stress and forget that ultimately it will be a hugely enjoyable day. Sitting around talking about it in the place its going to happen re-energized me. Now I’m approaching the remaining tasks for the wedding with enthusiasm rather than a tinge of stress. Thank you, I’d recommend it to other couples looking to get married there.Sorry about the slow reply. I left it to Oksana and she left it to me. Best wishes,Alex Thank you for a wonderful, sharing, nourishing day. Early on, Geoffrey expressed his sense of creating, with clear intent, an environment in which positive things can happen. He used the metaphor of creating a pond. Initially you have mud and a pond liner, but soon there is an abundance of plant life, frogs and newts are attracted, then dragonflies and perhaps even a kingfisher. He then demonstrated this in the fluid unfolding of the day. I do not want a ‘perfect’ wedding, but to create an environment of true celebration in which something special, joyous and memorable can happen!
We talked about relationships -· how tough they can be;· About the expectation we have of our love one that they will make us ‘whole’, healing the hurts we all carry into adulthood. If we hold onto this expectation we are destined to disappointment as this is something each individual must do for him or herself.· About the way in which the things that most attract us to our partners have a flip side and can also be the things that most madden us. In owning such duality, in ourselves as well as others, it may be easier to find acceptance and compassion. We may or may not meet the other couples who attended the workshop again but, for this day at least, we felt we had gained some real friends. There will surely be other Matara wedding workshops and no two will be the same as each will evolve from the people present - their ideas, their energy and their insights – interacting with the Matara ‘magic’. It was a great pleasure and privilege to attend the first. Gina & Paul
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Wedding Feedback
By admin | November 19, 2008
This area is dedicated to couples who have recently had their wedding at The Matara Centre.
We would love to hear about your wedding experience.
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