We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Yareni Alvarado. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Yareni below.
Yareni , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s talk legacy – what sort of legacy do you hope to build?
As a first generation Mexican-American woman, I hope to leave behind a life that is inspirational to other women that have a vision for growth and success. More importantly, that your current life circumstances do not define your future life. My parents were immigrants from Mexico, as a result, I come from humble beginnings. I grew up below the poverty line with low-income resources due to my parents being undocumented during my childhood. The odds were not in my favor due to the circumstances. Life was challenging growing up, but I had big dreams. I made it my life’s mission to become the woman that I am today by relentlessly persevering for the life that I wanted.
My parents’ work ethic instilled in me to believe in myself that I could do great things regardless of where I came from. All that mattered was that I went after my goals, my dreams, and to never give up. So that one day, I could look back to see how far I had made it from my humble beginnings.
I broke cultural norms of what was expected of me to be. I chose not to become another statistic and rather become a success story.
I am the first person in my family to graduate from college and start a business. By starting a business, my world opened up for more opportunities not only for myself but for my family as well. As a wedding officiant, I always say that I’m in the business of love. I always deal with couples that are madly in love with one another and I never get tired of being around the frequency of love. I thoroughly enjoy the life that I have created for myself.
I am also a creative, I am a filmmaker and a photographer. I just recently finished my screenplay, “La Escoba” and I plan on making it a feature film.
If it wasn’t for my mom’s unconditional love and support, I wouldn’t be where I am today. Although my parents are no longer here, I continuously strive to be the woman I didn’t see growing up in business and in creative spaces. I am impacting others, making a difference, and living my successful life as I see fit.
Hopefully, my legacy inspires those that come from nothing that great things are in store for you in the future with persistence, dedication, and a focused mindset that will lead you to a prosperous and successful life.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My name is Rev. Yareni Alvarado and I have been a bilingual wedding officiant at Kiss Me Forever Weddings for 14 years. Most of my clients are bilingual couples that are seeking a wedding officiant to perform a traditional or non-traditional wedding ceremony. I perform custom wedding ceremonies for couples that either want an English, Spanish, or a bilingual wedding ceremony. I have been performing wedding ceremonies for couples from all walks of life that have traveled from all over the world.
Although social media is an asset to creating a brand, word of mouth has been the greatest contributor to my success in the wedding industry. It takes time to build trust while showing the community that you are more than capable of performing under immense stress and pressure on a couple’s big day.
Once you’ve reached the level of performing big wedding ceremonies it’s just a trickle effect of recommendations for your services. When people like what they see, more than likely they’ll be inclined to hire someone that can captivate an audience and perform a custom wedding ceremony flawlessly.
I became a wedding officiant because there was a need for a bilingual wedding officiant in my community. There wasn’t a wedding officiant that dedicated their services to the Latino community due the language barrier. I saw an opportunity to help couples seeking a bilingual wedding officiant.14 years later, I am an award-winning bilingual wedding officiant. I am grateful beyond measure that I get to be a bilingual wedding officiant that serves my community.
I am also a photographer at Yareni Alvarado Photography, I thoroughly enjoy taking food photography and behind the scenes still photography for upcoming films. I love that I can be creative behind the lens while capturing the moment. I became a photographer at the age of 10 when my mom gifted me my very first kodak camera to document family holidays and gatherings. From that point forward, I knew the importance of capturing memories to keep for years to come. My favorite pastime is taking portraiture and nature photography. As a photographer, I am always learning new techniques and furthering my education to be the best that I can be in my craft. A current project that I am a part of as a still photographer, is for a comedy film called “You Know It Ain’t Easy” written and directed by my friend George Adams.
As a filmmaker, I have been an associate producer of various documentary films. I have also done camera work and behind-the-scenes photography for films as well. I am currently working on my own project with my most recent screenplay, “La Escoba” I am making it into a feature film. This is my first film that I have written, will be directing, and producing.
The film is about a Mexican immigrant family that goes through trials and tribulations trying to make it in American society. The father of the family is autistic and struggles to navigate through the family pressure to contribute financially to his family back home in Mexico and in the US. He’s being taken advantage of and the choices that he makes ultimately affect his wife and children.
As a Latina filmmaker, we’ve been long overdue to tell our stories. I am here to represent, inspire, and empower other Latinas to put that pen to paper, type out that screenplay, and go out and make that film. I am currently going through all the phases of the filmmaking process, and I am ready to see my film on the big screen for all to see.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
On May 20, 2013, my family and I survived one of the biggest tornadoes ever recorded in Moore, OK an EF5 tornado. My family and I lived in a two-story home. We sheltered ourselves on the bottom floor inside of my bedroom closet and miraculously we survived over 250 mph winds. The entire house was completely uprooted from the foundation and all that was left was my bedroom closet. The four walls that surrounded us were the only structure left of our two-story home. We lost all of our material possessions that day except for our lives which mattered the most.
I learned that day that life is so precious, and everything can be lost in mere seconds. Even though I lost everything that day I still had my obligations of performing wedding ceremonies. I remember asking my mom a couple of days later to take me to the store to go get some attire for the weddings that I had to perform that upcoming weekend.
I had to learn to control my emotions even though I was clearly suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Learning healthy coping skills and performing under pressure all at once is an overwhelming experience for anyone but I managed to get through it. By facing my emotions head on and practicing healthy stress relievers to build resilience is what helped me tremendously during tumultuous times.
10 years ago, I suffered a concussion and head trauma from being inside of that tornado. I don’t know how I managed but my will to live and to keep moving forward is what led me to where I am today. It has been a painful healing journey to live out my goals and dreams. I won’t give up because I still have my purpose and a mission to fulfil.
From that experience of surviving the tornado, I don’t take anything for granted. I seek out joy everyday, I look for positive quotes to begin my day, and I think positive thoughts even when it feels like my world is upside down. I recommend that you feel your feelings and let them all out. Let nothing linger inside of yourself because it does more harm than good. Life is a marathon and not a race. You may not be where you want to be but every step that you take forward creates momentum to where you want to be. Therefore, know that with time everything gets better even when it doesn’t feel like it. When looking back, you’ll realize how much of a strong and courageous person you really are when you thought otherwise.
Have you ever had to pivot?
My mom recently passed away this year. My mom was everything to me. She was my best friend, my mentor, my coach, my therapist, my stylist, and the only person I could say anything to without judgment. She was also my photographer for Kiss Me Forever Weddings. It’s so funny that she didn’t want anyone to know she was a photographer, and she had such a great eye for taking pictures. However, when at an event people would see her holding the camera and she’d say something along the lines of, “I’m holding the camera for the photographer.” My mom was quite the character and I loved her so much.
This wedding season has been very different for me and it’s going to be like that from here on out. My mom would sit in the back of a wedding venue and watch me perform. After every wedding, my mom would hug me tightly and give me the biggest kiss on the cheek. She would then proceed to tell me how proud she was of me and all my hard work. My mom was my number one supporter of my business and all the creative projects that I have accomplished. Which is why; I always referred to it as “our business” because she did everything for me. I wanted her to reap the benefits of all her hard work and support.
She had the most joyous personality of anyone I’ve ever met in my entire life. My mom showed me what unconditional love was and showed me that every single day of my life. I am so blessed to have experienced my mom in this lifetime. Every day with my mom was “una fiesta” – “a party.”
Once home from work or after having a long day she’d invite you to the table and say “estamos teniendo una fiesta” – “we’re having a party.” You couldn’t say no to this beautiful Mexican woman that was my mom. Her eyes would light up when she would see you eating her home cooked meals.
It didn’t matter what type of day you had, my mom would brighten up anyone’s day with her home cooked meals. She would throw down on some authentic Mexican food. She showed her love through her food and it was a rare occasion if she went out to eat because most food was not up to her standards. Her main complaint was that nothing was made with love. Food was definitely her love language. She showed love in more ways than one, she demonstrated it through her actions, she verbalized it, she made you feel seen and heard, and everything about her was so heartfelt. My mom never held back how she felt about anything, and I loved her so much for it.
Now that my mom is no longer here, I have learned to navigate my life without her and it has been the most difficult thing I have ever had to do. I miss my mom tremendously. I keep my mom’s memory alive by cooking homemade authentic Mexican meals everyday like she used to, and by doing so I feel connected to her.
When I perform wedding ceremonies, I wear a keepsake ring of my mom’s ashes to have her close to me and it brings me comfort. The grieving process has been difficult. However, I am a strong woman built to maneuver through life’s challenges because of my mom’s unconditional love, guidance, teachings, and wisdom,
Lastly, I promised my mom that I would live the rest of my life living it to my fullest potential and that’s what I plan on doing.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.kissmeforeverweddings.com
- Instagram: kissmeforeverweddings
- Facebook: KissMeForeverWeddings
Image Credits
David Alvarado