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5/5 stars
December 31, 2012
We wanted a simple elopement and Joan officiated beautifully. We felt so welcome in her home even with our toddler running around like mad. It was a lovely ceremony that exceeded our expectations. We are so happy that we chose Joan and Your Personal Ceremony. It was perfect, they even took photos for us.
Marielle M.
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5/5 stars
December 2, 2012
Joanie married us on July 7th 2012. She helped us organize our thoughts into a very personal and intimate ceremony. It was lovely and we were very happy with how she handled our wedding. Thanks so much!
Ausa H.
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5/5 stars
September 1, 2012
Pros: Accommodating, Calm, Professional, Open-Minded, Sliding-Scale Fee
In February 2012, I contacted Your Personal Ceremony after finding their website online. I was looking for a non-religious officiant for my wedding who was still spiritual and familiar with ritual. Response was prompt from Joanie and soon we set up an appointment to meet with her at her home. The sliding scale fee made it possible for us to afford having the kind of wedding ceremony we wanted. When creating our ceremony she had a wealth of ideas but remained open to anything we wanted to do. She quickly responded to any email of questions or requests to make changes. She kept us organized and on track with deadlines and reminders. On the day of the wedding she came fully prepared and was a calming center for me. I was completely terrified of getting in front of people and right before the ceremony she came and held my hands and did a mini-meditation exercise with me and gave me great advice which really pulled me together and helped me keep it together during the whole ceremony. Overall, my experience with Your Personal Ceremony was positive. My only regret is that I wasn't able to get to know Joanie more- likely due to my own aloofness. We received so many compliments on the ceremony! Everyone said it was one of the best and most unique weddings they had ever been to. I will definitely use Your Personal Ceremony again for any ceremonial needs that I have in the future.
Britta W.
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5/5 stars
August 5, 2012
Joanie was wonderful. She helped us identify the parts of the ceremony that we felt most strongly about, and by providing us with thoughtful suggestions to personalize those parts, she helped create a memorable ceremony that truly reflected our beliefs and traditions. We were hesitant about working with an officiant over long-distance (we don't live in Oregon), but through phone conversations, email exchanges, and one in-person meeting, Joanie made us feel comfortable and confident that the ceremony we were creating with her was personal and meaningful. I would definitely recommend Your Personal Ceremony, especially for interfaith couples who wish to include in their ceremony elements from different faiths.
A. J. F.
Thanks so much for the review and hope you had a fantastic honeymoon!
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5/5 stars
January 10, 2012
We first met Joanie and Yehuda, in the fall of 2009, at their home for tea and conversation. We talked about how to create the perfect Jewish/Episcopalian ceremony, a process I thought would be difficult – one, because I had no idea how to begin two, because we lived out of state and three, because we were not extremely religious. The two assured us that they had many ideas for us and not to worry – we would come up with something that made sense and suited our situation. Over the course of a few months, we created a ceremony over email, and revised it with Joanie a few times. On the day of our wedding, Yehuda officiated and delivered a beautiful ceremony, which was perfect for us. Our friends and family also loved it and still talk about it to this day.
If you are looking for two warm individuals who are easy to be with and can help you create a perfect day to remember, you must call Joanie and Yehuda. They will make the process easy and you will enjoy their company in the process.
Monica C.
thanks so very much for your review!
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5/5 stars
November 18, 2011
Working with Joanie on our wedding was absolutely amazing! Joanie co-officiated with my husband's family's pastor and it could not have gone better. She also reviewed the language on our ketubah for us, which I very much appreciated as we have it displayed in our home. Joanie was diligent, extremely attentive, positive and incredibly helpful every step of the way. She helped us create a ceremony that was a perfect blend of Judaism and Christianity while not being too long or religious for us. After sitting through a number of weddings the year before ours that had long and cookie cutter ceremonies Joanie really helped us make the ceremony a unique and individualized experience. 3 years later my husband and I still get compliments from family and friends about our ceremony.
Jane W.
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5/5 stars
November 15, 2011
Joanie and Yehudah performed a wonderful interfaith and inter-nationality ceremony for us during the summer of 2011. They were great to work with as we wove together Jewish, Christian, American, and Caribbean traditions into one coherent ceremony (all while keeping it short and sweet!). We were also able to put together a ceremony that pleased both our religious and non-religious friends and family.
We would highly recommend them to any couple looking for a highly customized, completely personal wedding ceremony. Their experience provides enough structure to ease the ceremony development process along, while retaining enough flexibility to let the personality of the couples to truly shine through. You won’t be disappointed!
Ben L.
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5/5 stars
November 15, 2011
My husband Corey and I had a wonderful experience with Your Personal Ceremony’s. When we first started looking for Officiant’s, we we’re both on the same page that we needed to find one that understood both of us. We are not religious and NOT anywhere close to traditional. We were planning to have a 1920’s Themed Wedding and wanted to dance down the aisle. When we first met with Joanie, we knew she was the one!! She was sooo excited to help plan our Ceremony, she was even excited to dress in her 1920’s attire. We met with Joanie about 2 months before Our Wedding to finalize all the details when we found out that she loved to swing dance, which was PERFECT because we needed help with our FIRST DANCE!! Not only did she help out but she Choreographed our entire dance. If you knew my husband you would think 2 months to perfect our first dance would be impossible!! But Joanie was such a big help and because of her our FIRST DANCE was sooo AMAZING!! It was the talk of the Wedding!! I would recommend Your Personal Ceremony to anyone looking forward to having a wonderful wedding ceremony.
Joanie was such a joy to work with….
THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!
Kayla Kohler
Kayla K.
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5/5 stars
November 9, 2011
Joanie took our last minute wedding and made it calm and collected. She provided us with great options over the phone and was well prepared on our wedding day even though we were not. Her calmness was much appreciated through the chaos of the day. Having an experienced officiant made all the difference!
Paola B.
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5/5 stars
November 4, 2011
We had a wonderful experience with Your Personal Ceremony. We met with Joanie and Ana early on to discuss what we wanted in a ceremony, what was important to us and what had drawn us together in the first place. Reminiscing about the early days of our relationship was a delightful highlight during the wedding planning! They were with us every step of the way helping to put together a ceremony that reflected us perfectly. We are not religious people and drew on imagery of the Earth and our community-- they helped us incorporate these things. On our wedding day, Ana conducted our ceremony with grace, humor, and spirituality that made us feel "really married". On the practical side, YPC was a pleasure to work with and they worked well with our other vendors to make the whole day a great success.
Eowyn C.
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5/5 stars
October 30, 2011
I enjoyed the ceremony you performed for Richard and Olesya on June 1, 2010 at Ray's Boathouse, Seattle, WA. It was very touching.
Arline A.
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5/5 stars
October 28, 2011
Being a couple of mixed nationality and religion, our challenge in planning our wedding ceremony was finding an officiate who could provide a non-denominational, yet spiritual, ceremony. The ceremony not only had to satisfy both of us, but also our (very religious) immediate family members. We interviewed a number of officiates, but as soon as we met Joanie and Yehudah we felt a connection. They were completely professional at our initial meeting and came prepared with sample ceremonies and were full of helpful ideas and inspirations. They immediately understood our situation, and took the time to get to know both of us individually and then how we fit as a couple. This helped them to guide the ceremony planning process, and over the course of a few months through email communication we put together the perfect plan. They truly want you to create “your personal ceremony” by using their expertise and combining it with your vision. They also conduct the Rehearsal, which was an extremely helpful event. My husband and I were able to practice everything that was involved with the ceremony, discuss timing, and it allowed us to be completely comfortable on our wedding day. We were lucky to have both Joanie and Yehudah as officiates for the wedding, and the dynamic of the two of them combined with their meaningful and perfectly timed delivery of the ceremony was amazing. The ceremony was everything we could have dreamed of, and Your Personal Ceremony is responsible for that. We will never forget this most cherished part of our wedding day.
Thank you so very much Joanie and Yehudah, we will never forget you!
Jayne & Armando Tirado
Jayne T.
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5/5 stars
October 22, 2011
We struggled all around Portland looking for the perfect interfaith wedding officiant. We asked christians and jews alike to design a wedding that would support both of us. We found Joanie and Yehudah after, time and time again we were pointed in their direction. We are beyond happy with the ceremony that they helped us put together. I even spent a quiet afternoon in their home, having a cup of tea with Joanie working out my personal vows.
They are a wonderful couple who put a lot of attention into exactly what you are looking for. Three years later, people still talk about how wonderful it was.
Cat S.
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5/5 stars
October 19, 2011
Joanie did a wonderful job officiating at our wedding. She was very warm and personable and respected our wishes while giving us some great ceremony ideas. We highly recommend her for your special day!
Sara F.
