AnitaWeds

Anita was an absolute delight to work with. She made us feel so at ease about the most important aspect of our wedding. She gained insight into who we are as individuals and as a couple, and while recognizing our values, created a unique wedding ceremony that truly reflected our personality! All of our guests were wowed with her charisma and how personal she made our ceremony. They commented on how much it felt like "us." We couldn't imagine having it any other way!

Anita rocked it out at our wedding!! She was fantastic and really truly made our ceremony very special. All throughout the night we heard, "I have never been to a more beautiful ceremony." This is because of all her hard work, thoughtful touches, and positive energy! We could't have picked a more thoughtful and sincere person! Also, there was an issue with our marriage license that she found and took care of without Mathew and I having to lift a finger (other than going to get a new license...but she called, directed, etc.). We would recommend her with complete enthusiasm and 110% guarantee!

Anita promises a personalized service and delivers with good humor. When at first we didn't give her a lot to work with, she wrote a beautiful service for us, then almost completely rewrote it once we figured out what we wanted. More than one relative asked if she was a friend of ours because she spoke so intimately and warmly of us. She's got great comic timing--people laughed! at a wedding! and she doesn't have the religious baggage of other officiants we interviewed (she's happy to give you as much or as little religion as you want). It was hard for us to focus on the ceremony in the weeks before the wedding, and she was nothing but patient with us. She's just a genuinely nice person who's very good at what she does. Our guests were gushing about our ceremony afterward, and still are. Friends who are getting married this year have asked for her name. A coworker's date who met us during pre-dinner cocktails said she felt like we were old friends of hers. We have no regrets about choosing Anita. Thanks, Anita!

When I first signed the contract to get married at the Shedd Aquarium, I realized I was not allowed to have a priest / pastor marry us. While this wasn't a huge deal, I didn't know how to go about finding someone. My wedding planner, Lauren from LOLA Event Productions recommened Anita - one of the best decisions I could have made.

Anita was so amazing and catered to whatever thoughts / ideas Matt and I could come up with. She will do traditional vows, non-traditional vows, etc. - we wrote our own vows. She would help me with wording when I got stuck, needed the vows to flow better and even gave me really good advice for the big day. She told me to not be afraid to pause if I am crying to much while reading the vows, and I still think of this advice to this day when I watch my wedding video.

She came to our rehearsal dinner and really had a blast with my family - everyone loved her! She was so amazing I wanted to give her a special gift. The first time we met Anita, somehow she mentioned that she loved octopus - so I found an octopus keychain at Coach for her.

After the wedding she even sent us our vows all nice and laminated - a wonderful keepsake. I will definitely be recommending her to future brides!

Anita was absolutely AMAZING! Of all the vendors we used for the wedding she was definitely one of our favorites. From the first time we met at a coffee house to the day she performed our ceremony we had absolutely zero issues with her. She really made an effort to get to know us as individual people, and of course as a couple. The ceremony she wrote for us was phenomenal! A month before the wedding she sent us her first draft, and was more than willing to change anything we wanted till it was absolutely perfect. We weren't exactly sure what we wanted to use as a unity ceremony so she went through some options for us, and we chose what we liked best. We ended up choosing a unity ceremony we had never seen performed, nor had most of our guests. It was awesome. We got so many compliments from everyone about how enjoyable the ceremony was, and we have Anita to thank for that! We love Anita, and will definitely be keeping in touch with her even though the wedding is done! We would DEFINITELY recommend her to anyone needing a celebrant for their big day! Thank you Anita, from the bottom of our hearts; you made our special day extraordinarily amazing!

Anita was awesome! We got so many compliments on our ceremony. We were able to bring both of cultures together in a unique and loving way. It was nice to be able to assist in creating our ceremony with Anita. We would strongly recommend her, she is hardworking and very easy to work with.

I can't begin to tell all of you couples out there how wonderful Anita truly is! By the time your wedding rolls around you feel like Anita is part of the family and it simply would not have been the same had she not performed our ceremony. From the moment you meet with Anita she makes it clear that it is all about YOU, she wants your day to be as special as you can dream it to be. Anita takes the time necessary to really get to know each of you and she builds your ceremony from what YOU tell her. She responds back to any questions/concerns just as fast as she can. I never waited more than a day to hear back from her. She cares about making your day wonderful. She truly is a gifted woman and you should not consider any other officiant to perform your ceremony, she is your lady!

Anita was absolutely wonderful to us! She was helpful and understanding with what we wanted to do with our ceremony. She gave us ideas when we needed guidance and listened to our desires and incorporated them into our ceremony. I am so grateful to have had her be part of our special day! My husband and I are not really religious, but we still wanted to have a meaningful ceremony. Anita truly made it a wonderful celebration of love and joy for us and our families. Guests from religious to non-religious told us afterwards what a beautiful ceremony it was. That meant a lot to us to have been able to include everyone there at our wedding. My husband and I are so happy that we chose Anita to officiate our wedding ceremony!
Rachael & Jeremy -married 8/13/11-

Anita was largely repsonsible for giving us a most memorable and happy day. Her ability to capture just the right words to describe the relationship and wedding day is a true gift. she is organized, accessible and open to most any suggestions or requests from brides/grooms. But also if you are little usure of how the ceremony should go, she has tons of information and suggestions to guide you in your indecision. So glad we found her!!

Anita worked with our ideas for the ceremony and helped us include traditions from our backgrounds. She also helped us navigate some sensitive family issues. On our wedding day she made our entire wedding party feel at ease.

She gave us a beautiful and meaningful ceremony.

Thank you Anita!

Anita wrote a beautiful ceremony for us. We received so many compliments after the wedding, telling us how personal the ceremony felt and how much they learned about us as a couple. Anita was a blast to work with. :)

Our officiant was absolutely WONDERFUL! We were so fortunate to find her for our wedding. We had a destination wedding in Chicago from the west coast. We had a limited amount of time to visit Chicago to complete all of the planning for the wedding. Each time we planned to come to Chicago for planning, Anita was available to meet with us. She also was available to talk to us via the telephone or by e-mail anytime we had questions.
Our ceremony was unbelievable! People stopped us in our hotel and commented that it was the most beautiful ceremony they had ever witnessed. Every detail was exactly how we envisioned it. Anita helped us to incorporate details that were culturally and spiritually as diverse as we are as a couple. She made the ceremony a beautiful custom blend that was absolutely perfect for us!
I would not change a thing about our wedding! In fact, when we renew our vows, I can't imagine doing it without Anita!!

Thanks so much!

Absolutely fantastic. We felt and still feel like she's a friend for life!!!!

Anita is amazing!! She is so thoughtful and talented!! We still have friend and family saying how beautiful n personal our ceremony was!! She made our day more magicalthen I thought possible!! You will not find anyone better!!

Anita was the celebrant for our wedding at Blumen Gardens a few weeks back and she did such an amazing job. Anita will listen to you and will find out what type of ceremony you want. She will ask you questions to see what kind of person you are and she will make your ceremony deeply personal. We received many comments from our guests on the ceremony, saying it was both unique and moving and we have Anita to thank. Anita is very friendly and organized, she honestly felt more like a friend to us. She even helped me to calm my nerves right before the ceremony began! Of all the things involved in planning a wedding the ceremony is the most important part and you need someone you can trust to help you put together a ceremony that is a true reflection of you and your partner. Anita was this person for us and we are so thankful that we had her there with us! Thank you, Anita!

Anita is the perfect mix of professionalism and personality. We wanted an officiant who would really start to understand us, and she took the steps to assure that she did. She told "our story" beautifully and gave us the perfect ceremony. Everyone appreciated and admired her light-hearted nature and wonderful way with words. Our ceremony was uniquely ours and ours alone, and we have Anita to thank for that.

My husband and I were looking for a creative celebrant and we definitely found that in Anita! She had a ton of creative and unique ideas for our ceremony and we loved the versatility of choosing what we specifically wanted for our special day. She spent so much time working on our ceremony and it was evident as we received so many wonderful compliments! Anita is so flexible and dedicated to really getting to know the bride and groom she is working with. We couldn't have asked for a better celebrant and we are so thankful that she was part of our wedding day!

We were so lucky to find Anita! She was helpful, knowledgeable, kind, and professional. She allowed us to customize our perfect ceremony, which was so very important to us. We met twice and emailed numerous times to get every detail just right. My guests commented on how personal and unique our ceremony was. I recommend Anita Vaughan if you want this part of your wedding experience to be worry-free!

Anita was absolutely amazing and was integral to making our wedding reflect the type of people we are. We told her that we wanted an intimate, genuine, and lighthearted service without many of the traditions that usually accompany wedding ceremonies. It was not an easy request. She worked with us until the words of the service were perfect and, when the big day finally came, her oratory presence and delivery exceeded even our high expectations. At least 10 guests came up to me and commented on how wonderful Anita was. If you’re on the fence about which Officiant to go with, choose Anita; she’s brilliant and I am supremely confident that she’ll make your service as special as she made ours.

I chose AnitaWeds because of Anita's warmth and humor. She put my husband and me at ease, and made the whole process simple and relaxed. We loved her flexiblity and her ideas. We never felt pressured or that we were just another couple. Everyone at our renewal ceremony commented on how beautiful and personalized the ceremony was. I would highly recommend her!

Anita was amazing in performing our pagan/traditional wedding! The ceremony was perfect in being very "us" but also being beautiful that our families loved it. I would very much recommend Anita to anyone having any kind of wedding!

Anita was one of the best and easiest parts of arranging our wedding. She was friendly, super-helpful, and really seemed to care about us getting exactly the ceremony we wanted. She delivered in full, and I'd suggest her to anyone.

Anita was a wonderful officiant for us. When we first met we discussed many possibilities for ceremony choices. We decided on a hand blessing and a stone ceremony. My husband and I came up with an idea for a stone blessing which included our children, ages 15, 20, and 22. Our guests held rose quartz stones which were collected and put in a bowl. On top we all put in a stone which represented each of us. Together these stones represented our new family resting on the blessings of our friends and family. Anita was great in making it all come together. She interviewed us and wrote a ceremony that was one of a kind, heartfelt and warm. After everyone asked about her and said she was great. She was beautiful and present and genuine the day of the ceremony. We highly recommend Anita.

Anita was wonderful! She was so patient and flexible with our hectic schedules leading up to the wedding, even when my family was 2 hours late to the 1 hour rehearsal- she never stopped smiling. Her presentation was described by several of our guests as "poetry," and we have been complimented on our fresh and unique ceremony, too. She brought tears to my eyes during our ceremony and really helped us personalize EVERYTHING. Everything was wonderful and we really enjoyed working with her!

I cannot say enough positive stuff about Anita, she was absolutely the best choice for us and we were so glad to have her. We found her in the last two or three weeks before the wedding, and even under this insane time crunch I don't think we ever had any doubt that she was going to take care of us and our needs, which she absolutely did. I completely trusted Anita and we feel very lucky to have had her as our officiant. She was worth the wait! Anita is among other things friendly, open, approachable, sincere, warm, professional, fun and thoughtful. She was very quick with our emails back and forth, which unfortunately (because of my busy schedule, not her fault) we had to do a lot of our communication through. She was very flexible with our schedules and in keeping us on track with our "homework". She was great at being our guide though the entire pre-ceremony process: writing our vows, tweaking them, finding out what we wanted to convey and what WE wanted to say in our ceremony. I was so elated when we finally did meet her because once we did we DEFINITELY knew that her warmth and sincerity was a very real thing. She made us feel comfortable from the start, this I chalk up to her just being a very real and sincere person. She also completely understood that we had a lot of stuff on our minds concerning the wedding and at no point did I ever feel that she contributed to our stress. We did not have a religious ceremony and Anita went above and beyond in helping us create a ceremony that had meaning for US. Before the ceremony Anita spent some time with me in making sure I felt prepared and ready for the show :). She gave my dad some pointers and told me repeatedly that everything was fine, and in place and that I could take my time until I was ready to go. She was so calm and I really appreciated her attention to my nerves. We had so many compliments on the ceremony and everyone who we spoke with said that you could really tell that there was a lot of love and care involved, and we totally agree! I was actually sad to see her leave once she had to go, and I don't know if any other brides feel that way when their officiant leaves, but I doubt it. We give her one hundred gold stars! Thank you Anita!

My husband and I separately answered a lot of questions about ourselves, and Anita added structure and wove it into a ceremony. The result was uniquely ours-- we wanted something lighthearted, secular, short and sweet. Judging from the comments from our guests, the ceremony reflected just what we wanted. We were very pleased with her professionalism. She was on time for all our meetings and did a great job. Thanks, Anita!

Anita was by far one of the best choices we made for our wedding! She created the most personal and perfect ceremony that I had ever heard- she by far exceeded any of our expectations! She responded to our wishes and did everything we asked and offered suggestions in areas we were unsure about. She was such a pleasure to work with and I will be recommending her to all my friends!

Anita created the exact wedding we wanted - something personal, warm, and meaningful. After meeting her, we knew she "got" us and would be a great addition to our day. We would recommend her to anyone!

Anita was wonderful to work with! She listened closely to our ideas and worked with us to incorporate them into a personal, meaningful and unique wedding ceremony. My husband and I come from different backgrounds and traditions, as he is Muslim from India and I am Jewish from the US. Anita spent time to understand what elements from our individual backgrounds were important and built them into a beautiful ceremony. We worked on the questionnaire she gave us, and then she built a structure for our ceremony. She wrote the story and put together the rituals as the ceremony got tightened up through iterations and edits. It felt like a collaboration as she guided us through the process. She was very open and responsive to our ideas. The ceremony was beautiful, and I have not stopped hearing raves from my friends and family. Everyone felt that they were part of something special. Many people have commented that it was the most beautiful ceremony they had ever seen. We feel honored to have worked with Anita - it was one of the best wedding planning decisions we made (aside from choosing to get married to each other).

Anita was beyond ideal. From the moment we met her, we knew she was the one for us. She's incredibly humorous, clever, and sincere; a perfect match for us. When it came time to prepare our ceremony, we really felt her personal touch. I would best describe it as if a close friend was presiding over the ceremony. Maybe it was because Gizelle and I are just so awesome we made the job too easy for her.  But it is more likely that Anita knows what she does is of significant importance to those she is officiating for. She knows not every couple is the same and not every ceremony is going to come from a cookie cutter. She knows and she delivers. She�ll give you whatever you like in a ceremony and help you along the way if you are unsure about anything. I made mention that we really felt like a friend was officiating, and that couldn�t be more true. We would have had it no other way. There is no doubt in our mind Anita was a key component to making our wedding day the greatest day of our life.

Anita is very personable and professional. She has a wonderful way with words and made our ceremony that much more special!

anita performed our service just as we asked.
she took the time to talk with us about what we wanted in our service
she always returned our calls promptly, when we had questions that needed answered
she made our wedding day a very special day.

We had more compliments on our ceremony than I can even count. Words cannot explain how beautiful, amazing, and "so us" our ceremony was. She gave us everything we wanted in a ceremony, it was funny, joyful, and about us...people laughed and cried...it was perfect. We had numerous family members come up to us and ask us how long Anita has known us, because she wrote the perfect ceremony for us. I could not have asked for a better celebrant and she was incredible. Anita, thank you so much for making our day that much more special!!!!

Anita worked with us to create a personalized wedding ceremony. Several guests said it was the most beautiful ceremony they had attended!

Anita was great! She not only gave us an awesome and very personal ceremony, she also made it super easy! Communicating basically only through email and her quick responses made it all stress free! We got many compliments on how unique our ceremony was and people are still talking about it today. I would recommend her to anyone, she gave us everything we asked for and more and on top of it was very personable, friendly and professional! Thank you for making our ceremony not boring an something to talk about!

Thanks to Anita the ceremony was everything we hoped for and more. She helped us getting two cultures and languages all working well together in one celebration of our love and joy and made this a truly memorable moment in our wedding day.
Her German skills were an added bonus we had not even been looking for. We received lots of compliments from our guests. We would definitely recommend her.

Anita takes the time to really get to know a couple, to understand what is important to them in a ceremony and to make it all as beautiful and meaningful as possible. Our ceremony was amazing. I would highly recommend Anita to anyone looking to have a one of a kind, truly personalized experience.

Anita was absolutely perfect for our wedding day. We loved the ceremony she put together based on the great questionnaire she provides, and she was so helpful in guiding us to a reading and vows that suited us perfectly. A number of guests said that one of the highlights of the day was the highly-personal, perfectly-tailored ceremony that Anita performed, and we are so happy with the wonderful choice we made in having Anita as our officiant. Highly recommended!!

Anita made everything very easy

There is a reason Anita is a very busy wedding celebrant: it's because she's awesome! She's smart and funny and has great presence, and she applies all that to your ceremony. She's truly interested in your story and in how to bring it to life through your ceremony. She's great at developing meaningful rituals. And she really cares about you and your big day. She's one of my most valued mentors!

I highly recommend Anita for anyone looking for an open-hearted, genuinely loving officiant for their wedding. Anita is the kind of person you just WANT to be around. Her spirit is so uplifting and joyful, and she is very professional as well! I can't wait to work with her again!

I don't endorse too many vendors, only the ones I truly like and Anita is definitely one of them :) She will make sure your wedding ceremony is a reflection of you as a couple, and she will put her own fun spin on it. She really cares about the couples and the ceremony, and this really shows. I'm looking forward to working with Anita again in the future :)

Anita is a caring person that will give you what you want! I worked with her on a Wish Upon a Wedding project and saw how truly sincere she was with our client. A true to life ceremony- If you are looking for an officiate contact AnitaWeds!

Anita is an incredibly creative Wedding Celebrant! When she officiates a wedding, she does it so effortlessly, one does not realize how many hours of work she has put into creating the couple's personalized ceremony to make it flow so seamlessly. As she willingly mentored me, I was honored to be able to learn from one of the best!

I had the pleasure of working with Anita this past weekend and couldn't wait to share the praise for this special officiant. Anita was super! She arrived early and prepared me and my assistant photograhers with our own printed itinerary of the ceremony. Usually it's my job to hunt down an officiant prior to the ceremony and many are so busy coming in late from one wedding and rushing to another that I hardly have a moment to introduce myself - let alone have some one so kind as Anita to explain the intricacies of this couple's ceremony and how she specially crafted meaningful moments catered to the bride & groom. Anita even pointed out several key opportunities for perfect photos during her service and offered to caution the bride and groom so they didn't stand in front of their sand ceremony so that premium photos could be captured without blocking our documentation. She related personal stories to the couple's lives like she was part of the family. Guests had tears in their eyes from Anita's warm blessing. I would highly recommend Anita if you're looking for a personable, memorable, once-in-a-lifetime ceremony officiant!

We photographed a wedding at the top of the iconic Hancock Building in Chicago, and Anita's smooth and professional officiating of the ceremony perfectly complimented the couple's wedding theme at impressive heights!

She is a delightful person and seems to have the knack at making couples feel at ease on their wedding day. Since then we regularly recommend Anita to couples that visit us at our studio and ask for suggestions for officiants.

Anita officiated a wedding in which I was the photographer and the program she led was wonderful, personable and intimate. I always suggest her services to couples who are looking for an official who is knowledgeable in different religions and can perform a wedding service perfectly.

Anita was fun and flexible to work with, she understood the importance of working with the deejay, photo and video team to make sure that all details were captured and the event flowed. Her service was customized and thoughtful. We enjoyed working with her.