Wedding Your Way

Trying to find an officiant for our wedding who we trusted and felt understood us was a daunting task. We were so thankful when Janine (our wedding planner) recommended we talk to Len Smolen. He was the perfect choice for us.It meant a lot to me at our first meeting when he told us that it was important that our ceremony be a reflection of us, and that he did not actually make us married. He emphasized that, yes, he says the words and signs the papers, but that truly a marriage is developed between 2 people and nothing that he does magically makes us married. Len has a very calming presence and a voice that soothes. He gave us about 30 pages of possible wording for our ceremony and we were invited to pick what we wanted to use and edit our little hearts away. We picked and chose sentences from all over the place and made up some stuff of our own and the resulting ceremony wording made us both really happy. It was icing on the cake that Len was by far one of the most affordable officiants we talked to. But now that I think about it, he was the only person we talked to who was more interested in what we had to say than what he had to say. Len made a point of telling us that he cared about who we are as a couple, and wanted us to be comfortable. He also told us up front that he does same-sex ceremonies, which I thought was great, but apparently he's had some brides who didn't approve. Buggers to them.

Len was incredibly helpful & patient with my present husband & me while we were planning our wedding (1-11-09). First, and at the time most importantly, he worked with our budget limitations. Second he has the warmest, supportive, & calm personality that really inspires confidence on your wedding day. Third, he's very flexible, even allowing my honey to write the entire ceremony. We didn't have a rehearsal dinner, so about 1/2 hour before the ceremony he spent about 5-10 minutes with my bridal party & me to organize procedures & positions. We ended up looking like we knew what we were doing, when in reality it was all outlined last minute. =D Later that evening, guests told me how much they loved his presence & the ceremony. He has a speaking voice that I can only describe as 'it reaches out & touches your heart'. I would strongly recommend him to anyone.

He really means "wedding your way"! There were other officiants that we met with and it need to be pretty much their way or no way at all. Len really means wedding your way. He is very nice and easy going, his wife Kathleen is pretty cool too.