Pastor Jon Olson

We are very happy to have had Jon officiate our secular wedding. We met with Jon a couple of times before the wedding and really appreciated that he seemed truly interested in us as a couple and in helping to facilitate a smooth-running, entertaining, and memorable ceremony. Prior to the wedding, he provided us with a variety of sample vows from which to choose (or to use as inspiration to write our own), as well as an order of service. He was very organized and extremely responsive to e-mail, which we were very grateful for. On the day of the ceremony, Jon was on time, stuck out the 97 degree heat for our outdoor ceremony, and delivered a relevant, interesting message that was relatable and consistent with our values.

Jon’s prices are a little on the high end (starting at $450, plus $200 extra for a rehearsal, which we opted not to do because it would take us out of budget), but we thought it was worth it for the peace of mind. The only one of his policies that gave me pause was the monetary penalty (i.e., forfeiture of part or all of the deposit) imposed if the ceremony starts more than 15 minutes after the originally planned start time. Fortunately, our wedding started promptly and we immediately received our deposit back at the end of the ceremony, so this was not an issue. However, since weddings are notorious for starting late, this is a policy that should be carefully considered before deciding to book Jon. That said, we were very happy to share our wedding day with Jon and to have him play such a central role.

We met with Jon a couple months back and he helped us walk through all the different pieces of the ceremony, drawing on his work with other couples to offer helpful perspective and advice. My fiance and I are not religious and I am keeping my last name, so we were a little bit concerned about working with asking a pastor to officiate, but Jon was extremely welcoming and totally non-judgmental. He also offers pre-marital counseling, and I would imagine that he would be great at it -- he's a very good listener.

He is a great guy to work with, and a great personality that any nervous couple would want to make their ceremony that much more special and meaningful.