I will join the resounding STAY AWAY from this company. Unlike others, I didn't follow my gut and cancel their services before it was too late - and it ended up being a train wreck.
Ron, as all have stated, was terrible at communication. He would not respond for literally over a month, and then sporadically call me a LOT (even called the main line at my work/office and left several messages stating what company he was from which made me look terrible at work). It got to a point where I had to send an "are you still my officiate??" Email because of his lack of responding at points. And after all of that, as well as me doing all of the coordinating myself because he was so unresponsive and his vendors were all a little wonky, he had the nerve to ask me to pay an extra fee for the "extra work he'd put in". Needless to say I did not agree to that.
When we finally arrived on Kauai a few days before the wedding, we had a meeting with Ron, not Suzanne, as others have stated. (Let me also mention that we found out a week or two before That Suzanne, not Ron, was going to be marrying us, which he had never mentioned.) He went over general details of the ceremony, but really didn't have answers to some important questions that we had (what are the vows, what is said in the prayer). I made it clear that I was not comfortable with praying during the ceremony as I'm not religious AT ALL, and he made it seem as if it weren't an option to cut it out. He just kept saying its "spiritual and non denominational). He also said that they don't do a rehearsal (even though their ceremony is not short, nor easy to navigate as we found out on our wedding day). After the meeting we felt pretty uneasy and called Ron and asked to meet with Suzanne, since she would be marrying us. He instead put her on the phone, and she went through details. She made us feel a little better and sounded sweet over the phone so we didn't think about it until a few days later @ the ceremony.
That's where the train wreck comes in. Here is an overview of the major issues.
1. She stood in front of us, blocking the view of many of our guests. And immediately went into a "bow your head and pray" which I CLEARLY stated several times I did not want.
2. She seemed nervous, stumbled over her words - really seemed like it was her first wedding!
3. Did an awkward "put your faces together and feel each other's breath" thing that was not comfortable and we had no idea was going to happen.
4. After pronouncing us Mr and Mrs, didn't tell us what to do and seemed to signal us to walk out, so we did. But immediately after Ron came to tell us we had to go back for a rose petal ceremony and toast. Which I declined (going back down the aisle, SERIOUSLY?) and said she can come with us to the beach to take a group photo.
5. When we got to the beach, she brought up rudely how this was "unexpected" and kept going on about it until myself and my photographer shut her down.
6. Awkwardly followed us back to the cocktail hour at our venue and then tried to do the toast, putting our witnesses on the spot saying they had to say something (even though we had toasts planned for later)
7. Was not direct with explaining the marriage certificate to us. I "signed" as directed, and she told me it needed to be legible. Who's signature is legible? Then her and Ron proceeded to bicker over it, and had to read the marriage license instructions out loud to figure out what to do. (This is all in front of our guests). In the end I had to cross my signature out and sign my new name in cursive. Seriously, guys.
All in all - DO NOT BOOK THEM if you want your wedding to be special and run smoothly. An officiate can make or break a ceremony, and they definitely didn't "make" ours. They are disorganized and honestly made a mess of ceremony, which was a major bummer. I have made it clear to the other vendors I've worked with to steer couples away from them if they hear they are being considered. read more
