My husband and I chose James Simmons to marry us after one amazing meeting with him - we knew right away he was the right person, there is just no one like him! He loves what he does with such a passion, and that certainly comes through as he brings a couple together in marriage. What a beautiful human being...he is so full of life, laughter and love! He even stayed for our reception, and everyone loved him so much - we had so many people tell us afterwards what a wonderful man he is and how impressed they were with him. However, WE were the ones who were most impressed and grateful beyond words. He made our wedding everything we wanted it to be and yet so much more. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts, James! read more

James was an absolutely great choice for our wedding. He's knowledgeable, personable, patient, and makes you feel at ease in front of everyone during the ceremony. James has lots of examples of prayers, vows, and readings on his website so it makes everything very easy to plan the ceremony. I knew that I would have trouble reading my vows in front of everyone so James was more than happy to read them for us. When going through multiple websites, I noticed that the officiants are always standing next to the couple for their first kiss. James let us know ahead of time that halfway through the ceremony he moves to the side so that it will only be the couple in the first kiss pictures. I would never have thought about this and was so happy when he mentioned it. I'm definitely glad we chose James as the officiant of our wedding, and we would highly recommend. read more

Austin Area Weddings - Officiants Near Me - Round Rock, Texas

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Beware! We booked James 4 months prior to our wedding. After multiple emails and finally meeting with him in person to iron out details, we were really looking forward to having him officiate our wedding. Fast forward two weeks prior to our wedding, our wedding planner called us to let us know she had been hearing some disturbing chatter about James. She had been hearing he was either canceling on people a few days before their wedding or no showing the day of the wedding. Rather than jumping ship, we decided to book a follow up call with James to make sure he was committed to our date and time. We had a pleasant call with him and he confirmed our date/time and details for the ceremony. He never gave any indication that he would not be able to officiate our wedding. Two days before our wedding I got a call from James stating that he "accidentally double booked" another wedding at the same time as ours. He said he would not be able to officiate our wedding but had a stand in he could connect us with. This was the very thing our wedding planner had warned us about. Just two days before our wedding! We felt so foolish for not heeding the red flags our planner had raised. From the sound of it and the reviews I've been reading here and other places, it sounds like this is something he's made a habit of doing. The fact that he flat out lied to my fiancé and I more than once about being available for our wedding and pulled out so close to our wedding is horrible. It was a complete lack of professionalism and regard for us on our very special day. If you're considering booking James, I would highly recommend going with someone else. Someone you won't have to worry about bailing on you last minute. We didn't think it would happen to us, and it did. read more

I'm a COVID bride, so my husband and I were officially married in April of 2020, and just now had our "wedding". We initially hired James way back at the end of 2019. James is very gregarious and you can tell he's good people. He was super professional throughout the whole process, and gave us a great deal. Our guests loved him and he did a great job with the ceremony, considering he couldn't figure out how to wake his ipad up, so ended up winging the entire thing (!) It wasn't exactly what I wanted, but he pulled it off. He's been officiating weddings for a decade now, so he's a pro. Knocking one star off because, 1. Dude, work on your technology skills and 2. Last year, when the shutdowns hit, I actually wasn't able to get ahold of him to officiate our elopement. It all worked out though, and overall I would definitely recommend James. read more

James is very pleasant to be around and seems to be capable of doing a good job, but read all of the reviews and AVOID AT ALL COSTS. He showed up to our wedding rehearsal and did a good job, but when the time came to start our wedding ceremony he never showed up! Multiple calls later he finally answered and said he was a few hours away and wouldn't be able to make it without even an excuse. To make matters worse, it took several weeks to get our money back for him almost ruining our wedding day and he refused to also refund the rehearsal because he actually showed up to that. I just wish we had seen more of the negative reviews before booking because he is clearly incapable of showing up on time and has a record of missing multiple weddings entirely. read more

James has a wonderful energy about him! For a day that is meant to be filled with happiness and smiles, he was just a perfect fit. A number of our guests even commented on his warm presence. We found him very easy to work with and he really helped us feel at ease during our ceremony. read more

James no showed for our wedding and has been a combative and unprofessional irritation as we continue seeking a refund. I would leave zero stars if I could. DO NOT USE THIS PERSON read more

I was really excited to work with Austin Area Weddings. He was kind and professional on the phone and was very willing to plan everything out with me. However, when it actually came to the rehearsal and the wedding, it was a complete mess. The day before the wedding and just before the rehearsal, I get a voicemail saying that he can't wait any longer and has to leave. Well, he apparently double booked and showed up an hour early. Aside from leaving a voicemail, it didn't seem like he made any attempt to ask the staff at the venue where we were. I actually have no idea where he went or if he was actually on the property because he said the building was locked.... Well the main building is always open with a wine bar and cafe so I'm not sure how that works. So that left us scrambling to try and plan out and practice the vows, processional, and recessional with the bridal party during dinner. Oh, and I had left a voicemail for him after but never received a call or text back about the rehearsal. The next day - the wedding day - I'm thinking, stuff happens just blow it off. So I send him a text with the time of the wedding - just to be sure he shows up. All I get is a "thank you" reply back. Ok. So after I get ready and finish taking bridal pictures we are all lined up to start the wedding. Well 10 minutes before the official time and we have no pastor. So we send my father to hurry and grab an iPad with the vows on it so an uncle can stand in and do it. Great. At the official start time, the venue gets a call from the pastor saying that he'll be about 15 to 20 minutes late because his previous wedding ran long. He eventually showed up and we got the wedding going. All this I can handle but here is the kicker - I had asked that he tell people to put away cell phones before the ceremony. Wasn't mentioned. We had written our own vows, it was like he hadn't read through them before. Parts were slightly changed. Our photographer was forced to work around people with phones, and because he was so late we couldn't do all of our wedding portraits after the vows because we there wasn't enough light. I know stuff happens, but dang. ALSO, I asked for a refund back for the rehearsal because the service wasn't performed. After the book keeper asked me to send my receipt in because they couldn't find a record of me paying for it - I got it back - but with the Paypal fee deducted from it. Which was really just the last straw. He did genuinely seem nice and I'm sorry I even have to write this - but during the stress of a wedding, the last thing you should be worried about is if you have an officiant or not. read more

My husband and I hired James Simmons of Austin Area Weddings to officiate our wedding in April 2016. Neither of us are from the Austin area, so searching for a local officiant was a daunting task. I did quite a bit of research and spoke with multiple officiants in the process. While our ceremony had some religious elements and a prayer, it was mostly non-denominational. We both come from mixed backgrounds, so it was especially important to us to work with someone who was willing to be flexible with the ceremony script. Also a major concern was finding an officiant who was down-to-earth and could make us feel at ease. James over-exceeded our expectations in all regards! He was personable and professional all at the same time. Throughout the planning process, he was great about answering questions. He provided multiple example ceremony scripts, but we had the freedom of picking and choosing passages that most resonated with us. He was great about providing input about what would work well as part of the ceremony. The day of the wedding, we were understandably very nervous. We made a few "mistakes", but James was great about easing the tension and cracking a few light-hearted, appropriate, and very welcomed jokes. It added another element to the ceremony, and we often quote some of the one-liners he used. Guests loved him, and we received lots of compliments about his officiating style. I have to say I am so happy that we found James and decided to use his services! We would pick him again in a heartbeat, and totally plan on it if we ever decide to have a vow renewal ceremony (many many years from now!!). Thanks for everything, James! read more

I would highly recommend James for his service, knowledge and expertise. He will give you multiple choices and work with your requests to fit your special day. Don't pass this one up. read more

Rev. James Simmons was referred to my wife and I by my sister, as he was the officiant for her wedding and she had nothing but positive things to say about him. James was fun and very easygoing and easy to talk to. We developed an immediate rapport with James from our very first meeting to discuss ceremony plans. James is very professional, organized, and detailed his experience was apparent from the very beginning. James was also very flexible when it came to what we wanted exactly for our ceremony and his website had great ideas for the ceremony. The wedding went perfectly and James did a fantastic job. James took care of everything we needed on the day of the wedding, as well as filing the marriage license for us. Many of our guests came up to us after the ceremony to let us know how much they enjoyed the officiant and the ceremony. My wife and I would highly recommend James and could not be happier with him as an officiant. read more

I met James at an event before I was engaged. I was immediately drawn to his personality, because he is so extroverted and bubbly! My husband and I aren't religious, so we weren't super picky about who we'd have marry us. Since I had already met him once before, I figured he'd be a good choice! He has hundreds of reviews online with a very high rating, so I felt like I could trust him with my wedding! A few months after booking I noticed several 1 star reviews of him not showing up, or having to fulfill another obligation, etc. I was very close to canceling and finding another officiant, even though I'd lose my deposit. I ended up not canceling, and made my planner aware of my worries. She communicated with him the week of the wedding that I'd like him to arrive a little early, and he did! Our wedding ceremony almost had to be moved inside because of the rain, and we were going to try moving it up 30 minutes to avoid the rain, told all our guests, and James even made it work. We ended up having the ceremony right on the original time, but I absolutely appreciate the dedication James put in to making our day a success. He was originally supposed to be at our rehearsal the night before, but last minute couldn't make it because his son was sick. It wasn't a huge deal, I know how to run a rehearsal, but looking back I wish he had been there. The very end of the ceremony I wanted to line up specifically with the first 30 seconds of our recessional song, and it ended up not going as planned. Not the end of the world, we still had an amazing day, but it would have been nice to have run through that first. read more

James did a great job officiating our wedding! We pushed our wedding 4 days before from March to September and he was very accommodating! He has a good sense of humor and a great speaker! We had so many compliments on how beautiful our ceremony was! Thank you for helping to make our day so special :) read more

Please do not make the same mistake I made and waste money! I used James to plan my wedding and it was an absolute mess. I had to follow up multiple times to get emails answered, he completely ignored other requests, the vendors he recommended were terrible choices (expensive, unreliable and inconvenient). I wasted $1,800 on this man, and he knew I was on a tight budget. Please do not throw your money away like I did. Find a reputable, honest, organized, responsive wedding planner. James is NONE of those things. I had an absolutely horrible experience and I gave him the opportunity to make it right. He declined, saying his wife thought I should have come to him sooner. Totally unprofessional. Please know using James is a waste of time and money and not only didn't help me plan my way, it was a major hinderance and source of stress. Simply disgraceful. He couldn't even get the date right. I have email proof of wrong information, emails ignored, requests ignored. Please do not make the same mistake I did! read more

Dependable outstanding and such a joy to work with. Grooms this is your guy.. Brides he will keep the grooms in accordance with HWHL (Happy Wife Happy Life) James is well spoken and is able to roll with with what ever needs to happen read more

James Simmons was great and affordable to work with for our New Year's Eve wedding! We knew we wanted a church ceremony but also something fun because it was NYE. Well, James did not disappoint. We met with James earlier in the year to learn more about him and also fill him in on what kind of wedding we were looking for. He came with a ton of great ideas and a vibrant personality. Him and his wife are very organized and gave us a lot of options for a short but traditional ceremony. He was great to communicate with along the way and did a great job at our rehearsal as well. I highly recommend James and his team for your wedding ceremony! read more

id not show up to wedding. Please avoid the mistake not to confirm 48 hours prior. Quick to take your money though! I do not recommend!

If I could give negative stars I would. James simmons doesn't deserve even a one star. We will start with how I booked him and his company for numerous items. We booked him to officiate our wedding, do wedding music, photography and videography for our wedding. Paid in full months before wedding even took place. On our visit with him in person I asked him if he could in fact do our rehearsal the day before the wedding. He said yes. A few weeks before the wedding I reached out to him and asked him about the rehearsal time and date and he said he would be doing it because "his daughter was getting married that day" but he NEVER mentioned a daughter or her getting married on our rehearsal date. Day of wedding I got ready and the photographer came in and did her job. I asked James simmons where the videographer was and he told me he was "setting up his equipment in the trees" which I thought was weird but okay. Walking down the isle, no videographer. So my husband asked where the videographer was and James simmons said "he must have just left from the trees without saying goodbye". Seriously? A month goes by and I get my pictures but no video. I reached out to Mr simmons multiple times and he ignored me. Finally I asked the photographer to reach out to him since they work together. She did and he finally gets back to me. The photographer gave me screenshots of Mr simmons and her conversation before my wedding took place where he stated he never hired a videographer for me wedding and there wouldn't be one for my day but never told me and kept my money. I requested a refund and he gives me back a little refund and I had to fight him for even part of that back. Horrible service. Horrible company. Funny how this man says he's "a man of god and a revered" but screws people out of their wedding day. Disgusting and he needs his title stripped from him read more

It's a shame that my wife and I didn't get the same experience as all of these other people who have written positive reviews. Mr. Simmons was a NO SHOW to our wedding. When we contacted him (during our ceremony) he was on his way to a different wedding. He says that his wife double scheduled him. To make matters worse, it took him over two months and about 5 contacts (via email, phone calls, messages, texts) to send us a refund check. Every time I spoke to him, he blamed his wife for not getting the check to us. I am a newly wed, but I would never hide behind my wife for a mistake that I made. I believe in owning your own mistakes and holding yourself accountable. We were very disappointed in his services. We should have gone with someone more reliable. Good luck to anyone else who has schedule for Mr. Simmons with your wedding. read more

We searched and searched for the perfect officiant. we met with several but it didn't feel right until we met James! he was so wonderful to work with the PERFECT officiant... very friendly and just a likable guy. even after the wedding when our marriage license got lost in the mail the DAY i talked to James about it he went down there and fixed everything! read more

After we found out about Rev. James Simmons, we agreed to meet at a local Starbucks to see if he was the officiant for us. We liked him nearly immediately. He's personable and flexible. While there, he took notes on our likes and dislikes, our relationship such as when we met, how long we've been together, family, the type of ceremony we envision, the venue, the style of dress we'd like to see him in, etc. James has a website that has everything I ever wanted to know about wedding ceremonies. He includes samples of the chain of events and many types of ceremonies. We cut and paste together what we wanted to hear at our ceremony and forwarded it to Rev. Simmons about a week before our wedding. We opted not to have him at the rehearsal for two reasons, one, it costs more, and two, we wanted it to be more natural. Rev. Simmons showed up in a nice suit and tie about 15-minutes (as promised) before the ceremony was to take place. His personality was what sold us the most. Throughout the delivery of the ceremony, his friendliness and jovial nature came across to us and our guests. He smiled often, he laughed many times, he fit in as if we'd known him forever and he was an old friend. He threw in little words now and again that didn't go unnoticed. For example, my husband spun me around at the altar when our song ended (just before the ceremony started) and James said "Beautiful." It was just loud enough to hear, but not like an announcement - but most of all, it sounded genuine. Numerous people (and we only had 30) at our ceremony commented on how beautiful the ceremony was. Although we provided James with the layout of what we wanted, he supplied most of the original verbiage to give me guidance and he provided the wonderful delivery of the message. We're very happy to have found him for our wedding. read more

Austin Area Weddings - McKay wedding with Rev. James Simmons - Officiants Near Me - Round Rock, Texas

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WARNING!!! This person was a NO SHOW for our rehearsal On June 11th and similarly to the experience of another person, did not contact us until hours after the fact! This was very embarrassing (did I mention annoying) because as you expect we were standing around like a bunch of confused birds looking at each other and waiting for this guy to show up! He charged us $125 for the rehearsal and upon our request, promised us a refund. After over a month and a half of ignored messages and no refund I was about to take the man to court to get our money back. It wasn't until I notified him of my intent he finally refunded us. Do not be fooled by his charisma or his ability to make you smile when you meet him - he's been doing this a long time. On our wedding day he referred to me as Jason several times during the ceremony [my name is JOEY!] This is someone's wedding, not a birthday party - DO YOUR HOMEWORK! Our ceremony with Mr. Simmons went alright, and the guy rolled with his misnomers, BUT his absence put a lot of stress on my wife the day before our wedding! FYI, the thought of possibly needing an emergency replacement does not go well with a bride the day before her wedding. This does not reduce stress as he promises on his website! Overall if you want to be spared disappointment of feeling like just another buck in this guy's wallet, use someone else. :( read more

James Simmons was a NO SHOW to our wedding rehearsal on June 26, 2015. Due to his lack of communication after this NO SHOW, my husband and I had to spend the morning of our wedding trying to find a replacement. James did show up for the wedding with 6 minutes to spare, but by that time we already had a replacement. He was smiling James all right because he had already been paid in full. He never apologized, never took responsibility, and has never provided us a refund. Read ALL of the reviews on this site. This was not his first no show and I'm sure it won't be his last. The next NO SHOW might be your wedding if you're willing to throw the dice. read more