I wish I had attended a wedding she officiated before hiring her for mine. My venue had her listed…read moreas a preferred option and said she was good. I spoke to a friend, and he said she married him and he was happy enough with her services, so we went with her.
My fiancé and I met with her, and she asked maybe 6 questions about us, and said she would write our ceremony and send us a copy to review. When we got the copy, I thought it was a joke. When I realized this wasn't sent in error, I felt physically ill. It wasn't personalized to reflect us or our relationship at all, the flow was horrible, and I believe it was a cut and paste job from a few internet sources. We opted to write our own ceremony, which was heartfelt and definitely represented us and our personalities. I was hesitant to send it and ask that it be used instead of what was written for us, but Montana agreed to read it for us.
Fast forward to our wedding day. Montana showed up and appeared to be irritated. She asked where the marriage license was and asked if the money was in the envelope. She asks for a $100 deposit, but wants the rest paid in cash on the wedding day. I can only assume this is to avoid taxes on the other $200+ we paid. I can't come up with any other logical reason cash payment would be mandatory.
During the ceremony, Montana told me I was standing in the wrong spot, even though venue staff told me which side of the altar to stand on. During the ceremony, I couldn't listen to what was being said. It wasn't because I was worried I was going to get emotional. It was because she was reading it like she was reading a children's story. Crazy inflection every few words. I had several guests comment about it after the wedding, and it wasn't to say that it was well done. When the ceremony was over, she quickly left. When we got our wedding photos, I discovered that in every single photo, she had RBF. She looked like someone made her drink a cup of lemon juice.
I don't know if the attitude is typical, she was having a bad day, was unhappy with the little bit of humor in our ceremony, or was not happy to do a same sex wedding (which she previously said she was fine with). Whatever the issue, I regret going with Montana, as it caused some unnecessary tension on our wedding day. I should have gone with my gut from the beginning. Lesson learned.