Reverend Simmons is a licensed officiant in DC, MD and VA and she will travel to your ceremony…read moresite! Reverend Sunny Simmons was wonderful in officiating our last minute ceremony. My, now husband, and I have a larger more formal event planned out of state but were without an official officiant so we decided to wing it here in DC with a legal ceremony so that a family member could "officiate" our larger gathering. I was referred to Reverend Simmons from a friend of mine who had recently done the exact same thing with an impromptu legal ceremony to compliment the larger event. Reverend Simmons responded very quickly to my emails and calls, she was very accommodating for our time line and choice of location. Reverend Simmons is a non-denominational officiant and was very open to having either a religious ceremony or a secular ceremony. We did not have a ring exchange in our ceremony but it could have easily been included. She provided us with ceremony materials to chose from that were much nicer than many of the other materials that I had seen in looking for ceremony vows. We opted to save the vows we have written ourselves for our family gathering so we used Reverend Simmons' and found her words eloquent and fitting. My husband and I hatched the idea for a DC shotgun wedding about a week prior to the ceremony. We had been working furiously to find a weekend date but between work schedules, finding an officiant and finding a handful of friends that could be our witnesses it was becoming frustrating very quickly. On Monday, June 18th it suddenly occurred to me that we might (just might) be able to pull it off on Tuesday, June 19th. Reverend Simmons and I had exchanged an email or two but had not set anything. I shot her an email Monday afternoon asking about her availability the next day. She responded within the hour with an affirmation of her availability and there it was, we were set! We exchanged several more emails to arrange a time and place, to which Reverend Simmons was graciously accommodating and punctual. We chose an outdoor park location near one of DC's many wonderful monuments, but Reverend Simmons also does larger more formal ceremonies including church ceremonies. I would recommend Reverend Simmons to any couple (gay or straight) looking for a DC officiant, for a last minute ceremony or a planned-in-advance ceremony she is gracious, kind and open-minded. Her prices were very reasonable and we really appreciated her efficiency. Reverend Simmons is registered at the DC Municipal Courthouse as an officiant so all you have to do is add her name to your marriage license. However you can apply for your marriage license without an officiant and add the officiant's name at any time later. We had already applied for our license so all I had to do was add Reverend Simmons' name and pick up the license, Reverend Simmons took care of the rest. However she knows the system very well so she can help you with any step in the process if you need it and would be happy to direct you. http://www.dccourts.gov/internet/public/aud_marriage/main.jsf Reverend Simmons was really wonderful in helping us with this momentous and slightly stressful occasion. Our ceremony worked out perfectly with every detail going better than I could have even imagined, we definitely have Reverend Simmons to thank in part for our very spectacular day!

Joyce was the officiant at our wedding in September. She was amazing! We had originally wanted a…read morefriend to marry us but were disappointed when we learned Virginia is very strict as to who can officiate a wedding in their state. However, after having worked with Joyce, I feel like a friend did marry us. I met her at the Washington, D.C. Bridal Expo and my husband (then fiancée), Joel and I met with her a couple of weeks later. We immediately knew she was the person we wanted officiating our ceremony. She is warm, friendly, and extremely prepared. She has mountains of resources to make your ceremony special and she worked with us to make our ceremony unique and 100% us! We are so impressed and appreciative of Joyce's hard work and professionalism. She was just as invested in making our ceremony memorable and heartfelt as we were.

We are so pleased that we hired Rev. Bill Cochran to perform our marriage ceremony! From the…read morestart, he was kind, helpful, and calm (an essential trait when working with stressed brides!). We loved the fact that we could tailor our wedding ceremony to reflect us, not just any other wedding. Bill gave us lots of information about different blessings, readings, how to write our vows, unity ceremonies, processional order, and gave us a nice copy of our marriage license to hang on the wall. He was always willing to answer any questions that arose while we were planning our wedding. Additionally, we participated in the one-on-one marriage counseling that he offers. Though we had been together for over 6 years before getting married, we found the counseling to be helpful in that he gave us suggestions for different ways to talk to each other when we might feel that we're stuck on an issue. We highly recommend that you hire Rev. Bill Cochran to officiate your wedding ceremony! You will be so happy that you did!

Recommended! He took…read morecare of everything so that all we had to do was arrive from Texas and meet him. We were worried something would go wrong but he commicated with us frequently to make us feel better Everything went perfectly!!!

Ed was great. He helped us coordinate everything for the marriage and related paperwork…read more Excellent communication every step of the way

Alexandra Nesterak Events We hired Alex and Team for our…read morewedding and things were great back and forth for many months. As the wedding got closer, we worked with another member of her team who was going to be the day of coordinator. Her and Alex worked together well, but we could really see the difference. Many of the final details took a long time to get right and we should have raised the red flag there. When the wedding came, the seating cards were incorrect and not what was agreed to. They also failed to double check we had all the tables set out for the reception, we were one short which caused a decent size disruption. The name cards Alex's team printed also spelled the grooms name wrong, the team didn't leave out the guest book and even more. You count on companies like these to really nail the details and it did not work out for us. We suggest couples take caution if they work with other members of Alex's team.

Our wedding was the most special day of our lives and I can say without a doubt it was because of…read moreAlex and her incredible team. Months later, our guests are still talking about the creative details and design elements that could not have been possible without Alex and her creativity. She took the time to get to know us as a couple and given her great relationships with the vendors in the area, delivered us the perfect team for florals, rentals, music, etc. Alex is detail-oriented, innovative, and incredibly hardworking and her team made us feel so calm knowing they had everything under control. We could not have been happier with Alex and her amazing team!

Amy and Kyle were so easy and fun to work with! Their joyful spirits added to the joy of the day,…read morethey took detail notes in advance of the wedding to make sure we got all of the shots we wanted, and they helped with last minute things that happened (me forgetting to bring a rosary to hold with my bouquet and driving a few of the groomsmen and my husband to the Church). It rained during the wedding and, happening during COVID, we had limited options of where we could go for pictures. They made it all happen and without wasting a minute so we could enjoy our while photos happened throughout. The photos they took are priceless memories and we are so glad to have picked them as our photographers!

I've had the pleasure of using Melaphone Hosting for both event emcee and trivia hosting needs…read more Each experience has been top notch. Melody goes above and beyond to create a warm, hospital, and FUN environment for all guests. Would highly, highly recommend!

Melody was the best wedding officiant I could've asked for! She captured my husband and I's story…read moreperfectly and was the right balance of personal warmth and humor. She created a ceremony that felt intimate and genuine. Not only did my husband and I absolutely love her, but our guests kept raving about how engaging and memorable the ceremony was. If you're looking for an officiant who can make your ceremony feel authentically "you" while keeping everyone thoroughly engaged, Melody is your person - book her early!

Ellen Dubin is phenomenal…read more We chose her based on a referral from friends who've had her do their various bar/bat mitzvahs and weddings. There were several things that made our wedding planning rather challenging - an April wedding in DC with unpredictable weather, a wedding taking place at a private home requiring everything to be imported to that site, and a bride, a groom, and parents that were in three different locations in two different time zones. Ellen was very flexible and adaptable and cleared her schedule to make the most of the limited time we had with her when all three of us were in town. I think one of the best and most useful things about using Personally Yours was the access that Ellen had to various vendors - three things - the tent, the decor, and the food - were the most important part of this wedding and all three were phenomenal. Our wedding was on somewhat short notice - about 8 months to plan - and she was able to acquire Joel from Occasions and Jeffrey from Fox Ventures and Davis from Sugar Plum Tents. All three were exceptional and made multiple trips to our wedding site to plan and coordinate the event. All three had rave reviews about Ellen and it was clear that the people and vendors she surrounded herself with were all people very familiar with each other and worked well with each other. Ellen was able to provide experience, wisdom, and advice about the way we were trying to shape our wedding. She listened carefully and made significant efforts to understand what we wanted for our wedding. There were certain things she was adamant about that we had never really considered including the flow of the guests, the rhythm and scheduling of the band in conjunction with speeches and meals being served. How to introduce a WOW factor for guests when they stepped into our tent. And she paid close consideration to the theme and atmosphere we wanted to have. We wanted to go for a vintage chic / garden wedding that was intermingled with the natural beauty of the house where we were getting married. She advised us on the position of the tent, the dance floor, ways to accent the natural warmth of the home, and how to make sure everyone was fed and watered without any glitches. Ellen is experienced and has done what I'm sure are hundreds of weddings. Before hiring her we had concerns that since she does bar and bat mitzvahs too, that the wedding wouldn't have the perfect wedding feel- but that was not an issue whatsoever! Our wedding was a dream come true. It was perfect - like a work of art in motion. If wedding planners could be named artists she's a Van Gogh or da Vinci. She works so hard and is brilliant at it too! Ellen listens, executes, is efficient, and gets the job done. She is very much about business and there are some times when she might say some things are less feasible than others. It's not difficult to believe her because for most things she'll bend over backward to execute and have her staff work accomplish. But she is honest and will let you know when she disagrees with a suggestion or would like to tweak something and see if you'd like it better that way. The second place where her brilliance comes in is the day of the wedding and ensuring everything goes smoothly. The order of the ceremony, the flow of guests, collecting gifts, re-bustling my dress as she predicted the bustle would come undone, directing bridesmaids/groomsmen, getting the crowd onto the dance floor, and making sure shuttles are coming and going etc. Things were flawless! We wish we could go back to last weekend and relive it all over again! Thank you Ellen!

Ellen and her team at Personally Yours are absolutely phenomenal! She was the planner for our…read morewedding, and we couldn't be happier with how the event played out. First of all, Ellen was completely dedicated to making sure that the wedding reflected us: our choices, our vibe, our personality. While she has opinions about how to make sure you get the best vendors and the best quality service, she made sure that the event was about us: not about her, not about our parents, but about us. But boy, did she assemble a dream team! Her extensive experience in this industry means that she knows who the best people are, and everyone she chose, from the caterer to the florist to the photographer, were absolutely excellent. I really appreciated how she made a point of figuring out what our vibe was and what we were looking for, and then matched us with a top-quality vendor who could deliver that vibe. We also can't help but mention how organized, thorough, and patient Ellen and her team are. They thought of everything, every little wrinkle and nuance, and they navigated those nuances through a decidedly larger-than-normal planning committee of six people! Not only will Personally Yours deliver an absolutely amazing, personalized event, they'll do it in a way that can make you, your guests, and even your in-laws proud and happy. We can't recommend them strongly enough-: if you want a fantastic event, go with Ellen and her team.

Lissa is fantastic to work with! We loved her from our first zoom call. She is so positive and has…read moresuch an uplifting energy. We had a month of coordination package and my only regret is that we did not plan the entire wedding with her. We both work full-time and wedding planning is a full-time job. Lissa did her best and made our wedding day special and as relaxing as possible. Our family was charmed by Lissa as well! I cannot recommend her enough. She has been in the industry, she knows vendors and vendors know her too. We heard great feedback about Lissa from other vendors too. She is not just a wedding planner, she is your wedding bestie

We are so happy we hired Lissa to help us through our wedding process. We had her for the partial…read moreplanning package and our experience was beneficial from start to finish. At first, we weren't sure if a wedding planner was necessary, as I LOVE party planning and am particularly detail oriented- but that ultimately is WHY Lissa was so helpful. Rather than worry about details day of, I could just relax and know it was all in great hands. She kept us on pace the whole time and gave us feedback on what was worth our mental energy and what wasn't. She responded to communications promptly, both to us and our vendors. All her vendor recommendations were phenomenal. She and her associates made our day excellent and we cannot recommend them enough!