I want to start off by saying that I had a fantastic wedding and I will always remember my wedding…read moreday fondly. I think these memories are largely due to a few different factors, some of which I can attribute to Revered Andrew and his team at Heart of Sedona Weddings, but the most memorable part of the day was saying my vows to my beautiful wife! She is what made the day so special and memorable.
I have mixed feelings about Heart of Sedona Weddings which I will explain below, but based on my experience with Reverend Andrew and his team, I would still cautiously recommend their services to anyone desiring to elope in beautiful Sedona. You may want to look into other options as well.
Reverend Andrew is very involved in the planning process, from the initial consultation all the way to the big event. During my initial phone consultation with him he was very friendly and informative about how the wedding ceremony would work. His pricing is upfront and reasonable for what you get, as he offers several all-inclusive packages designed to meet your needs.
I liked that Reverend Andrew took his time with us over the phone and explained everything in detail. He was clear about how the planning process worked and told us exactly what we needed to know in order to have a successful elopement in Sedona. He was personable and gave us excellent recommendations for bridal hair and makeup, restaurants, and cakes. He made the planning process less stressful than it should have been.
Although I have yet to see the wedding photos, his photographer Andrew Holman was excellent in the way he treated us and he made us feel like celebrities with all the really cool poses around the scenic red rock background. I am quite confident from the quality of the photos he took on my phone that the actual wedding photos will be spectacular. In this respect, Revered Andrew made a great decision to have Andrew as our photographer. Couldn't be happier with him.
Another nice gesture of Reverend Andrew was him personally picking up my then fiance at her makeup salon so I would not see her prior to the wedding. His flexibility and willingness to do this were very much appreciated and made the wedding that much more special to me and my bride.
Despite all of the amazing memories, there are some areas in which I felt Reverend Andrew fell short, which I will detail here.
Reverend Andrew was easy to get ahold of the first two times I spoke to him, but after that, it was nearly impossible to reach him over the phone and he would sometimes take several days to get back to me, even when I had a simple question. When I replied to one of his emails regarding details of our ceremony, he never received it, only to find it later while I was telling him over the phone that I sent it. I got the feeling that he was overbooked and more focused on quantity than quality, a feeling that would later be confirmed during the ceremony itself.
On the day of the wedding, on our way into the private golf course, Reverend Andrew ran into an issue at the security gate where they were asking him to pay a fee to enter. Waiting in my car for fifteen minutes while he sorted out the details and argued with the security guard over paying the fee was not a good way to set the mood. While the security guard was being rude, I did not feel that Andrew making a big deal out of the fees was very professional and he should have dealt with the guard later on instead of venting about him on our wedding day.
Another issue was that during the ceremony itself, Andrew was reading off sheets of laminated paper and did not seem emotionally invested in our ceremony. It was more of a vibe he gave off, but he was reading very quickly and seemed like he was in a rush to get this thing over with and get out of there. Not exactly the vibe I was going for on my wedding day. I am still a little pissed about that. And then, once our ceremony was over, he hurriedly and awkwardly left, not giving my new wife time to get all of her belongings out of the car. That just rubbed me the wrong way, but thanks to the kindness and patience of his photographer, we continued to have a great time taking photos.
The wedding cake had almonds in it despite me asking for there not to be. Oversights like these on my wedding day were unacceptable. I think Reverend Andrew is good at what he does, but I did not feel that his heart was quite there with us on our big day and I felt he was a little careless with small, but important details. If I were to renew my vows in Sedona, I would have second thoughts about going with him again for these reasons.
