He officiated my daughter's wedding, but unfortunately, the experience was extremely disappointing. We knew he planned to take a cruise afterward, and I was completely supportive of that. However, I did not expect him to put so little effort into performing the ceremony. He did not properly conduct the ceremony or even begin with the customary prayers. During the ceremony, he was eating sweets that he had specifically instructed me to bring for the prayer. He also did not arrange the deity or any of the ceremonial items himself. He gave me a long list of items to purchase, including five coconuts, but ended up using only two. Two coconuts remained unopened, and many of the other items he asked me to buy were never used, resulting in unnecessary expense and waste. His wife has dementia, and since they were traveling together, my entire family helped care for her throughout the wedding events. Because this was a destination wedding, I paid for both of their flights and accommodations. In addition, I made sure they were provided with lunch, dinner, and all their meals before and after the ceremony as a courtesy. Despite all of our hospitality and efforts to accommodate them, the experience became incredibly stressful for my family. Instead of making our special day meaningful and memorable, it added unnecessary frustration and disappointment. Based on my experience, I cannot recommend booking this priest. read more

Pandit Ji is very warm and loving. He helped us during a very hard time with my father's funeral and final rites. Of not, he has also helped us in the past with my daughters baby shower. His service is amazing and he makes a point to include everybody in the family. He truly gave us peace during this difficult time. read more

Vinod presided at the funeral for my nephews mother in law. We are of Mexican descent and raised Catholic where his wife's side are Indian and Hindu. It was a beautiful ceremony and Vinod took the time to explain to our side of the family as certain rituals and customs were being performed. As a blended family it is important to understand and have respect for each other's practices. read more

Panditji is HILARIOUS. My wife and I were beyond lucky to have him officiate our Hindu wedding in Marina del Rey. He is incredibly knowledgable (both of Sanskrit & Hindu traditions but also of English, including English jokes) and kept our audience engaged the entire time. We had multiple guests tell us that they actually paid attention for the entire 1.5-hour ceremony because of his on-the-fly funny commentary and kind words. Not to mention, he caught me spacing out during the ceremony from the heat / beautiful views / long day and called me out in the most hilarious of ways, which I give him due credit for :-) On a personal note, he was also extremely flexible with incorporating specific wedding rituals from various parts of the Indian subcontinent, for example the betel leaves & "shubho drishti" from Bengali weddings. He was very easy to reach by email and by phone and really got to know us and our families before the ceremony, which we really appreciate. Thank you again, Panditji! read more

Vinod Dave - Panditji cracking a joke during our ceremony - we had such a fun time and are lucky to have had him as our officiant! - Officiants Near Me - Los Alamitos, California

We attended a wedding this weekend where Pandit Vinod Dave officiated. The bride was Chinese-American, and the groom was Indian American, and Panditji did a great job of making the Hindu wedding ceremony accessible and understandable for the diverse crowd. I especially appreciated the fact that Panditji had the couple say their vows in English instead of Sanskrit. He also asked the couple to share what they loved most about each other - this is a rarity in Hindu weddings, and really helped make the ceremony more personal. Panditji is quite funny, and did a good job of infusing humor into the ceremony to keep it enjoyable and entertaining for the audience. That said, if you are looking for a serious ceremony from this priest, you should probably put in a special request! It's important to note that Panditji has a strong Indian accent, so you should make sure you're comfortable with that. Also, if you use Panditji for your wedding, I'd suggest you make sure he (and his wife) are clear on everyone's names (and pronunciations) in advance, so there are no awkward pauses or mispronunciations. All of this said, this was one of the best Hindu priests I've seen officiate! read more

We used Vinod Dave for our wedding. He creeped out many of our female guests at our reception (which we didn't invite him to but he came anyway), and he asked almost all of our guests to review him on Yelp. He also aggressively solicited new customers while at our reception, which was very unprofessional Pros -He was available last minute -He performed the ceremony very quickly and with some humor -He was on time Cons -He mixed up the ceremonies for the wedding even though we went through the order with him many times and sent him a detailed program -He didn't remember our names for the ceremony even though we had spoken with him many times via phone and email -He expected us to invite him to the reception. We did not invite him but he showed up anyway to both our sangeet and our reception -A few of our female guests told us that he made them very uncomfortable, telling them how beautiful they were and how they had a spiritual bond then asking for their phone numbers so they can hire him when they get married We feel bad reviewing a priest with 1 star, but given how many complaints we received from our guests we wanted to make sure others were aware. We used Yelp to vet him and the reviews are very positive, so we were surprised and wished someone had warned us. read more

The hype is real!!! Pandit Vinod Dave is amazing for a Hindu ceremony. He also did my Huldi ceremony the day before. Panditji is amazing. He is very easy to communicate with over email and text. He spoke to us about our wishes and our timelines, which was very important because our day was packed with multiple events. He also stayed true to the timeline that we had discussed. Panditji is also great with explaining the Hindu rituals to everyone in English. And he is very funny - he had us all in stitches many times. He is very approachable and was a hit at the reception. Feel free to get our information from Panditji and we are more than happy to discuss how amazing he was. read more

I like that he explains all the meanings to the rituals. He is humorous and makes the puja palatable for large audiences, and ensures things run efficiently. Wish he would have remembered the name of our grandfather for his funeral ceremony. read more

We called Pandit Vinod Dave for our housewarming prayers and had an awesome experience. Pandit Dave is extremely knowledgeable compassionate and thorough in his services. He is a very warm hearted person and it was a pleasure having him bless our new home. We would love to call him for any other ceremonies in the future. We shall recommend his services to any one looking for a Hindu priest for any occasion. read more

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The hubby is Hindu and I am American (Buddhist). We bought a house, fixed it up and ready to move in. In Indian culture and tradition you perform a puja before you move in. We don't have a family priest so the hubby yelped it. He called up Pandit -ji. and was nice that we had a conference call so that we could all be on the same schedule and Pandit-ji explained to us that anytime was fine as long as it was before of the end of the auspicious month. As we are both working and didn't have time to get all the required items, he was kind enough to get for us. As many others have said he takes the time to explain to us non Hindus - what the mantras are, who, what and why we are chanting, every step of the way. Though I attend the aarti service in temples, I felt that I really understood what was going on and felt part of the culture. Lovely disposition and great sense of humor and very understanding. We called the hubby's parents in India so they could be part of it and he spoke to them and gave blessings as well. Wish he had a temple as we'd be going to temple very weekend. If you know of a interacial Indian couple or Indian family and they need a priest for any of the Indian ceremonies, I highly recommend Pandit-ji Vinod. Needless to say we now have a family priest for our Hindu related occasions. read more

Pundit Vinod performed my wedding 5 months ago in San Diego in the Hindu tradition. As a mixed wedding (my wife is Buddhist), Vinod was very accommodating in performing our Hindu ceremony with a view to keeping things short for both us and our guests during our long wedding day. He is also very good at explaining each part of the ceremony and the importance behind it in English. He was also very good at keeping in touch with myself and my family for items he might need during the pooja. Overall, I highly recommend Pundit Vinod Dave for performing Hindu wedding ceremonies, especially in cases of mixed weddings. read more

Pandit Vinod Dave Ji performed Shanti Path (memorial service) for my mother. Pandit Ji reached out to all our close relatives to understand about my mother and delivered a beautiful eulogy during the ceremony. He would explain significance of the puja, recited excerpts from Gita and was very gracious during the process. I would highly recommend him! read more

Yesterday my wife and I, along with our many friends, had the good fortune to attend a wedding ceremony conducted by a most respected priest Vinod Dave in Huntington Beach, CA. Mr Dave had the newly wed couple, their parents and the large audience of different ages in the palm of his hands as he officiated the solemn ceremony with utmost charm, warmth, respect and humor against the beautiful backdrop of sunset with blue skies and ocean. It was highly appreciated and enjoyed by us all. Thank you very much Mr. Dave, for your most professional services. read more

I cannot imagine having used any other priest for our wedding. Pandit Vinod Dave was extremely warm and inviting from the first time that I talked to him on the phone. He took the time out to chat on the phone and meet with us several times before the wedding to go over the details of exactly how we wanted the ceremony and to get to know us. He was willing to and made the effort to talk to parents on both sides of the family to explain the process to them. I am indian and the groom's side of the family is Persian jewish and Pandit Vinod Dave has a lot of experience with fusion weddings. We got married on December 30th at the Smogshoppe and Pandit Vinod Dave performed our hindu wedding ceremony. He also performed a maandvo for us the day before the wedding. At both events both indian and non indian guests told us they enjoyed the ceremonies. Usually indian weddings can drag on for hours and be quite boring. Pandit Vinod Dave is great at infusing humor and explaining things in english. He made the ceremonies extremely interactive and fun so the time flew by! He was also very punctual and responsive. If you are like me and you have stumbled upon him through a google search and are looking for a priest to officiate your indian or indian fusion wedding, book him without hesitation you will be glad you did - even if you have to fly him out! I cannot thank him enough for being a part of making our wedding so awesome :) read more

Vinod Dave - Pandit Vinod Dave, Indian Ceremony Dec 30th 2016 - Officiants Near Me - Los Alamitos, California

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It was such an honor to have our grah pravesh ceremony conducted by Pandit ji...He was so well organized in terms of logistics, and planning...He gave me the list of pooja samagri beforehand so we could be well prepared, and me and my family just LOVED the beautiful ceremony he did for our new home...HIs wife Neeru ji is a sweetheart and equally helpful...I had never met them before, but after meeting them, it felt like they were a part of my family...Best wishes to you Pandit ji and Neeru ji... Regards, Richa and Vikram Saraf read more

I had the good fortune of meeting Mr. Vinod Dave. He and his wife are amazing. Chance meeting in Honolulu.. He just performed the wedding for Democratic Congress Woman Tulsi Gabbard and Abraham Williams. Article in NY times. America is an amazing country with all it's diversity! read more

Mr. Vinod David is a kind hearted man, devout pandit, who takes great pride in his profession. He has such an attention to detail and a level of professionalism that he is deserving of 5 stars. He has a great sense of humor, and will put a smile on your face. I have known Pandit David on a personal level for over two years, that being said I have not found the right occasion to work with him on a professional level. I am however familiar with his work, and if you are not than you should take the time to read the artical in Newsweek magazine on the Vedic Hindu ceremony he proformed in Hawaii for U.S. Rep Tulsi. He will give spiritual and personal guidance to anyone on a professional level but undoubtedly in the end you'll know him as a friend. read more

We recently moved to a new home and wanted to perform a Ganpathy homam. I found Pandit Vinodji in Yelp and called him to check his availability. He was very pleasant and immediately accommodated my request. He emailed the list of items for puja ahead of time and suggested places to purchase them. The auspicious time to start the puja was 5:30 am. When he learnt the reason for Ganpathy homam, he recommended to do grahaprevesh puja at the entrance. He not only came early in the morning but also brought many items required for the ceremony. Both me and my husband are working so we sincerely appreciate the help. He is very knowledgeable and takes time to explain the mantras. We are very happy to have found him. He will be our family priest for all the future ceremonies. read more

Very enjoyable pooja! Vinod Dave is very knowledgable of the Sanskrit verses and recitations. I met him at our friend Santosh Pai's home. He is very kind and generous. He performed the wedding of Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii. See the video on YouTube! As a college student, I recommend him highly! Kedar read more

Pandit Dave performed our Indian-American fusion wedding in La Jolla in August. Before the wedding he took time to discuss what kind of ceremony we wanted, chatted with my mom on the phone and visited us a couple of weeks before the wedding to get to know us and also talk through the ceremony. He was very kind and interested in performing our wedding. He is also very responsive on email and phone, even though he travels all over the world to perform weddings. During our wedding, he explained all the rituals in English, and also made the ceremony fun and interactive for the guests. A lot of non-Indian guests told us that they enjoyed the ceremony. I liked that he made the ceremony more approachable and less boring. A couple of things we did not like however, were that he forgot my husband's last name even after going over it before, and when he pronounced us husband and wife, he could not say the name correctly, so my husband sad about it. He also forgot a couple of steps essential to our ceremony, but my mother reminded him, and then he carried them out perfectly. He was a bit late to set up too, so our ceremony started late which threw off our timeline. Overall, I would recommend Pandit Dave to perform fusion weddings, or Indian weddings whose families are not super traditional (I think he might perform very traditional ceremonies as well, so just talk to him about this). He is very interactive, engages the guests, and makes a somewhat lengthy ceremony seem fun and interesting. I also liked that he guided us through the Hindu ceremony and explained the beautiful rituals to us when he visited us before. He is also a genuinely nice person, and went out of his way to get to know us and our families. I really appreciate that he came from LA to perform our ceremony! read more

Mr. Vinod Dave just performed a wedding for a family member and did a wonderful job! He has a great personality and does an excellent job of including everyone in the family, including those of us who are not familiar with the Hindu Ceremony. I loved hearing all about the customs and traditions during the ceremony, and feel like his interactive approach makes the wedding so much more memorable. Thanks for helping to make the day special! read more

Pandit G Vinod Dave gave a nice heartfelt performance for two of my friend's hindu weddings this month in Los Angeles for a diverse audience of people who flew in from across the country including guests from London. His ceremonial performance was very well spoken and had a nice touch of humor that everyone enjoyed. I enjoyed his public speaking and felt it was compassionate and full of energy. I would highly recommend! read more

I had the pleasure of working with Vinod Dave. He was the most gracious and pleasant person to work with. He took the time to reach out multiple times to make sure he had all the details of the wedding. He took down both my fiancé and my name to pray for both of us. He is one of the kindest most considerate human beings. You would be so lucky to have him marry you. read more

Note that Panditji asks guests who are hanging out alone at events to write reviews on Yelp for him. This is a bit odd. I was a guest, and my review above was written at his request. He is pretty aggressive about marketing himself, which I don't necessarily think is a bad thing but just something to be aware of. read more

I have developed great respect for Vinod Daveji for performing the post cremation ceremony for my family member. He was so thoughtful and kind. He spent hours picking the right sequence of rites and hymns. He went out of his way to translate everything in English for non Indian attendees. Whatever he did actually worked cause I did truly feel a sense of peace and serenity fill up inside and around me. I saw that it had the same effect on most others present who were previously very disturbed due the sudden demise of a young close one. Priests like Vinodji are very rare to find. I will be inviting him to very many of my future events that require a Hindu ceremony. Thank you so much Vinodji. read more

My wife and I just got married in Lake Tahoe this past weekend and Panditji did an excellent job with the ceremony and the pujas during the weekend. He explained every step clearly for our friends who had not been to a Hindu ceremony, made jokes to keep everyone entertained, and finished on time! Those of you who have been to an Indian wedding know how rare that can be. We thought it might be challenging to coordinate everything with us being remote and needing to coordinate his travel but we are so glad we went with him instead of finding someone more local. I highly recommend him. read more

Panditji Vinod Dev has been performing prayers and rituals for our family for many years. He has been there for us in good and bad times offering well wishes and emotional support. He is kind and translates everything is English so we understand the meaning of each ritual. We are blessed to have known him over the years. read more

He is amazing! He did my brothers engagement ceremony with lots of grace and positivity. He was full of energy and wonderful. He even did the wedding ceremony a congresswoman in Hawaii! read more

My brother in law used him for his wedding and he was excellent. I highly recommended him to anyone. Keep up the good work!

Vinod Dave helped with my family friend's funeral services and did a great job. Realizing that not everyone in attendance was Hindu, Vinod Dave explained the significance of his actions and readings during the service so that everyone could better understand what was happening and why. He was very capable and all of our needs were met. He also showed up to the hospital at a moment's notice (in the middle of the night) to deliver last rights. Great guy, super friendly, very smart. read more

As a licensed funeral director here in the Los Angeles area, we work with many religious celebrants for funerals. Hindu Priest Vinod Dave was very accommodating to the family we were helping with funeral services. The family had a very tight timeline for the funeral rites and Vinod Dave worked hard to adjust his schedule to accommodate their needs. I could see the family had used his services at other times for weddings, etc., and he was a great comfort to them. I will gladly recommend him to other families in the future. read more

Pandit Vinod Dave performed my wedding ceremony almost 37 years ago. Then 6 years ago he performed my mother-in -law's last rites. My father -in-law passed away 2 weeks ago. I contacted Pandit Dave to perform his funeral service with just 2 days notice. He had a prior commitment, but he worked around that commitment to accommodate us. He is very punctual, friendly, easy to understand and work with. I highly recommend him to anyone looking for a Hindu priest. You won't be disappointed. read more

Vinod Dave is excellent I can't believe how amazing all of the Scriptures are translated and it gives my yoga practice such a great understanding of everything I've been studying it has been a pure pleasure to attend any of them that he is officiating! read more

Vinodbhai has been doing pujas at my house for about 4 years now. We are extremely happy to be having him as our pandit. He is very kind to translate everything in English and explain the meaning of all the rituals. He is very friendly, and easy to work with and understand. I would definitely recommend him to anyone!! He even came today to do the Navratri Havan at my house today and we are extremely blessed! read more

Vinod Dave performed our wedding ceremony 10 years ago. I have since attended many ceremonies that he has performed including one today. He's great at describing the ceremonial practices in plain English and making sure that all attendees are able to understand and participate in the festivities. He's able to boil down a multi-hour long ceremony in the most efficient manner possible considering the attention span of all of us in the western world. I highly recommend him for any Hindu and Gujarati weddings and other events. read more

Priest Vinod Dave performed the last rites for my cousin. He was punctual, he performed the puja to our satisfaction. We are very happy with his service. read more

My husband and I attended an Indian baby shower recently and Mr. Vinod was the priest performing the ceremony. As we are not Hindu, it was very interesting to watch. He would repeat himself in English which was nice so we could understand what was happening. We also had a chance to speak with him after the ceremony and he was a very friendly, kind man. read more

Vinod was so AMAZING! My husband and I had a small hindu ceremony in our home and Vinod made everything possible. Over the months leading up to the ceremony vinod called us to stay connected, go over the ceremony and to check in on us. He is so friendly and I assure you, you will feel connected to him right away! He is incredibly helpful in getting you ready for the ceremony and making sure you have everything you need and that you understand what your doing and why. I was raised Catholic but my husband is Hindu, vinod taught me everything and supported me throughout the whole process. He is not only the kindest person but incredibly funny. He is able to keep things fun while maintaining proper decorum. We are so lucky to have had him preform our ceremony! read more

It was a beautiful ceremony, my fiancé and mines first Indian wedding he translated everything so we could understand. Also he made it very appealing to everyone it was beautiful, emotional and he incorporated comedy into the ceremony. He was very personable and a very kind man! I would suggest him for all Indian weddings. Great experience. I saw the wedding of congress woman of Hawaii of Tulsi Gabbard, Vinod Dave performed, it was beautiful as well. He performs amazing services. read more

Pundit Vinod has performed pujas and spoken at many events that my immediate/extended family have had. He has come for weddings and smaller ceremonies as well. For all of these, he has done an excellent job of keeping the ceremonies short and sweet, providing adequate background in English to clarify exactly what the principles of the Sanskrit shloka/prayers are emphasizing. At times, he also comes up with creative ways to keep everyone well engaged e.g. reading outloud some quotes that are very inspiring. I would recommend everyone call him for important functions. read more