Wedding Officiant Services
Custom Designed & Personalized Weddings
(Including Recommitment Ceremonies)
Serving Northeast & Southeast US, as well as Destination Weddings
Rich in beauty, meaning, humor & fun!
Plan and Celebrate Your Wedding With Reverend Gary
(also known as “Reverend Joy”)
When it comes to weddings, one size does not fit all!
For Reverend Gary weddings, one size does not fit all. There is no obligatory template or script. Each wedding is personalized to reflect who the couple is Reverend Gary works closely with each couple (through ongoing conversations and an in-depth questionnaire) to create and officiate a wedding ceremony that is true and meaningful for them, that tells their unique story, expresses their feelings and beliefs about each other and about marriage, and is in harmony with their faith path, whether religious, spiritual or secular. Reverend Gary blends in traditions and rituals that reflect the couple’s love, joy, dreams, and growing edges for their married life together. He can assist in writing or editing vows, if requested. The ceremony text is reworked as needed and not finalized until the couple is totally satisfied.
Reverend Gary Shapiro has more than 12 years of experience to create and officiate your unique wedding ceremony, one of life’s most joyous events!
Reverend Gary happily creates and officiates custom marriage ceremonies – spiritual, religious, secular, or mixture – for all loving couples:
- Opposite sex marriage
- Same sex marriage
- Interracial marriage
- Interethnic marriage
- All Faiths & Mixed Faith (Christian, Jewish, Islamic, Buddhist, etc.)
- Second marriage
- Recommitment of vows
A wedding ceremony may include all or some of the following: relationship story, opening prayer, inspirational reading, officiant address on values and vision of marriage (including how couple sees it), vows, ring exchange, ritual (many choices), closing blessing, and pronouncement.
Rev. Gary is bilingual, officiating weddings in English or Spanish or a mixture.
Si Uds, quieren tener la ceremonia en español, solo preguntan. El Reverendo Gary es 100% bilingüe
Areas Served
Northeastern US States – Mostly New England & Eastern NY State (Mainly May-October)
Southeastern US states of North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and Georgia (Mainly November-April)
Destination wedding to other parts of the US and internationally are also available
Reverend Gary is Your Marriage Officiant!
Wedding Officiant fee begins at $400 and varies depending on time, complexity, travel, etc.
Reverend Gary also offers pre and post-wedding marital support:
Counseling – $150 per maximum 90 minute session
Workshop – $175 for 2 hour session, $700 for 4 session package
Topics covered: mindfulness, identity, alignment of self and couple, acceptance and forgiveness, communication and conflict transformation, soul longings and purpose, creating your story, embracing change, letting go of history, compassion and gratitude, FUN
Methodology: assessment, reflection, exercises, guided meditation, discussion, homework
Custom wedding ceremony questions or thoughts you would like to discuss?
Would you like to speak to Reverend Gary about creating and implementing your ideas for your Marriage Ceremony?
Wondering how to plan a wedding ceremony that honors your unique love story?
Planning a unique destination wedding and need a trusted wedding officiant?
Let’s discover all your options and needs!
Contact Reverend Gary now to schedule the initial conversation and get to know each other.
Wedding Testimonials
What My Wedding Clients Experience
“Reverend Gary Shapiro was an amazing officiant. He couldn’t have made us feel more comfortable and at peace throughout our whole wedding process. From the very beginning, Gary asked all the right questions to gain a better understanding of who we are as a couple and worked hard to make sure that our ceremony fit us perfectly and included everything we believed to be important.
We had guests coming up to us saying that the ceremony Gary crafted for us was the most intimate, beautiful, and loving wedding they had ever been to.
I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend him to anyone looking for a personal, intimate, and heartfelt ceremony.”
~ Alexandra & Joe
Gary was patient and a great listener, talking on the phone with us and exchanging many emails to make sure our ceremony was perfect. His knowledge of many different wedding traditions and collection of samples and resources was helpful as we wrote our vows and put together our readings, etc. He was easy to work with and offered great suggestions, and made our slightly-Jewish/secular/interfaith wedding ceremony a success.
~ Ally & DJ
“Reverend Joy is a wonderful person. We had such a wonderful journey for about a year with him. He is inspirational and the whole ceremony was from the heart. My guests keep telling me how wonderful of a job he did. I hope to see Reverend Joy again because he is one of those people that has left an impact on us.”
~ Angela & Andy
“Gary was absolutely fantastic. He was sensitive and responsive to our wishes. From our first interaction to the goodbyes, he was professional, kind, warm – everything you might desire in an officiant. What he put together for the wedding was absolutely perfect for us and he incorporated our additions into his spiel seamlessly.
~ Lana & Peter
“… We had several enjoyable conversations with Gary before the wedding. He had us fill out a questionnaire which he used to get to know us better and to get an idea about how we view our relationship and marriage. He incorporated this into our ceremony and made it very personalized. My husband and I are not religious, but Gary was very accommodating of our beliefs and tailored our ceremony to this. We were very happy with our experience with Gary and with our ceremony the day of the wedding. I would definitely recommend his services. Thanks!”
~ Jessica & Daniel
“We hired Gary as the officiant for our outdoor wedding this past June, and couldn’t have been happier with our choice. What appealed to us about Gary was his extensive commitment to helping others… and an approach that focused on us as a couple.
He focused on our commitment to each other, and respected our decision to have a non-religious service. He was available for us throughout the process and worked with us to create a ceremony that really spoke to everyone in attendance.
We have received so many compliments on Gary’s ceremony from all the guests that attended. We would highly recommend Gary for anyone looking for a personable experience. We thank you again Gary for our most memorable day!”
~Lauren & Mike
“Working with Gary was immensely enjoyable. My husband and I appreciated all the time he took with us to put the ceremony together, and to make sure things were exactly how we wanted for our special day. We would recommend him in a heartbeat and wouldn’t change anything if we had to do it all over again. Thank you, Gary!”
~ Kristen & Charles
Reverend Gary custom wedding for Lana & Peter
Plan Your Custom Wedding Ceremony
Get to know Reverend Gary and schedule your your custom wedding ceremony today!