So impressed with a vendor!!! (first impression/review of officiant meeting)

(Sorry this is so long!)

So today my FH and I went and met with Pastor April ( A LIW vendor on here).

Let me start by saying that we are out in East Hampton and she is in Babylon (I think...?). She drove ALLLLLL the way out to Riverhead just to meet with us. Over an hour drive just to sit and talk with us. Talk about a vendor going above and beyond!

When we met with her she spent nearly 2 hours talking about our ceremony and what we could do to make it unique and personal. She asked us whether we connected to certain aspects of traditional ceremonies, and asked us to tell her which aspects we wanted to preserve and which aspects we wanted to throw out.

She told us that she does weddings every weekend and during the week she spends a ton of time coordinating upcoming weddings, writing drafts and final copies of peoples' ceremonies, and working with couples to edit and re-edit ceremonies until they are completely happy. This woman is beyond organized and really responsive to every couples' needs!

After hearing this I told her that if she wanted to take some time to write our draft a few weeks, or even months, later that it wouldn't be a problem at all - we could see she was really busy (she likes to send you a full totally customized draft of your ceremony in the early stages - you edit it and send back and forth via email until you're happy and have a final draft) . Being a ridiculous (in a good way!) professional, she quickly dismissed it and told us that she wanted to write a first draft of our mock ceremony asap while it was still fresh in her mind.

We were so impressed. By the time we left we felt really excited about the shape of our ceremony and what it would look like. It actually sounded like US...we both had some tearful moments! She was so warm and compassionate about what she does (can you imagine a more fulfilling job?!) and it really came through in our meeting today.

***Also, I'd like to add a disclaimer that we were having a REALLY difficult time searching for the right person to do our ceremony. Being out of state makes it hard to get a feel for a vendor via phone or email. So my only advice is to definitely meet with your officiant in person. I think its one vendor that you really have to meet in person to know if you click with them - after all they ARE marrying you and performing the most important ceremony of your life!

...Oh and totally check out April if you are looking for an officiant - she rocks!!!

Pastor April's site

Re: So impressed with a vendor!!! (first impression/review of officiant meeting)

that's awesome bon! She's your interfaith officiant, right? As in, you're not doing a priest and a rabbi

Re: So impressed with a vendor!!! (first impression/review of officiant meeting)

Pastor April is WONDERFUL!!!

We're on version 7 of our ceremony and it makes me cry every time!!!!!!

You made a WONDERFUL CHOICE!!!!!

Re: So impressed with a vendor!!! (first impression/review of officiant meeting)

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Posted by MikeandJess

that's awesome bon! She's your interfaith officiant, right? As in, you're not doing a priest and a rabbi

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Yes ma'am! We're incorporating a little of both in there to keep the families happy

Re: So impressed with a vendor!!! (first impression/review of officiant meeting)

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Posted by beachbum05

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Posted by MikeandJess

that's awesome bon! She's your interfaith officiant, right? As in, you're not doing a priest and a rabbi

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Yes ma'am! We're incorporating a little of both in there to keep the families happy

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that's awesome! That's what I'm trying to get Mike to do but he really wants a priest there

Re: So impressed with a vendor!!! (first impression/review of officiant meeting)

i called Pastor April but she was booked for our day, but she referred us to Rev. Deb Viola and i know exactly what you mean when you talk about pastor april. Deb is wonderful, you can tell these people really love what they do!

so are you booking her?

Re: So impressed with a vendor!!! (first impression/review of officiant meeting)

she is great, we're also going with her.
When we met with her, she was so great. The way she customized your ceremony is awesome because she takes notes while you're having a casual conversation with her.

Re: So impressed with a vendor!!! (first impression/review of officiant meeting)

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Posted by kristi313

i called Pastor April but she was booked for our day, but she referred us to Rev. Deb Viola and i know exactly what you mean when you talk about pastor april. Deb is wonderful, you can tell these people really love what they do!

so are you booking her?

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Yes - we are I cant wait to see our draft.

And yes, Shell, I totally know! I was impressed. She took a bunch of notes. It was great.

Re: So impressed with a vendor!!! (first impression/review of officiant meeting)

its so important to be happy with the people you are working with, congrats!!!!

Re: So impressed with a vendor!!! (first impression/review of officiant meeting)

Can someone FM me what Pastor April charges? TIA

Re: So impressed with a vendor!!! (first impression/review of officiant meeting)

we felt the same way about her! we booked her the day after we met her. she was so great. I don't think anyone could have written the things about us better then she did. to say to each other, it's perfect. my fh was so against having a female officiant until he met her. he can't even believe he was against it, that's how great she was

Re: So impressed with a vendor!!! (first impression/review of officiant meeting)

will a priest go to a reception hall?

Re: So impressed with a vendor!!! (first impression/review of officiant meeting)

I agree. she was great. we just booked with her and I love my draft!!!

Re: So impressed with a vendor!!! (first impression/review of officiant meeting)

awww thats great! Don't you love when you have that connection with certain vendors and you know its perfect!?

glad you like her!!

Re: So impressed with a vendor!!! (first impression/review of officiant meeting)

That is awesome that you found someone you like to marry you!! After all, it is the most important part of the day!!!

Re: So impressed with a vendor!!! (first impression/review of officiant meeting)

i loooove pastor april!!! she's our officiant too!!

Re: So impressed with a vendor!!! (first impression/review of officiant meeting)

can someone please fm me too what pastor april charges?
TIA!

Re: So impressed with a vendor!!! (first impression/review of officiant meeting)

Thanks so much for this information! We are looking for someone right now!!! I will call her.