If we could give Craig more than 5 stars, we absolutely would. We really can't begin to thank Craig enough for being an essential part of our wedding ceremony. Numerous guests came up to us during our reception with compliments about Craig's meaningful, genuine, and insipiring words. We know many of our family and friends will remember our wedding in part because they enjoyed the ceremony so much. When we first met Craig, he took the time to ask questions and get to know us - we felt really comfortable with him and it was like we had known him for years. When we couldn't decide between traditional vows or something more contemporary, Craig helped us merge the two so everything we wanted was included. He also attended and ran the rehearsal the day before the wedding to make sure everything went smoothly on the day of the wedding. After the wedding ceremony, Craig even stayed to help our photographer coordinate formal pictures with our extended family. My husband and I spent a lot of time researching officiants, as we believed an officiant can make or break the wedding ceremony. Craig went above and beyond all our expectations and we would highly recommend him to any family or friends. Thank you so much Craig! read more

Craig was the officiant for our wedding on 10-24-2014 and he did such a great job! From setting up the first meeting to the walk through before the big day, he made everything so easy! My favorite part of our wedding was the ceremony. It was perfect. He really knows what he is doing and we got SOOO many compliments on how great he was from our wedding guests. If you are looking for someone for your wedding, I would highly suggest Pastor Craig. He is such a great guy and meets with you enough times to get to know you and make the ceremony really personable! read more

Craig was the officant for our wedding on November 22, 2013. He was awesome, start to finish. We didn't even need to talk to another officiant after we had our first meeting with him. From a professional standpoint, he was flexible in meeting with us as we live in Orange County and were getting married in San Diego. He was always on time (always early truthfully). He made the rehearsal easy and efficient. The actual ceremony was perfect, let me say that again, perfect. I never felt "judged" so I don't know that I understand the negative review on here. He also was very clear that it was our ceremony and he would do it our way. He was at all times accomodating to what we wanted. I think what I really enjoyed about Craig was he really took the time to get to know us, get to know our relationship, who we are as people and as a couple. I couldn't be happier with our choice. Highly recommended from my wife and I. read more

Absolutely AMAZING!!! My husband and I were researching non-denominational pastors for a baby blessing but just couldn't find one who we connected with or even liked. Luckily, I met Craig at a friend's wedding. We went ahead and scheduled a meeting to discuss exactly what we were looking for. At our meeting, we immediately clicked. Our son, Lennon like him, too! We talked about the meaning of a baby blessing and what my husband and I believed in. We had many, if not all of the same beliefs about God and what the blessing would comprise of. Craig also took the time to get to know us as a family. It felt like we had known him for years. Through the next couple weeks, Craig responded to all of my questions and emails promptly and was never out of touch. He arrived at our home on time and even introduced himself to most of our family and connected with a few of them as well. The ceremony was perfect and exactly what we wanted! A lot of people asked where we met him and also said that he was "Awesome"! We will definitely use him for any other baby blessings and have already referred him to a few friends! You will be happy to work with Craig, I promise! read more

My wife and I got married on 7/12/14 and I'm a little embarassed to say that as soon as the ceremony was over I couldnt help but start thinking about the yelp review I was going to write for Craig. Everything was perfect. My wife and I met w/ Craig two times coming up to our wedding and after the first five minutes we knew he was our guy. Craig is very nice, supporting, and accomadating. He provided helpful suggestions but worked in every request my wife and I threw at him. Neither of us is very religous but wanted some subtle references and reading worked in and it turned out perfect. Not only that but the rehearsal ran very smoothly, he worked with my wife to type out an outline that structured the whole thing, we ran through it three times in 30 minutes and we were all set. The best thing about Craig is he isnt afraid to be the bad cop to your good cop. If you need someone standing somewhere or things to get moving or just need some random stranger to get out of the way. Craig will take care of it to remove the stress off of you and your wife in my case. He was as nice as could be but knew when things needed to get done he wasnt afraid to be stern. My wife and I couldnt be happier with Craig and our choice to hire him, we got constant compliments at our reception about how funny yet truthful he was with his words about marriage and commitment. Hiring Craig for your Officiant wont only make your planning easier but more fun and enjoyable! read more

Craig was perfect for our wedding on 9/21/13! My husband is nondenominational Christian and I am not very religious at all but would describe myself as nondenominational Christian as well. Craig was very open to creating whatever type of ceremony we wanted. He had suggestions, but nothing was nonnegotiable. We loved that. We also loved all of his suggestions that we could potentially use for the ceremony. We met with 3 officiants and Craig was the best by far. He is extremely easy to talk to and open up to. All 3 officiants we met with provided their packet of what their services include and suggested readings and vows. Craig's were the most creative and definitely fit our personalities. We both chose vows from Craig's list because they were perfect for us. Craig made it very clear that everything on his list of suggestions were just that suggestions and we were able to choose anything listed or anything else we prefer that was not listed. We added a poem to our ceremony read by a bridesmaid and translated to ASL by the groom's sister and Craig suggested the perfect moment to have it read. We received significant complements from our guests regarding the ceremony. Craig made the ceremony fun rather than potentially boring. :) He added humor and his own little touches. Many people asked how long we had known him. They were shocked when we told them we have only met with him twice. Once for the initial interview and once to discuss our choices for the ceremony. Craig was extremely responsive via email throughout the whole process. Craig also had great suggestions for seating and making some edits to the vows. He truly enjoys what he does and I would not be surprised if I saw him at one my friends future weddings. Everyone was very impressed with what he had to say and how he delivered it. We never ran through all of the ceremony word for word regarding what he said and I was extremely pleased with the personal touches he added and I truly enjoyed listening to what he had to say about marriage. Included in his services, Craig does one premarital counseling meeting, he provides an awesome list of questions for you and your future spouse to discuss, he runs the rehearsal and the ceremony. In researching officiants (as we do not belong to a church), we found Craig to be insanely reasonably priced and the only person that did not charge extra for the rehearsal. So not only did he do am extremely amazing job, he also does it for an insanely reasonable price! I highly recommend Craig for couples looking for a nondenominational officiant. He really tailors the ceremony to the couple and their personalities. My husband and I love to joke around and Craig did so in a very personable way. He kept us calm and entertained (as well as our guests) during our ceremony. He made our ceremony very memorable. read more

Choosing our officiant was very important to us and we could not have picked a more wonderful person. From the start, we had a great connection with Craig and he worked very hard for us before he was even hired. We met with him at a Starbucks and talked for a long time as he got to know us. After this first meeting, we were so impressed that I even turned down a family friend's offer to officiate our wedding for free because we knew Craig was the right officiant for us. In addition to getting to know us, he offered us great material for readings and how to get our marriage license completed. We met with Craig again after booking him as our officiant and he helped personalize our wedding ceremony. We turned down a few other officiants along the way because their ceremony felt too "cookie cutter" and Craig does a great job of making your ceremony personal to you. During our rehearsal, Craig was the perfect mix of good humor and snapping people to attention. We had a rambunctious bunch for our wedding party and he got us through the rehearsal very efficiently. On the day of our wedding, all of the time Craig spent getting to know us came out as he mixed in our personal stories and messages throughout the ceremony. He did such a great job that I had several friends admit to me later that they thought Craig was related to me! Craig, thank you again for all of your hard work and time spent with us. We hope to run into you again. read more

Craig was amazing! He's funny, charismatic and really good at his job. He will customize your ceremony to however you choose and help you organize the flow of everything. We were getting married in San Diego but live in Long Beach so he was really helpful with factiming for meetings instead of having to drive down. He's really great and I am really glad I booked him to be the officiant for my wedding. Thanks Craig! read more

Hands down the best officiant! He was funny, welcoming, friendly and so amazing! He made us feel like he was apart of the family and we couldn't be happier. It's not always easy to find someone to marry you who you don't know, but Craig did amazing! I would recommend him over & over again ((: read more

Craig was awesome to work with! Our wedding guests came up to us all night long commenting on how much they enjoyed Craig and how personal our ceremony was. My husband and I are laid back and were looking for someone with a good sense of humor and Craig was the perfect fit to lead our ceremony! He was also very organized and professional throughout the entire planning process and leading the rehearsal. My husband and I really enjoyed working with Craig and felt honored to have him be a part of our special day. We both highly recommend him to any couple looking for an incredible officiant. read more

March 2017, #TheStrangmans2017:Craig is as good as it gets when it comes to officiants!! He was always on time for all of our meetings, he is well organized, knows how to get a crowd under control, and took the reigns from the very first day. The ceremony was personalized, funny, and EXACTLY how we wanted it. All night we received compliments on how great he was. Thank you, Craig!!! You helped make our dream wedding a reality. read more

Craig, I wanted to send you an email to simply say thank you!! Actually, there are truly NO words that I can get out of my mouth, or fingers for that matter, to say how thankful I am that I found you!!! You made our wedding day truly special! SO Many people came up to us and asked who you were.. everyone thought we knew you from the way you preformed our ceremony. Your message was very personable, and enjoyable and everyone at our wedding was simply in awe of you and how well you did! You will never know how grateful I am for you, in the short time we have known each other!! Although, we may speak to each other rarely in the future, please know that you will always hold a very special place in my heart!! Our day was meaningful and truly EPIC, because of you!!! Don't you ever, ever, forget... my heart is happy, and there is nothing more than I could ever ask for!! Cheers!! Mathew and Kristin Whitebrook! read more

My fiancee and I met with Craig twice but we decided not to hire him because he made us feel uncomfortable by being judgemental that we wanted a non-denominational ceremony. Craig wanted to preach the importance of forgiveness and sacrifice at our ceremony but that did not fit with our view of our relationship. We tried to work with him but he proved to be uncooperative and he lacks the ability to accomidate his customers. read more

Craig is a true professional - he came to the rehearsal and when my coordinator was unable to make it, stepped in and took charge. He's done many weddings but everyone commented on how personal he made our ceremony feel. He interviewed us before-hand to get a feel for who we are and suggested everyone check out my unique heirloom ring which throughout the reception, they did! He was awesome and I would absolutely recommend him to anyone! read more

I am not sure what the first review is about - my fiancée and I are not religious and had Craig modify his readings to fit our style -Craig was very supportive and not judgmental at all!! We had hired Craig about a month before our wedding - we instantly felt comfortable and able to laugh with him. We had met with him a few times to go over the details and plan out exactly what we wanted- Craig was amazing - very organized had us think of things we would of otherwise not thought of. Craig attended the rehearsal dinner and was able to blend right in with the crowd - he has a great sense of humor and knew who and when he could through little jokes out. The day of the wedding - he was very calming, funny when we needed him to be, and serious when needed. We have received so many complements about Craig after the ceremony - everyone really enjoyed him. (We had interviewed about 5 other officiant before making our decision) I can highly recommend him to any couple that wants a quality, good personality, organized and polite officiant. read more

We received a referral for Craig from another vendor after we had to change officiants on short notice (see my other reviews). We were immediately impressed with how responsive and down to earth Craig was. He clearly wanted to perform the wedding that we wanted. Besides being highly professional, Craig went out of his way to be helpful at the rehearsal and before the ceremony, which I really appreciated. We were very happy with the ceremony. Craig clearly connected with the guests and brought them into the moment, giving the proper weight (not too heavy, not too light) to the occasion. As I've written in my other reviews, nothing will matter more in the days leading up to your wedding than the professionalism and maturity of your vendors. On this basis, we recommend Craig very highly! read more

Craig is AMAZING! He did our wedding 2/7/15 and we couldn't have been happier with him. Each meeting we had before the wedding he took the time to get to know us and incorporated that into our ceremony. After our ceremony, our family and friends could not stop talking about how awesome Craig was and how beautiful he made the ceremony. I HIGHLY recommend Craig, he is such a down to earth man and makes you feel so comfortable. Thank you so much Craig!! From Levi and Katie Annon !! read more

We got married March 2015, and choosing Craig as our wedding officiant was one of the best decisions we made. He is kind, genuine, and personable, and he offered a huge support to us in preparing for the wedding ceremony. He is a great resource - he basically provides a road map for couples, with everything from marriage coaching sessions, wedding license logistics, wedding ceremony ideas, and ceremony coordination. He helped a us create a beautiful and special ceremony. It was truly our favorite and most memorable part of the day, and we keep getting such great comments about him and our ceremony from family and friends. He also has a spirit to serve and was also a huge help with getting chairs down to the ceremony on the hot spring/summer day. Thank you Craig! read more

When my husband and I started to plan our wedding, there was one thing we already knew without a doubt. We wanted Craig to marry us! He had married my sister and her husband two years ago. He was absolutely fantastic at my sister's wedding and absolutely amazing at ours! He personalized our ceremony and captured us right on the mark! One would have thought he'd known us all of our lives. He even added humor and had all of our guests, and us, cracking up! Craig's serious side was wonderful too. All of our guests commented on what an awesome job he did. One of our guests said it was so uplifting that she was going to apply the things that he spoke of to her own marriage. Our wedding coordinator said he thought it was one of the best ceremonies he's ever seen. We highly recommend Craig for weddings! read more

Craig was absolutely amazing! He made our ceremony everything we wanted! We had a energetic two year old son who wanted to be up there during our vows and Craig was so sweet and just rolled with it. He had all of our guests laughing and fully engaged! I would recommend him to anyone who wants a perfect ceremony! Craig makes sure he gives you exactly what you ask him for! read more

Craig was so great! We hired him about an hour after we first met with him. He made us feel very comfortable and really got to know us and our story. He was very helpful and provided great recommendations. He led the rehearsal very swiftly and we all felt comfortable with what to do. Everyone commented on what he said during our ceremony as being true. He also made us relax by throwing in some jokes while telling our story. Overall a great experience. I highly recommend him! read more

Craig was a little more pricy then the average officiant but he was absolutely worth every penny. He met with us several times before the wedding, he attended our rehearsal, and he was on time for the wedding. Additionally, he was able to provide a lot of helpful material to guide us in creating our own personal ceremony exactly the way we wanted it. The actual ceremony lasted about 20 minutes and it was simply perfect. He added classy humor to his heart felt messages and his voice was deep and powerful. Additionally, even though i'm not extremely into organized religion, it was important to my family that our officiant had a religious background and that he/she didn't just receive a license off line that anyone can obtain within 30 minutes. Craig had this background and he was willing to incorporate religion to whichever degree we desired. Honestly, he was absolutely perfect. I wholeheartedly recommend him. read more

Craig was the officiant for my wedding in January 2016 and we were THRILLED with him! Our wedding was a bit of a challenge to plan - my husband is in the military and we had to plan the wedding from the other side of the country. We took a quick trip to San Diego 6 months prior to the wedding to meet with tons of wedding vendors. We met with Craig and it immediately felt like we were hanging out with an old friend. He was very interested in our story, how we envisioned our wedding ceremony, and gave us a lot of great advice and tips for some of the ceremony details we weren't sure about. Fast-forward to the wedding day and Craig was amazing! My husband and I wanted a pretty casual, light-hearted ceremony and Craig delivered! He cracked some jokes and had the crowd laughing, but also kept it very personal to our story and had some great advice for us. After the ceremony, I can't tell you how many guests asked how we found him and told us how much they enjoyed him! The only negative I'd say is that we specifically wanted zero religious elements included in our ceremony, but he ended up saying a prayer during it - I imagine it's just something so natural to him, so he instinctively just went into it. Not a biggie, as a lot of our guests are religious, but it was something we didn't ask for. Overall, I highly recommend Craig - he is very experienced and is super flexible with tailoring your ceremony to make it as unique as you are! read more

Craig officiated our wedding in La Jolla this past August and we were so happy he was the one to marry us! We were pretty bummed when we found out my childhood reverend was busy the weekend of our wedding, so we started looking into officiants to hire. Craig came highly recommended by our coordinator. We interviewed Craig and one other officiant, and immediately knew we wanted to hire Craig. Hiring a stranger to marry you seems a bit strange, but Craig goes out of his way to get to know you as a couple and he immediately put us at ease. He has a bunch of ways you can customize the ceremony, which was great. He also has a nice structure for the ceremony in place, so you don't have to do too much work in planning your perfect ceremony. The actual wedding day was so great - everyone kept commenting on how wonderful Craig was, how it seemed like he'd known us forever, and how beautiful the ceremony was. We can't recommend Craig highly enough! read more

Seriously awesome. Craig has a very special way of officiating a wedding, and making sure that it is everything that you want, while still holding up to his high standards of what a wedding should be. The way he spoke about my wife and I many people were shocked to hear that we only met with him a few times prior to our wedding. He makes every effort truly get to know you while having meetings with you and will make your wedding truly unique in every way. Craig has a very powerful voice and personality that I truly believe leads to people really paying more attention to him while he speaks. During the ceremony he makes sure to not lose peoples attention while he speaks, and truly makes it a fun time. He will make jabs at people if they make mistakes such as me saying I will to early, but that is part of the awesome experience of working with Craig as a officiant. If your looking for a officiant who will really give you a one of a kind wedding Craig is the way to go. Everyone at the ceremony came up to me after to tell me how wonderful he was! Thanks for the amazing wedding Craig, we will recommend you to everyone we know looking for a officiant in the future! read more