We chose the perfect officiant for our wedding Fredrick V. James aka RICK JAMES :)…read more He was the perfect fit for us. We knew from the beginning he was reliable, professional, and a positive energy. Before the wedding we spoke and he made sure to get to know us so that our ceremony was tailored to us. He welcomed our guests, told a lil bit of our story, and included the lasso ceremony. He's a well seasoned officiant and can make any ceremony beautiful and fun. Our guests were raving about how much they loved the ceremony saying it was different from the usual boring ones. Highly recommend Frederick for a beautiful ceremony that includes some humor and personalized touches. TLDR: professional, fun, and caring 10/10 would recommend

I couldn't have asked for a better experience! Alan and the team were super helpful and made…read moreeverything as easy as possible. All we had to do was show up! Decor included, paperwork filed for us! It was beautiful and simple, just like we imagined!

This might be a long one, so bear with me. It goes to show just how much my wife and I appreciated…read moreeverything that Low did for us! So a couple weeks before we were to be married, our pastor we intended on having, fell through. We were a mess at this point, with no idea what to do. We contacted Low, and his responses were extremely fast and helpful. The Sunday before our date, we met with him in Huntington. We'd never used anyone like this, so we were very stressed, not sure how personable and catered to US this would be. Within minutes of sitting down with Low, we started to feel at ease. Like another reviewer said, he recorded our 30-45 minute conversation, so he could be in the moment there with us, talk to us, and get to know us, using our conversation as the basis for personalizing our ceremony that was in a mere 6 days! When we left, we felt good, but still a little apprehensive. Would it be funny? Serious? A hybrid? Low had told us a few things about how he works and his background, but we decided to give it a shot. With 6 days left, we really had no choice. Wedding day came, and it was to be a beach wedding at Arch Cove in Laguna. (Pro-Tip for Laguna Beach weddings...check the tide tables, AND check the beach itself REALLY early on the day of the wedding, if not the day before, and have backup locations ready! At our first location, Arch Cove, the beach steps went all the way to the sand when we first picked the spot. By wedding day a few months later, the surf had washed away a massive portion of the sand and there was now a 2-foot or more drop off from the steps to the beach. Not workable for our older family members.) So here I was, an hour before our wedding, and absolutely FREAKING out. My fiance was getting ready in our room, I was supposed to be at the location, and there was no way family would be able to navigate those stairs and massive step down to the sand. Low took me aside and said...."It'll be ok. Let's check out other beaches. I've done plenty of these around here, and I know other spots." He calmed me, reassured me, and while I was still freaking out, we got in his car and drove. This is where having a secondary backup site for a beach wedding comes in handy. I told him our backup was Shaw's Cove. We were there within minutes, and the place, while a little crowded, was do-able. The massive texts and call frenzy began, and thank God we just had immediate family for the ceremony itself. Only had to re-coordinate with 20 people. Low could see I was on the verge of a panic attack. He again took me aside, talked to me (can't remember exactly what he said), but he reassured me everything was going to be just fine. He told me what to do, and said he'd take care of the rest. At this point, I wasn't even dressed. Again, glad we had a low-key, casual wedding planned, because I just had a linen shirt and beige slacks to put on. But now where to change? Many Laguna Beaches have no restroom facilities. Low gave me his keys, and said I could change in his car. So that's what I did right there on a side-street in Laguna Beach in the back of Low's car. Family got there, fiance got there, and the wedding was.....PERFECT! His message and words seemed to be from someone that knew us for years! Humor, faith, integration of how important our kids and families are to us....all of it it was just absolutely STELLAR! By now I've rambled on too much. For anyone out there that's looking for a wedding officiant, just know that Low went amazingly above and beyond anything my wife and I could have ever hoped for! What looked like was going to be a disaster, turned into one of the most amazing days of my life! Thank you soooooooo much, Low! We're SO glad we decided to have you be a part of our special day!

The Pastor (Low) is amazing. He is simply one of the most kind humans on the planet. Low Officiated…read moremy Daughter's wedding 2 years ago and then the same for my son in July. Each time he was available far in advance to understand the unique individuals being Married. His ceremonies were Light, Loving and with some laughter. Perfect!!!' Thank you Low. Definitely part of the memories. Darin and Laurie

All processes went so sweet and lovely Yenmin was very…read moreprofessional I totally recommend the place for next chapter of life

Where do I start- I didn't expect such a beautiful experience from a 1 Hour Marriage chapel…read more(nothing to do with the chapel business it just seemed like a quick come and go vibe but it was nothing like that)! Yenmin was absolutely AMAZING! I did not expect to cry at all and the tears were FLOWINGGGGGG. She gave an option to do the ceremony in Spanish for my family and we did not expect that. Very professional and accommodating staff! The second Yenmin began to give the ceremony, I felt as if me and my husband were alone in the room getting ready to step into the next phase of our life. This experience was everything I could have imagined. Thank you so much!!!!

Nice enough guy, but he was slow to respond to emails, sometimes not responding at all, and I had…read moreto keep following-up with him while also planning my wedding. Because of the poor communication, he didn't make specifically requested corrections and updates to our marriage license, resulting in multiple errors on our marriage certificate. I've had to spend months trying to get corrections with LA County. Now for the rest of my life I have this ridiculous 2-page marriage certificate (one page for the original with errors and one with the corrections). If you use them, just make sure to quadruple check his work on your official marriage documents...

Everything was perfect! Thank you again Mark for being apart of our special day we will never…read moreforget! Brandy & Jorden

Marie was such a wonderful part of our wedding day! We had a very small, intimate micro-wedding…read morethat we planned in just 7 days so finding someone who was available on a Sunday and willing to work with us on such short notice meant so much to us. Another thing that made our ceremony extra special was that Marie is bilingual. She created a beautiful Spanglish ceremony for us so both of our parents could understand and feel included in such an important moment. She made everything feel incredibly easy and stress-free. Since neither of us had been through the marriage process before, we really appreciated having someone who knew exactly what she was doing and could guide us through everything with so much patience and kindness. Our ceremony was short and simple, but Marie made it feel so personal and meaningful. We are truly thankful she was the person who helped us officially become husband and wife!

Marie was one of the greatest choices we made for our elopement. From the moment we met her, she…read morecarried such a warm, inviting presence. As two people who tend to be more reserved, finding someone who felt naturally easy to connect with mattered a lot to us. Meeting her only reinforced that feeling. She has an effortless way of making people comfortable, and you can tell she's skilled at working with all kinds of personalities and comfort levels. Her ability to genuinely connect is something special. We're incredibly thankful for her. She helped make our elopement feel personal and heartfelt.

Writing this for my sister Emily who doesnt have a yelp account:…read more All I can say is THANK YOU JON! He officiated over our wedding in early January. From the start of our interaction to the "'I do's" it was absolutely flawless. It felt more like a best friend taking our hand and walking us thru the entire process start to finish. He was incredibly delightful & beyond helpful and everything more than we couldve ever asked for. We are so happy we decided to go with him on our most important day, it could not have been any better and I mean that with genuine gratitude.

Jon was incredible to work with! There are not enough words to express how happy we were with his…read moreservice. He definitely matched our energy through and through. From the first call, we clicked instantly and knew he would be the one. Jon is a great speaker, he came prepared, and had a robust schedule for the ceremony. He provided us with sheets to work on at home to better tailor the experience. Looking back the ceremony was our favorite part of the wedding. He brought so much joy to our day. It was perfect reflection of us as a couple and was everything we wanted it to be!

Unfortunately, I was not able to have the Forever & Always Wedding that I dreamed of. Although…read moreHeather communicated very well, there were a couple of incidents that I found slightly unprofessional: 1. I signed a contract with one of her staff as my wedding planner. Unfortunately, from my understanding, there were unexpected changes in the company, so Heather had to take over. However, Heather responded that she would make an exception for me and not charge me an additional $1000 for this change. With all due respect, I should not be financially penalized for changes that an owner experiences; especially since I already signed the contract that I financially agreed to. 2. I encountered a lot of life changes that disrupted my ability to move forward with a wedding that my brothers were supposed to be in. For instance, I had a depressed, suicidal brother, I had another brother leave for Japan for the Marines, and I had an uncle pass away. All vendors except for Heather were so kind to fully refund my deposits due to the situation. Unfortunately, Heather responded that she was still a businesswoman and was financially hurting, so she was in no place to offer a full refund. I basically paid Heather almost $500 to establish a simple contract. I already had all the vendors in place and organized, so this deposit was for nothing. Heather should not be held responsible for unexpected circumstances, but this wedding meant a lot to me. As a business owner, you should be able to compromise with your clients based on their situation. I could have easily used that deposit to help my family for the funeral. I find this situation absurd because I never wanted a wedding planner to begin with. Our wedding list was only 32 guests, but my fiancé insisted that we hire a planner because he did not want me to stress out. I admire him for caring, but this wedding was going to be a private and intimate event with very little management. I blame myself for hiring a wedding planner when I did not need one. It is unfortunate that Heather was thinking like a businesswoman and not a human being with empathy. Nonetheless, please make sure to ask about the refund policy for emergencies such as death, health, etc. Two stars are for her communication, but I can only evaluate Heather based on my experience with her before the wedding date. Therefore, I am unable to provide feedback for her day service since my wedding never happened. Has it ever occurred to you, Heather, that you had not heard from me in a year because I was busy dealing with other important things like planning a funeral? My wedding was the last thing on my mind. Also, I was not complaining about the charge that never happened, I am complaining about your response to your changes. There was no need to comment on that you are more expensive and won't be charging me. We could have proceeded forward with whatever it was we were doing. You contacted ONE venue and that is because they had YOU sign a contract with them. FYI, my pre-engagement photos were scheduled with the photographer I hired for my wedding and I was still refunded the full amount. This vendor did not work for free either and still managed to prioritize customer service over money. You are a business owner and have the liberty to do as you please, but you must have needed the money more than I did, so I hope my contributions helped your business. Nonetheless, well done on your communication. If you have a family member with a life-threatening illness or you have a medical condition that may require potential hospitalization, please do not hire Heather as your wedding planner as she will not refund you the deposit because not make exceptions for your situation simply because she does not "work for free." Thank you.

It's so important to relate to and connect with your wedding planner and from day 1 it felt like…read moreshe was my friend helping me plan my dream wedding. I found Heather through Yelp and let me say: she really understood my vision and kept it real with me on what i could and couldn't afford lol. Not to mention, I literally and honestly don't know how I could have enjoyed my wedding without Heather. Her and her assistant, Courtney, handled E V E R Y T H I N G on the day of our wedding at the Estate on Second and then some. If there was any sort of problem, she had the solution. If we needed a drink, she was there with mine and my husband's signature cocktails. If I was losing track of time, she made sure to gently push me along. She truly handled everything so that me and my husband could just have FUN and for that I am truly grateful.

This review is a looooong time coming! My husband and I got married on Catalina Island on February…read more22, 2020...2 weeks before the pandemic started shutting the world down. As we just celebrated our 1 year anniversary, I realized I didn't post a review and wanted to get to it! I believe that the ownership of Avalon Magical Weddings has changed so the negative reviews posted here do not match up to our experience. Our coordinator, Janeth, was AMAZING. My husband proposed on January 10, 2020 and we wanted to elope with just our kids on 02/22/20 (2 is my fav number) and it had to be on Catalina, where we had gone every year to celebrate our anniversary for the past 5 years. Janeth jumped into action, coordinated the flowers, the pastor, location, photography, marriage license and the dinner...mostly all over email! She asked detailed questions, I sent her numerous pics of what I had envisioned and she was patient through it all! We met her in person the day before our wedding, walked through how it would all go, met with the Pastor and had all of our last minute questions answered. The morning of our wedding it POURED! We had no Plan B really, as we were committed to getting married on the beach, but as luck (or some other Devine intervention) would have it, the rain stopped and the sun came out in time for the 3p ceremony! I hadn't seen the flowers or knew what to expect but my bouquet was stunning! Exactly what I wanted! All in all, it was a beautiful day and we were blown away with how great everything turned out. Absolutely zero regrets!

Gosh where do I begin. First of all if you are shopping for a wedding package in Catalina this is…read moreNOT the place to go. Let me repeat that to save you a possible wedding disaster...DO NOT again DO NOT hire Laurie to plan, officiate or have anything to do with your wedding. In her add right now it says the silver package (the one I signed up for) cost $975. I added 2 corsages and 3 boutonniere and had my bouquet upgraded (basically added 6 roses and 3 carnations) my total came up to $1525...thats $550 extra. Now as if that's not ridiculous enough, I asked to add a tulle in my arch and to change the venue from Cabana Beach to Beach platform. I was charged extra $300 for the platform (I guess I understand that) and extra $400 for the tulle (WTF!!!!). Laurie says that I have to pay for the time she spend away from work and her transportation. Then she told me that she did not charge me for the Tulle. Now just how much does she charge per hour, a roundtrip to Catalina express is $72.50 plus the taxi $100...I'm pretty sure she knows a vendor to go to, so should not be more than an hour to pick up a Tulle but I was charged $400 just for that. Then she had the nerve to tell me that I got the tulle for free...Bullshit!!! And the unlimited phone contact is a joke. First of all good luck on trying to contact this lady. If you get a hold of her she is always in a hurry. Then try and talk to her I dare you, thats a joke...one question will take you one hour and a half to get answered 'coz once she start talking you will never have a chance to talk, she can literally talk you to DEATH. She nevers listens to what you want and she will insist that her way is the ONLY way. Now if you want to just show up on your wedding and have no input of whatsoever, like a puppet on Laurie's show, then she will be your gal. The Background music and the ceremony itself is ridiculous. The boombox you will not hear, she does not wear a microphone of some kind so the guest will be surprise when she pronounce you as husband and wife. The wedding is over and none of the guest know that it even took place (sooo sad!!!). The minister (Laurie) dressed inappropriately, I will take a hooker in a heartbeat to officiate our wedding, a clown costume is better. I will post a picture later and you be the judge. She is also the photographer (professional, or at least she calls herself). How can you officiate and take the precious moment of the ceremony? She can't and she did not. No picture of my dad (who is sick by the way) walking me down the aisle. Our first kiss as husband and wife and so forth and so on. And the pictures which by the way she throw 50 extra (making it 150 total) had 102 pictures (no exaggeration here 'coz I counted) of the same pose...me and my husband kiss like picture. I asked to have a family photo as my dad can't be out on the sun for a long time due to chemotheraphy drugs that he is taking but Laurie said that she need to take the photos in order. In the end I have 4 group pictures in which at that point was incomplete guest due to dehydration and we had to pack our stuff from the rented hotel. The icing on the cake is this, not only did she give (paid for already) the garter but when she sent the expedited marriage license registration she sent it $3.00 short. So we had to come to our local county registrar to pay the $3.00 and pick our license ourselves. This whole experience with here was a NIGHTMARE. Do yourself a favor if you want a wedding bliss this is not the place. There is NOTHING MAGICAL in Laurie's business!!! P.S. Laurie don't deserve even a half star but yelp will not allow zero!!!!

We used Chris as our wedding officiant in 2024, and he was easily one of the highlights of the…read moreentire night. From the start, he really took the time to understand what we wanted and thoughtfully incorporated everything we asked for into the ceremony. The result was something that felt truly personal, meaningful, and us--never generic or scripted. So many of our guests came up to us afterward asking who he was and how they could get in contact with him, which says everything. If you're looking for an officiant who is professional, engaging, and able to create a ceremony that genuinely resonates, we can't recommend Chris enough.

We worked with Chris for our wedding, July 17, 2021. Simply AMAZING!! I've sat through SO many…read moreboring ceremonies and I knew that I wanted the exact opposite for my wedding. Chris was very friendly, funny, personable and made sure everyone had a great time. From the start of working with Chris, he was super dope & my favorite, efficient. We did a zoom call prior to booking and he treated us like we've known each other for years. He walked us through all the steps, sent us documents to complete, along with our h/w assignment, got our approvals on everything and just like that our ceremony was planned! The entire crowd LOVED the homework assignment surprise and it kept everyone entertained. You will get never-ending compliments, trust me. Choose Chris for your ceremony, he's worth it.

We loved having Mark Wheeler from You May Kiss The Bride officiate our wedding ceremony! From our…read morefirst meeting with him, we felt as though he were an old friend that we'd known for ages. He was kind, funny, warm, personable, and genuine and spent time getting to know us. We received a variety of sample ceremonies and readings from Greg and Elisa, which we chose to piece together with some of our own thoughts and internet finds to write our own. Greg and Elisa also helped with reminders to get our marriage license and by reading over the ceremony to give us the feedback we'd requested (having never written a ceremony before). On the day of, Mark arrived early and gave us some super-helpful tips on logistics like how to hand off the bouquet. I didn't have a lot of nerves before the ceremony, but I'm sure his calming presence would have helped if I had. He came prepared with a copy of the ceremony, and did a great job. When it came time to having us repeat the vows back, he did skip a line for one of us, but no one noticed it at the time (not even us!), and it was no big deal. What people did notice is how composed he was and how he handled a helicopter flying overhead with a witty impromptu comment that eased the tension. I did get very emotional up there, so I appreciated Mark's calm demeanor and professional delivery. And I loved knowing that we were being married by someone we liked and respected who had a family of his own. Mark even met with us later to fill out the confidential marriage license and was super kind about it when we stupidly showed up half an hour late because we'd misread our own calendar. (Oh, and he knows the ins and outs of the marriage license process, even the more obscure stuff like confidential licenses.) We'd totally recommend You May Kiss The Bride and Mark Wheeler in particular!

We ended up hiring Mark Wheeler for our wedding at the Adamson House and he was great! Everything…read morewent smoothly day of: Mark showed up early, performed an awesome ceremony and our wedding was a hit. A lot of the guests commented on how awesome the ceremony was and they loved Mark's slight South African accent. Behind the scenes, Elisa was wonderful to work with and she was very very prompt in responding to any questions I had for her. Greg also helped us come up with a great ceremony and he was super easy to work with. Overall, I highly recommend You May Kiss The Bride to officiate your wedding! -Harry & Diahnn www.harrydiahnn.com