How did you pick your Officiant?

[Mermaid_Ariel]

Did you call a few on Disney's list and just try to see who "fit"? What made you choose one over the other?

 

[hiwaygal]

I sent emails to Rev. Kevin Knox, Rev. Jack Day, and Rev. Tim Herring.

Rev. Kevin was the first to respond and seemed very eager to be a part of our celebrations.

Rev. Jack never responded.

Rev. Tim was borderline rude...just gave me a weird vibe in his response.

That was my experience.

I chose Rev. Kevin because he was so helpful and just seemed like a cheerful, charming person. We were not disappointed. He did everything I wanted for my wedding and made it special.

 

[Mermaid_Ariel]

Thank you! I just sent an e-mail to Rev. Kevin Knox. Hopefully I hear back soon!

 

[FIREFLY01]

WE SENT EMAILS TO A COUPLE DIFFERNT ON THE LIST, REV LUTHER KISTLER WAS THE ONLY ONE WHO ACTUALLY TOOK TIME TO WRITE AN EMAIL BACK WANTING TO KNOW ABOUT US, AND TELL ABOUT HIM AND HIS WIFE, HE IS SO PERSONABLE, AND VERY FUNNY , WE MET HIM AND HIS WIFE AT A PLANNING SESSION, AND THEY WERE GREAT PLUS HE IS ONE THE LEAST EXPENSIVE, I HAD A GREAT VIBE ALSO WHEN I TALKED WITH HIM!

 

[mhcueball2]

Good luck with your Rev!!

When we were looking through videographer choices, we noticed Rev. Jack was in a majority of them. We liked his overall personality from the videos, seemed like a genuine guy. We were SO happy with him and glad we went with him.

 

[MistressOfAllEvil]

This probably won't help too much, but DF and I are both NOT religious. Ron Rosenzweig was the only officiant on the approved Disney list that didn't have a religious affiliation. Oh, I take that back. There was another lady too, but I didn't want to be married by a lady. Is that weird??

 

[Mermaid_Ariel]

This probably won't help too much, but DF and I are both NOT religious. Ron Rosenzweig was the only officiant on the approved Disney list that didn't have a religious affiliation. Oh, I take that back. There was another lady too, but I didn't want to be married by a lady. Is that weird??

Yeah, we don't want a religious ceremony either. I thought I was weird for saying that, too - I don't want a lady marrying us either!! And I can't think of a rational reason as to why!

 

[MistressOfAllEvil]

Yeah, we don't want a religious ceremony either. I thought I was weird for saying that, too - I don't want a lady marrying us either!! And I can't think of a rational reason as to why!

I think it has something to do with tradition. While I'm not so traditional that I subscribe to a particular faith, I'm still traditional in the sense that whoever is presiding over my ceremony should be male. There's some stuff that I'm being very stodgy and old school about and then there's other stuff that I couldn't care less about. DF and I are staying in seperate rooms the night before the wedding and not seeing each other at all before the ceremony. Yet, my MOH & BM are wearing non-matching black cocktail dresses, I don't have a cohesive theme, and I'm not doing favors or programs or rice, petals or bubbles . It's worked to my advantage so far. Any time I want something a certain way, I fall back on traditional precedent and when I don't want something I declare my laissez-faire, modern attitude!

 

[myprincessgirlisa]

when we got married....DFTW offered little bios on them & we LOVED Rev Day...but now they do it TOTALLY different

but we REALLY did LOVE Rev Day...i know hes kinda bad a t getting back to people, but i would use him again for a VR!!!

 

[wendy46001]

We tossed tradition and had my older brother marry us...
We got the Disney list before our engagement party and figured we would just pick someone...but after my brother gave a toast at the party we realized how important it was… to us… for the person marrying us to truly know who we were...so we asked him the next week...got him all notarized and helped him write the ceremony

 

[Janet2k]

How did you pick your Officiant?

I wanted a woman to perform our ceremony. I was very firm on that point. We were absolutely thrilled when we were able to book Rev. Dr. Jo Ann Elf Pessagno as our officiant. She couldn't have been more perfect for us.

My husband contacted her by phone first. She wanted some background information so that she could create a ceremony for us that was personal. I sent her the info, and then when I was in WDW for my vow renewal, she and I met. I instantly liked her and felt very comfortable with her. As a matter of fact, I invited her to attend our Welcome Party and was happy when she accepted the invitation. Here's a photo of Rev. Jo Ann meeting my parents & aunt at the party -- they really liked her too, as did my sister who was in tears during our vow renewal ceremony the next day (she's such a softie!):

So, for those of you who are looking for an officiant, try to speak with a few of them over the telephone so that you can get a feel for their personalities. Then choose the one that suits you best. But, honestly, you can't go wrong with any of the officiants on Disney's list. I've read nice things about many of them over the years.

 

[Janet2k]

We tossed tradition and had my older brother marry us...
We got the Disney list before our engagement party and figured we would just pick someone...but after my brother gave a toast at the party we realized how important it was… to us… for the person marrying us to truly know who we were...so we asked him the next week...got him all notarized and helped him write the ceremony

Wow! What an awesome thing to do, Wendy46001. I love it!

 

[PrincessBride010103]

i dont want to offend anyone on here but i find rev jack day to be a weirdo.
i hate the way he bows in front of every bride its like so fake. and his alleged "grandfather hugs" give me the creeps.
we booked rev tim herring and he seems great so far, he is performing a catholic ceremony for us (not recognized by the church or anything)

again, sorry if i offended anyone just my honest opinion

 

[lurkyloo]

Ahem.... Like Wendy46001, we felt it was important to have someone we know marry us. DF's childhood pastor is flying out to marry us - it is totally worth the airfare and hotel costs to us

 

[helloirishkitty]

i dont want to offend anyone on here but i find rev jack day to be a weirdo.

again, sorry if i offended anyone just my honest opinion

I love you! lol... that seriously cracked me up

Anyways...

My uncle is a unitarian minister and he's marrying us. I really wanted someone I had a history with to preside over the ceremony and I was over the moon when he agreed to do it

 

[Mermaid_Ariel]

i dont want to offend anyone on here but i find rev jack day to be a weirdo.
i hate the way he bows in front of every bride its like so fake. and his alleged "grandfather hugs" give me the creeps.
we booked rev tim herring and he seems great so far, he is performing a catholic ceremony for us (not recognized by the church or anything)

again, sorry if i offended anyone just my honest opinion

That's hysterical!

 

[MeowGoddes]

Whew! I thought I was the only one who was like "oh brother" at the bowing thing.... Not that I'm ruling him out, but I am decided between him and Rev. Knox. Wanted Miller, but he's booked.

 

[princessdisneybelle]

We used Rev. Tim. He did my parents vow renewal a few years ago and was great. Our ceremony we nice but nothing we asked for... Everytime we called or emailed him he just said he had it taken care of. The rehearsal with his wife was horrible. If you are not really set on how you want your ceremony Rev. Tim is fine. But if you want alot of specific things good luck. I hope you find what you are looking for.

 

[MrsJones]

I sent emails to Rev. Kevin Knox, Rev. Jack Day, and Rev. Tim Herring.

Rev. Kevin was the first to respond and seemed very eager to be a part of our celebrations.

Rev. Jack never responded.

Rev. Tim was borderline rude...just gave me a weird vibe in his response.

That was my experience.

I chose Rev. Kevin because he was so helpful and just seemed like a cheerful, charming person. We were not disappointed. He did everything I wanted for my wedding and made it special.

I am glad that Rev. Tim didn't just creep me out. Not only was he creepy and wierd vibe ish, but his whole website and how it seemed like he wanted every dime he could get out of you turned me away.

Rev. Jack is bad at getting back, but we really wanted him and I just liked him. The bowing I could deal without, but the hugging is good for me, i'm a hugger I especially liked his sense of humor, his including the kids in the ceremony, which we for sure made non-denomenational, and that he had a whole webpage with pictures of him in different robes you could choose from Just appealed to my wierd sense of humor I guess. Fiancee of course liked the robes and just wanted whoever I wanted, gotta love that !!!!

 

[B2B-2008]

I nearly booked Rev. Tim but something about his replies to my e-mails didn't make me feel comfortable. So I emailed Rev. Kevin after a recommendation on here and he has been really nice with all the emails sent so far.

I also didn't like the hugging and bowing thing that Rev. Jack Day does.