Reviews and Thank You Notes!

We are honored to be part of so many magical moments! Thank you to all of our couples for trusting us with their wedding ceremonies. Below are just some of the thank you notes and reviews we’ve been blessed to receive either directly, or on Wedding Wire, The Knot, Bride’s of Long Island, Facebook & our other social media presences.
True sense of joy and connection with Rev. Lorli Henry
Dear Rev. Lorili,There are many reasons to thank you and be grateful for your help and direction during the planning process of our wedding ceremony. Starting with making sure we knew the process and options of getting a marriage license, how to structure a ceremony and helping prepare our dear friend Jaime to participate and reflect on us as a couple. In particular, I need to recognize your commitment to ensuring the culmination of such a beautiful ceremony. Lorili, from the moment you showed up for our ceremony I felt your true sense of joy and connection. You were not providing a service as an officiant instead, you made us feel you were here to celebrate and make this an amazing day for Eric and me and all our guests. You deserve a big thank you for sharing our joy, talking so eloquently and personally about Eric and me and taking away Eric’s biggest concern that a stranger would marry us! You won him over!Lorili we wish you continued success and peace in your life. You have a gift and we are grateful to have had you share our wedding day. we feel you left us blessed with joy, love and a true sense of peace.All the best,Pamela and EricAmazing, my guests loved him!
Reverend Joe was amazing. He really captured the crowd with his captivating speech. Rev Joe told our story so beautifully and really got intimate details of how we met and told the story so beautifully. Highly recommend him for an interfaith ceremony and all types of ceremony.
Absolutely flawless
Brenda was absolutely amazing. With just 3 weeks notice, since our original officiant fell through, Brenda took on the challenge and made our ceremony so memorable. Till this day my family and friends remind of how beautifully her voice and presence told our story. I would recommend her over and over to anyone.
Great Service!
From our first correspondence, April was so attentive, organized and personally invested in our wedding ceremony. She provided great detailed advice on the ceremony, vow styles and marriage license information that made it so seamless on the day! (For any future brides, look into dialogue/duet style vows- it was so unique and beautiful, we received so many compliments and it was Aprils suggestion if you want to do joint vows!) April is absolutely fantastic and such a joy to work with!
Reverend Joe absolutely incredible
I honestly wouldn’t of wanted anyone else for our special day. Reverend Joe from the moment I reached out to him up until after the ceremony paid so much attention to detail and was like the glue the held everything together!!! I 1000% recommend to anyone getting married in the future.
Amazing!!!
Rev Joe is a beautiful, authentic human being. From the moment we met, by chance at a venue showcase, the connection between him and us was immediate and real. Rev Joe is all about life and love. The ceremony he officiated for us captured who we are as individuals, a couple and what our beliefs are. Countless people told us they were taken in by the remarkable wedding ceremony. We are grateful Rev Joe shared his gifts and blessings with us and for the memorable and special ceremony. It and he are forever in our hearts!!
Rev. Joe was amazing!! And 🌈 friendly !
Rev. Joe was absolutely amazing to work with. When we first met him he was so laid back and wanted to get to know the couple we were. Our first meeting was like reconnecting with an old friend! His personality is full of life and you can tell he generally loves what he does. When he sent us the first draft of our ceremony it was clear he not only listened but that he got us as a couple. Our ceremony was filled with love, humor, and just general joy. He brings a smile to everyone he meets. Our guests could not stop raving about his ceremony. What was also a bonus was that him and the Church of Ancient ways is 🏳️🌈 LGBTQ friendly. This was a concern when my wife and I began looking. I cannot recommend them enough.
Working with Rev Joe was the best decision I made!
With the restrictions placed by the RC church, my spouse and I would not be able to be married in a church or have a priest officiate a wedding at the venue. I wanted to have a spiritual ceremony that respected by spouse’s beliefs but still have faith, spirituality and God present for our day and bringing in some traditions of a catholic ceremony. After talking with Rev Joe, we knew he understood our vision and worked with us over several months to put together a very personal ceremony. My family and friends were in awe of the ceremony and many stated it was the best they have ever been to! Although we had to plan our wedding on Long Island from Rochester NY, communication with Rev Joe was never an issue. He was amazing to work with, very responsive and he really takes time to get to know you as individuals and as a couple. We would definitely recommend Rev Joe!!
Reverend Joe Iadanza is the best!!!
We had the pleasure of getting married by reverend Joe Iadanza. We had communications for a few weeks before our wedding and he was super helpful and listened to everything we wanted. 100/100 would recommend as your officiant!
Reverend Joe Iadanza
Absolutely INCREDIBLE!!! However, incredible doesn’t even begin to describe Rev. Joe. He was the easiest person to work with in all of our wedding planning – he was so patient, thorough, and responsive. Everyone who attended our ceremony had nothing but great things to say about how personal, professional, and funny it was (over and over again). Please please please make sure you use Rev. Joe as your officiant. We PROMISE you won’t go wrong! I wish we could give him millions of stars!!!
Amazing and beautiful
Pastor Marie Gismondi was very on point, organized, and provided great guidance due to her vast experience. She made everything very easy. She is a great listener and she incorporated our story into the ceremony effortlessly which made it very speacial to us. Thank you!
by Krista C
Joe was such an amazing officiant for our ceremony! He was a joy to work with from our first meeting and we felt he really understood our needs. Our guests were moved to tears by his beautiful words. The ceremony Joe created exceeded our expectations and we would highly recommend his services to anyone in need of an officiant!
by Kayla L
Pastor April married us on 7/7/22 and it was truly the most magical, amazing ceremony. She was SO easy to work with and went back and forth with us multiple times until we were happy with the final product! She is truly the kindest soul and I would recommend her and her team to ANYONE looking for an officiant. Our ceremony was unique, personalized and exactly what we asked for. She had my guests in tears and so many people were raving about how amazing she was. Multiple people told me it was the best ceremony they had ever been to! Seriously, I could have not asked for more.
by Claudia C
April is incredible at what she does. Besides being a gifted & engaging public speaker, she is truly a kind & genuine person. Almost every single guest at our wedding approached one of us about how touched they were by April’s sermon and how amazing she was. Can’t recommend her enough!
by Colleen R
With the restrictions placed by the RC church, my spouse and I would not be able to be married in a church or have a priest officiate a wedding at the venue. I wanted to have a spiritual ceremony that respected by spouse’s beliefs but still have faith, spirituality and God present for our day and bringing in some traditions of a catholic ceremony. After talking with Rev Joe, we knew he understood our vision and worked with us over several months to put together a very personal ceremony. My family and friends were in awe of the ceremony and many stated it was the best they have ever been to! Although we had to plan our wedding on Long Island from Rochester NY, communication with Rev Joe was never an issue. He was amazing to work with, very responsive and he really takes time to get to know you as individuals and as a couple. We would definitely recommend Rev Joe!!
by Rachael W
Pastor April was great. She made us feel that she genuinely wanted to get to know us and made the ceremony so personal. Our guests commented on how much they appreciated her words. She made what felt like a daunting process very simple. Highly recommend.
Thank you Judge Corbett, we love you!
We always had a picture in our minds of a traditional ceremony with a male officiant. When we began our search we found out this was a taller request than we had expected. Many officiants told us what they wanted to do for us, but few reflected our traditional values and our love of the wedding ceremony as it has been. And then we found Church of Ancient Ways and were matched with Judge William Corbett. If Bill Corbett were a car, he would be a LaSalle! If we were talking architecture he would be a Newport, RI mansion! Bill added a dimension to our ceremony that was traditional, stately and gracious but also warm and very connected to our enjoying simply being married. Bill’s style was kind and gentle and joyful. He has the air of a man who’s already experienced the ups, downs and the joys of marriage and was truly supportive of our decision to begin that journey. Bill did a great job for us on what truly was the best day of our lives! Thank you Church of Ancient Ways and thank you Judge Corbett, we love you!
by Kimberly T
We met with April about a year out from our wedding at her house where we got to know her and she got to know us. She is so incredibly kind and her way with words is unmatched. We’ve had numerous people tell us how they thought she was family or a close friend as she spoke so eloquently about us and truly captured both of us when speaking of our relationship during the ceremony. April was such a pleasure to work with and I cannot recommend her enough, if she is available for your big day–hire her!
by Heather B
Absolutely INCREDIBLE!!! However, incredible doesn’t even begin to describe Rev. Joe. He was the easiest person to work with in all of our wedding planning – he was so patient, thorough, and responsive. Everyone who attended our ceremony had nothing but great things to say about how personal, professional, and funny it was (over and over again). Please please please make sure you use Rev. Joe as your officiant. I PROMISE you won’t go wrong! I wish I could give him millions of stars!
by Jessica M
Aviva Sala is the absolute perfect officiant if you want a tender, loving ceremony. She is so eloquent and really painted our story. We had one Zoom meeting and it was like she really knew us. Listening to her, my now husband and I were sniffling the entire time, and I reminded me how much I love him and how far we came- she hit a real home run!
by Leanna A
After learning that we needed an *official* officiant for our wedding on Long Island I had no idea where to even look. Upon finding The Officiants at Church of Ancient Ways (via BOLI) we met with Rev. Joe and immediately loved his energy and felt like he was a great fit. He gave the most heartfelt ceremony, you would have thought that we knew him personally for years. Our friends and family still talk about what a great ceremony that was, and we are so grateful to Rev. Joe for being a part of our day!
Our wedding ceremony was perfect and exactly what we wanted!
Joe was our officiant for our wedding day and he made sure our wedding ceremony was perfect and exactly what we wanted! He truly took all of the stress away from us and made the ceremony lighthearted, funny, and sweet! All of our guests kept raving about how great he was! We are so grateful for choosing such a wonderful officiant! We would definitely recommend him! – Lizzi G. via Brides of Long Island
Our guests are still telling us how much they loved our ceremony
Working with Rev. Joe Iadanza from the Church of Ancient Ways was truly an amazing experience. From the minute we met with him we knew he would be the perfect person to perform our ceremony. He was able to understand our relationship right away and he exceeded our expectations with our ceremony. Our guests are still telling us how much they loved our ceremony and how great Joe was! He also immediately took care of all the paperwork and license information making the whole process such a breeze for us! If you’re looking for an incredible officiant, look no further! Thank you for everything Rev. Joe! – Ally V. via Brides of Long Island
Look no further
If you’re looking for an officiant, look no further than Reverend Joe [from Church of Ancient Ways]. He crafted the most incredibly beautiful ceremony for us and was so warm and inviting, everyone loved it! We absolutely loved him and would recommend him to everyone. 10/10!! – Lauren A. via Brides of Long Island
They went above and beyond our expectations
My husband and I used Rev. April’s services for our elopement and thought she was spectacular. She was warm, funny, and well spoken. We really enjoyed the small, intimate ceremony with her. We had a renewal and we used The Officiants at Church of Ancient Ways again. Rev. Joe was also fantastic. He wrote a beautiful non-denominational ceremony with our families. He was lively, genuine, and delightful. We are so thankful that both of our experiences were so lovely. They went above and beyond our expectations and we absolutely recommend them! – Kristine M. via Brides of Long Island
Joe was incredible!
Joe was incredible! We only used him for the signed of our license. Of course when he arrived, we noticed we forgot the license at home. When I completely lost my cool over this Joe’s calming response was “well it’s not far”. He waited probably over and hour for a family member to go and get the license to sign it. Highly Highly would recommend!! – Olivier J. via Brides of Long Island
by NICOLE F
We were so lucky to have Aviva Sala as our officiant for our wedding. She married my Dad just a few years ago, so it was so incredibly special to have her marry us as well. From the very beginning, Aviva was amazing. We met with her via zoom (she does in person meetings as well) and really got to know her, and she got to know us as well. As we were getting married on our decade anniversary, I was finding it hard to encapsulate our entire relationship, but in the end, Aviva did it. Our ceremony was personalized to us and it was amazing. Aviva had so many amazing ideas that could be added to our ceremony- she described it I think as a menu of options that we could chose from, and it was amazing. We ended up incorporating a small tribute to our parents in a rose ceremony during our wedding and we also included an anniversary box. These were ideas we had never heard of or came across, and it was so wonderful to have them as part of our day. Aviva was kind, generous and knowledgeable, and we were also able to review the ceremony she wrote for us beforehand (though you can choose to be surprised!). Overall, we couldn’t have asked for a better day, or a better ceremony. I am so grateful to Aviva, she is amazing and definitely the best officiant there is!
by Jasmin S
Our big day was on 5/27/22 & we were lucky enough to have Joe officiate our wedding! From the very first meeting with Joe we knew he was who we wanted on our special day. We first met on zoom where we got to know a little bit about Joe and he eased all of our anxieties by explaining the process and what it would look like on the day of. We finally met in person a few months later for our draft meeting where Joe sits with you and basically interviews you to get to know you & your partner’s story, in this case our LOVE story lol Joe was so welcoming and we instantly felt so comfortable. It felt like we knew him for years, it was seamless opening up to him and I did not expect to get emotional during lol but there were definitely tears and lots of laughs! Prior to the wedding Joe sent us his draft for the day of and we absolutely LOVED it. We worked on it collectively and Joe was always super responsive and so patient with us! He’s a wonderful writer and storyteller, the way he organized our story was better than we could imagine. On the big day he arrived with the biggest smile and kept us up to date on how everything was going to flow. He reassured us and helped us through the rehearsal and through the entire ceremony (along with our whole bridal party) The ceremony was magical and you could truly feel the love in the room. Joe’s words truly embodied the love my husband and I share and we’re so blessed Joe was able to finalize our union as husband and wife! He told our story perfectly & we kept hearing from all of our guests how beautiful his words were & how much they cried lol! Joe is truly an amazing soul & we’re so glad to have met him!! We absolutely recommend him x 1000!! Please do not hesitate!!
by Tanya M
April was absolutely amazing. She was personal and made us feel so comfortable and she answered any questions i had. Definitely recommend
by Lizzi G
Joe was highly organized and professional. He made my wedding day a special happy memory. He was excellent throughout the whole process. He also had the ability to make all of our guests smile and laugh. Joe was able to tailor our ceremony to our personal love story which was something I was looking for. If you want a wonderful event, I’d recommend him!
by Alyssa O
We got married on 5/20/22, and April made the ceremony! All of our guests thought she was a family friend and did such an awesome job incorporating our personal details into the ceremony! If she’s available for your wedding book her asap!
by Kristine M
My husband and I used Rev. April’s services for our elopement in 2019 and thought she was spectacular. She was warm, funny, and well spoken. We really enjoyed the small, intimate ceremony with her.
We had a renewal this past weekend, April 2022, and we used The Officiants at Church of Ancient Ways again. Rev. Joe was also fantastic. He wrote a beautiful non-denominational ceremony with our families. He was lively, genuine, and delightful. We are so thankful that both of our experiences were so lovely. They went above and beyond our expectations and we absolutely recommend them!by Ally V
Working with Rev. Joe Iadanza from the Church of Ancient Ways was truly an amazing experience. From the minute we met with him we knew he would be the perfect person to perform our ceremony. He was able to understand our relationship right away and he exceeded our expectations with our ceremony. Our guests are still telling us how much they loved our ceremony and how great Joe was! He also immediately took care of all the paperwork and license information making the whole process such a breeze for us! If you’re looking for an incredible officiant, look no further! Thank you for everything Rev. Joe!!
by Gavin M
Brenda Santana was meant to be our Officiant. Made our day so unique and special. I wouldnt change anything for the world!
by Megan F
Reverend Joe from The Officiants at Church of Ancient Ways made our wedding ceremony so special for my fiancé and I. Reverend Joe was able to deliver a beautiful ceremony that incorporated religion and more personal stories such as how Chris and I met. We also got married on Palm Sunday, and Joe incorporated that into the ceremony as well. It was beautiful! I was crying the entire time. Our guests came up to my fiance and me during cocktail hour telling us how much they loved our ceremony. Thank you Reverend Joe for all your hard work!
by Rosa A
I just have to say how WONDERFUL Rev. Joe was!! First off, he made me cry and never do. Every thing me and my husband sat with him and said, he wrote and said in such a great way. He is nice, sweet and very very kind! My father who is barely deaf, Rev. Joe took his time with him and even said it in Italian for him!! I could not have asked for anyone as good as him. My guest were even coming up to me asking where I found him! Thank you again Rev. Joe for making my day much more special and letting everyone feel the joy and happiness and forgetting the crappy weather for just that moment!!!
by Star F
We bumped into her at a bridal show and boy am I thaankful we did. She was amazing. I never thought I would get compliments on my pastor! But we did! She speaks so eloquently and passionately! She got to know my husband and I and took an interest in us. She communicated via phone and email and made sure everythign was the way we wanted it for our ceremony. She was on top of everything and made everything run smoothly. I will miss working with her.
by Kerry I
Pastor April was the officiant at my wedding 1/31/15! I am still getting compliments on how amazing the service was and how lovely April was.
Everything from planing the ceremony to the actual ceremony went smoothly.
I highly recommend Pastor April!by Gabrielle G
Pastor April is the absolute best – I am beyond thrilled that I chose her as my wedding officiant! From start to finish, she was just AMAZING!! Her personality is magical, she makes you and everyone else smile. She took the time to write our personalized ceremony and it could not have been more perfect. My guests thought it was written so well, and really represented me and my husband in an intimate way. Any questions or concerns I had, April was there to answer them joyfully and quickly. She definitely knows how to put you at ease during what can be a very stressful time! I HIGHLY recommend Pastor April, you will not be disappointed!! Best choice I made!
by Elissa P
I was a guest at my friends wedding and I have to say I never soar a ceremony so pleasantly done. When she spoke she was very elegant and had a wonderful story line. It was beautiful and touching.
by Crystal D
She is the BEST!!! My husband and I were just married on July 28th 2018. :) She has been so warm, sweet, welcoming and beyond helpful through out everything. We loved her compassion, enthusiasm and how easy she was to talk too and how happy she was from our first conversation, to our Emails and finally on our special day and after the ceremony. Our ceremony was amazing. We loved how we got to pick our vows, as well as she had options to choose from and helped when we needed it! She typed and organized it all beautifully and perfect. She made my vision a reality. Everything we wanted in our vows was there. We are so happy. April spoke so well, clear, and had a smile on the whole ceremony. She has been so kind through out our whole engagement. She has been so easy to talk to it seems like you have known her forever! Her communication is fantastic. She answered every email, phone call and Facebook message quickly and always with kind and happy words! Our ceremony was everything we’ve ever dreamed of. It was everything we wanted and she made it a reality. It was perfect. The binder she had for us with our printed ceremony and marriage license (with pretty beach shells!) was amazing! Our families loved her and she even stayed after the ceremony to talk to us, give us hugs and congratulations. She was great with communication even after the ceremony. She let us know what happens after with the marriage license and name changing! She is also there for you if you need to contact her with any more questions about the marriage license, name changing or anything! We highly recommend!!!!! We loved her!
A Meaningful, Custom Ceremony to Always Remember
“April married us the first time in October 2020 when we had to postpone our big wedding reception due to COVID, but still wanted to have a small ceremony for our parents and siblings to become legally married. Obviously, the process of planning a wedding is stressful, but even more so when you find yourself planning and postponing and shifting in a pandemic! April was with us every step of the way. She wrote us a gorgeous ceremony and was patient and compassionate through the entire process. April, and the Church of Ancient Ways, are for the couple that wants a truly custom wedding ceremony that is personal and meaningful in a way you won’t find anywhere else.” – Emily S.
Couldn’t leave for our honeymoon without posting this review first!
“Rev. Joe Iadanza from Church of Ancient Ways really knocked it out of the park and was the talk of the night! We wanted a non-traditional, non-religious ceremony and I never imagined a script like the one he provided us. “This was the best ceremony I’ve ever witnessed” was said to me countless times last night! Not only are his writing skills top-notch, but his delivery and presence were also stellar. Not to mention, his amazing skills at tying a handfasting knot with not 1 or 2 but TEN ribbons! Thanks so much, Rev. Joe for being the highlight of our special day!” – Kimberly M.
by Rose F
Brenda Santana officiated our wedding in Feb 2022 and it was an absolutely amazing experience from start to finish. Our venue recommended the officiants and we reached out to April who was so helpful and connected us with Brenda who we selected based on her profile on their website. Brenda met with us and wrote a custom ceremony that was truly perfect. I loved that I was able to review the ceremony beforehand and provide edits. Brenda was great at gathering our feedback and making changes! Since we opted not to write our own vows she let each of us have a “secret” part of the ceremony so that we were surprised by what my husband and I said about each other. The day of our wedding, Brenda arrived early and was ready to get all of the important stuff handled. She made the entire process so simple! Our ceremony was so perfect and she has a great tone and delivery that made it all the more special. Our guests could not stop commenting on how beautiful and perfectly personalized our ceremony was. I highly recommend Brenda to anyone getting married!
Absolutely amazing. Loved every second of it. Brittany M.
Rev Joe was absolutely fantastic. Our ceremony was perfect and so custom to us. Every person that attended was invested in our ceremony and said it was beautiful. Cannot thank them enough
Wonderful Wedding Officiant. Ashley M.
Reverend Joe, genuinely cared about assisting my clients, Nathalie and Keith, with creating a very personal and meaningful ceremony program. From the moment we all began working together the entire process was seamless. If you are looking for a Wedding Officiant that takes pride in their work, you’re on the right page!
by Evelin A
My husband and I got married on 1/15/22 by Ms. Brenda Santana. She delivered a beautiful bilingual ceremony and was so professional!
We had great communication via email and phone prior to the wedding. I would recommend her to anyone looking for an officiant and especially to couples who would like a Spanish bilingual ceremony.Glick Wedding 1/22/22. Lisa M.
We absolutely loved Rev Joe! From our first Skype interview with him we felt comfortable and knew he was the right fit for us. We did not want a cookie cutter ceremony so working with him it was completely custom to us and our story. We were able to sprinkle in some traditional pieces and Joe made it the perfect ceremony!!!
by Danielle F
Joe is the best decision I made on my wedding day. He was personal, and kind, and my ceremony is the highlight of the day. He is hilarious, well spoken and all my guests told me it was the most beautiful ceremony they’d ever seen. I cannot imagine a better choice, and someone who takes all the stress out of the process!
Speechless. Jennifer K.
Planning a wedding during a pandemic was already stressful enough but April made the process so smooth. We talked with April through the phone and fell in love with her personality and excitement over wanting to marry us. As a non traditional couple we were nervous that we wouldn’t find someone to honor our taste in ceremony but April gave us suggestions on how to honor our religious family without making the ceremony about religion. We got married on October 2nd 2021 at The Fox Hollow and the Ceremony felt so intimate and was full of emotions. Everyone loved her and really appreciate the fact that she moved out of the way for our first kiss! April is truly amazing and let’s you and your significant other make the wedding ceremony unique and your own. You are in good hands if you decided to work with this vendor!
Not a dry eye in the house!. Candice W.
Pastor April Gismondi was our officiant and she was amazing. She made us feel welcome from the start. We learned alot about each other while sitting with April writing our ceremony. She has a way of pulling out those deep feelings that you didn’t even know was there to write the most perfect ceremony. Her words touched us and everyone in attendance. There wasn’t a dry eye in the room. We are very appreciative to have had April as our officiant! We will forever have a love for April.
by Alison C
Rev. Joe Iadanza is absolutely INCREDIBLE. Not only is he the friendliest human being I’ve ever met, he wrote the most special and personal wedding ceremony that was beyond my wildest dreams. There was not a dry eye in the room. I could not have asked for anything more!
by Radybelle T
Minister Brenda was the absolute best officiant we could have ever asked for!! We initially booked with Brenda back in February 2020 for our planned wedding in November 2020. Unfortunately, COVID happened, however, Brenda patiently stood by our side and was available for our postponed wedding in December 2021 (THANK GOD!). Fast forward a year later, Brenda came through with the most amazing ceremony we could have ever dreamed of. Brenda fluently conducted our ceremony in English and Spanish, and my guests would not talking about how organized and compassionate Brenda was. She even teared up when my father handed me off to my husband, which truly shows how dedicated and sincere she is. We are so incredibly blessed and grateful to have Brenda as a part of our wedding day!! THANK YOU MINISTER BRENDA!
Warm and Friendly Officiants. Nicole M.
Brenda was warm and friendly with us as we prepared for the big day, including sending awesome reminders about the best timing to get our marriage license in the midst of COVID delays. She set a calm, casual, and friendly vibe for our ceremony that set the tone we were aiming for perfectly. She translated portions of our ceremony into Spanish to help include more of our family members without any extra fee, which meant the world to us. Really enjoyed working with her!
by Kristine F
My husband and I recently got married and chose April Gismondi to be our officiant. The Church of Ancient Ways was a recommendation from our vendor. Both of us are Roman Catholic, but are actively looking to change to another christian denomination. When looking at the website for the Church of Ancient Ways we were so happy to see they provided services for people of all different faiths.
April responded to our requests right away and provided us with all the information we needed – including examples of other ceremonies she performed. It was so helpful for us in our planning. We were really able to customize the ceremony to what felt best for us. We decided we wanted something brief and we wanted to use different phrases for the exchanging of the vows. April took all our ideas under consideration and delivered an absolutely beautiful speech. In it she highlighted how lucky we were to share this moment with friends and family. It was very touching. We had so many family members come up to us after the ceremony and say “We love her!”
And we loved her too! Definitely recommend April/the Church of Ancient Ways for your wedding!by Deanna L
Reverend Joe Iadanza literally saved my wedding ceremony!!! Three weeks before my wedding, I was suddenly in need of a Reverend. Thankfully, Reverend Joe happened to be available on my date. On SUCH short notice, he was able to create the most amazing, heartfelt, personal, and meaningful ceremony. He was so nice and calm the day of the ceremony and got to the venue extremely early!! My husband planned a surprise (he sang to me during the ceremony) and he began to freak out before the ceremony. Reverend Joe ran into him and calmed him down, and even took the time to write down the lyrics on a piece of paper for my husband to have as back up. During the ceremony, Rev Joe was funny, personal, had a fabulous speaking voice, and blew us and everyone else away. SO many people ran up to me during cocktail hour and the first thing out of their mouths was, “That was the best ceremony I’ve ever been to!” Everyone was raving about Rev Joe. My cousin (who owns a country club and has seen thousands of ceremonies) even said that it was the best ceremony he has ever seen. Rev Joe also printed the ceremony for us to keep on beautiful parchment paper in a binder. Throughout the entire process, Rev Joe was personable, easy to talk to and contact, responsive, and just an absolute pleasure. As soon as I spoke to him I knew we were in the best hands possible. He is like a friend and both my husband and I were so happy to have met him.
In sum, REV JOE IS THE ABSOLUTE BEST!!!!by Jenna D
My husband and I had asked a relative to perform our ceremony, but didn’t realize until about a month before the wedding that New York State would not legally allow for him to sign off on our marriage license/certificate! Despite our poor research and the last minute contact, Rev. Aviva from Church of Ancient Ways happened to be available on our date and was willing to take us on! She explained that she usually meets with couples months before the wedding to discuss the details and carefully craft the ceremony, but she was flexible enough to rush the process for us and, honestly, we wouldn’t have known the difference! It was smooth, easy, and we loved everything that Aviva wrote for our personalized ceremony, so we didn’t have to go back and forth with edits. Aviva captured our story wonderfully. She is professional, well spoken, warm, and threw in just the right amount of humor to break up all of the emotion and keep our guests interested. Hiring Aviva to marry us was one of the best decisions we made and it took a real weight off of our shoulders. Thank you, Aviva!
by Molly T
Reverend Joe is the BEST! We could not have been more happy with how he worked with us throughout the wedding process. Not only did take the time to really get to know us as a couple, he was always available and made it easy to get in contact with him for any and every question we had. Every single one of our guests mentioned how amazing our ceremony was and its all because of Reverend Joe. We couldn’t recommend him more!
Rev joe is the absolute best!. Deanna L.
Reverend Joe Iadanza literally saved my wedding ceremony!!! Three weeks before my wedding, I was suddenly in need of a Reverend. Thankfully, Reverend Joe happened to be available on my date. On SUCH short notice, he was able to create the most amazing, heartfelt, personal, and meaningful ceremony. He was so nice and calm the day of the ceremony and got to the venue extremely early!! My husband planned a surprise (he sang to me during the ceremony) and he began to freak out before the ceremony. Reverend Joe ran into him and calmed him down, and even took the time to write down the lyrics on a piece of paper for my husband to have as back up. During the ceremony, Rev Joe was funny, personal, had a fabulous speaking voice, and blew us and everyone else away. SO many people ran up to me during cocktail hour and the first thing out of their mouths was, “That was the best ceremony I’ve ever been to!” Everyone was raving about Rev Joe. My cousin (who owns a country club and has seen thousands of ceremonies) even said that it was the best ceremony he has ever seen. Rev Joe also printed the ceremony for us to keep on beautiful parchment paper in a binder. Throughout the entire process, Rev Joe was personable, easy to talk to and contact, responsive, and just an absolute pleasure. As soon as I spoke to him I knew we were in the best hands possible. He is like a friend and both my husband and I were so happy to have met him.
In sum, REV JOE IS THE ABSOLUTE BEST!!!!Amazing and Special. Jackie M.
Aviva was our officiant and she was absolutely amazing ! She was so patient with us explaining the entire process and made our ceremony feel so intimate and important. She was able to capture our guests attention and we have received SO MANY COMPLIMENTS from our guests. We can not thank you enough for making our day so special!
Incredible, memorable ceremony. Marylynn L.
When I got engaged April was the first vendor that I booked based simply on the reviews here and on the brides of Long Island page. She exceeded all expectations. Every communication with her was pleasant and she was quick to respond to my questions through both email and phone call. She arrived on the day of my wedding in a timely manner, briefed both me and my bridal party on how the ceremony would work and then provided the most memorable and excellent ceremony ever. People are still saying days later how incredible our ceremony was, some even saying it was the best they’ve ever seen. I would hire April again in a heartbeat and will recommend her to anybody that ever asks.
by Kimberly L
Rev. Joe Iadanza from Church of Ancient Ways really knocked it out of the park and was the talk of the night! We wanted a non-traditional, non-religious ceremony and I never imagined a script like the one he provided us. “This was the best ceremony I’ve ever witnessed” was said to me countless times last night! Not only are his writing skills top-notch, but his delivery and presence were also stellar. Not to mention, his amazing skills at tying a handfasting knot with not 1 or 2 but TEN ribbons! Thanks so much, Rev. Joe for being the highlight of our special day!
by Kimberly L
Rev. Joe Iadanza from Church of Ancient Ways really knocked it out of the park and was the talk of the night! We wanted a non-traditional, non-religious ceremony and I never imagined a script like the one he provided us. “This was the best ceremony I’ve ever witnessed” was said to me countless times last night! Not only are his writing skills top-notch, but his delivery and presence were also stellar. Not to mention, his amazing skills at tying a handfasting knot with not 1 or 2 but TEN ribbons! Thanks so much, Rev. Joe for being the highlight of our special day!
Pastor April is the best of the best!. Elizabeth L.
Pastor April married my husband and I on July 22, 2021. From the very first phone call we felt such a connection with Pastor April! She just got us right away. We were able to tell her about ourselves and she told us what she was all about and we just meshed instantly. She understood right away who we were as individuals and who we are as a couple. Every part of the process was simple, easy, and natural. We couldn’t have been more happy with how our ceremony turned out. Everyone at our wedding loved Pastor April and thought we had known each other for years; that’s how amazing she was, she fit right in! I could go on and on and on about her, we simply just loved her! I would recommend her to anyone who is looking for an officiant that truly cares about making everyone’s ceremonies special, individual, and full of love!
by Gabrielle R
Rev. Joe Iadanza from the Church of Ancient Ways was absolutely incredible on our wedding on 10/31/21! After our first email encounter, we knew we were in great hands! He is extremely helpful and responsive. He made our ceremony light and fun, while also being heartfelt and personal. We couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful and sentimental ceremony. He truly captured who we are as a couple! We highly recommend Rev. Joe to any couple who wants their ceremony to be one no one will ever forget!
by Gabriella D
After speaking with Rev Joe for 5 minutes, I knew we were in great hands. He was extremely kind and attentive. He made Mark and I so comfortable right away and wrote such a beautiful ceremony that captured us perfectly. The day of the wedding came, and the ceremony was amazing. Every one of our guests keep raving about how sweet and great Rev Joe/our ceremony was.
If you have any doubts or hesitations about booking, don’t. He’s the best!by Brian and Ania L
Minister Brenda Santana is the best! So thankful to have had her officiate our Wedding at East Wind! She is such a pro and she comes prepared and is flexible to ensure everyone has the information they need for the ceremony to go smoothly. So happy to have met her and have her be an integral part of our special day!
by Kelly M
Pastor April was amazing to work with from beginning to end. She made our day so special. We met her through a zoom meeting and just asking a few questions and chatting freely, she was able to write out a first draft of our speech & it was almost perfect. We could not believe it, it was like she knew us for years. She was incredibly easy to work with and was always around to answer any questions we had. The day of our wedding everything ran very smoothly and we got so many compliments on how great April was and how amazing a ceremony she made it. I would highly recommend working with April if you want your ceremony and the beginning of your marriage to be as special as it was for us! Thank you!
Highly recommend!!. Reona
We reached out to the Church of Ancient Ways and Pastor April after seeing so many great reviews here on Wedding Wire! Pastor April referred us to Rev. Joe who was available for our requested date. Rev. Joe was very personable and professional, and we’re so happy that he was part of our special day! He also had great recommendations for local ceremony sites which made the whole process stress-free. We highly recommend Rev. Joe and the Church of Ancient Ways. :)
by Kristin W
We can’t say enough great things about Joe being the officiant for our wedding! Joe was an absolute pleasure to work with our ceremony on. After a wonderful meeting, Joe wrote a custom ceremony more beautiful than we could have imagined. Our guests spoke so highly of our ceremony. It felt original and sentimental. Thank you for doing what you do, Joe! You are truly gifted and you gift is appreciated!
by Danielle P
We worked with Brenda and she was absolutely wonderful! Extremely responsive via email and phone. She helped us craft the perfect ceremony for us! We were pretty picky and specific with how we wanted our ceremony to do and Brenda was so sweet and said multiple times “this is YOUR ceremony, I’m here to help you make it what you want!” We loved that she kept it all about us.
On the day of, she arrived right on time, was well-dressed, and super organized. She took care of everything from helping us with the marriage license to mailing it after.
During the ceremony itself she was awesome. She angled the mic to both of us and her tone/voice was so soothing and calm. We received a ton of compliments on our ceremony and that’s a huge thanks to Brenda!
Highly recommend!Wonderful!. Christina H.
Rev. Aviva Sala was wonderful, professional, and accommodating to work with. She helped us to create a special ceremony with personal vows that truly reflected who we are as a couple. The ceremony was beautiful and we absolutely recommend her!
by Kaitlin S
We were blessed to work with Pastor April and she was absolutely amazing. The service was beautifully written and delivered and I don’t think anyone could’ve done a more perfect job. There wasn’t a dry eye during our ceremony and it’s all thanks for April’s beautiful storytelling. She was so ready and willing to answer any questions I had and was so easy to speak to and work with.
by Amanda V
Brenda was amazing to work with. She perfectly captured our love story for our guests and did a beautiful job incorporating both English & Spanish in our ceremony. She also helped me learn to say my vows in Spanish to surprise my husband’s family. So many guests came up to us and messaged us afterwards to let us know what a fantastic job Brenda did and to get her contact information for future events. Throughout the whole process Brenda made us feel as though we were her own family and we are forever grateful for a ceremony more beautiful than we could have ever imagined!
by Samantha A
We first reached out to April Gismondi & The Church of Ancient Ways after seeing the raving reviews on The Knot and she referred us to Rev. Joe Iadanza who was available for our date. We’re so glad she did because he delivered a warm, & heartfelt ceremony which meant a lot to us. Our wedding guests kept mentioning how genuine and sweet it was. Thank you Church of Ancient Ways, highly recommended!
by Nicole M
Brenda was warm and friendly with us as we prepared for the big day, including sending awesome reminders about the best timing to get our marriage license in the midst of COVID delays. She set a calm, casual, and friendly vibe for our ceremony that set the tone we were aiming for perfectly. She translated portions of our ceremony into Spanish to help include more of our family members without any extra fee, which meant the world to us. Really enjoyed working with her!
by Melissa M
Reverend Joe was absolutely amazing!!! He responded almost immediately to our initial inquiry with a very thorough email highlighting all the information we needed. During our interview zoom call, Joe made us feel like we were having dinner with one of our best friends!! God bless his patience, hearing my now husband and I talk about how we met for almost 45 minutes!! What sealed the deal for us was how genuinely happy he was about our love story. He listened to our concerns – we didn’t want a long boring ceremony and he definitely delivered!!! We got married on October 3rd, 2021 and we still have friends and family reaching out to us to let us know how amazing our ceremony was. Everyone was touched by how beautifully Reverend Joe was able to illustrate our story, keeping every one engaged, laughing and even tearing up. I am 1,000% happy that we decided to have Joe officiated our ceremony. His aura is even more amazing in person and he will forever stay in our hearts!!!
Rev. Joe Iadanza is incredible!. Gabrielle R.
Rev. Joe Iadanza from the Church of Ancient Ways was absolutely incredible on our wedding on 10/31/21! After our first email encounter, we knew we were in great hands! He is extremely helpful and responsive. He made our ceremony light and fun, while also being heartfelt and personal. We couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful and sentimental ceremony. He truly captured who we are as a couple! We highly recommend Rev. Joe to any couple who wants their ceremony to be one no one will ever forget!
by Laura N
Reverend Joe was truly amazing throughout the entire wedding process. We had a wonderful couple of prep meetings, to get to know one another, & in that timespan, he was able to capture the essence of our relationship! Friends & family shared how impressed they were with the ceremony! Super friendly man, very helpful & made our ceremony so memorable! THANK YOU, Rev. Joe!!!!
by Shannon T
Rev. Joe was AMAZING! We got so many compliments on him! It felt like he knew us after just one zoom meeting and a few emails! He definitely got our personalities and was able to incorporate everything we wanted into the ceremony! Would recommend to anyone looking for an officiant, he was awesome! Thank you Rev. Joe for making our ceremony perfect!
An amazing start. Joanna C.
Rev. Richard we cannot begin to tell you how amazing he was. From the very start when he interviewed us to the very end when he married us. If you are looking for someone bilingual this is your man he was simply amazing and well spoke and professional. Don’t think twice he will make your wedding day exceptional
by Emily A
Our officiant with Brenda Santana, who delivered the most gorgeous ceremony I could have ever dreamed of for our wedding on 9/18/21. We met with Brenda over Zoom a few months before our wedding, to discuss what kind of ceremony we wanted and so that she could get a feel for us as a couple. We each wrote short pieces about why we loved each other and sent them off to Brenda — she then helped us craft a perfect ceremony, with contributions both from what we wrote about each other and from our “love story” that we had shared with her. Brenda was EXTREMELY responsive over email and provided us with multiple drafts until it was perfect — I had some pretty specific requests and she had no problem tweaking things up until the end.
On the day-of, Brenda was so professional and made the process entirely seamless. She delivered the ceremony with SUCH grace — she has such a calm, soothing demeanor that made the ceremony feel incredibly romantic, personal, and thoughtful. We received so many compliments from friends and family about how beautiful and personal our ceremony was, and that is in large part thanks to Brenda! I would 100% recommend Brenda to any friend or family member. We could not be happier with how our ceremony turned outby Melissa V
We are completely happy with this process from reaching out and to having our ceremony. We wanted to have a small private ceremony on the same date that we will have our big reception and party on next year. Mind you, all very last minute. Within the same day and same week I e-mailed, we were able to make it happen. April was so flexible and made scheduling stress free! The location was perfect, especially given this crazy time with COVID. She took beautiful photos of us before and after! We are beyond happy and grateful to have had April marry us. I would recommend April to anyone!!
by Lauren S
Rev. Joe was by far one of the best parts of what made our wedding so special. He really took the time to get to know us before our ceremony through a video chat, and a short while later came back to us with a beautifully written ceremony, giving us several different options for how things were worded. We’ve had so many family and friends tell us how wonderfully authentic the ceremony he wrote was, and how unique and special it was to us as a couple. Rev. Joe is not only a talented writer and speaker, but an incredibly warm and easy to work with person. I highly recommend for anyone who is on the search for a Long Island officiant.
So friendly & professional. Chris L.
My wife & I recently got married on 10/23/21, and we chose to have Brenda from the Church Of Ancient Ways for our Wedding Ceremony, that was being held on-site at a Catering Hall. She was so friendly, and really took the time to get to know us personally. We are so happy that she was able to be a part of our special day, and made the Ceremony not only beautiful, but perfect on so many levels. We would proudly recommend her to any future couples looking to have a meaningful ceremony.
by Amanda D
We worked with Reverend Aviva for our September 12, 2021 wedding and she was reliable, organized, and a great speaker. When planning our ceremony she was helpful in guiding us through the process. On the day of our wedding Reverend Aviva arrived early, gave clear instructions to our wedding party, and gave us some great tips in case we got nervous during our vows. Rev Aviva made our wedding ceremony everything we wanted and memorable. Rev Aviva is a great officiant and you can not go wrong choosing her for your wedding ceremony.
by Taylor A
I can’t tell you how many compliments we got for our ceremony, because of April ! Everyone kept saying they wish they had a recording of her voice because it was so confident, lively and soothing! April, we can not thank you enough! Absolutely amazing!!
A Meaningful, Custom Ceremony to Always Remember. Emily S.
April married us the first time in October 2020 when we had to postpone our big wedding reception due to COVID, but still wanted to have a small ceremony for our parents and siblings to become legally married. Obviously, the process of planning a wedding is stressful, but even more so when you find yourself planning and postponing and shifting in a pandemic! April was with us every step of the way. She wrote us a gorgeous ceremony and was patient and compassionate through the entire process. April, and the Church of Ancient Ways, are for the couple that wants a truly custom wedding ceremony that is personal and meaningful in a way you won’t find anywhere else.
Wonderful wedding experience with April!. Shoshana T.
We we’re so lucky to find April to officiate our wedding over the past weekend Nov 6th 2021. We planned it very short notice. It was SO easy and effortless to set everything up and we knew right away that she was the right person to marry us!! Her happy and joyful vibe were evident from the first conversation and we could tell that she just loves what she does!!! She gave us the most beautiful words for the ceremony. It was just beautiful and I highly recommend April and the Church of Ancient ways !!!!
by Meghan Z
My husband and I are so thankful to have found April. From our first meeting, she invited us into her home, asked us questions about our relationship in an “interview style,” and with that wrote the most beautiful ceremony. It took April one shot to write a meaningful, perfect, and unique ceremony for our wedding day.
April was also there to answer any and all questions, and leading up to our big day, she checked in to make sure we were all set with everything we needed. On the day of our wedding, she was efficient leading up to the ceremony, coordinating with the Maitre’D and DJ, which was much appreciated in the midst of all the chaos. When the time came, our ceremony was everything we dreamed of, and we are so grateful. If you have the opportunity to book with April, DO IT!by Evelyn G
Reverand Richard was simply amazing. He understood what we wanted as a ceremony and even took the time to learn some French in order to personalize our ceremony even more! He was very professional and genuine and I really loved that he goes beyond to make get to know us as a couple before the ceremony.
by Megan B
April has been so wonderful! She married us legally in the summer of 2020 with an improvised ceremony and then married us more ceremonially with the full ceremony we had originally worked on together this year. I really loved what she wrote for us and how she helped us choose vows and language for the ceremony that suited the more humanistic tone we wanted. Not only did I love what she wrote, but everyone I spoke to at the reception mentioned how much they loved the ceremony. I would definitely recommend her!
Couldn’t leave for our honeymoon without posting this review first!. Kimberly M.
Rev. Joe Iadanza from Church of Ancient Ways really knocked it out of the park and was the talk of the night! We wanted a non-traditional, non-religious ceremony and I never imagined a script like the one he provided us. “This was the best ceremony I’ve ever witnessed” was said to me countless times last night! Not only are his writing skills top-notch, but his delivery and presence were also stellar. Not to mention, his amazing skills at tying a handfasting knot with not 1 or 2 but TEN ribbons! Thanks so much, Rev. Joe for being the highlight of our special day!
by Yera P
Brenda was absolutely amazing. With just 3 weeks notice, since our original officiant fell through, Brenda took on the challenge and made our ceremony so memorable. Till this day my family and friends remind of how beautifully her voice and presence told our story. I would recommend her over and over to anyone.
by Jenni A
Joe was absolutely amazing! We eloped and Joe made sure to make our ceremony worth every penny and oh so special! He took the time to get to know us and personalize our ceremony. You would have thought Joe has known us for years. The ceremony was so beautiful thanks to his creativity & words! He was a pleasure to work with! Cannot recommend him enough!
by Lara H
My husband and I originally contacted April Gismondi to officiate our 2020 wedding. She was incredible! Funny, kind, and she had an incredible way with words when writing our vows. Due to Covid, we had to reschedule our wedding. While we were originally bummed out that April was not available for our new date, we quickly learned just how equally great Aviva Sala was. Aviva was such an incredible officiant, and truly proved that everything always finds a way to work itself out! My husband and I cannot say enough amazing things about her. She was on time and prompt, knowledgeable about the procedures both day of and when helping to write our vows, a great communicator through email, as well as kind and funny. She helped our special day run so smoothly. I highly recommend either April or Aviva for your special day.
by Renee B
I met April at a wedding showcase and she was so helpful right from the start! When I reached out to her, she was booked for our wedding date, but was in constant contact with me offering other officiants she trusted. However, when we had to postpone due to COVID, April was available and we quickly locked in the our date! April’s email correspondence is extremely detailed and helpful. She answered questions I didn’t even know I had!! Throughout the planning process, April was always a phone call away – ready and willing to talk with us and answer any questions.
Fast forward to the wedding day! As she said she would be, April was on time (early!) and met with both my husband and I prior to the ceremony. Her excitement and joy helped keep our nerves at bay. April’s professionalism shown as she led us through our ceremony, placing the microphones on us without even skipping a beat. So many of our guests are still raving about how she incorporated everyone into our ceremony! Finally, April met us for a brief chat after the ceremony in our bridal suite and she even took such an awesome photo before heading out.
April emailed us with the information and tracking number for our marriage certificate and provided EVERYTHING I needed to know for what comes next with changing my name.
We are SO grateful for April – book her, now!!The best!!. Danielle D.
Joe was unbelievable!! He stayed in constant contact before the wedding helping us prepare a beautiful ceremony! He was super helpful with all of our questions and very professional! It was Nothing but an amazing experience! I would Highly recommend using joe for your ceremony!!
by Rose J
I reached out to April and chatted with her for a while about our ideas for our wedding…only to find out that she was not available on our wedding day. She later recommended me Joe Iadanza. He was an absolutely perfect fit for our wedding day!!! He asked the right questions to get to know us (even through Zoom because of Covid). He is friendly, laid back, professional, funny, and has a phenomenal positive energy. He understood our need for a non-traditional, non-religious ceremony and was willing to go the extra mile to customize it to our needs. Joe made us feel comfortable during the ceremony even though we had reservations about being in front of so many people.
He also has an exceptional talent and ease with words and writing. I was thrilled when he agreed to help my two children write their speeches. Both of my kids have very different personalities and he was both patient and extremely helpful to help them achieve what it was they wanted to say. Their speeches were one of my favorite moments at the wedding.
Several people came to me and wanted to know how and where I found the officiant. They said the ceremony was the best they had ever heard and couldn’t believe how well tailored it was to our personalities. They said, “it was like he knew you” and asked if I had known him prior. I was so happy that at times people were laughing and other times people were crying, happy tears of course. I cannot say enough good things about Joe. You will feel just as fortunate as we did to have him officiate your wedding!!!by Nicole L
I am so thankful that I found Pastor April Gismondi to marry me & my husband. She was amazing from the first time that I spoke with her, she was very accommodating. April made our day so special, our guest’s loved her! She has a calming vibe about her. I would recommend her to anyone! I couldn’t have pictured anyone else marrying us!
Reverend Joe was the best. Sean M.
Normally I don’t write reviews, but I felt I had to for Reverend Joe. It was just a pleasure to deal with a good human being and not a business man. We had to reschedule the elopement 2 days before the event (just change the time due to a prior commitment we had forgotten about lol) and Reverend Joe just took it stride. No issue even though I know we were rushing him, as our new time required him to leave to a different wedding.
On the day of the wedding I got there before my fiancé and had the pleasure of speaking to him beforehand for about 15 minutes. He selected a great location and the delivery when he married us was very professional but not too serious. He made the day perfect.
Thanks Reverend Joe!by Tara N
Upon calling Church of Ancient ways, I was also calling many other churches in long lis and looking for the perfect officiant for my ceremony. Coming from a very traditional catholic-Italian family, it was very hard to help them understand a wedding like ours – outdoors, no church, no priest, etc. Once I spoke with Joe, I immediately knew he was the one for us! He was so sweet, thorough, thoughtful and just one of the chillest human beings. I was able to see how genuine he is right away, we loved him immediately! Our expectations were correct and better, Joe filled the air at the ceremony with so much love and made our nerves disappear! I do not recommend anyone else! Thank you for everything Joe, we love you!!!!!
by Mindie S
From the moment we met April (via Zoom), we knew she was the one to officiate our wedding. She was so friendly and asked all the right questions to get to know us in that one meeting. She gave us a glimpse of what she was going to say and then followed up the meeting with a rough draft of what we spoke about, as well as some additions and choices for vows. She responded promptly to emails as we wrote back and forth to edit the rough draft to exactly what we wanted. She was so easygoing and helpful with the whole process. Fast-forward to our wedding day – she was absolutely amazing. She speaks to her audience and captivates them, getting them involved in our story, our vows, and our emotions. After the ceremony, people kept asking how long we’ve known her, assuming she was a friend by the way she spoke about us. Everyone was shocked to learn that she was just our officiant who was recommended by others, not a long-time friend. They all raved about what she said and how she spoke. I can’t say enough great things about her. April – thank you so much for being a part of our special day!
Best Decision!!. Gabriella D.
After speaking with Rev Joe for 5 minutes, I knew we were in great hands. He was extremely kind and attentive. He made Mark and I so comfortable right away and wrote such a beautiful ceremony that captured us perfectly. The day of the wedding came, and the ceremony was amazing. Every one of our guests keep raving about how sweet and great Rev Joe/our ceremony was.
If you have any doubts or hesitations about booking, don’t. He’s the best!by Briana B
EDIT because auto correct changed my officiants name:
Joe Iandanza married my husband and I. He was absolutely amazing! He was so sweet and nice and excited for us! He was such an easy communicator and read everything how we wanted for our ceremony. He was an excellent speaker. I really enjoyed having him for my ceremony and highly recommend!!!by Briana B
Joe Iandanze married my husband and I. He was absolutely amazing! He was so sweet and nice and excited for us! He was such an easy communicator and read everything how we wanted for our ceremony. He was an excellent speaker. I really enjoyed having him for my ceremony and highly recommend!!!
Rev. Joe Iadanza & The Church of Ancient Ways – our best choice!. Samantha A.
We first reached out to April Gismondi & The Church of Ancient Ways after seeing the raving reviews and she referred us to Rev. Joe Iadanza who was available for our date. We’re so glad she did because he delivered a warm, & heartfelt ceremony which meant a lot to us. Our wedding guests kept mentioning how genuine and sweet it was. Thank you Church of Ancient Ways, highly recommended!
by Sara C
Aviva made our wedding ceremony unforgettable. She was so easy to work with, incredibly organized and added the perfect flare to our day!
by Alexis S
April married my husband and I on 7/3/21 and every day I get a phone call telling me how amazing she was. April took the time to chat with My husband and I and got to know us before writing our ceremony. I have had many people tell me she spoke from the heart like she knew us forever. Our ceremony was simply unique and beautiful and really captured who we are as a couple!
I wouldn’t think twice. Book April now. She truly made our day magical!by Nina N
I want to thank rev joe for the beautiful ceremony he performed at our wedding. It was absolutely breathtaking and had so much meaning!! Such a flawless and easy process to book ! They are timely and professional and have so much love behind it all which makes it that much more special. I am so pleased ! I would 100% recommend their services. Rev joe is a pleasure and I felt like I new him forever ! Personable and a great speaker. We thank you !
by Taylor S
Aviva made our 6/21/2021 ceremony UNFORGETTABLE. Aviva took the time to get to know us and our story and made our custom vows so personal, we had our family members asking how we knew her because they thought she was a long-time friend. Our family said she delivered the best vows they have ever seen, and my husband and I are in agreement! Aviva was easy to reach during the process, was so patient with our many questions, and her calming demeanor was a much welcomed change of pace during our three-month planning! Aviva is a MUST hire! Thank you again Aviva<3
by Becca B
April made everything so easy. I am so glad I heard about her from Brides of Long Island. She gave us options, made it personalized, sat with us and got to know us. April, you made our day so special and family and friends were so impressed with how well spoken and well worded the ceremony was. Thank you for everything. I would 100% recommend!!!
Absolutely perfect. Tina P.
Our wedding ceremony was a dream come true. Our officiant Brenda Santana was a perfect match for us. The ceremony she put together for us was so beautiful and touching. When working on the details she extremely patient and kind. My husband and I are 100% confident that we made the right choice. Thank you so much for being a part of our love story. With love The Lucas’
Rev. Joe was amazing!. Laura M.
Reverend Joe was truly amazing throughout the entire wedding process. We had a wonderful couple of prep meetings, to get to know one another, & in that timespan, he was able to capture the essence of our relationship! Friends & family shared how impressed they were with the ceremony! Super friendly man, very helpful & made our ceremony so memorable! THANK YOU, Rev. Joe!!!!
by Joann S
April was simply amazing. She made our ceremony personal and meaningful. Our guests all loved our ceremony & we received many compliments. I’m so lucky we had April marry us!
by Rohan G
Rev Joe Iadanza
He made our ceremony exactly how we wanted! He made it personal and took the time to get to know us so he could do that for us. He responded quickly with my questions, and made us really feel we were in good hands. Our guests were amazed how perfect our ceremony was! He truly made it so special for us, we recommend him 1,000%.by Mary K
April single handedly saved my wedding! Hands down the best (last minute) decision we made! Long story short we were working with another officiant that we booked over a year before our wedding. We were promised a custom ceremony and a week before our wedding we realized we were not getting what was promised to us and started to panic. I reached out to April on a whim, feeling like she most definitely would be booked 4 days away from a prime saturday night wedding in June. Well, much to my surprise she called me back an hour later saying she in fact was available and that someone had moved off her book in that exact time slot. It’s like the stars aligned and after I shed a few tears of happiness/relief we got right to it. We sat with April for an hour on Zoom the following day and she brought tears to our eyes! A new record for her, we had a script to us within 24 hours and she performed the most incredible ceremony 48 hours later! Our wedding ceremony was so incredibly personal and our guests keep telling us how incredible our officiant was. If I could change anything about our wedding day it would have been to book her sooner!!
by Kyra M
April was one of the most wonderful parts of our wedding day. From the moment we met April, we knew we needed to have her for our ceremony. We were so impressed with the way April wrote about my husband I. It truly felt as if we had known her our entire lives. From the beginning, April was professional, accommodating, and a pleasure to work with. Our guests could not stop raving about our ceremony! We are so grateful that April was apart of our special day! We love her! -Kyra and Michael Marando
by Brittany H
Brenda was amazing!! She helped us from the day we booked until wedding day. She made us feel comfortable and put together a beautiful ceremony exactly how we wanted it. We wish she could have stayed and partied with us, the time goes too quick.
Show stopping ceremony by Brenda!. Emily A.
Our officiant with Brenda Santana, who delivered the most gorgeous ceremony I could have ever dreamed of for our wedding on 9/18/21. We met with Brenda over Zoom a few months before our wedding, to discuss what kind of ceremony we wanted and so that she could get a feel for us as a couple. We each wrote short pieces about why we loved each other and sent them off to Brenda — she then helped us craft a perfect ceremony, with contributions both from what we wrote about each other and from our “love story” that we had shared with her. Brenda was EXTREMELY responsive over email and provided us with multiple drafts until it was perfect — I had some pretty specific requests and she had no problem tweaking things up until the end.
On the day-of, Brenda was so professional and made the process entirely seamless. She delivered the ceremony with SUCH grace — she has such a calm, soothing demeanor that made the ceremony feel incredibly romantic, personal, and thoughtful. We received so many compliments from friends and family about how beautiful and personal our ceremony was, and that is in large part thanks to Brenda! I would 100% recommend Brenda to any friend or family member. We could not be happier with how our ceremony turned out!by MELISSA A
A written review could never give April the praise she actually deserves. I wouldn’t even know where to begin when sharing my gratitude for Pastor April and her impeccable work. She is not just amazing at what she does, she is truly one of the most warm and caring people I’ve ever met. Our wedding ceremony was so intimate, our guests actually asked us if she was a friend of ours!!!
Through her thoughtful words she brought joy, laughter, tears and most of all unity to the most special day of our lives. The ceremony was custom tailored in a way I didn’t think was possible. Her passion and talent for what she does is unmistakable from the moment you meet her. Then once the day comes you will be utterly blown away!!!
If you are looking for a ceremony that echoes in people’s minds long after it is over, then look no further. Pastor April is the only choice for simply absolute perfection!!!
With so much love and thanks,
Melissa and Vinnyby Stacey E
Rev. Aviva Sala was absolutely amazing! We had to postpone our wedding three times due to covid and through our postponement dates had to shuffle our officiant due to scheduling issues. We had first worked with April and then Aviva. There is nothing bad to say about either of these two amazing women. When Aviva took over for April we didn’t know what to expect but to say that Aviva met our expectations was an understatement. The ceremony was beautiful and Aviva really tried to get to know us as a couple and as authentically as possible. The amount of compliments we received about how much people loved our ceremony and Aviva’s demeanor was exponential!
We just received our wedding video and as we were watching the video my husband and I agreed that Aviva really was even better then our memories served us!
If you are looking for an officiant with personality and also honesty, Aviva is for you!!
We also had our marriage license in the mailbox the day we came home from our honeymoon as Aviva took care of everything!
Thank you to Aviva for making our wedding ceremony everything we hoped it would be!by Jessica S
April Gismondi of Church of Ancient Ways officiated our wedding and she did a fantastic job. My now husband is Jewish and I’m Catholic; April was so helpful in preparing a perfectly blended ceremony. I got so many compliments on the ceremony and how great April was in particular. She was always helpful any time I reached out with any questions. Her responses were impressively quick, which was important to this stressed out Covid bride. I would recommend to anyone who asked. Thank you, April!
The Best! Thanks Joe!. Paul M.
Joe Iadanza was absolutely incredible and made our ceremony both heartfelt and funny. Everyone loved him. He was so helpful throughout this whole experience and has the patience of a saint. I would highly HIGHLY recommend using the Church of Ancient Ways for your wedding. If any of the other officiants are even half as great as Joe you’ll no doubt have an amazing ceremony.
by Gary M
April did a fantastic job with our wedding. She met with us for over 2 hours to make sure that she had enough of our story to make our ceremony truly personalized. She was very easy to work with and stayed in touch with us often – even through Covid and our 2+ year engagement. I would highly recommend her and the Church of Ancient ways to anyone who needs an officiant on Long Island.
by Danielle M
April did an incredible job at our wedding ceremony. All of our guests came up to us raving about how wonderful she was, and how special our ceremony was because of her. From our first meeting to the day of our wedding, she made us feel comfortable and answered all of our many questions. She created a ceremony that had everything we wanted and helped our day run smoothly and seamlessly. We’re SO glad we chose April as our officiant, because she is incredible. All of our guests are still raving about her, as are we!!!
by Alicia S
Rev. Joe is the best!!! After our first meeting on zoom we knew he was the perfect person to perform our ceremony. He is kind, genuine, calming – and all of that shows through in his work. He took the time to get to know us and customized the ceremony to have the perfect mix of our personalities, some humor, personal stories and genuine love. We were blown away by the amount of guests that made it a point throughout the night to tell us how beautiful our ceremony was. A couple people even asked if we had known him for years and thought we were old friends. Thank you rev. Joe for making our ceremony so amazing!!
Brenda was amazing!. Danielle
We worked with Brenda and she was absolutely wonderful! Extremely responsive via email and phone. She helped us craft the perfect ceremony for us! We were pretty picky and specific with how we wanted our ceremony to do and Brenda was so sweet and said multiple times “this is YOUR ceremony, I’m here to help you make it what you want!” We loved that she kept it all about us.
On the day of, she arrived right on time, was well-dressed, and super organized. She took care of everything from helping us with the marriage license to mailing it after.
During the ceremony itself she was awesome. She angled the mic to both of us and her tone/voice was so soothing and calm. We received a ton of compliments on our ceremony and that’s a huge thanks to Brenda!
Highly recommend!by Matthew O
Aviva was fantastic! About a month before our wedding, we had to find a new officiant and Aviva rose to the challenge. She had no concerns with getting things squared away before our wedding date. We planned to say our own vows and she helped to make sure they stood out the most during the ceremony by suggesting to us that the words she spoke during the ceremony be less about us and more about love, which was so much so the best decision and we thank her for that. She provided ample resources for us to make the words she spoke during the ceremony exactly what we wanted. On the day of the wedding she met with each of us and made sure we understood how things would progress and what our response to our queues should be. She also made sure to point out to us the most important part, that we look at each other during the ceremony and not her because of how natural it is to look at someone when they speak to you. She printed out our personal vows for us and handed them to us during the ceremony so we did not have to worry about bringing them with us and at the end provided us with a lovely little binder, the one she read out of during the ceremony, which contained all of the words she spoke along with our vows. Aviva was wonderful and we could not recommend her enough for your wedding ceremony.
Melissa-bride. Melissa
Reverend Joe was absolutely amazing!!! He responded almost immediately to our initial inquiry with a very thorough email highlighting all the information we needed. During our interview zoom call, Joe made us feel like we were having dinner with one of our best friends!! God bless his patience, hearing my now husband and I talk about how we met for almost 45 minutes!! What sealed the deal for us was how genuinely happy he was about our love story. He listened to our concerns – we didn’t want a long boring ceremony and he definitely delivered!!! We got married on October 3rd, 2021 and we still have friends and family reaching out to us to let us know how amazing our ceremony was. Everyone was touched by how beautifully Reverend Joe was able to illustrate our story, keeping every one engaged, laughing and even tearing up. I am 1,000% happy that we decided to have Joe officiated our ceremony. His aura is even more amazing in person and he will forever stay in our hearts!!!
by JoAnna R
Pastor April was everything we didn’t know we wanted and needed to make our wedding as special as it was, and gave us such a memorable start to our marriage! Admittedly, I only spoke to April to appease my mom who was devastated we wouldn’t be getting married in a church, but was so glad I did, and booked her literally one day after securing our venue. Leading up to the day, she was so communicative and responsive, which was especially comforting during our postponement due to the pandemic, and open to feedback in regards to the drafts of our ceremony. She has such poise and grace in delivering her ceremonies, and is sure to customize it to what you want (how generic vs. custom, how religious, etc.). We got so many compliments after our ceremony, being told it was the best marriage they ever witnessed, wishing they could have filmed it (we opted for an unplugged ceremony, which April fully supported and was stern in telling our guests), and asked for her information for future events. You can’t go wrong with Pastor April, and she books quickly, so get on it!
by Nicole V
I can not say enough good things about Pastor April. I’m not sure where to begin.. picking an officiant was the last we chose on our list of vendors. As an untraditional couple, we didn’t know where to begin and although we knew our ceremony would be the most important part of our day, we weren’t excited about a stranger talking to our closest family and friends about our relationship. After meeting April in person and discussing the details of our ceremony we were blown away at her professionalism but also, she made us feel extremely comfortable with something we were originally uncomfortable with. We left the meeting agreeing that out of everything we were going to experience on our wedding day, we were most excited for our ceremony. April was available for every phone call and helped edit our ceremony over the phone. She answered questions and couldn’t have made this process any easier. Our wedding day came and she blew everyone away. Guests were coming up to us asking how we found such a perfect officiant. We can’t thank April enough for helping to make our day so special. She was truly meant to do this in her life and it shows.
by Brianna R
April was a joy to work with from start to end! She initial consultation was so helpful and informative about the whole process, and she really helped us get the script for the day exactly how we wanted. All our guests were blown away with how great she was and really enjoyed our ceremony. I would definitely recommend her for any ceremony!
Most beautiful ceremony!!!. Denise S.
Rev. Joe Iadanza made our ceremony so personal and the most beautiful memory for us! Our guests raved how it set the tone for the evening and really conveyed our love for one another. Such a pleasure to work with we couldn’t be more grateful. We honestly can’t wait until the day we renew our vows!
by amy s
A Huge thanks to April who was amazing throughout the whole process. Our ceremony was perfect, intimate, personal, beautiful, and everything we ever envisioned. April was so easy to work with even from the first phone call. She has everything organized for you and gives you all of the information you can possibly need. As a COVID bride where wedding planning was a big headache, she made it clear and easy. We took the option to meet with her on zoom ahead of time so that she could get to know us and make the ceremony even more personal. I would recommend doing that meeting as it makes it even more special. She immediately blew us away with how much she could recall/recite from memory and create a full ceremony right off the top of her head with you at that moment. Very impressive! Thank you April!
Bilingual Ceremony with Brenda. Amanda V.
Brenda was amazing to work with. She perfectly captured our love story for our guests and did a beautiful job incorporating both English & Spanish in our ceremony. She also helped me learn to say my vows in Spanish to surprise my husband’s family. So many guests came up to us and messaged us afterwards to let us know what a fantastic job Brenda did and to get her contact information for future events. Throughout the whole process Brenda made us feel as though we were her own family and we are forever grateful for a ceremony more beautiful than we could have ever imagined!
by Hillary G
April just did our wedding this past Friday and it was absolutely beautiful! She made our wedding so special and personal. It felt like we have known her for years. After the wedding so many people came up to us saying how amazing the ceremony was and wanting to get her info for there upcoming weddings! I could not be happier with choosing April! I will remember this day forever!
It was wonderful working with Joe!. Nicolette
We hired Joe Iadanza as our officiant for our wedding ceremony. Joe immediately responded to us via email and we initially met with him on Zoom. Joe was very personable and professional. He walked us through each part of the ceremony and we corresponded with him on a regular basis while we composed our ceremony. Joe set up a GoogleDoc and gave us feedback and provided suggestions, aiding us in each step of the way. On our wedding day, Joe was punctual and calm. The best part of working with Joe was his ability to problem solve when we realized we forgot our rings in the hotel! Overall, we received many compliments about Joe and his passionate delivery of our ceremony! Thank you Church of Ancient Ways and THANK YOU JOE! 🥰
by Casey B
April made our wedding ceremony the most special part of the day. She instantly made us feel comfortable, from our first Zoom meeting. She is the true meaning of a professional- she clearly knows what she is doing! All of our guests raved about how wonderful she was at telling our story; one guest said “it felt like we were sitting in the comfort of your living room,” which for this homebody, was a HUGE compliment! April also has SO much information leading up to the day; when and where to get your license, how to change your name, etc. She will forever hold a special place in our lives!
by Brianna R
We absolutely adore April. We met with her for a few hours and wrote a custom ceremony for our mixed religions (he is Jewish and I am Catholic). She was kind, funny and receptive and she took the information we gave her and made it into the most beautiful and heartfelt ceremony. I always dreaded wedding ceremonies that drone on and on but April’s ceremony was just the right length and captivated everyone’s interest from start to finish. I definitely recommend her!
Absolute Perfection. Stacey B.
Aviva gave the perfect ceremony for my husband and I. We couldn’t have asked for more!
Aviva was incredible!. Michelle A.
As a postponed covid bride I feel it is imperative to speak on the different vendors and how they handled the pandemic cancellations and postponements. Aviva made the process smooth and there was zero stress changing dates and preparing for the new date. She made us comfortable and feel ready and all of our guests absolutely loved our ceremony! So many said it was the best they had ever been to and I know for sure it wasn’t just the scenery, but the words Aviva used to paint our story. She has a way with words and energy that captures everyone, and I cannot be more grateful we found her to officiate our wedding!
Joe was amazing!. Nicole R.
We couldn’t have asked for a better officiant. Joe was so friendly and genuine with us and our family and friends. He made the whole ceremony go smoothly. Such a well spoken and thoughtful person. We love you Joe!
Absolutely Amazing. Casey R.
We couldn’t recommend Aviva and the Church of Ancient Ways more. My husband and I were legally married during the pandemic in April 2020 then moved our wedding reception to August 2021 and, Aviva couldn’t have made the process easier for us. She was so easy to contact, always so calm, and worked with us every step of the way. Our personalized ceremony was amazing and we had guests all night asking us if Aviva was a close friend! Due to the pandemic, we were lucky enough to have her perform not one, but two ceremonies for us – one during the legal marriage and one in front of our family and friends prior to the wedding reception.
If you are looking for an officiant, do yourself a favor and use the Church of Ancient ways. They helped to make the process seamless each step of the way – prior to the wedding, during the wedding, and finally, to the next steps to take after we were legally married (including name changes -which I previously heard from others was a nightmare – but not by following their links!!)The BEST officiant ever!. Rose J.
I reached out to April and chatted with her for a while about our ideas for our wedding…only to find out that she was not available on our wedding day. She later recommended me Joe Iadanza. He was an absolutely perfect fit for our wedding day!!! He asked the right questions to get to know us (even through Zoom because of Covid). He is friendly, laid back, professional, funny, and has a phenomenal positive energy. He understood our need for a non-traditional, non-religious ceremony and was willing to go the extra mile to customize it to our needs. Joe made us feel comfortable during the ceremony even though we had reservations about being in front of so many people. He also has an exceptional talent and ease with words and writing. I was thrilled when he agreed to help my two children write their speeches. Both of my kids have very different personalities and he was both patient and extremely helpful to help them achieve what it was they wanted to say. Their speeches were one of my favorite moments at the wedding. Several people came to me and wanted to know how and where I found the officiant. They said the ceremony was the best they had ever heard and couldn’t believe how well tailored it was to our personalities. They said, “it was like he knew you” and asked if I had known him prior. I was so happy that at times people were laughing and other times people were crying, happy tears of course. I cannot say enough good things about Joe. You will feel just as fortunate as we did to have him officiate your wedding!!!
Truly an unforgettable ceremony!. Valerie T.
We hired Pastor April and Rabbi Sara for our interfaith wedding. We met with them in person to incorporate personal aspects as well as religious traditions from both of our cultures. THEY WERE AMAZING! They blew us all away. It was such a beautiful ceremony and a month later it’s all people are talking about. I highly recommend them!
Wonderful!. Megan B.
April has been so wonderful! She married us legally in the summer of 2020 with an improvised ceremony and then married us more ceremonially with the full ceremony we had originally worked on together this year. I really loved what she wrote for us and how she helped us choose vows and language for the ceremony that suited the more humanistic tone we wanted. Not only did I love what she wrote, but everyone I spoke to at the reception mentioned how much they loved the ceremony. I would definitely recommend her!
Married July 30, 2021. Nicole L.
I am so thankful that I found Pastor April Gismondi to marry me & my husband. She was amazing from the first time that I spoke with her, she was very accommodating. April made our day so special, our guest’s loved her! She has a calming vibe about her. I would recommend her to anyone! I couldn’t have pictured anyone else marrying us!
Simply amazing. Evelyn G.
Reverand Richard was simply amazing. He understood what we wanted as a ceremony and even took the time to learn some French in order to personalize our ceremony even more! He was very professional and genuine and I really loved that he goes beyond to make get to know us as a couple before the ceremony.
by Lisa C
It’s tough to be a bride in 2020 – between scheduling, rescheduling, and coordinating across vendors given COVID-19 related limitations. After rescheduling our wedding twice, we decided that we wanted to get married this calendar year, right after Christmas. We made this decision 9 days before our tentative wedding date. I reached out to Rev. Joe on Friday and had a quick intro call on Saturday afternoon. He was professional, responsive, and flexible (which is super important – especially these days). We spoke again on Sunday to confirm our interest in moving forward and explain the ceremony that we wanted (in our case, completely secular). Rev. Joe was more than willing to accommodate our preferences.
We spoke again on Monday with the two “readers” for our wedding. Rev. Joe scheduled enough time to get to know us and what makes our relationship tick. He also read through all of the speeches for the ceremony and gave us tips on things we could add. He collected all of the speeches and printed them out in a nice binder so we weren’t reading from our phones. He also sent us his script so that we could make sure it was the right tone and content (it was – he did an incredible job). The day of, he was prompt and masked up. He has amazing energy and spoke from the heart. He has a gift for officiating and an intuition about how to work with people. I’m so glad that we met Rev. Joe and I’d highly recommend making him a part of your special day!Perfect for any couple!. Rebecca M.
When looking for an officiant, we loved that they had lots of different options on their site to choose what works best for you. You can choose to pay more or less for more customized service, but even if you choose to write your own, they are still helpful and responsive the entire time. Pastor April was so nice and we really felt that she cares about each couple. She’s also super professional and helped ease our nerves on the day of. Highly recommend!
Wonderful!. Renee
I met April at a wedding showcase and she was so helpful right from the start! When I reached out to her, she was booked for our wedding date, but was in constant contact with me offering other officiants she trusted. However, when we had to postpone due to COVID, April was available and we quickly locked in our date! April’s email correspondence is extremely detailed and helpful. She answered questions I didn’t even know I had!! Throughout the planning process, April was always a phone call away – ready and willing to talk with us and answer any questions.
Fast forward to the wedding day! As she said she would be, April was on time (early!) and met with both my husband and I prior to the ceremony. Her excitement and joy helped keep our nerves at bay. April’s professionalism was clear as she led us through our ceremony, placing the microphones on us without even skipping a beat. So many of our guests are still raving about how she incorporated everyone into our ceremony! Finally, April met us for a brief chat after the ceremony in our bridal suite and she even took such an awesome photo before heading out.
April emailed us with the information and tracking number for our marriage certificate and provided EVERYTHING I needed to know for what comes next with changing my name.
We are SO grateful for April – book her, now!!by Kristie I
April was an absolutely pleasure to work with. Having postponed our wedding reception at the last minute (two weeks before), we still wanted to get married on our originally planned date 12/06/20. April gave us incredible advice throughout the entire process and managed to take our original ceremony and change it up to fit our much smaller and intimate outdoor gazebo wedding. So many people reached out and continue to reach out to tell us how wonderful and beautiful she made our ceremony!
If you need an officiant – HIRE APRIL ASAP. Meaghan
We had the absolute pleasure of hiring April as our officiant for our wedding in July. She was amazing to work with, flexible when I called her the day before to make some changes. She was a peaceful presence for us all before and during the ceremony. We still have family and friends telling me how much they enjoyed the ceremony and how impressed they were with April. We are so lucky to have April as our officiant. If you are looking for someone who will make your special day amazing, look no further!
by Rachel V
April has been so accommodating and helpful during this pandemic. I had to postpone my venue but still got married on my original date in December in my parents backyard with the 10 person limit. She answered any questions I had and concerns. She kept in touch with me to see if I had any further questions or if I had any issues getting my marriage license. Her speech was great and she didn’t read from a piece of paper like other officiants from other companies.
Aviva is the best!. Christina S.
There is no one better than Aviva! She really takes pride it what she does, and it shows. She is patient, kind, and really takes time to make sure that she captures you and your fiancé to ensure a beautiful ceremony. She makes sure that your vows are personal, and involves you in the process to change or edit anything before the final revision. I couldn’t imagine having anyone else perform our ceremony. We still have family and friends saying how nice it was. 10/10 would recommend!
Best Officiant ever!. Brianna R.
April was a joy to work with from start to end! She initial consultation was so helpful and informative about the whole process, and she really helped us get the script for the day exactly how we wanted. All our guests were blown away with how great she was and really enjoyed our ceremony. I would definitely recommend her for any ceremony!
by Alyssa P
As a covid bride, wedding planning was nothing short of an emotional rollercoaster. Our wedding was originally planned for 11/07/2020 in Long Island, NY. We ended up having to move it to New Jersey, 4 weeks before the wedding! April was nothing short of a blessing throughout the whole process. She checked in on us, was always there to answer any questions, and was just a huge comfort for us. She came all the way to New Jersey and gave us the most beautiful ceremony you could have ever imagined. I cried , my husband cried and just about every person there cried. I cannot say enough about April. BOOK HER, immediately. I can honestly and easily say she made our wedding the most beautiful, heartfelt wedding I could have ever imagined. I will forever be greatfull for her.
Extraordinary Officiant. John M.
When a wedding involves Aviva Sala as wedding officiant, I can only say — WOW, FANTASTIC, AMAZING!!! Aviva Sala officiated our marriage ceremony on July 31, 2021, at the DeSeversky Mansion in Brookville and was the perfect fit for our marriage ceremony! She interviewed us several months before, and at the end she asked us if we would want to see what she would write to say during our ceremony. We said no, because the way she ran our interview and discussion, we had a feeling she would do an amazing job. We were right! Her words and writing were perfect. I wouldn’t have changed one syllable. She mixed the right balance of reverence, solemness and humor during the ceremony. It was clear to both Suliat and I that she not only heard what we said during our interview/discussion, but also saw behind our words; and that gave her ceremony more depth. So, to summarize in a quick phrase, yes, I would very highly recommend using Aviva as your wedding officiant.
by Sophia G
We can not thank Rev. Joe enough! From the first time we spoke to him, we knew there was a connection (he is even a family member of Saint Padre Pio!). He took time to get to know us and allowed us to customize a ceremony that fit us, our family and our relationship, perfectly! Rev. Joe had us all laughing and crying happy tears! He is a true professional and such a kind hearted individual. Thank you Rev. Joe for making our wedding ceremony extra special and memorable! xo
by Caitlin D
If you’re considering hiring Rev. Aviva Sala to officiate your wedding (or any other event, really) – GO FOR IT! She’s the absolute best. She makes sure to really get to know you and your fiance, as well as what you want for your wedding and ceremony. With this information, she crafts a beautifully written and deeply personalized ceremony – our family members are STILL talking about how incredible the ceremony was, and that’s all thanks to Aviva. Also, our wedding was originally cancelled and then rescheduled and re-planned multiple times due to Covid – Aviva stuck with us through all of the changes. We are beyond grateful for her flexibility. Finally, Aviva also helps with a lot of the little things you might not think about when it comes to getting married (or at least we didn’t!) – she’ll guide you through the process of getting the license as well as all of the little decisions you’ll need to make regarding the actual ceremony. My husband and I could NOT recommend her enough! Thanks again, Aviva!
by Eric M
April was nothing short of amazing! We booked for a small ceremony that was going to be done within a month’s time. She was able to walk us through everything we need to get married, and also write a beautiful ceremony. Not only was this an easy, painless process, but the delivery was amazing! Very knowledgeable of all the great areas to have a ceremony across Long Island. I would easily recommend her services to anyone.
Joe is Awesome. Magali T.
My partner and I wed in September of 2020 in an intimate ceremony. Joe was fantastic from soup to nuts. Joe met with us to get a sense of what was important and how we wanted to celebrate our union. Joe was personable, responsive, culturally humble and open to ideas. I can’t thank him enough for helping make for such a nice ceremony with his words and presence.
by Kanchan D
Used this service for my elopement & they replied right away. Our ceremony was officiated by Revered Joe Iadanza & he did performed such a lovely & heart touching ceremony!
Thank you for making our day more special!! ❤️by Rebecca S
April was absolutely phenomenal! From the start, it was so clear that she loves what she does. When COVID hit, April was so helpful in giving us insight into how to approach the ever-changing situation and giving us insights into the reality of what was going on in the wedding industry. When we later decided fairly last minute that we wanted to do a 15-person wedding in October, April again was incredibly helpful — even with small things like making sure we got our marriage license on time. She put so much work and energy into making sure we had a great day and was an absolutely pleasure to work with.
April was by far one of the best decisions we made for vendors for our wedding!!!by Scott S
April was courteous and professional from the start of the wedding process. We knew we wanted her to perform our ceremony as she had previously officiated our friends wedding and was fantastic. April from the first day we spoke with her was very helpful throughout the whole wedding process which can be stressful on the best of days, add COVID and this was a stressful time and she helped us and gave us recommendations and suggestions as we asked. She was always there to answer our calls and any questions we had. Thank you so much April, we truly appreciate it. I would recommend April to anyone who is in need of an officiant
Rev. Aviva is a Rock Star!. Caitlin D.
If you’re considering hiring Rev. Aviva Sala to officiate your wedding (or any other event, really) – GO FOR IT! She’s the absolute best. She makes sure to really get to know you and your fiance, as well as what you want for your wedding and ceremony. With this information, she crafts a beautifully written and deeply personalized ceremony – our family members are STILL talking about how incredible the ceremony was, and that’s all thanks to Aviva. Also, our wedding was originally cancelled and then rescheduled and re-planned multiple times due to Covid – Aviva stuck with us through all of the changes. We are beyond grateful for her flexibility. Finally, Aviva also helps with a lot of the little things you might not think about when it comes to getting married (or at least we didn’t!) – she’ll guide you through the process of getting the license as well as all of the little decisions you’ll need to make regarding the actual ceremony. My husband and I could NOT recommend her enough! Thanks again, Aviva!
by Yianni K
Rev. Joe absolutely made our wedding day perfect! We had the most incredible ceremony and we have Rev. Joe to thank for it. It was everything we ever dreamed of and more. We felt an instant connection to him during our zoom interview. He made our ceremony personal and tied in all the elements we had discussed during our conversation. Everyone is still ranting and raving about our beautiful, personal and touching ceremony. The feedback that we are receiving from our guests is unbelievable. Even those who virtually attended cannot get over how amazing Rev. Joe was. Thank you for making our day perfect!
by stephanie R
We can not thank Joe enough, He made our ceremony so special! We decided that we didn’t want to do our own vows, we just wanted a simple ceremony. Even though we decided on simple ceremony Joe still found a way to make it all about us! He went along with our little comments and banter which made the ceremony ours. Our families are religious and were disappointed when we decided not to get married in a church, with that being said our parents have RAVED about how amazing Joe was at capturing us and was beyond happy with the ceremony! You are in GREAT hands with Joe and I can not recommend him enough!
by Mary Lisa i
We can’t thank April enough for all she did to make our ceremony so special and memorable. My husband and I planned our wedding in 5 weeks, with only our parents present and siblings on zoom. It was an intimate affair and we knew the ceremony was going to be SO special but April really went above and beyond. Her words bought up to tears when she read back what she thought could be the opening paragraph for the day…..and I loved how she was practicing even when she arrived to the De Seversky center to ensure it was perfect. She was professional, engaging, offered suggestions and connected with us and our parents the day of in a way we will never forget. Thank you April for everything!
by Danielle M
Pastor April was the most perfect officiant. She helped us out in a pinch given that our original priest could not come due to COVID and quarantine restrictions for out of state folks. With such short notice she managed to make our day as special as could be. She was a guest favorite and is just a wonderful person to top it off. We will not hesitate to use Pastor April again in the future. We’re so glad things worked out the way they did because we cannot imagine anyone else marrying us.
by Martha A
Rev. Joe was absolutely incredible! I can’t put into words how impressed and happy we and our families were with the way Rev. Joe officiated the wedding. He was very impressive and really got to know us during our interview. We were very comfortable around him. So much so, it almost felt like we’ve known each other for years! We really couldn’t have asked for anyone better.
April is beyond amazing!. Mindie S.
From the moment we met April (via Zoom), we knew she was the one to officiate our wedding. She was so friendly and asked all the right questions to get to know us in that one meeting. She gave us a glimpse of what she was going to say and then followed up the meeting with a rough draft of what we spoke about, as well as some additions and choices for vows. She responded promptly to email and we wrote back and forth to edit the rough draft to exactly what we wanted. She was so easygoing and helpful with the whole process. Fast-forward to our wedding day – she was absolutely amazing. She speaks to her audience and captivates them, getting them involved in our story, our vows, and our emotions. After the ceremony, people kept asking how long we’ve known her, assuming she was a friend by the way she spoke about us. Everyone was shocked to learn that she was just our officiant who was recommended by others, not a long-time friend. They all raved about what she said and how she spoke. I can’t say enough great things about her. April – thank you so much for being a part of our special day!
by Emily C
April was beyond amazing! We were scrambling to plan a micro ceremony after our wedding got postponed. Meeting with April made us feel so reassured. She took everything we said and made it into the most perfect ceremony. My whole family thought we knew her for years! She spoke so perfectly about my husband and I. We absolutely love her!
Best day of our lives! Thank you April Gismondi & Church of Ancient Ways!. Danielle C.
Best day of our lives! Thank you April Gismondi & Church of Ancient Ways! April had married two couples near and dear to me and my husband and after witnessing two beautiful ceremonies by her we knew we had to book her for ours! April wrote us the most beautiful and intimate ceremony that our families and friends have been raving about! It was truly so special for us and exactly what we wanted. April’s communication throughout the whole process was professional, accommodating and informative. She was literally there for us every step of the way! Even with a covid postponement the transition to a new date was easy and seamless. Don’t hesitate to book her, she will not disappoint and she will create a genuinely beautiful lifelong memory for you and your spouse! Highly recommend!!!
by Nicole F
April was a dream to work with and share our special day with. The first time we met with her she spent over an hour talking to my husband and I to really get to know us and make our ceremony a personal one. We had to postpone our wedding reception because of COVID but decided we still wanted our ceremony on our original date, April was so helpful in making sure everything went smoothly both before the day and during. Highly highly recommend having her to share your day with!!
by Gloria P
My husband and I decided very last minute to still get married on our original wedding date with immediate family only. We hired Reverend Joe Iadanza and I must say that our ceremony was absolutely perfect! Reverend Joe always made himself available and made sure he explained all our options thoroughly. I felt he was genuinely very excited for us and he listened to everything we wanted. He was very pleasant to work with. I highly recommend him to anyone!
by Heather J
April did such an incredible job for our wedding!!! My wife and I planned our wedding through this pandemic and April was there with us, Evey step of the way. She always made us feel calm and reassured that everything will work out and we are forever grateful for her kind words. April is the absolute best and our BIG day wouldn’t been the same without her.
Joe Iandanza. Briana B.
Rev. Joe Iandanza married my husband and I. He was absolutely amazing! He was so sweet and nice and excited for us! He was such an easy communicator and read everything how we wanted for our ceremony. He was an excellent speaker. I really enjoyed having him for my ceremony and highly recommend!!!
by Carey K
April was amazing. When we first met with her, she took the time to learn about us as individuals and as a couple. We decided to write our ceremony with her to make it more personalized. What she did turned out to be more than what we ever expected. Every guest we talked to after our ceremony spoke of how beautiful it was. We only met with April when it came to officiant and we recommend anyone looking for an officiant to meet with April. You won’t have to look any further.
A+ for Aviva!. Taylor S.
Church of Ancient Ways was recommended to us by the owner of where we got married and Aviva reached out to us. From the moment we began to talk to Aviva, we immediately knew we wanted her to marry us. Aviva took the time to get to know us and our story, and made our vows so personal we had our family members asking if she was a long-time friend of ours! Aviva was very thorough explaining the process to us, gave us ideas for a unity ceremony (we did wine!) when we were feeling stuck. Aviva was easy to reach throughout the process of getting married when we had questions and got back to us very quickly. I recommend Aviva 100000% if you are looking for a unique and meaningful ceremony completely tailored to your love story. Thank you again Aviva!
by Vincent Y
When my new wife and I decided not to have a church wedding we reached Marie April Gismondi & Associates CoAW. Any concerns we had were squashed immediately when we started with Rev. Joe. He was incredible with making our dream ceremony come true. From start finish it, Rev. Joe was extremely easy to work with during the Covid-19 pandemic. We were very unsure with when we were going to have our ceremony but Rev. Joe was flexible and available at anytime to answer any questions we may have. When it came to the wedding day, the ceremony was everything we could ask for and more!
by Amanda N
April was on of our favorite vendors that we used on our wedding day. She was able to deliver the most beautiful ceremony that I could have ever dreamed of and really set the tone for the rest of the day. Her way with words is mesmerizing and left everyone speechless. We had numerous people come up to us at our cocktail hour and tell us how great our ceremony was. 10000% recommend!
Great experience!. Jessica S.
April Gismondi of Church of Ancient Ways officiated our wedding and she did a fantastic job. My now husband is Jewish and I’m Catholic; April was so helpful in preparing a perfectly blended ceremony. I got so many compliments on the ceremony and how great April was in particular. She was always helpful any time I reached out with any questions. Her responses were impressively quick, which was important to this stressed out Covid bride. I would recommend to anyone who asked. Thank you, April!
6-6-21 Marando Ceremony with April. Kyra M.
April was one of the most wonderful parts of our wedding day. From the moment we met April, we knew we needed to have her for our ceremony. We were so impressed with the way April wrote about my husband I. It truly felt as if we had known her our entire lives. From the beginning, April was professional, accommodating, and a pleasure to work with. Our guests could not stop raving about our ceremony! We are so grateful that April was apart of our special day! We love her! -Kyra and Michael Marando
by Damaris S
Pastor April Gismondi was our officiant for our wedding this past Sunday and I can not express how thankful and lucky we were to have her marry us. From the moment we met her, we got wonderful vibes and felt so comfortable. She sat us down and just asked us a few questions about how we met and our love story. As we shared some of our story she started writing our ceremony. Her process is truly amazing and interesting to witness. She is a true wordsmith and once she puts pen to paper she creates something wonderful. I cried once I heard her read it aloud. She was available via email and phone and was always quick to respond. April was kind, patient and communicated with us throughout the entire process. Due to Covid, we had to make some adjustments and she was able to work with us and assure us that everything was all good. The day of the wedding, she arrived early and helped with rehearsal before walking down the aisle. Her energy and professionalism were felt and seen that day. We couldn’t have chosen anyone better for our day and we are so glad that she was the one to officiate a day we’ll always remember. We are thankful we found April- Thank you for making this part of our crazy pandemic wedding easy and for being so wonderful!
Small wedding Officiant May 2021. Olivia M.
We had Reverend Joe perform our ceremony and we were so happy with how it went! He was professional , prepared and my family had a wonderful time talking with him before and after the ceremony. We wouldn’t of changed a thing! I would recommend this service to any bride looking for an officiant for a small or large ceremony!
by Christina H
Rev. Aviva Sala was wonderful, professional, and accommodating to work with. She helped us to create a special ceremony with personal vows that truly reflected who we are as a couple. The ceremony was beautiful and we absolutely recommend her!
Brenda from Church of Ancient Ways. Brittany
We booked Brenda Santana to officiate our wedding. She helped us from the day we booked until day of. She wrote a ceremony exactly how we asked(there are many options for different preferences). She helped us write our vows and encouraged us to share them in front of everyone, which we are very happy we did. We would recommend Brenda to anybody!!
by Simone H
Rev. Joe was fantastic! He is kind and warm and so easy to work with. We could have not imagined a better ceremony! He found just the right words, it was heartfelt and very special. Joe is also a talented singer songwriter and he actually performed a song that we love at the beginning of the ceremony (it was very emotional and such a perfect start). Rev. Joe was also super flexible when scheduling the ceremony. It was a very small elopement at the beach, and we wanted to make sure the weather would be ok. Though we limited it to a certain week we only set the date a few days out. The spot for the ceremony was also a bit of a hike out but Rev. Joe was happy to meet us there because he wanted to make sure the ceremony was special for us. We feel so incredibly lucky to had him officiate our wedding and we cannot thank him enough!
by Nicole L
The absolute BEST! April was recommended to us by View in Oakdale. We wanted to get a few more names so we could compare , but April’s name was always the first out of everyone’s mouth. After working with her we now know why. She is professional, thoughtful, and extremely kind hearted.
Every correspondence was answered immediately and was very informative and helpful.
Unfortunately, our venue needed to cancel and we needed to switch gears and replan. April was so flexible and supportive it made a difficult situation much easier.
When the big day finally arrived, April helped the ceremony move along seamlessly.
Every guest (and I mean that- EVERY guest) commented on how wonderful the ceremony, and specifically April was in conducting the ceremony.
My husband and I highly recommend April and The Church of Ancient Ways.
Thank you, again, April!I only have good things to say!. Kim
I had been to another wedding where Reverend April Gismondi was the officiant and loved her presence and delivery right away, and knew that I wanted to book her for my wedding! When we met with her, she had a warmth and caring spirit that my husband and I immediately connected with. April married us in a small ceremony in May 2020 during the pandemic and wrote us a very special ceremony that went with our “fairy tale” Disney theme. She was not available for our postponed wedding date, but referred us to her colleague Reverend Aviva Sala. Aviva was just as wonderful and amazing as April! She delivered our ceremony perfectly and the guests had nothing but good things to say about her. I am so happy they were part of our wedding day!
by Julianne C
We are so thankful to April and her wedding expertise in helping us navigate our postponement this year. While we postponed our 200+ person wedding until 2021, we still wanted to get legally married on our original date in July 2020, with only 14 guests. However, our original officiant (a close friend of ours) lives out of state and couldn’t travel in for our small ceremony. That’s where April of the Church of Ancient Ways came in to assist in legally marrying us over Zoom on our original date and making sure that we filled out our marriage license correctly. She was so flexible in scheduling, so understanding of our situation and extremely responsive. We are so thankful to her for adjusting to this virtual and safe “new normal” of marriage ceremonies, and for ensuring that we were still able to get married among the craziness of this year. Highly recommend!
by Marissa R
My now HUSBAND and I hired Reverend Joe Iadanza to perform our marriage ceremony and I can confidently say that he performed the BEST ceremony I’ve ever witnessed in my entire life (and not just because it was my own!). He was warm, excited for us, punctual, kind, incorporated our ceremony edits as requested, and just made the whole event as seamless and wonderful as possible. We’re so grateful he was available to perform our intimate backyard ceremony and will 1000% use him for our renewal of vows when we’re able to reschedule the big day with all of our loved ones as originally intended. Pastor April was just as wonderful, sweet, kind, helpful and excited during our initial conversations with her, and she clearly has a staff that’s as fantastic as she is. Thank you so very much from the bottom of our hearts for making our wedding day even more memorable! You are the best!!!! <3 <3 <3
The best!. Danielle M.
April did an incredible job at our wedding ceremony. All of our guests came up to us raving about how wonderful she was, and how special our ceremony was because of her. From our first meeting to the day of our wedding, she made us feel comfortable and answered all of our many questions. She created a ceremony that had everything we wanted and helped our day run smoothly and seamlessly. We’re SO glad we chose April as our officiant, because she is incredible. All of our guests are still raving about her, as are we!!!
by Lisa R
April Gismondi is a master at her craft. From our first meeting with her we knew that she was the one to perform our wedding ceremony. She listened to our story and created a custom script that reflected us both so beautifully, incorporating unique and special elements. When COVID-19 hit and our wedding was clouded by uncertainty, the vision that April provided for what our wedding ceremony would be kept us grounded and calm knowing that it would be true to us as a couple whenever or however it took place. As beautiful as the vision was, it was even more powerful when it manifested into reality. April is so present in the moment and her melodic voice rings clear as a bell. Our guests keep telling us what a gorgeous and touching ceremony it was – especially my father-in-law who is not easily impressed! I recommend April with my whole heart. She is professional, honest, responsive and just plain fun to work with. With her as your officiant, you truly cannot go wrong. We would use her 1,000 times over if we could.
Praise for April Gismondi & Church of Ancient Ways. Gary M.
We had pastor Gismondi as the officiant for our wedding and I can’t say enough good things about her. She worked with us to tailor the ceremony to our liking and to personalize everything to us. April was always there when we needed to ask a question or for some advice. I would highly recommend her and the Church of Ancient Ways to anyone that needs an officiant on Long Island.
RUN don’t walk to book with these officiants!!!. Jaclyn M.
Working with The Church of Ancient Ways & Rev. Aviva Sala was one of the easiest parts of wedding planning! Although covid threw a wrench into our wedding plans, we used the opportunity to get married on our original date in a small intimate ceremony with immediate family & bridal party. Aviva was fantastic from start to finish! She is so personable, loves a good laugh & made our ceremony even more special than we had both imagined. She married my brother & sister in law in 2018 and we knew immediately following their wedding we wanted to book with her also! 10000/10, you will not regret it!!!
April Gismondi. Jessica F.
April Gismondi did an absolutely AMAZING job at my wedding. My guests couldn’t help but continuously compliment her as she took the time to get to know my husband and i and write a beautifully well said speech. She was a delight to work with and made everything so smooth. I had to postpone my wedding 3 times and April made Each transition timeless and easy. She even let my husband and i use her Personal home for my husband and i to get married before our big party I have nothing bad to say !!
So happy to be married by April. Emily B.
From the moment we got on the phone with April and the Church of Ancient Ways we knew we didn’t have to talk to any other officiants. April immediately made us feel like she understood our relationship during our initial interview. The words she was able to write were perfect, and the process of fine tuning and finalizing what we wanted was so easy. We got so many complements on our ceremony, and she made it so meaningful and perfectly balanced both of our faiths, and traditional and modern elements. I highly recommend Church of Ancient ways to anyone!
Absolutely amazing!. Casey B.
April made our wedding ceremony the most special part of the day. She instantly made us feel comfortable, from our first Zoom meeting. She is the true meaning of a professional- she clearly knows what she is doing! All of our guests raved about how wonderful she was at telling our story; one guest said “it felt like we were sitting in the comfort of your living room,” which for this homebody, was a HUGE compliment! April also has SO much information leading up to the day; when and where to get your license, how to change your name, etc. She will forever hold a special place in our lives!
by Emily R
Rev. Joe made the task of reimagining our wedding due to COVID-19 easy! As soon as we made the decision to postpone, we reached out to April via the website, and Rev. Joe got back to us immediately. Scheduling was flexible and he penciled us in right away, not knowing how the climate would be in a few weeks. He was instrumental in helping us secure our marriage license and so helpful every step of the way! The ceremony was perfect, exactly what we always imagined, personal and modern. We received compliments from all guests on what a wonderful job he did. We can’t thank him enough for being an instrumental part of our big day!
Great experience. Tom W.
We hired Aviva Sala to officiate our wedding and she was awesome. She sat us down and spoke with us at length about our relationship (how we met, why we love the other person etc.) She captured our relationship and story perfectly. She was kind and patient with us and explained everything to us the day of the wedding. Do yourself a favor and hire Aviva to officiate your wedding! She is the best!!
Accommodating and Amazing. Rachel
April has been so accommodating and helpful during this pandemic. I had to postpone my venue but still got married on my original date in December in my parents backyard with the 10 person limit. She answered any questions I had and concerns. She kept in touch with me to see if I had any further questions or if I had any issues getting my marriage license. Her speech was great and she didn’t read from a piece of paper like other officiants from other companies.
Amazing energy and a gift for officiating. Lisa C.
It’s tough to be a bride in 2020 – between scheduling, rescheduling, and coordinating across vendors given COVID-19 related limitations. After rescheduling our wedding twice, we decided that we wanted to get married this calendar year, right after Christmas. We made this decision 9 days before our tentative wedding date. I reached out to Rev. Joe on Friday and had a quick intro call on Saturday afternoon. He was professional, responsive, and flexible (which is super important – especially these days). We spoke again on Sunday to confirm our interest in moving forward and explain the ceremony that we wanted (in our case, completely secular). Rev. Joe was more than willing to accommodate our preferences. We spoke again on Monday with the two “readers” for our wedding. Rev. Joe scheduled enough time to get to know us and what makes our relationship tick. He also read through all of the speeches for the ceremony and gave us tips on things we could add. He collected all of the speeches and printed them out in a nice binder so we weren’t reading from our phones. He also sent us his script so that we could make sure it was the right tone and content (it was – he did an incredible job). The day of, he was prompt and masked up. He has amazing energy and spoke from the heart. He has a gift for officiating and an intuition about how to work with people. I’m so glad that we met Rev. Joe and I’d highly recommend making him a part of your special day!
The best wedding vendor!!. Rebecca
April was absolutely phenomenal! From the start, it was so clear that she loves what she does. When COVID hit, April was so helpful in giving us insight into how to approach the ever-changing situation and giving us insights into the reality of what was going on in the wedding industry. When we later decided fairly last minute that we wanted to do a 15-person wedding in October, April again was incredibly helpful — even with small things like making sure we got our marriage license on time. She put so much work and energy into making sure we had a great day and was an absolutely pleasure to work with.
April was by far one of the best decisions we made for vendors for our wedding!!!So helpful with our intimate ceremony!. Julianne C.
We are so thankful to April and her wedding expertise in helping us navigate our postponement this year. While we postponed our 200+ person wedding until 2021, we still wanted to get legally married on our original date in July 2020, with only 14 guests. However, our original officiant (a close friend of ours) lives out of state and couldn’t travel in for our small ceremony. That’s where April of the Church of Ancient Ways came in to assist in legally marrying us over Zoom on our original date and making sure that we filled out our marriage license correctly. She was so flexible in scheduling, so understanding of our situation and extremely responsive. We are so thankful to her for adjusting to this virtual and safe “new normal” of marriage ceremonies, and for ensuring that we were still able to get married among the craziness of this year. Highly recommend!
Professional and Easy. Eric
We hired April for a small ceremony that was going to be done within a month’s time. She was able to walk us through everything we need to get married, and also write a beautiful ceremony. Not only was this an easy, painless process, but the delivery was amazing! Very knowledgeable of all the great areas to have a ceremony across Long Island. I would easily recommend her services to anyone.
Fairy Tale ❤️ Above and Beyond. Madeline O.
Surreal, it was “Simply Beautiful”. I wasn’t sure what to expect because we had to postpone a big family gathering due to covid and now I feel like my wedding was a Fairy Tale! 😍 It went so smooth and wonderful my Husband and I couldn’t have asked for anything more! Joe Iadanza made us feel so comfortable and helped us in every step of planning till we said our vows. We absolutely 💯 recommend them and Joe to anyone looking for an Amazing memorable elopement! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
by Emma G
THANK YOU Pastor April!! You made our planning process so easy with all your guidence! Your completely personalized ceremony was the high light of our wedding! All the guests complemented us on how moving and special it was! You are the best around and we are so lucky to have had you be a part of our special day! Xoxo
Rev Joe Iadanza. Michelle W.
He made our ceremony exactly how we wanted! He made it personal and took the time to get to know us so he could do that for us. He responded quickly with my questions, and made us really feel we were in good hands. Our guests were amazed how perfect our ceremony was !! He truly made it so special for us, we recommend him 1,000%.
by Inderpal S
Well yes, “wedding planning” and “easy” can be used in the same sentence and not, they do not have to be separated by “is not”…. My wife and I reached out to April and instantly knew she will be the one officiating our wedding. She made the entire process around our ceremony so effortlessly easy to plan with easy to follow templates, encouraging words and just so much love for what she does.
Not a single soul at our wedding forgot to mention how much they loved April. She is a FABULOUS public speaker and makes your ceremony nothing less than magical.
If you are getting married and are looking for an officiant – please do yourself a favor and get in touch with April. This is one decision you will thank yourself for making every step of the way. She is amazing and so are the beautiful people that work with her. I’d marry (my wife) again just to have April conduct our ceremony again.. Need I say more? : )So Thankful We Found Rev. Joe!. Kelley G.
Reverend Joe was honestly the highlight of our entire day. Weeks before the wedding we video chatted with him for about an hour. We walked him through the intricacies and special moments that lead our relationship to the decision to walk down the aisle. Rev Joe was able to write and deliver a ceremony that really spoke about who we are as individuals and who we are as a couple. Our guests had endless compliments for Rev. Joe, assuming we had known him for years based on how well he capture each of us.
Fantastic/Awesome. Scott S.
April was courteous and professional from the start of the wedding process. We knew we wanted her to perform our ceremony as she had previously officiated our friends wedding and was fantastic. April from the first day we spoke with her was very helpful throughout the whole wedding process which can be stressful on the best of days, add COVID and this was a stressful time and she helped us and gave us recommendations and suggestions as we asked. She was always there to answer our calls and any questions we had. Thank you so much April, we truly appreciate it. I would recommend April to anyone who is in need of an officiant
Simply the best!. Yianni
Rev. Joe absolutely made our wedding perfect! We had the most incredible ceremony and we have Rev. Joe to thank for it. With just one short phone call followed by a zoom interview, we instantly bonded. He absolutely listened to us and made our ceremony personal. We feel as if we have known him our entire lives and our guests assumed we did as well. The feedback we have gotten has been unbelievable. Everyone is raving about our beautiful and touching ceremony. Thank you for making our day absolutely perfect! We can’t thank you enough.
by Julia M
Rev April was so incredible to work with. She truly made our ceremony special and one of a kind. Everyone thought she was one of our family members because of how she spoke about us and our relationship. She truly cares about every couple she marries and we are so blessed to have been able to have her! I will definitely be recommending her to every couple I know getting married. Thanks again April!!
Reverend Joe. Daniel C.
My Wife Kelley and I would like to thank reverend Joe for a beautifully written and performed ceremony. Joe was able to translate our relationship into A kindly spoken and well thought out Ceremony. He guided us through the process easily, chose meaningful scripture, and made the ceremony fun and enjoyable for everyone. It was a perfect ceremony on a perfect day. Thanks Reverend Joe! Best wishes.
-Kelley and Danby Robert L
Wow! What a great job Reverend Joe did at our wedding last Saturday. He guided us with our vows and did a great job at our ceremony. He is such a pleasant guy and made everyone feel comfortable. We got many compliments on his service.
Thank you Rev Joe!
Bob & PattyWouldn’t change a thing!. Danielle C.
Pastor April was the most perfect officiant. She helped us out in a pinch given that our original priest could not come due to COVID and quarantine restrictions for out of state folks. With such short notice she managed to make our day as special as could be. She was a guest favorite and is just a wonderful person to top it off. We will not hesitate to use Pastor April again in the future. We’re so glad things worked out the way they did because we cannot imagine anyone else marrying us.
by Candace C
April was absolutely wonderful!! Within an hour of meeting her, she’d written the bones of our ceremony while we sat in front of her and told her about ourselves. She wrote a ceremony perfectly tailored to us, not too long but meaningful, and often brought us points or suggestions I wouldn’t have thought of but loved. One of the most common compliments we got about our wedding was that it was the best ceremony they had been to in a while, and that they enjoyed every minute of it. I myself had been to a few weddings where the ceremony dragged on or the person officiating didn’t present well or speak clearly enough, so I wanted to avoid that and April was absolutely perfect. She started off my wonderful wedding on an incredible note and I’m so grateful we found her!
by Michelle G
wow !! soon as we met Rev. Gismondi she made us feel comfortable. Our family and guest could not stop
talking about her service. She was able to incorporate filipino tradition into our wedding so easily and to the point. thank you so much for making the ceremony a blast and ease.Couldn’t have asked for anyone better!. Martha A.
Rev. Joe was absolutely incredible! I can’t put into words how impressed and happy we and our families were with the way Rev. Joe officiated the wedding. He was very impressive and really got to know us during our interview. We were very comfortable around him. So much so, it almost felt like we’ve known each other for years! We really couldn’t have asked for anyone better.
Amazing!!!. Emily C.
April was beyond amazing! We were scrambling to plan a micro ceremony when our wedding got postponed. Meeting with April made us feel so reassured. She took everything we said and made it into the most perfect ceremony. My whole family thought we knew her for years! She spoke so perfectly about my husband and I. We absolutely love her!
by Christopher J
Pastor April was amazing! From our first meeting my wife and I were blown away my how warm, comforting, and how good she was at our job. She continued to work with us up until our wedding day and she was amazing with her timeliness when commuting through email. Our wedding would not have been as great as it was without her.
by Nicole A
April was FABULOUS! She made our ceremony so personal and beautiful. Most guests asked me how long I’ve known April because of the words she spoke during the ceremony – they were all surprised when I said only a few months! I would absolutely recommend her to officiate anyone’s wedding! She even gave us a personal keepsake binder with the script from the ceremony she used and decorative marriage certificate.
by Alissa S
April was wonderful to work with! My husband and I were raised in different religions but both don’t practice much anymore so we knew our ceremony was going to be nontraditional. When meeting with April, she asked us both questions about us and our relationship as well as the logistics of what we wanted in the ceremony including any religious parts we wanted to include. She pretty much wrote the first draft in front of us at the meeting and we loved what we heard. The day of the wedding, not only was she on time, but was also a calming presence during the whirlwind of a day. The actual ceremony was flawless, she is such an eloquent speaker and was able to think of her feet when my one year old twin nieces began yelling and running around. We received so many compliments on the ceremony and how personal it felt (people asked if we had known April for awhile). She is also very knowledgeable on the marriage license and the name change process. She was great – I would recommend April to everyone!
Rev. Rich Rodriguez. Francesca P.
Rev. Rodriguez made sure our day went smoothly! He gave us so much valuable advice and felt like a family member on our big day! We could not thank him enough and would recommend him to anyone!
Perfect, of course!. Nicole F.
April was just a dream to work with and have with us for our wedding day. The first time we met April she spent over an hour with my husband and I getting to know us and what we wanted for our ceremony. We had to postpone our wedding reception because of COVID but we decided to still get married on our original date and April made sure everything still went smoothly both leading up to the date as well as the day of. She gave us the most perfect ceremony, highly recommend her to share your day with!
by Arielle W
From our first meeting with April I knew she would deliver. She really listened to our thoughts and helped organize the words into a beautiful love story. She spoke with such passion at the ceremony that we couldn’t help but smile at our own story. She was very organized throughout the whole process and communicative. Hire Pastor April for your wedding!
Our Wedding-The Most Amazing Day. Elizabeth N.
When Niel and I finally knew we were going a head with our Wedding, we asked the venue to recommend an officiant. We were put in touch with Rev Joe, after having a meeting with him, he knew exactly what we wanted to be said in our ceremony. We enjoyed working with Rev. Joe throughout the entire process, even invited him to our wedding as our guest. Thanks for making our ceremony and wedding so special. Many of our guests raved about Rev. Joe, how he captured and personalized our love story into the ceremony.
100% Happy. Melissa A.
We are completely happy with this process from reaching out and to having our ceremony. We wanted to have a small private ceremony on the same date that we will have our big reception and party on next year. Within the same day and same week I e-mailed, we were able to make it happen. April was so flexible and made scheduling stress free! The location was perfect, especially given this crazy time with COVID. She took beautiful photos of us before and after! We are beyond happy and grateful to have had April marry us. I would recommend April to anyone!!
by Elizabeth O
April was amazing to work with! My husband and I booked her about a year before our wedding. She took time to sit with us and create a rust out custom ceremony. Day of she was prompt and cheerful and our guests have raved about how unique and wonderful our ceremony was. She listened to what we wanted and not what think thought we should do. I would highly recommend April to anyone looking for a wedding officiant!
Beautiful Ceremony with Rev. Joe!. Gloria
My husband and I decided very last minute to still get married on our original wedding date with immediate family only. We hired Reverend Joe Iadanza and I must say that our ceremony was absolutely perfect! Reverend Joe always made himself available and made sure he explained all our options thoroughly. I felt he was genuinely very excited for us and he listened to everything we wanted. He was very pleasant to work with. I highly recommend him to anyone!
by Caitlin C
April gave us such a beautiful ceremony! We sat down with her a few weeks before the wedding to discuss our ceremony and she asked us some questions and it was amazing with what she able to do with the answers we gave her. She turned our unimaginative answers into beautiful words. We received so many compliments on how nice our ceremony was!
by Alissa D
April was such an amazing part of our big day. She made our ceremony personal, and perfect and was so great to work with along the way. We recieved so many compliments following the ceremony and can’t thank her enough for marrying us!
Worth EVERY penny!. Kerry
My husband and I were married on August 21, 2020. About one month prior to our wedding date we were told by our original officiant, who was a family friend, that due to Covid he was unable to perform our ceremony. At the time this seemed like a curse, being so last minute we didn’t think we would be able to find someone new. However, as soon as we met April we realized it was a blessing! With only about one month to go until our wedding date, we met with April via Zoom and spent time getting to know each other. Within a short time she sent us a full draft of our ceremony and immediately we decided to book! It was perfect, completely personalized and better than we could have ever imagined. One thing we really liked was that April met with us first and sent us a full draft of our ceremony before asking for any deposit. On the day of our wedding, April arrived early and spoke so beautifully and even took time to address each set of our parents personally, which is something they really appreciated. Every one of our guests raves about April and how personal and beautiful our ceremony was. Within two weeks we have already received our Marriage Certificate! If you’re looking for an officiant who truly cares, works efficiently, responds to every email/phone call quickly and want to have a memorable, personalized ceremony, I 100% recommend using April for your wedding!
by Amanda M
Rev April was by far one of the best decisions my husband and I made while wedding planning. We opted to take her custom ceremony and our meeting with April was filled with lots of laughs and chit chat, we felt as if April was family by the time we left and a few days later we had a beautiful ceremony that was a complete reflection of myself and my husbands life and the journey we are about to take!
The day of the wedding my family fell in love with April even before she began our ceremony. During the ceremony our guests were floored by her words. We laughed, we cried and we said “I Do Bro”. The ceremony was nothing short of amazing and something we will remember for the rest of our lives.
Thank you April for everything!
The Gelsomino’sby Jess P
Working with April was a true pleasure. From the very beginning of the process, we were so thrilled with her sincerity and the personal touch she adds to the ceremony for each of her couples. We loved that our wedding was so thoughtful and personalized to who we are as a couple and the start of our new life together. Our guests have done nothing but rave about what an incredible job she did. I can’t recommend her highly enough.
by Amanda C
April was phenomenal! Since the beginning, very easy to communicate with. She listened to every word we said. Our reading was very intimate and personal which was amazing. It’s our true love story that she was able to capture. We’ve only been married two weeks, and I still have guests calling me telling me how great our officiant was. April is great!
Absolutely Perfect. Amanda E.
April was an absolute pleasure to work with. We had a zoom call to stay safe prior and she still was able to capture our story and put it into a perfect mini ceremony at the Vanderbilt Museum. Everything was seamless and she was very clear with instructions on what to do, which was so helpful. I can’t recommend her enough and am so thankful to have had her be a part of our magical day.
by Kristen P
My wife & I were having a hard time finding an officiant that we just clicked with until someone had recommended April. We spoke with her on the phone & then met with her in her home. The moment we walked in we both felt such comfort and connection. We spent 3 hours with April and booked immediately after the meeting was finished. She took the time to get to know us, our story, and what type of ceremony we were looking to have. No more than a couple of days later we already had our whole ceremony sent to us with different options & instructions. If we had any questions April answered them within 24 hours and was always pleasant and extremely helpful! She sent me information that I didn’t even know I needed or thought of.
Now the ceremony- I was beyond nervous before it started. After walking in April started speaking and her calming nature took over and I felt excited and relaxed all over again. She had a beautiful book she read out of that we were able to keep. After the ceremony my guests could not stop talking about her and how she captivated the crowd. All they kept saying was how they were hanging onto her every word, wanting to hear more of what she was saying and how they were engaged the entire time. April is a truly such a special person. We cannot thank her enough for making our day so amazing.by Emily M
We highly recommend April for your ceremony! She was an absolute pleasure to work with, and she helped us create a beautiful ceremony that perfectly captured our love story. You cannot go wrong with hiring April!
by Amanda M
We cannot thank April enough for making our wedding ceremony so special. She told our story so beautifully and truly engaged all of our guests. We got so many compliments on how nice the ceremony was. We were truly impressed with April’s talent to write amazing material in a matter of minutes. Upon meeting, she asked us some personal questions about our relationship and love story, and the next thing we know, she has a well-constructed rough draft all about us! Within days, she sent over a full rough draft for us to edit and make our own over email. It was such an easy process and we loved our unique ceremony. April also provides you with a final copy of the ceremony as a keepsake. If you want your ceremony to be personalized and truly share the story of you and your spouse, April will create that for you.
by Sara S
Pastor April Gismondi was a pleasure to work with from the moment we met her. She was recommended by our venue, and we met with her and immediately felt at ease. The ceremony portion of planning was one we were concerned with and completely clueless. Pastor April sat with both of us and asked the perfect questions to get a sense of who we are as a couple. In only a couple of days she sent us the most beautifully written story of how we became a couple. We had trouble sending the final draft because it was overwhelming for us and April was on the phone explaining it to me within hours. Whether by email or phone call pastor April was there for every concern or question with an answer and a friendly demeanor. The day of the wedding she was there early and made herself available to us. The ceremony was beautiful and our family and friends all came to us to tell us how great she was.
Thankful to have had Pastor April Gismondi officiate. Damaris
Pastor April Gismondi was our officiant and I can not express how thankful and lucky we were to have her marry us. From the moment we met her we got wonderful vibes and felt so comfortable. She is a true wordsmith and. I cried once I heard her read it aloud. She was available via email and phone and was always quick to respond. April was kind, patient and communicated with us throughout the entire process. She arrived early and helped with rehearsal before walking down the aisle. Her energy and professionalism were felt and seen that day!
by Lisa M
April made my wife and I’s wedding experience so much easier. As the stress starts to build, the bills come in by in multiples, April is a breath of fresh air. Offers you to take off your shoes and jacket and get comfortable on her couch. She dedicated hours to getting to know her clients. After speaking to her for at least 90 minutes, she already had a rough draft as to the direction we wanted our ceremony speech to go. She is not pushy or forceful. She is such a beautiful soul whose goal is to share your love story and the love you have for each other amongst family and friends. She is highly recommended! You will be very pleased!
Wonderful elopement with Rev. Joe!. Simone H.
Rev. Joe was fantastic! He is kind and warm and so easy to work with. We could have not imagined a better ceremony! He found just the right words, it was heartfelt and very special. Joe is also a talented singer songwriter and he actually performed a song that we love at the beginning of the ceremony (it was very emotional and such a perfect start). Rev. Joe was also super flexible when scheduling the ceremony. It was a very small elopement at the beach, and we wanted to make sure the weather would be ok. Though we limited it to a certain week we only set the date a few days out. The spot for the ceremony was also a bit of a hike out but Rev. Joe was happy to meet us there because he wanted to make sure the ceremony was special for us. We feel so incredibly lucky to had him officiate our wedding and we cannot thank him enough!
by Kristie M
April is absolutely fantastic! She had everything organized and well prepared to the point that I didn’t have to worry about anything! She came up with such a remarkable ceremony that is personal and authentic to us! She was always in contact and very detailed with information following the wedding. There’s so much to do when planning a wedding, but I never had to worry one bit about our ceremony. April had it all under control and we couldn’t ask for anyone better to share our special day with!!
Dream Wedding Ceremony with Rev. Joe!. Marissa R.
My now HUSBAND and I hired Reverend Joe Iadanza to perform our marriage ceremony and I can confidently say that he performed the BEST ceremony I’ve ever witnessed in my entire life (and not just because it was my own!). He was warm, excited for us, punctual, kind, incorporated our ceremony edits as requested, and just made the whole event as seamless and wonderful as possible. We’re so grateful he was available to perform our intimate backyard ceremony and will 1000% use him for our renewal of vows when we’re able to reschedule the big day with all of our loved ones as originally intended. Pastor April was just as wonderful, sweet, kind, helpful and excited during our initial conversations with her, and she clearly has a staff that’s as fantastic as she is. Thank you so very much from the bottom of our hearts for making our wedding day even more memorable! You are the best!!!!
by Ashley M
April was AMAZING!!! I spoke with April months leading up to our weddingand she answered every question that I had. My husband met her the day of our wedding and he loved her just kept saying that she is “great” and “amazing” and all of our guests loved her!!
by Erin K
April is amazing! She made us the most beautiful short and sweet ceremony as we wanted. My guests thought her speech was so custom to us, that they thought she was a personal friend. She is professional and I cannot recommend her enough.
by Dana P
Our wedding ceremony was AMAZING and it was all thanks to April. From my very first phone call with April I knew that we were in good hands. She was informative, helpful, and extremely prompt and articulate with her responses. The thought of standing in front of so many people was something that had me feeling very anxious leading up to our wedding and to my amazement, I was able to feel completely at ease when April began our ceremony. She is able to completely captivate you with her writing and authenticity. Our guests raved to us about how wonderful our ceremony was and how extraordinary April was. Our ceremony was my favorite part of our big day and I cannot thank her enough.
With love,
Dana and Matthewby Danielle M
Pastor April is absolutely amazing. We attended a wedding and she was the officiant there. My fiancé at the time and I never obtained her contact info. But just a few days later we met her at the expo when we realized that was her. Little did I know I had her contact info the entire time. Pastor April reached out to me in the very beginning when we picked our venue. When she introduced herself she gave so much needed details and really explained everything. She stopped and pulled over to answer all the questions I had. She is kind, patient, helpful and really loves what she does! She has a true gift with so much passion! We were extremely happy and excited to have her as our officiant. The ceremony was beautiful! She was able to fill the moment with laughter, tears and enjoyment. We received many complaints on how beautiful the ceremony was. Jonathan and I cannot thank April enough for everything. She made our day so very special, a peaceful stress free day and smooth sailing for all the paperwork. She really does have a wonderful talent you will not be disappointed. Thank you Pastor April again for making our day very special!
by Paige B
Married on 9/7/19, April was our officiant, and let me tell you she was one of if not my favorite vendor! My favorite thing about April was she actually came to my house to sit down with me and my husband to really get to know us & ask us questions. Every time I read my ceremony it brings tears to my eyes bc of how beautiful it is. All my guest approached me and my husband after the ceremony and said that it was one of the best ceremony readings they’ve ever heard! It was personal, funny, and unique! April describe me and my husband and our relationship in such a positive way. April sincerely cares about her couples and it shows! There wasn’t a dry eye in the room during the ceremony. You won’t be disappointed if you book April and you’ll have peace of mind knowing your ceremony will be spectacular and well cared for!
by Judith H
Herrera
April was amazing! Her style, her words how professional she is. She’s just skilled beyond words. Our ceremony was absolutely beautiful. Like no other. Everyone was moved and touched how personalized our ceremony was. We Are still receiving compliments on how beautiful and touching the ceremony was. We have April to thank for that. Thank you so much April for all that you do and the beautiful person that you are. Thank youThe Absolute Best.. Lisa R.
April Gismondi is a master at her craft. From our first meeting with her we knew that she was the one to perform our wedding ceremony. She listened to our story and created a custom script that reflected us both so beautifully, incorporating unique and special elements. When COVID-19 hit and our wedding was clouded by uncertainty, the vision that April provided for what our wedding ceremony would be kept us grounded and calm knowing that it would be true to us as a couple whenever or however it took place. As beautiful as the vision was, it was even more powerful when it manifested into reality. April is so present in the moment and her melodic voice rings clear as a bell. Our guests keep telling us what a gorgeous and touching ceremony it was – especially my father-in-law who is not easily impressed! I recommend April with my whole heart. She is professional, honest, responsive and just plain fun to work with. With her as your officiant, you truly cannot go wrong. We would use her 1,000 times over if we could.
by Alex M
If you are looking for someone that is easy to work with, so enthusiastic, a pleasure to be around and make your day that much more special then look no further than Pastor April. She has been nothing but a joy to work with and is very accommodating no matter the circumstances. You can tell she has a true passion for this and genuinely loves to be a part of people’s big day. Within minutes of meeting her, it was like she had known us her whole life. The ceremony she wrote was completely personalized to us and so beautifully written and presented. You can tell that she is not only amazing at what she does but puts so much care and effort into it as well. After the ceremony, we had many guests coming up to us unprompted telling us that the ceremony was one of if not the best they’ve ever heard at any wedding and not to be biased but I completely agree. April help make the moment of us getting married a moment we will never forget and an incredibly special day!
A wonderful experience!. Emily R.
Rev. Joe made the task of reimagining our wedding due to COVID-19 easy! As soon as we made the decision to postpone, we reached out to April via the website, and Rev. Joe got back to us immediately. Scheduling was flexible and he penciled us in right away, not knowing how the climate would be in a few weeks. He was instrumental in helping us secure our marriage license and so helpful every step of the way! The ceremony was perfect, exactly what we always imagined, personal and modern. We received compliments from all guests on what a wonderful job he did. We can’t thank him enough for being an instrumental part of our big day!
Beautiful Ceremony, Flexible Booking. Elizabeth S.
April was able to fit us in a few weeks in advance with a socially-distant ceremony during the covid pandemic. When we were scrambling just to be able to get married, she suggested a nice area to get married outside with lovely scenery to make out day special. Her speech was lovely, she definitely does a great job. She was recommended to me by several friends. I also highly recommend her.
by Kelly S
April made us feel special from the moment we sat down with her. Actually, we knew she was great from the first email, before we even set up our first meeting. After just the first time we met her she “got us.” She truly has a way of capturing a couple, their personalities, and their relationship with each other. She turns this into a beautiful, personalized ceremony. What she originally wrote was so spot on that we edited very little. She was always available to help edit the ceremony, gave advice on our personal vows, and even asked if we needed help getting our marriage license. Additionally, she gave advice on the processional song and called to alleviate my nerves. We had guests who thought April was a personal friend and were waiting for her to say during the ceremony how she knew us. We had many guests compliment the ceremony; they are still talking about it. She’s quirky, funny, and makes you feel like you’ve known her forever. April did not just speak, she captivated the audience. She moved around, smiled, really addressed the audience. One guest said, “I liked that she didn’t just stand there and read off the paper like I’ve seen other officiants do.” April is also genuinely excited to hear about your relationship, write a ceremony for you, and officiate that ceremony. The binder she created was so professional looking and is another keepsake that made our day everything we hoped it would be. It has a beautiful font with the entire ceremony typed up and a personalized wedding certificate with a theme we got to choose. She was prepared for our beach wedding with her own sound system and tissues. I love that she made us speak into the microphone for our vows and the “I do’s.” I’ve been at weddings where I can’t hear the bride. April, thank you so much for making our day truly spectacular!
Best officiant ever!. Emma G.
THANK YOU Pastor April!! You made our planning process so easy with all your guidence! Your completely personalized ceremony was the high light of our wedding! All the guests complemented us on how moving and special it was! You are the best around and we are so lucky to have had you be a part of our special day! Xoxo
by Jen b
I cannot rave enough about Aprils talent. Her words just flow and come together flawlessly. She has a true talent and can put love into such beautiful words. We could not have been happier about our ceremony. She really helped us create the ceremony we dreamed of. We highly recommend to all.
by Madeline H
We loved working with April for our wedding! She sat with us and turned our story into something beautiful to be shared during the ceremony, and was so approachable and quick to answer all of my questions and emails. She did an amazing job with our ceremony, so many people told us how great the ceremony was. We couldn’t have been happier with our experience working with April!
Wedding planning made easier with April on your side. Indy S.
Well yes, “wedding planning” and “easy” can be used in the same sentence and not, they do not have to be separated by “is not”…. My wife and I reached out to April and instantly knew she will be the one officiating our wedding. She made the entire process around our ceremony so effortlessly easy to plan with easy to follow templates, encouraging words and just so much love for what she does.
Not a single soul at our wedding forgot to mention how much they loved April. She is a FABULOUS public speaker and makes your ceremony nothing less than magical.
If you are getting married and are looking for an officiant – please do yourself a favor and get in touch with April. This is one decision you will thank yourself for making every step of the way. She is amazing and so are the beautiful people that work with her. I’d marry (my wife) again just to have April conduct our ceremony again.. Need I say more? : )by Megan H
We recently used April for our wedding and she was amazing! We met with her months ago and even though it was only for a brief period of time, I felt like she truly got to know us. She was very easy to communicate with after that as we went back and forth editing the ceremony/vows until they were perfect. Our guests had nothing but great things to say about our ceremony and how enjoyable April was to listen to. She also eliminated any stress about obtaining a marriage certificate. She took care of it all and it was waiting for us when we came home from our honeymoon.
by Samantha M
We worked with Rev. Giamondi for our wedding which just passed on July 19, 2019. She is absolutely amazing!!! She made our Ceremony interesting, fun and kept all of our guests attention. In minutes she made everything we said about one another into a beautiful story. She was made for this and I recommend her to any and everyone who is in need of an officiant. Thank you again for the blessing of having you marry us!
Samantha & Jorge Mendozaby Julia K
My husband and I used Pastor April’s “Just Marry Us” service for a small elopement in Northport Gazebo (highly recommended on her website,) in July of 2019. We couldn’t be more thankful for her! The ceremony was exactly what we wanted – quick, easy, and to the point. She made us feel comfortable, and made our small “no-fuss” wedding ceremony seamless and wonderful. I can’t say enough about how great it was – and would recommend her in a heartbeat!
Rev April was incredible!. Julia M.
Rev April was so incredible to work with. She truly made our ceremony special and one of a kind. Everyone thought she was one of our family members because of how she spoke about us and our relationship. She truly cares about every couple she marries and we are so blessed to have been able to have her! I will definitely be recommending her to every couple I know getting married. Thanks again April!!
Rev Joe was terrific. Robert L.
Wow! What a great job Reverend Joe did at our wedding last Saturday. He guided us with our vows and did a great job at our ceremony. He is such a pleasant guy and made everyone feel comfortable. We got many compliments on his service.
Thank you Rev Joe!
Bob & Pattyby Aimee R
April was one of the easiest vendors we booked. From the moment I emailed her for inquiries to the day of the wedding, she was nothing but professional, sweet and caring. We met with her about ten months before our wedding and we talked about our relationship with her. She wrote most of our ceremony informer of us in her notebook and blew us away. I don’t know how she did it but she captured us in her words so well. She told us to wait to make our decision once she emailed us our entire ceremony (which she did only a day later)! We read her words and she gave us the opportunity to make changes as needed (which we really didn’t need to because it was perfect) and gave plenty wording options. When we were stuck writing our vows about a month out, I emailed her and she answered right away answering all my questions. She is easy to reach out to and is willing to help you every step of the way. Our ceremony was so beautiful and she speaks so well and lovingly. My guests We’re blown away by her words and presence. She truly captured us perfectly in her ceremony. I was very nervous and wasn’t sure what to do at a certain point and she whispered to me to guide me (thank god). I’m so thankful we picked April. She is a true professional and my wedding was absolutely perfect because of her! If I could do it all again I would chose her 100 times over without a doubt! HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!!
So Amazing. Christa P.
April was absolutely amazing. All of our guests were stunned by how great the ceremony was. She only met us once, but the way she spoke about us during the ceremony made it seem like she knew us for years; in fact many guests asked if we knew her personally. You cant go wrong with April she will make your ceremony beyond perfect, I cant recommend her enough!
So personable. Nicole
April was FABULOUS! She made our ceremony so personal and beautiful. Most guests asked me how long I’ve known April because of the words she spoke during the ceremony – they were all surprised when I said only a few months! I would absolutely recommend her to officiate anyone’s wedding! She even gave us a personal keepsake binder with the script from the ceremony she used and decorative marriage certificate.
I could no recommend her enough! She’s actually going to officiate my best friend’s wedding too.by Danielle M
We used April for our wedding on 6/14 and she was amazing! From beginning to end, she was so helpful and extremely responsive. All our guests raved about the service she gave. We couldn’t have been happier!
by Carol C
April was amazing to work with for our customized ceremony. She was very responsive whenever we had questions and her website contains so many resources for any help you may need with applying for a marriage license, changing your name, etc. Definitely would recommend for such an important part of your wedding.
by Nicole E
Our ceremony was perfect thanks to you. You are incredible to work with since day one. You took our vision of what we wanted for a ceremony and made it 100x better. Thank you for everything!
Experienced, accommodating, professional and great joy!. Robyn
We highly recommend pastor April! She did a wonderful job on our ceremony. She met with us prior and we sat together to talk about ourselves, at the same time she was able to come up with a rough draft of our entire ceremony. From then up until the week of the wedding, we worked together to make changes until we felt completely comfortable with the finished write up. She was there every step of the way to show us what we needed to do and what to expect in regards to getting out marriage certificate, changing names etc. We could not have asked for anyone better! You will surely be in wonderful, experienced hands!!!
Amazing!. Jillian V.
I found the Church of Ancient Ways on this site and I reached out for more information. I immediately got a response from April Gismondi and I knew right from the get go that she would be our officiant. April is such a warm and caring person who puts you at ease, which is very welcome during the stressful wedding planning process. She met with my then fiance and I in her home and got to know us and our story. She in about an hours time she had a beautiful outline of our wedding ceremony and it was so personal and so us, it was everything we wanted and more. April was also very quick to answer any and all questions or concerns. Which I didn’t have many, because her website was also chock full of lots of helpful information and links to other information that I may need regarding marriage license info and name changing paperwork etc. Our ceremony was beyond beautiful and everyone there kept commenting after about how great the ceremony was and how great a speaker April was, how she seemed to really know us and captured our story perfectly. I cannot say enough good things about April. You’re in great hands with her as your officiant.
by Jordan B
Reverend April Gismondi is a godsend! When my husband and I met with her, she asked us some questions about our relationship and what we love about each other. In a matter of a few minutes she had our ceremony beautifully written out that we literally had chills when she read it to us. She truly is amazing and made us feel calm during a very hectic day. She made sure to pick moments in our ceremony to include our parents which was important to us and really touched us and our parents. She is so sweet and you can tell she cares and loves what she does. I highly recommend Reverend April Gismondi!!
by Samantha W
Amy is so so passionate about her work and hands down made our ceremony. We met with her for the personalized ceremony and she was absolutely amazing. We knew next to nothing about the process and she was patient and explained everything to us. We had a sample of our ceremony within a day of meeting with her. She was quick to answer any questions and always over extends herself to help. Our ceremony was beautiful and we received SO many compliments on her, her words, and how romantic and intimate she made our ceremony. Thank you April!
10.17.19 Fox Hollow. Amanda
April was phenomenal ! Since the beginning, very easy to communicate with. She listened to every word we said. Our reading was very intimate and personal which was amazing. It’s our true love story that she was able to capture. We’ve only been married two weeks, and I still have guests calling me telling me how great our officiant was. April is great!
Pastor April is the BEST. Amanda F.
My favorite part of my wedding was the ceremony. This is because Pastor April brought such a fun vibe to the day and really made our ceremony personal. We have gotten so many compliments on how beautiful the ceremony was and how much it really fit our unique personalities, this is all to thank Pastor April for!! She is a true gem and a one of a kind genuine person. Take this from some one in the wedding field…she’s the BEST.
by Shevone L
April has exceeded all of our expectations and she is just beyond amazing from beginning to end. We are so glad to have gone through this journey with her and we wouldn’t have it any other way. We chose to sit down with April and write with her. We HIGHLY recommend this to everyone because this makes your ceremony more personal and meaningful. To watch her write and explain our story and journey as a couple was magical. She has a way with crafting words and details . From there we knew we were in good hands. We can attest to April’s bubbly personality, respectable and sweet demeanor. Everyone fell in love with her and our guests are still talking about the ceremony. With April, no one falls asleep during the ceremony.
by Amy B
I can truly say that Pastor April from the Church of Ancient Ways was the easiest decision we made about our wedding day vendors. We had a very non-traditional vision and neither of us are religious, but we still wanted a professional to do our ceremony. April was a perfect match. She was recommended by our photographer who said that she personalizes every ceremony.. in my head I was like okay great she’ll throw in a few lines here and there that tie in with us a couple. Boy was I wrong. We had our in person meeting with her at her house and she sat with us for over an hour and wrote the majority of the ceremony off the top of her head as we were with her. She then sent her draft of the ceremony that evening, it was amazing. We knew right away that we wanted to book her. She was very responsive and easily reachable through the whole process. When the wedding day came, we knew we made the right choice as we got innumerable compliments on her and our ceremony. She made the ceremony truly personal and meaningful without being overly religious or sappy, which is exactly what we were going for. I would recommend Pastor April to anyone looking for a personalized experience with one of the sweetest humans on the planet.
by Allison W
Pastor April was recommended through our venue and she was absolutely to work with. Unfortunately, she was booked the day of our wedding but did an amazing job detailing the process and all the options we have for our ceremony. As she was booked, she recommended Rev. Joe Ladanza who was the best! My now husband and I live overseas so were not able to meet in person, but Rev. Joe facetimed with us and wrote the most amazing speech for our ceremony. He truly did an amazing job bringing our guests through our journey and we had people telling us all night how beautiful the ceremony was! He really has an amazing soul and is truly shines when he married us. Absolutely, definitely recommend!!!
by Gregg S
Pastor April and Rabbi Sara performed the ceremony for our interfaith wedding. They were simply amazing and worked well together. I received nothing but compliments from our guests who repeatedly stated they never saw such a wonderful ceremony which respected both religions. We met with Sara and April months before our wedding – it was well worth it. We joked around for two hours about our love story which they summarized during the ceremony. They allowed us to pick and choose the customs we wanted discussed from each religion during our ceremony. I loved how they went back and forth between our religions during the ceremony, and they had a great sense of humor. I have witnessed interfaith ceremonies in the past where the officiants had no connection and each went one at a time. April and Sara unified both of our religion and families and left smiles on everyone’s faces.
April is Awesome!!. Amanda
Rev April was by far one of the best decisions my husband and I made while wedding planning. We opted to take her custom ceremony and our meeting with April was filled with lots of laughs and chit chat, we felt as if April was family by the time we left and a few days later we had a beautiful ceremony that was a complete reflection of myself and my husbands life and the journey we are about to take!
The day of the wedding my family fell in love with April even before she began our ceremony. During the ceremony our guests were floored by her words. We laughed, we cried and we said “I Do Bro”. The ceremony was nothing short of amazing and something we will remember for the rest of our lives.
Thank you April for everything!
The Gelsomino’sby Heather G
I can’t say enough kind words about Rev. April. I knew from the day I met her that I needed her to be the biggest part of my wedding day by marrying me and my now husband. By speaking to us for just a short period of time she was quickly able to draft up our “love story” with the most beautiful words. I cried while hearing our first draft and all throughout our ceremony as she took our 9 year relationship and spun it into the best story of who we were together as a couple and what we would now become as husband and wife. I hope to recommend Rev. April to all my friends and family who are soon to be married.
April is Wonderful!!. Emily M.
April is one of the most talented people I’ve ever met. She completely exceeded our expectations for what our ceremony would be. From the moment we met her, she drafted up a beautiful draft of what she was thinking for our ceremony. She truly has a passion for what she does and writes beautifully. What may have been hard for us to come up with on our own, flowed out of her so naturally. She knew when to be serious, and when to have some fun! She even improvised a little bit the night of and it made our night even more memorable. Working with April was one of the best parts of our wedding planning process. And even after all was said and done, she has a step by step process on how to change your name (if you so choose) and she is always around to answer any questions. Guests from our wedding keep coming up to us still and talking about how beautiful our ceremony was. Thank you April for everything!!!
April is one of a kind.. Kristen
My wife & I were having a hard time finding an officiant that we just clicked with until someone had recommended April. We spoke with her on the phone & then met with her in her home. The moment we walked in we both felt such comfort and connection. We spent 3 hours with April and booked immediately after the meeting was finished. She took the time to get to know us, our story, and what type of ceremony we were looking to have. No more than a couple of days later we already had our whole ceremony sent to us with different options & instructions. If we had any questions April answered them within 24 hours and was always pleasant and extremely helpful! She sent me information that I didn’t even know I needed or thought of.
Now the ceremony- I was beyond nervous before it started. After walking in April started speaking and her calming nature took over and I felt excited and relaxed all over again. She had a beautiful book she read out of that we were able to keep. After the ceremony my guests could not stop talking about her and how she captivated the crowd. All they kept saying was how they were hanging onto her every word, wanting to hear more of what she was saying and how they were engaged the entire time. April is a truly such a special person. We cannot thank her enough for making our day so amazing.April is amazing. Dana P.
Our wedding ceremony was AMAZING and it was all thanks to April. From my very first phone call with April I knew that we were in good hands. She was informative, helpful, and extremely prompt and articulate with her responses. The thought of standing in front of so many people was something that had me feeling very anxious leading up to our wedding and to my amazement, I was able to feel completely at ease when April began our ceremony. She is able to completely captivate you with her writing and authenticity. Our guests raved to us about how wonderful our ceremony was and how extraordinary April was. Our ceremony was my favorite part of our big day and I cannot thank her enough.
With love,
Dana and MatthewCraig and Daria Conti; married Sept.14, 2019. Craig C.
Our wedding was on Sept.14, 2019 and Pastor April was our officiant. We couldn’t have been happier with our our whole wedding; and in particular, the way that she performed the ceremony. She met with us well before the wedding date, and got to know us well enough to personalize our ceremony. She asked us what type of particulars we wanted in the ceremony; and everything was just how we wanted it, including a Sand Ceremony and personalized vows which we each had written. We did not have a rehearsal; but Pastor April quietly gave directions and handled the whole ceremony seamlessly. Our DJ handled the music; and they coordinated everything perfectly. There was a perfect blend of romance, solemnity and humor; and all of our guests laughed or cried at some part of the ceremony. Pastor April gave us a beautiful transcript of the entire ceremony afterwards; including a parchment with the personal vows we had made to each other. We, along with our family and friends, will have many good memories of our Special Day, which Pastor April helped to make even more special. ……….. Craig and Daria Conti
Pastor April is amazing!. Vanessa
When you hire Pastor April you know you are in good hands on your wedding day. She is so incredibly professional and thorough! I knew as soon as I met her that her energy was exactly what our wedding ceremony needed, and we were able to pick a ceremony that met all our spiritual needs! We received MANY compliments from our guests specifically about Pastor April. Everyone loved her personality!
Simply Amazing!. Alex
If you are looking for someone that is easy to work with, so enthusiastic, a pleasure to be around and make your day that much more special then look no further than Pastor April. She has been nothing but a joy to work with and is very accommodating no matter the circumstances. You can tell she has a true passion for this and genuinely loves to be a part of people’s big day. Within minutes of meeting her, it was like she had known us her whole life. The ceremony she wrote was completely personalized to us and so beautifully written and presented. You can tell that she is not only amazing at what she does but puts so much care and effort into it as well. After the ceremony, we had many guests coming up to us unprompted telling us that the ceremony was one of if not the best they’ve ever heard at any wedding and not to be biased but I completely agree. April help make the moment of us getting married a moment we will never forget and an incredibly special day!
Perfect Ceremony!. Alissa
My husband and I met with two officiants before we met with April. Right off the bat, we were impressed with April’s ability to create on the spot. She turned our love story into a beautifully crafted, personalized, ceremony that we will never forget. Our guests came up to us all day and complimented us on the ceremony, stating that it was best wedding ceremony they’d ever witnessed. April is extremely professional and organized as well. She was prompt with email responses and even called me a few times to chat through certain elements of our ceremony that would give it a special touch. Thank you so much, April!!!
by Casey F
April is the best to work with! When we first met with April, we told her about ourselves along with our story and she wrote a beautiful ceremony for our wedding. The second she was finished reading what she had wrote for our ceremony in only knowing us for a few short minutes, my fiancé and I could not say fast enough “you’re hired”. The day our of wedding April did the best job and the ceremony was beautiful. Thank you so much for making our wedding day even more special.
Beautiful ceremony. Jacqueline L.
We couldn’t have asked for a better person to preform our ceremony. She took her time to make everything very personal and made us feel as comfortable as possible. Even with just one word she was able to make an entire paragraph about it. Honestly no words can describe how beautiful she made it. If we ever re-newed our vows it would be a no brainer to pick April.
Jacqueline & Rob
Married: August 2nd, 2019Amazing talented ceremony creator. Jen
I cannot rave enough about Aprils talents. Her words just flow and come together flawlessly. She has a true talent and can put love into such beautiful words. We could not have been happier about our ceremony. She really helped us create the ceremony we dreamed of. We highly recommend to all.
by Ronni L
Rev. April was such a doll! We clicked with her immediately at a showcase and then realized we had actually seen her marry some friends of ours a few years back. She was so easy to work with and so, so sweet. We had a phone call with her where we went over what we were looking for and built a ceremony from scratch. It was totally different than the traditional ceremonies our families were used to and they were interested the entire time, we even tied a literal knot as our unity ceremony. Our families keep telling us how interesting everything was and how much they loved it! She was so organized with everything, including all the edits we made to the ceremony, printed everything out in a binder we got to keep. She even emailed us when she mailed out our license so we could track it. It was such a pleasure to work with her!
by Dana F
Our wedding was so special and intimate because of April, and I still have people asking us about her and raving about the ceremony. Out of all the moments in my wedding, the ceremony was the best part. April made sure to get to know us to make the ceremony very intimate and to welcome everyone (all 200+) to our event. She will go out of her way to make sure you are 100% happy and will answer any questions you have along the way. We are very happy with April and can’t recommend her enough!
by Meredith C
Pastor April married my husband and I on 1/19/19. We were supposed to meet her face to face originally to work on our wedding ceremony but unfortunately we could not make it. We spoke over the phone and to say she listened and came up with the most beautiful ceremony is an understatement. I felt like she knew us for years! She made our ceremony so meaningful and catered to us and what we wanted. She couldn’t have done a better job with writing or delivering it if she tried. I am so happy we chose her and she married us! She also have us a beautiful keepsake book with our ceremony written out as well as even mailed and took care of sending in our marriage license for us which is so helpful. We are forever grateful for her and that she was such a pivotal part of our special day!
Aimee Roszkowski. Aimee R.
April was one of the easiest vendors we booked. From the moment I emailed her for inquiries to the day of the wedding, she was nothing but professional, sweet and caring. We met with her about ten months before our wedding and we talked about our relationship with her. She wrote most of our ceremony informer of us in her notebook and blew us away. I don’t know how she did it but she captured us in her words so well. She told us to wait to make our decision once she emailed us our entire ceremony (which she did only a day later)! We read her words and she gave us the opportunity to make changes as needed (which we really didn’t need to because it was perfect) and gave plenty wording options. When we were stuck writing our vows about a month out, I emailed her and she answered right away answering all my questions. She is easy to reach out to and is willing to help you every step of the way. Our ceremony was so beautiful and she speaks so well and lovingly. My guests We’re blown away by her words and presence. She truly captured us perfectly in her ceremony. I was very nervous and wasn’t sure what to do at a certain point and she whispered to me to guide me (thank god). I’m so thankful we picked April. She is a true professional and my wedding was absolutely perfect because of her! If I could do it all again I would chose her 100 times over without a doubt! HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!!
April was fantastic!. Jennifer
From the moment we met with April, she was warm, kind, funny and most importantly she listened to our story and perfectly built that into our ceremony. Many people describe planning a wedding as stressful, however April made this enjoyable and easy! Thank you again, April, for all you did and for being a part of our day!
April is the best!. Samantha
Amy is so so passionate about her work and hands down made our ceremony. We met with her for the personalized ceremony and she was absolutely amazing. We knew next to nothing about the process and she was patient and explained everything to us. We had a sample of our ceremony within a day of meeting with her. She was quick to answer any questions and always over extends herself to help. Our ceremony was beautiful and we received SO many compliments on her, her words, and how romantic and intimate she made our ceremony. Thank you April!
Beyond my expectations. Heather P.
I can’t say enough kind words about Rev. April. I knew from the day I met her that I needed her to be the biggest part of my wedding day by marrying me and my now husband. By speaking to us for just a short period of time she was quickly able to draft up our “love story” with the most beautiful words. I cried while hearing our first draft and all throughout our ceremony as she took our 9 year relationship and spun it into the best story of who we were together as a couple and what we would now become as husband and wife. I hope to recommend Rev. April to all my friends and family who are soon to be married.
Our Easiest Vendor Decision. Amy
I can truly say that Pastor April from the Church of Ancient Ways was the easiest decision we made about our wedding day vendors. We had a very non-traditional vision and neither of us are religious, but we still wanted a professional to do our ceremony. April was a perfect match. She was recommended by our photographer who said that she personalizes every ceremony.. in my head I was like okay great she’ll throw in a few lines here and there that tie in with us a couple. Boy was I wrong. We had our in person meeting with her at her house and she sat with us for over an hour and wrote the majority of the ceremony off the top of her head as we were with her. She then sent her draft of the ceremony that evening, it was amazing. We knew right away that we wanted to book her. She was very responsive and easily reachable through the whole process. When the wedding day came, we knew we made the right choice as we got innumerable compliments on her and our ceremony. She made the ceremony truly personal and meaningful without being overly religious or sappy, which is exactly what we were going for. I would recommend Pastor April to anyone looking for a personalized experience with one of the sweetest humans on the planet.
by Jackie M
I recently used Pastor April for my 12/1/18 wedding and I feel like there are no words for how great she is but I’m going to try. My husband and I were nervous about meeting with her to start planning our ceremony – we thought it would be awkward to sit with someone we didn’t know and talk about our relationship. April invited us to her home and made us feel so comfortable, and to our surprise working with her actually became one of our favorite parts of wedding planning! She truly has a gift – we couldn’t believe how she would listen to our rambling scattered thoughts about our story and instantly she recited the story back to us in the most beautiful, eloquent way that sounded like she could have done an amazing ceremony right there on the spot. She was so quick with getting us drafts to work on and provided a ton of helpful tips for things like getting the marriage certificate with the state. For our wedding, she provided such a beautiful, loving, and funny ceremony (we wanted it to have some light humor). I was really surprised by how many people came up to me throughout the day to say how much they enjoyed our officiant and the ceremony. She really was a pleasure to work with and gave us exactly what we wanted. I would recommend to future brides and grooms to not waste time vetting out tons of different officiants – you won’t find any better than April!
by Nicole R
Pastor April was so warm and welcoming! She made our day so special and our guests loved her! She is so sweet and genuine. We are so glad that we asked her to be our officiant!
Utterly Magical. Shevone
April has exceeded all of our expectations and she is just beyond amazing from beginning to end. We are so glad to have gone through this journey with her and we wouldn’t have it any other way. We chose to sit down with April and write with her. We HIGHLY recommend this to everyone because this makes your ceremony more personal and meaningful. To watch her write and explain our story and journey as a couple was magical. She has a way with crafting words and details . From there we knew we were in good hands. We can attest to April’s bubbly personality, respectable and sweet demeanor. Everyone fell in love with her and our guests are still talking about the ceremony. With April, no one falls asleep during the ceremony.
by Keith C
Pastor April was amazing. She married us on September 24, 2017 and what a great ceremony it was. Very personal and even incorporated our mothers into he ring ceremony. I highly recommend her services. If your looking for an officiant for your wedding, look no more. Pastor April is the best
by Melissa T
April was terrific to work with! She was extremely helpful all along the way and our wedding day was truly perfect. Our guests loved our ceremony!
Very helpful, professional, and beautiful spirit!. Allison W.
April Gismondi was recommended to us through our venue and she was absolutely amazing to talk with. She was extremely helpful in explaining everything and giving us options for what would work best as we were unaware of the process. Unfortunately we took too long to get back to her and she was the unavailable but she did recommend Joe Ladanza who was amazing! We live overseas and were unable to meet before hand but Joe had no problem facetiming us. The ceremony was beautiful and we had people coming up to us all night telling us how amazing it was and how great Joe did in telling our story. Definitely recommend!!
by Chelsea V
April made our ceremony so special and fitting to us. She truly cares about you as an individual and a couple and wants you to be happy with what she’ll say on your special day. She made our ceremony with a perfect balance of what we both wanted. Every one of our guest loves how she performed our ceremony and so many people cried during it. It wasn’t a boring ceremony and it was truly special
April is the best!. Heather R.
April helped to make our wedding day so special and meaningful for us. She is so caring and intuitive and has an extraordinary way with words. My husband and I are not your traditional couple and sometimes doing things in a non-traditional way can be stressful but she made our vision come to life and alleviated any anxiety I had about our upcoming ceremony. We had a small gathering at our house with family and close friends and they were blown away by our cozy, intimate ceremony. Highly recommend for those couples that want a little personal touch included in their vows. April is so sweet and really brings out the best qualities of what a wedding should be, filled with love.
Professional, caring and knowledgeable. Grace C.
April was wonderful. I had no idea what to do and she guided me step by step. She Mede it simple without any added stress. She listened to my story and went from there. Her words at the ceremony were beautiful and all the guests commented on her. She was memorable in every way. I highly recommend her. Absolutely amazing!!
by Samantha P
April was amazing to work with and so caring! The moment we met with her we knew she was the one we wanted to use! After our ceremony we had some many people come up to us and tell us how personable and amazing the ceremony was. Many people asked how long we’d known April as she spoke as if she had known us for years. You will not regret booking with April!
Best ever. So sincere and engaging. Dana
April made our ceremony so special and intimate. I have guests still asking about her, they thought she must have been a family friend for her to know so much about us. She takes the time to get very personal with you and makes her sermon fit so well with your lives. I can’t say enough great things. We didn’t need much from her but she would check in via email and tell us she was available for phone calls should anything get too overwhelming or confusing. Hiring April was one of the best decisions about our wedding.
by Jennifer P
April was amazing! She wrote our ceremony from scratch and tailored it perfectly after meeting with us for a short time. From what we heard there was not a dry eye in the house at our wedding! People were raving about her! We highly recommend!!!!
Pastor April. Kimberly
I would highly recommend Pastor April and her team. She did an absolutely amazing job at our wedding and would recommend her to everyone. I know a few people who have used her so far and every single ceremony was so different and great in there own ways. Thank you so much for everyone you did for us!
by Natasha L
From the first call to April I knew my husband and I made the right choice. April is such a joy to work with. She is caring, genuine and passionate about what she does. She was so kind, patient and helpful during the entire time we worked together to perfect our vision for the ceremony. April is so great about providing detailed information and on following up with you. April delivered an amazing ceremony that was full of love and joy and will provide beautiful memories for us for years to come. I would highly recommend April she is simply the best!
by Mary L
April is amazing. She is there with you step by step and makes you feel like you are her only clients. She is very thorough and knowledgeable! I wanted a hand fasting ceremony and every officiant I called either sounded like they had no idea what to do or pretended like they knew to get my money. April really explains everything to me and helped me lean more and feel very at ease. I strongly suggest booking her.
April is Amazing!. Jackie
I recently used Pastor April for my 12/1/18 wedding and I feel like there are no words for how great she is but I’m going to try. My husband and I were nervous about meeting with her to start planning our ceremony – we thought it would be awkward to sit with someone we didn’t know and talk about our relationship. April invited us to her home and made us feel so comfortable, and to our surprise working with her actually became one of our favorite parts of wedding planning! She truly has a gift – we couldn’t believe how she would listen to our rambling scattered thoughts about our story and instantly she recited the story back to us in the most beautiful, eloquent way that sounded like she could have done an amazing ceremony right there on the spot. She was so quick with getting us drafts to work on and provided a ton of helpful tips for things like getting the marriage certificate with the state. For our wedding, she provided such a beautiful, loving, and funny ceremony (we wanted it to have some light humor). I was really surprised by how many people came up to me throughout the day to say how much they enjoyed our officiant and the ceremony. She really was a pleasure to work with and gave us exactly what we wanted. I would recommend to future brides and grooms to not waste time vetting out tons of different officiants – you won’t find any better than April!
by Barry J
We had the best time working with April as she made the whole process easy and fun and delivered an outstanding ceremony. From the start April was very open and easy to talk to and managed all of our expectations for what lay ahead. She worked with us together and individually so we could really personalize our ceremony. We were both really happy with the direction and choices we were able to make. The ceremony was beautiful and we loved every minute of it. April made he whole process easy for us and our wedding party and even took some great photos for us! After the ceremony, we received so many positive comments from our guests and in the days after, its all people could talk about, which made us so happy. Many thanks to April for making our wedding day so special, we will never forget it
by Linda C
Pastor April did an amazing job! From our very first meeting with her we knew that she was going to be amazing. She did an awesome job getting to know us and all of her hard work was communicated in our ceremony which was so personalized. I would highly recommend pastor April. She was professional, courteous and made the day so special for us.
April is the officiant you’d want to choose!. Chelsea
We used April as our officiant for our wedding on 11.11.2018. She did such a great job that everybody was in awe. The ceremony written by April was so beautiful and fitting to us. My wife’s more religious as I am not, and she’s made it a perfect balance to make us both happy. The process of working with her was easy as she was willing to answer questions whenever we needed. The excitement she showed for marrying us made us feel so special that she truly cared about being part of our special day!
It was simply amazing. Alicia H.
Rev. Deb was perfect. She made our ceremony so special and full of light and love and laughs. After the ceremony all our guest approached and told us how great she was and they just loved her. She made everyone feel like they were apart of it. It was a very special day. Thanks to her
Wonderful Experience!!. Amanda D.
Working with April was such a great experience- she helped us a create a ceremony that was truly our own with just the right amount of guidance along the way so that the experience was never stressful. April was always professional and responsive, and always a pleasure to work with. We would highly recommend!!
by Allyson L
We feel grateful to have found April! April officiated our wedding this August. It was so easy to work with her, as she responded quickly, and was always open to answering any questions. I had so many compliments from people at the wedding how amazing our ceremony was. It was like having a friend tell our story, plus April has a beautiful voice. I even nervously said “yes” too early and she went with it and had my husband throw in an extra yes. It worked out perfectly. Everyone was laughing throughout. We couldn’t have asked for anyone better to officiate our wedding!
by Christina V
Pastor April was absolutely AMAZING! Not only was she great at the Ceremony she helped us every step of the way before. I didn’t even meet her in person before she married us that day and i already knew she was going to be great. She makes you your own keepsake certificate and gives you a binder of you whole ceremony in the end, she’s early, prepares you for the whole thing before it starts, dresses appropriately and is super sweet. I can not thank her enough for the experience she has given my husband and myself. It was all made so personal and sweet. It made our marriage experience one we will never forget. April is on top of everything, quickly responds and is on point. Her energy is great and we are truly happy with the results we have gotten, i will defiantly be recommending her to any family and friends that i have getting married in the future. Thank you April for all you have done!!
Amazing Officiant!!!!. Jennifer
April was amazing! She wrote our ceremony from scratch and tailored it perfectly after meeting with us for a short time. From what we heard there was not a dry eye in the house at our wedding! People were raving about her! We highly recommend!!!!
by Jessica M
April, our ceremony was soooo beautiful, its crazy to think within that short time meeting with you over 2 years ago and you were able to truly capture our personalities and best relay our love story for our family and friends. There was not a dry eye in the place. You were truly so amazing and we were so blessed and honored to have had you assist us in delivering our vows.
by Nikki F
April was absolutely amazing throughout the entire process from meeting with us to start writing our ceremony, to back and forth emailing with us to ensure that the ceremony was exactly how we wanted it, to making last minute changes for us, all the way up until the day of, where she delivered an amazing ceremony and took pictures for us! Everyone couldn’t stop talking about how amazing the ceremony was and how beautiful her delivery was. Thank you April! (Attached are all pictures that April took and put on Facebook for us!)
by Danielle R
Pastor April made our ceremony absolutely perfect. We met with her for one hour in the early stages of our planning and it felt like she had known us for years. She understood the message we wanted to present in our ceremony perfectly and incorporated my fiancée’s stepdaughter in a beautiful ay through a children’s gift ceremony. She is a true professional, very knowledgeable, and was extremely helpful throughout the entire process. She gave our ceremony the personal touch we were looking for and we highly recommend her!
By Barry
We had the best time working with April as she made the whole process easy and fun and delivered an outstanding ceremony. From the start April was very open and easy to talk to and managed all of our expectations for what lay ahead. She worked with us together and individually so we could really personalize our ceremony. We were both really happy with the direction and choices we were able to make. The ceremony was beautiful and we loved every minute of it. April made he whole process easy for us and our wedding party and even took some great photos for us! After the ceremony, we received so many positive comments from our guests and in the days after, its all people could talk about, which made us so happy. Many thanks to April for making our wedding day so special, we will never forget it
By Seth
April was the perfect human being to officiate our marriage. She exemplifies happiness, laughter, love and compassion. She amazed us with how organized she was, arrived early and put everyone at ease as to placement, time line, etc…, upbeat, positive, guests are still raving about her energy and she took some of nicest photos and shared with us! What a GEM! Thanks for everything April! Highly recommend!
by kerin W
April is amazing! I found her from a friend that used her for her wedding and I’m so happy I did! I got so many compliments from my guests about the ceremony, which is all thanks to April. She made the ceremony personalized to us and our love story. It couldn’t have been more perfect and romantic. She also is such a pleasure to work with. She guides you through the whole process and provides you with all the information you need.
By Robin
She was excellent. We received so many compliments on our ceremony. Personable and entertaining. We highly recommend!!
by Carin F
There’s not enough words to express how amazing Pastor April is! From the moment we contacted her up until our wedding day, she was so great to work with. She was so kind and friendly which is why we chose her to be our wedding officiant. She made a point to reach out to us and follow up quickly when we needed more information or had a question about something. She was so positive and radiant that every one of our wedding guests had nothing but nice things to say about her. They loved her energy and how she presented herself (we did also!!) I am so happy we chose her as our officiant because she truly made our experience amazing. I would recommend her to anyone! We adore you Pastor April. Love, Carin & Cosmo :)
by Tara W
Pastor April is absolutely incredible. She married us on 7/12/18 and from the second we met with her, we immediately felt comfortable and connected. She truly takes the time to get to you as a couple and writes with you a personal and beautiful ceremony. Our familie and friends cannot say enough wonderful things about her and how she lead suc an incredible ceremony.
We are forever thankful to Pastor April. It was honor to have her marry us.By Jillian
Great ceremony wasn’t a dry eye in the crowd!
April is one of a kind sincere and really gets to know you as a couple! She made our ceremony so special we loved it!
Thank you
Highly recommend her
You won’t be disappointedby Lisa S
I don’t know where to start with reviewing Pastor April, except that 5 stars isn’t enough for her. I’ve known Pastor April for many years through working at catering myself, and seeing her perform wedding after wedding at our venue. I always said if I ever got married, it had to be her performing the ceremony. I called her immediately once I booked my venue and told her she had to be there. She made sure she was free and I was so excited! My husband and I met with her at her home and she asked us questions about our relationship and family, and there were tears flowing that night already. She was able to immediately put our relationship into these beautiful words that I just couldn’t keep the tears contained. She not only met my expectations for our ceremony, but exceeded them. I truly can’t say enough positive things about Pastor April. If you book her for your wedding, you will be truly happy with the results.
by Nichole M
From the moment I met Pastor April at our venue expo over a year ago, I knew I had to have her marry us! She is so energetic and such a bubbly personality. I loved how she made our ceremony so personal and one to never forget. We went to her house and spent several hours with her creating our ceremony and then I also learned we even had something in common- we’re both motor heads 😂!! She made it a day I will never forget and I would highly recommend her. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for making our ceremony one of a kind and fit our personalities great. ❤️❤️❤️ You are just fabulous and am honored that you got to marry us (on one of the hottest days of the year 🤦🏻♀️) xoxoxoxo !!!
By Sami
Pastor April was absolutely wonderful! We just got married this past Saturday, September 1, 2018 and she was brilliant. We met with her for a short while back in March to go over some things and it was amazing how she captured my husband and I in that amount of time, she had me in tears, happy tears of course. I would definitely recommend her for any wedding! 11 out of 10!! Thank you! :)
by Christina W
April was absolutely amazing! We met with her in her home and discussed our love story and she took our words and love story and created this beautiful, well written speech. She made us feel loved and supported during the wedding process. She has the most warming personality and is a very genuine human! My family kept on telling me how amazing of a job she did!
By Nikki
April was absolutely amazing throughout the entire process from meeting with us to start writing our ceremony, to back and forth emailing with us to ensure that the ceremony was exactly how we wanted it, to making last minute changes for us, all the way up until the day of, where she delivered an amazing ceremony and took pictures for us! Everyone couldn’t stop talking about how amazing the ceremony was and how beautiful her delivery was. Thank you April! (Attached are all pictures that April took and put on Facebook for us!)
By User7132062
April, our ceremony was soooo beautiful, its crazy to think within that short time meeting with you over 2 years ago and you were able to truly capture our personalities and best relay our love story for our family and friends. There was not a dry eye in the place. You were truly so amazing and we were so blessed and honored to have had you assist us in delivering our vows.
By Kelly
Pastore April did our wedding 2 weeks ago and we love her she did my brothers wedding and my sis wedding she is the best she is helpful , sweet she made our wedding beautiful .
by Anny C
Working with Pastor April was super easy, she explains in detail on what needs to be done and how everything works. Highly recommend if you want a stress free officiant.
By Christina
Pastor April was absolutely AMAZING! Not only was she great at the Ceremony she helped us every step of the way before. I didn’t even meet her in person before she married us that day and i already knew she was going to be great. She makes you your own keepsake certificate and gives you a binder of you whole ceremony in the end, she’s early, prepares you for the whole thing before it starts, dresses appropriately and is super sweet. I can not thank her enough for the experience she has given my husband and myself. It was all made so personal and sweet. It made our marriage experience one we will never forget. April is on top of everything, quickly responds and is on point. Her energy is great and we are truly happy with the results we have gotten, i will defiantly be recommending her to any family and friends that i have getting married in the future. Thank you April for all you have done!!
By Jillian
AMAZING! She helped us through everything. We had no idea what we were doing when it came to writing vows or creating the ceremony that we wanted and she helped us every step of the way. She was incredibly patient and helpful. She knew exactly what to say in order to describe out relationship. She made the day easy and everything that we wanted it to be. Would definitely recommend to anyone looking for an officiant!
By Carin
There’s not enough words to express how amazing Pastor April is! From the moment we contacted her up until our wedding day, she was so great to work with. She was so kind and friendly which is why we chose her to be our wedding officiant. She made a point to reach out to us and follow up quickly when we needed more information or had a question about something. She was so positive and radiant that every one of our wedding guests had nothing but nice things to say about her. They loved her energy and how she presented herself (we did also!!) I am so happy we chose her as our officiant because she truly made our experience amazing. I would recommend her to anyone! We adore you Pastor April. Love, Carin & Cosmo :)
By Danielle
Pastor April made our ceremony absolutely perfect. We met with her for one hour in the early stages of our planning and it felt like she had known us for years. She understood the message we wanted to present in our ceremony perfectly and incorporated my fiancée’s stepdaughter in a beautiful ay through a children’s gift ceremony. She is a true professional, very knowledgeable, and was extremely helpful throughout the entire process. She gave our ceremony the personal touch we were looking for and we highly recommend her!
by Lauren M
My husband and I had April for our wedding this past April and thought she was funny, sweet and creative. We met with her a few months before our wedding and she literally wrote the entire ceremony with us and it came out PERFECT. We were looking for something short, sweet and to the point and that is exactly what she gave us. She encouraged us to write our own vows and she even helped my husband out with writing his. The entire wedding ran so smoothly and we have her to thank for that. What we really loved about April was that she really tried to get to know us at our meeting and treated us like family. She was also very quick to respond to any email that we sent her and would send reminder emails to us as well. Look no further and book her for your wedding! You won’t regret it.
By Denise
From the moment we met Pastor April, we felt like we were old friends. By asking questions and having a casual conversation, she writes your story into the most beautiful, personal ceremony
We couldn’t have asked for a better weddingBy Samantha
Pastor April was amazing! She was early as promised, dressed appropriately, and held the attention of the audience. She met with us prior to the wedding despite our crazy work schedules and figured out exactly what we wanted (even though we didn’t know what wanted until she helped us). She was a pleasure to work with and very responsive via email and phone. I HIGHLY recommend her :-).
By Lisa
April was informative, charismatic, attentive to detail, and took the time out to hear my wife and I’s love story to then share it in a beautiful speech. Everyone has ranted and raved about the ceremony that April provided. People asked us if she knew us all of our lives! She is worth every dime and penny and you will not be dissatisfied! She’s simply amazing!
By Tina
We couldn’t be any any more happier with how our ceremony turned out. I would highly recommend!!
By Marianne
We met April at a wedding expo at the Larkfield in 2016. We liked her energy immediately and her experience as a reverend. We were married on 7/13/2018 and the ceremony was beautiful. We heard from several guests how much they loved her service. We highly recommend getting to know April!
By Tara
April married us on 7/12/18. We immediately felt comfortable and connected with her from the moment we met her. She is extremely detailed and considerate of who we are as a couple. Our ceremony was absolutely beautiful and her words and way she held the ceremony made it so much more perfect. Our families and friends still cannot say enough wonderful things about her. It was an honor to have April marry us.
By Laura
April is absolutely amazing! She made this process so unbelievably easy and stress-free. This was one of the easiest parts of our wedding planning. Our ceremony was beautiful and one to remember always. We received so many compliments at our cocktail hour, many having said that they never have witnessed a ceremony in that fashion: personal, intimate, and truly grasping the couple’s personalities. April is the best at what she does, she is brilliant at putting your thoughts onto paper and relaying the message you want to make. Highly recommend to anyone who is looking for an officiant for their wedding!
by Betsy G
This was the best money spent on our wedding day. There are no words aside from PERFECTION when describing April. She pays attention to detail, creative with her wording and very patient. Upon meeting April, she instantly makes you feel comfortable. We decided to do the “interview” where she puts our love story to paper. It was seamless and personable and every single guest got a glimpse of our lives together. There was not a dry eye and every single guest (217 people) came up to us and told us how beautiful our ceremony was. It’s been over 2 weeks since we said our vows and still getting contacted with how memorable it was. We would highly recommend her she’s worth every last penny and then some!
By Lisa
I don’t know where to start with reviewing Pastor April, except that 5 stars isn’t enough for her. I’ve known Pastor April for many years through working at catering myself, and seeing her perform wedding after wedding at our venue. I always said if I ever got married, it had to be her performing the ceremony. I called her immediately once I booked my venue and told her she had to be there. She made sure she was free and I was so excited! My husband and I met with her at her home and she asked us questions about our relationship and family, and there were tears flowing that night already. She was able to immediately put our relationship into these beautiful words that I just couldn’t keep the tears contained. She not only met my expectations for our ceremony, but exceeded them. I truly can’t say enough positive things about Pastor April. If you book her for your wedding, you will be truly happy with the results.
by Melissa M
If you want a personal ceremony mixed with religion and perfection, Pastor April is the officiant for you! Even if you want something different, thats what makes her even more amazing. Her ceremonies are geared to what you want as a couple. We met her at a showcase we went to, but also were recommended to her from past brides as well. Hands down best decision for an officiant! We met with April to discuss the type of ceremony we wanted and we added such personal sentiments that no one has ever seen in a ceremony. We incorporated our guests, our loved ones passed, we also incorporated our two children since our marriage was a joining of everything and everyone dear to us. I gained a new son (stepson) and she made a part of the ceremony strictly for him. So many people have raved about how amazing the ceremony was and how it wasn’t like anything they have ever been to. Our guests all around had tears in their eyes and told us they couldn’t believe how geared to us the ceremony was. We did a lovely ring blessing that included our moms and a sand ceremony that incorporated myself, my new husband and our 2 children. She was amazing from the 1st meeting to even reaching out the day after our wedding and everything in between. She’s ones of the best decisions you can make for you wedding day hands down!!!
By Christina
April is absolutely amazing. She does a great job and taking your love story and creating it into this beautiful, well written speech. All of my family kept telling me how amazing she was! She was calm, professional, kind, and most importantly loving. You cannot go wrong with April!
by Nicole V
April was absolutely amazing! She took the time to customize our ceremony and really get to know me and my husband and understand our relationship. She has such a way with words that touched everyone in the room. For days people were raving about what a beautiful and unique ceremony we had!!
By Judith
April is absolutely amazing. She will transform your words into something beautiful. She will not disappoint. She will give you a personal intimate ceremony that everyone will be complimenting you for days. We will definitely recommend April!
By Lauren
Reverend Aviva Sala performed the ceremony and everything was perfect! She was a pleasure to deal with via email, since I was a long distance bride, from beginning to end. The day of went off without a hitch and it was all due to her professionalism and kindness. I wouldn’t pick another officiant! Thank you for everything!
By Karen
Pastor April is one of a kind, truly. From the very beginning when we first spoke, to our private and thorough sit down, to before the ceremony, during the ceremony, and now after she has been the best vendor we have worked with!! She makes each and every wedding special and unique. I can’t recommend her enough, we feel blessed to have been married by her :)
By Joseph
Rev April was amazing. Simply the best officiant that their is. She tailored our ceremony specifically for us. She was friendly and gracious through the whole process. My family and friends went out of their way to let us know what a wonderful beautiful ceremony we had. Thank you April for all you have done for us.
by Jessica B
I can’t say enough good things about Pastor April! From day one, we knew we would be in great hands. April is SO unbelievably easy to talk to, she is so professional and you can tell she really loves what she does! When my husband and I were picking out our ceremony, we wanted something simple. We browsed through the samples that April had posted on her webpage, which was SO helpful, and found one that we absolutely loved. One the day of our wedding, we were beyond impressed. To think that we chose one of her sample ceremonies, yet she made it feel SO personalized and heartfelt. We can’t thank April enough, and we definitely recommend her services! You won’t be sorry!
By Gregg
Pastor April and Rabbi Sara performed the ceremony for our interfaith wedding. They were simply amazing and worked well together. I received nothing but compliments from our guests who repeatedly stated they never saw such a wonderful ceremony which respected both religions. We met with Sara and April months before our wedding – it was well worth it. We joked around for two hours about our love story which they summarized during the ceremony. They allowed us to pick and choose the customs we wanted discussed from each religion during our ceremony. I loved how they went back and forth between our religions during the ceremony, and they had a great sense of humor. I have witnessed interfaith ceremonies in the past where the officiants had no connection and each went one at a time. April and Sara unified both of our religion and families and left smiles on everyone’s faces.
by Megan J
Pastor April knocked it out of the park. From day 1 she was there and really got us excited about writing our own vows. She gave us her full attention was 100% accomodating when we had changes and really knows her stuff beyond the ceremony. IE. getting your name changed etc. I had MANY guests compliment me on how amazing the pastor was and how she made the ceremony. How often are people excited about the CEREMONY! Stop looking and get April for your wedding…you seriously will not regret it.
-MeganBy Betsy
5 stars just isn’t enough to rate April! From the first encounter with her, we felt like we knew her for a lifetime. She pays attention to detail and comes up the most incredible words for the most memorable ceremony. We hosted 217 guest and every single person approached us to let us know how heartfelt our ceremony was. It was the highlight of our wedding. There was not one dry eye and people who didn’t know our story found out within the 15-20 min ceremony hosted by April. She was interactive, personable and truly charming. This is her calling in life and really made our wedding day the fairytale I’ve always dreamt of.
By Christine
Let me tell you about the most amazing day of my life , my wedding 11/09/2017, not only because I married the love of my life , but also because of April. She was beyond my wildest dreams. When we met with her and she talked with us to create our one of a kind ceremony she asked such insightful questions and really zeroed in on the feel we were going for. She not only touched on our hearts but she brought our very spirts and souls into the ceremony. She completely understood we were not the “usual” kind of couple and that our beliefs were not what are generally the “norm” and she made gentile and intuitive suggestions via a few drafts until we had our one of a kind ceremony. Then on the day of our awesome event she had such an air of calmness and caring about her that even though I suffer from panic attacks I did not have one issue. April makes you feel like your day is the only wedding in the universe and she makes sure nothing gets in the way of the bride and groom being totally present in their day. I felt like no matter what might have happened since April was there and she had our backs, everything would be completely fine and wonderful and it was. I cannot recommend April enough. I will be singing her praises every time I talk about our wedding. April and her staff, especially Cathy go out of their way to make the day happen as it should, with no problems and with light and love surrounding you and that no matter what family drama there maybe “waiting in the wings” you are in a safety bubble of someone who truly cares about making your day the most amazing day that it could possibly be. If you select April to do your ceremony there is no way it could be anything other than the most amazing day of your life.
by Melissa S
What an amazing and memorable ceremony, thanks to April! Before our wedding day, she was super easy to get in touch with, both via phone and email, always available to answer questions, and super helpful explaining and working through the ceremony outline/plans with me. The ceremony itself was perfect, beautifully spoken, and everything that my new husband and I could dream of; April’s warmth and love for what she does was obvious through the entire planning process and wedding day. We couldn’t be happier!
by Lisa S
Working with Marie was so easy. She was responsive and thoughtful. It was great being able to write the ceremony with her. We had a non-religious specific ceremony with a few sprinklings of generic “God” or “Bless them” in there which was just what we were looking for. We received SO MANY compliments on our ceremony from friends and family. They all thought it was perfectly delivered and was so sweet and impactful.
by Danielle D
If you’re looking for a non-denominational officiant, look no further. Pastor April is EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!! Warm, sweet, loving, nurturing, made me feel so special, her voice gives me chills, and her custom written ceremonies are spectacular. The first time we met I cried for 2 hours because she wrote beautiful words about my husband and I. Our wedding day was FREEZING!!!!!! And she braved the cold, shortened up our ceremony and didn’t miss a beat. She was truly incredible and we are so blessed to have met, and know her! Thank you April!
By Renee
Pastor April was amazing! We meet April at her house for a meeting to discuss our wedding and write our ceremony. She asked us many questions and we had a great conversation that lasted about an hour and a half. The next day she emailed us a beautiful script that included so many personal stories about our relationship. She also included a few religious elements that pleased our mothers. On the day of our wedding, April arrived 30 min prior to the ceremony with her own microphone. Our ceremony was beautiful done and we received many complements. We would absolutely recommend April and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts!
By Alexis A.
Our families and friends have not stopped raving about Pastor April Gismondi and her co-officiant for our wedding, Rabbi Sara Shonfeld! They are so lovely, and so talented, and we can’t say enough great things about them both. They did a wonderful job as a team, seamlessly integrating our two faiths in a way that felt thoughtful and incredibly special. I imagine they are equally fantastic officiating on their own, too. From the moment we met during our first planning meeting, we were blown away by how warm, sincere, and fun they both are – they were so excited to learn about who we were, how we met, and the ceremony we envisioned. They both are filled with amazing enthusiasm, love, and creativity, which was evident throughout the process and then of course during the ceremony, which they made so special and memorable for us and our guests. We are so grateful that we found Pastor April and Rabbi Sara for the beautiful ceremony they helped us to create – thank you both so very much!
by Ilyssa S
April was amazing! She was on top of everything for every step of the way. If you had a question she was always there and extremely easy to get a hold of! She was there to answer question before, during and after the ceremony. If I had to redo my wedding (which will never happen), she would be the only one that I would use. She also gives you binder the day of that will never let you forget that special day!
By Jessica
I can’t say enough good things about Pastor April! From day one, we knew we would be in great hands. April is SO unbelievably easy to talk to, she is so professional and you can tell she really loves what she does! When my husband and I were picking out our ceremony, we wanted something simple. We browsed through the samples that April had posted on her webpage, which was SO helpful, and found one that we absolutely loved. One the day of our wedding, we were beyond impressed. To think that we chose one of her sample ceremonies, yet she made it feel SO personalized and heartfelt. We can’t thank April enough, and we definitely recommend her services! You won’t be sorry!
By Megan
Pastor April knocked it out of the park. From day 1 she was there and really got us excited about writing our own vows. She gave us her full attention was 100% accomodating when we had changes and really knows her stuff beyond the ceremony. IE. getting your name changed etc. I had MANY guests compliment me on how amazing the pastor was and how she made the ceremony. How often are people excited about the CEREMONY! Stop looking and get April for your wedding…you seriously will not regret it.
-Meganby Christina H
Pastor April was amazing. From the very first meeting she was a pleasure to work with and really went out of her way to make sure our ceremony was exactly how we had always invisioned it. I can’t recommend her enough!
By Rachelle
Pastor April is absolutely amazing!! I couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful ceremony. From day one of meeting her she made us feel so comfortable and confident that our wedding would be nothing short of amazing. all of my guests came up to me after and said that it was the most beautiful ceremony they had ever been too!!! she is truly living her calling, what a wonderful person!!!
by Christine T
Let me tell you about the most amazing day of my life , my wedding 11/09/2017, not only because I married the love of my life , but also because of April. She was beyond my wildest dreams. When we met with her and she talked with us to create our one of a kind ceremony she asked such insightful questions and really zeroed in on the feel we were going for. She not only touched on our hearts but she brought our very spirts and souls into the ceremony. She completely understood we were not the “usual” kind of couple and that our beliefs were not what are generally the “norm” and she made gentile and intuitive suggestions via a few drafts until we had our one of a kind ceremony. Then on the day of our awesome event she had such an air of calmness and caring about her that even though I suffer from panic attacks I did not have one issue. April makes you feel like your day is the only wedding in the universe and she makes sure nothing gets in the way of the bride and groom being totally present in their day. I felt like no matter what might have happened since April was there and she had our backs, everything would be completely fine and wonderful and it was. I cannot recommend April enough. I will be singing her praises every time I talk about our wedding. April and her staff, especially Cathy go out of their way to make the day happen as it should, with no problems and with light and love surrounding you and that no matter what family drama there maybe “waiting in the wings” you are in a safety bubble of someone who truly cares about making your day the most amazing day that it could possibly be. If you select April to do your ceremony there is no way it could be anything other than the most amazing day of your life.
by Taylor Q
April is the best! She made our ceremony so personal and beautiful, all of our guests kept commenting on how great it was. Could not be happier
By Christina
Pastor April was amazing. From the very first meeting she was a pleasure to work with and really went out of her way to make sure our ceremony was exactly how we had always invisioned it. I can’t recommend her enough!
by Chelsea M
Pastor April is simply amazing. I wish I could give her more than 5 stars. I used her for my 9/10/16 wedding. I first met her years ago when she married my best friend and her husband. I met her again over a year later and she remembered the couple. When we meet with her she made us feel so comfortable, I really felt like I have known her forever. It was easy to keep communication with her. I was able to read through and edit the ceremony to my liking. The day of the wedding, I think she was more excited than my husband and I, lol! She is such a beautiful person and soul and anyone who uses get is lucky.
By Michele
April was absolutely amazing to work with! My husband and I met her at The Riviera at Massapequa for an open house and immediately felt her warmth and kindness. She opened up her home to us to share our story and put our words into the most perfect and personalized ceremony beyond our wildest dreams. We received so many compliments on our receiving line right after and all through the night…everyone loved it! We couldnt be happier with how our ceremony turned out!
by Meredith F
As soon as I met April I knew I wanted her as my officiant. She was on top of everything and easy totalk to. The day of the wedding, she was a calming presence and did a miraculous job performing our ceremony. Family and friends felt welcomed and included during the ceremony…all had great words to say. We couldn’t be happier with our choice. Thank you!
By Nicole
I can’t even begin to describe how amazing Pastor April is. From the first moment I saw her officiate a wedding I was attending, I knew I wanted her to officiate my wedding. The way she makes the ceremony so personal and beautiful is truly a talent. The whole process of the ceremony was very easy and communication was always excellent. Everyone kept talking about how beautiful the ceremony was. I really cannot say enough good things about Pastor April. Highly recommend her to anyone looking to have a ceremony they will cherish forever!
by Sonya P
Sweet, warm officiant. Marie was welcoming and easy to work with. She offered a variety of different types of ceremonies at really affordable prices. She was on time, and very prepared for us the day of. Communication was a breeze. She was always available by phone or email and responded quickly. She allowed us to personalize our ceremony and make it ours and did so in the best way possible. Would recommend her for your special day.
by kaylee g
pastor april married us on august 19th and was great! she worked with us to write a personal section and it came out so beautiful, I would highly recommend doing that! she also helped us figure out how to incorporate both our christian and jewish backgrounds and explained the faith and traditional aspects of both. she makes you a beautiful book with her speech printed out. also, she is great on her toes! we had a few funny moments from nerves and she rolled right with them and had jokes to keep everything light and everyone laughing! she was awesome!! my family and friends keep raving about how it was the best ceremony they had ever been to, very beautiful and entertaining! I can say first hand after being to other weddings this is not a boring long drawn out ceremony, it is captivating from start to finish. I am so glad we worked with Pastor April!
By Javonte
Pastor April is the kindest, most genuine and detail oriented person you can have officiate your wedding. After getting cancelled on last minute by a family friend to officiate my wedding, a coworker connected me to Pastor April. That was the best thing to happen! My husband and I met her at her home and during our meeting after some questions, answers and laughs she put together the most beautiful service. From just small conversation it was as if she had known us for years. After meeting she emails you everything you’ve discussed as well as options unique to your ceremony so that the entire process is easy and transparent.
The day of the wedding, she was prompt, and everything she promised us she would do was done in a professional manner with just the right amount of humor. She seems to be able to adapt to each individual couple’s needs, and that is important today. Not to mention I only contacted her within weeks of my wedding. Everyone loved her and keeps talking about how great she is. I highly recommend!by Wayne L
April is a heaven sent angel! This woman feels like she should belong in every family. Her light energy and contagious personality are what every bride wants on the day of their wedding. She is soft spoken, yet demands attention is the most seamless way possible. She was over an hour early just so she could be ready for the ceremony! She helps you with every and any question you may have as a new bride to be. For my husband and I, we didn’t want a ceremony that was religious. We chose not to get married in a church, but had some family members who were very adamant on religious beliefs. She found a way to sprinkle some religious terms and beliefs throughout the ceremony, without overpowering the intent of our energy. She works a lot with Lessings and is highly recommended by so many people we know, and its easy to understand why. Thank you so much April for everything you did during our experience. We are so thankful and grateful to have had you!!!
By Stephanie
If you are looking for an officiant, look no more, Pastor April is your pick. She is the most thorough, knowledgeable and professional person to work with. She takes no nonsense, she walks you through the entire process and works with you to write up your ceremony. She is always available to answer your questions, and she literally puts in 150% to her work. My husband and I could not have stumbled on the more perfect officiant (at the Three Village Inn showcase!). Thank you so much April we love you!!!!
By Keith
April was amazing. She tailored our ceremony to us and added a ton of personal experiences. She made the whole process so easy and everyone loved the ceremony.
By Taylor
April married my now husband and I are September 15, 2017. All of our guests could not get over how great our ceremony was. April made it personal and beautiful!
By Kaylee
pastor april married us on august 19th and was great! she worked with us to write a personal section and it came out so beautiful, I would highly recommend doing that! she also helped us figure out how to incorporate both our christian and jewish backgrounds and explained the faith and traditional aspects of both. she makes you a beautiful book with her speech printed out. also, she is great on her toes! we had a few funny moments from nerves and she rolled right with them and had jokes to keep everything light and everyone laughing! she was awesome!! my family and friends keep raving about how it was the best ceremony they had ever been to, very beautiful and entertaining! I can say first hand after being to other weddings this is not a boring long drawn out ceremony, it is captivating from start to finish. I am so glad we worked with Pastor April!
by Lauren S
If you’re looking for an officiant for your wedding, look no further! Pastor April was the easiest choice we made for our wedding. She was highly recommended by our venue, and it’s easy to see why. Since the very first phone call, we felt like we’d known her for years. She is personable, organized, professional, and amazing at what she does. She truly has a way of capturing the essence of a relationship with her words. We met in her home, where she asked us about different aspects of our relationship and actually began writing snips of the ceremony right then and there. We were amazed at how well she seemed to understand our relationship, even from the first meeting. The process stayed flexible and convenient the whole way through — we emailed back and fourth to edit the ceremony until its final version. Pastor April was available to respond to every phone calling email throughout the entire process, and when the big day finally came, I could not have done it without her. I was an extremely anxious bride, and about an hour before my ceremony I started having a meltdown. She was there to comfort me and remind me of what really matters. She went above and beyond, and did so much more for us than we could have imagined. Our ceremony was a perfect representation of who we are as a couple, and our guests continue to comment on how amazing she was! She had everyone laughing and crying in all the best ways. They say that your guests will only really remember the food and music, but ours will also remember Pastor April for sure!!! Thank you SO much EVERYTHING!
By Christina
April married my husband and I Friday September 1,2017 at the Snapper Inn in Oakdale. It was a beautiful day in so many ways and April was definitely one of them!!!!
She was a pleasure since we met her a year ago and was helpful with everything!!!!!!!
She added to our day in an amazingly relaxing and loving way. I received so many compliments from my guest after the ceremony about her so I am hoping she will have more business coming her way ….. I highly recommend April to add joy to your special day❤️by Alexis K
Our families and friends have not stopped raving about Pastor April Gismondi and her co-officiant for our wedding, Rabbi Sara Shonfeld! They are so lovely, and so talented, and we can’t say enough great things about them both. They did a wonderful job as a team, seamlessly integrating our two faiths in a way that felt thoughtful and incredibly special. I imagine they are equally fantastic officiating on their own, too. From the moment we met during our first planning meeting, we were blown away by how warm, sincere, and fun they both are – they were so excited to learn about who we were, how we met, and the ceremony we envisioned. They both are filled with amazing enthusiasm, love, and creativity, which was evident throughout the process and then of course during the ceremony, which they made so special and memorable for us and our guests. We are so grateful that we found Pastor April and Rabbi Sara for the beautiful ceremony they helped us to create – thank you both so very much!
by Christine K
Marie made our ceremony so special. This is a part of wedding planning which I thought would have been boring but she really day make this fun and exciting for us. We met with her and told her a little bit about ourselves in casual conversation. The next day she emailed me a draft of our ceremony and I was in awe. She made our ceremony into a beautiful story of us on our day. I couldn’t imagine using anyone else.
By Yuderka
Our wedding was august 24,2017. When we first met April we knew she was the one to marry us. She is an amazing person with a wonderful personality. She took our words and feelings and wrote an amazing ceremony so personal to us. My friends and family were talking about the ceremony and how wonderful it was. We can’t thank her enough.
by Caitlyn C
April was amazing to work with. My husband and I were so impressed with how well she was able to personalize our ceremony and how smoothly everything ran the day of. April was friendly, responsive, and just all around a pleasure to work with. We would highly recommend her!
by Knottie1459910618
Pastor April was such a pleasure to work with! She went above and beyond to create a personalized ceremony for my husband and I. She was very genuine gave her undivided attention when she met to write with us. I would recommend to any couple to meet and write with Pastor April, you will not be disappointed. Not only will you have a ceremony that you will remember for years to come, you will have a ceremony that your guests will continue to compliment you on as well! I am thankful that we had the opportunity to work with Pastor April and that she was a part of our wedding day!
By Dena
Our wedding was August 14th, 2017 and Pastor April just absolutely amazed us and our guests. She is so pleasant to work with. She takes her time and listens to your concerns and answers all your questions in a timely manner. You will not be disappointed?!
by Maria V
Pastor April is the best!!!! From our very first meeting she completely impressed my fiancé and I with her amazing writing talent. Within an hour, she had already drafted our ceremony and captured our story perfectly. By the time the ceremony day came around, a year and some months later, it sounded fresh and as amazing as when we first heard it. Best of all, during the ceremony, she made us feel extremely special! All of our guests were so impressed and touched with the ceremony, they thought it was so personal and it really captured who we are.
Thank you Pastor April for making our day so special and perfect!!!By Megan
Words cannot express how much we adored April. From the moment we met her, we felt a sense of comfort and connectedness. Her genuine interest in our love story, and her ability to put that love story into words was nothing short of perfect. Our ceremony was our favorite part of our wedding day and we would highly recommend April again and again!
By Kim
Both my husband and I absolutely LOVED what an amanzing job Pastor April did for our wedding. She customized our ceremony in a way that made us and our guests feel like she had known us for years! All of our guests went on and on about how beautiful our ceremony was and that is all thanks to Pastor April!
by Mirelle M
April was amazing! She was so warm and welcoming. She helped us through the entire process from start to finish. My guests were amazed by her. HIGHLY RECOMMEND!
By Beth
April was absolutely AMAZING. She took our thoughts and feelings and put them all together to create the most beautiful ceremony. She included my son in such a way that made just about everyone cry! Our guests are still talking about how beautiful our ceremony was. Our day was perfect! She was extremely helpful with all the odds and ends after the wedding, was on top of everything and kept us in the loop! April has our highest recommendation!
By Samantha
Beyond thankful for Pastor April. She did my brothers wedding and I knew right away I wanted her for ours. Pastor April was wonderful at helping us at this very important time in our lives. To Me and my husband the ceremony and vows of course were the most important part of our day and it was perfect to us. Working with her and writing with felt natural.
By Christina
April married us almost 2 years ago (9/13/15)….from the 1st phone call I had with her I knew she was the one! We had our 1st meeting not too long after and we fell in love with her! She’s just amazing!!! She answered all our questions and concerns right away. After our wedding our guest spoke so highly of her and kept telling us how much they loved our ceremony….2 years later and they still talk about it. If you’re looking for someone to marry you look no further! Highly recommend!
By Denise
Arrived 1 hour before the service! She is the best and would recommend her to anyone! Beautiful person!
By Meghan
What an amazing ceremony! April officiated our wedding last July and it was such a personal, beautiful ceremony! Would recommend her to everyone!
by Ashley C
From the very beginning, I knew April was the perfect match for us. We had a call with her where she asked us about our relationship and each other and then wrote the most beautiful ceremony I could have ever imagined. I loved how collaborative the process was and how she and I created a one-of-a-kind ceremony and that spoke to the heart of who me and my husband are. Everyone at my ceremony was brought to tears and almost every guests commented how much they loved April and how they had never heard such a beautiful ceremony. We wanted more of a civil ceremony, but our families are a little more religious. April helped us to find the perfect balance that made everyone happy. April was one of the highlights of our day for sure and I would recommend her to each and every bride looking for an officiant. She will make you feel so completely special and create the most important part of your wedding. I also loved that she gave us our ceremony beautifully printed out on the day of the wedding and sent us a tracking number for our marriage license so I could be at ease on my honeymoon knowing it was on its way. Thank you, April!! Whenever we remember our ceremony, we will remember you!!
by Doris S
April was amazing. My guest are still talking about how beautiful the ceremony was. She truly listens to you and caters the ceremony to your style. She is personable and the guest felt so involved. If you book April you will not be disappointed. She is a true professional.
by Veronica M
April is AMAZING! My husband first met her at our venue’s showcase and insisted that we look into booking with her. We met with April a couple of months prior to our wedding to make our customize ceremony. She really got to know us on a personal level and that made all of the difference. Our ceremony was absolutely perfect. We received compliments from everyone not only on our ceremony but also on April herself! She is a terrific officiant with a personality to match. If you’re looking for a beautifully personalized, non boring/cookie-cutter ceremony then look no further!
By Danielle
April not only did our wedding ceremony but also was part of our first borns blessing. She personalized everything and truly listened to us! If I was still In ny she would have done something for my son as well! She is amazing and I’m so thankful to have worked with her!!
By Marsha
Paster April is a warm, wonderful caring person. She officiated not only at my daughters wedding, but at the baby naming ceremonies for both my granddaughter and grandson. Her service was beautiful and engaging for all of these life events.I feel like she is part of our family.
by Rebecca G
I would 100% recommend Pastor April (and have done so already) to anyone looking for an officiant. She’s super pleasant, responsive, and it is extremely obvious that she loves what she does. The majority of guests at our non-denominational wedding made comments about how lovely the ceremony was and that it was their favorite part, mostly because of Pastor April. She’s very flexible and works with you needs, making sure you have the most beautiful, special ceremony you could imagine. Please book her if you can!!!!
By Trevor
Pastor April came highly recommended by a friend of ours. We couldn’t have chosen a more professional, caring and all around lovely officiant than April! Originally we came to her home on a cold Winter day just to sign our paperwork with our witnesses. My husband surprised me with new bands for our wedding day and Pastor April was so moved by our story she performed an amazingly beautiful impromptu ceremony/ring blessing as a gift to us! I still get teary eyed thinking about that day and how special it was because of her. We recommend Pastor April to anyone in need of an officiant who puts your needs and day above everything else.
By Christine
Our ceremony was so beautiful thanks to April’s kind words. She made our lives so much easier by having some examples on her website! I recommend her to anyone getting married!
By Scott
The personal attention we received from April truly made our wedding a special day. My wife couldn’t help but feel that the way the ceremony was written it seemed that April really knew her and understood where she came from! Thanks again!
By Simona
Officiant Marie April Gismondi is AMAZING! Her words of infinite wisdom touched every guest’s heart during our daughter and son in law wedding ceremony! Highly recommend!
By Lee
I used April back in 2012 for my wedding. She was Great! April was very friendly and accommodating to our needs. I would Highly recommend her.
By Lauren
If you’re looking for an officiant for your wedding, look no further! Pastor April was the easiest choice we made for our wedding. She was highly recommended by our venue, and it’s easy to see why. Since the very first phone call, we felt like we’d known her for years. She is personable, organized, professional, and amazing at what she does. She truly has a way of capturing the essence of a relationship with her words. We met in her home, where she asked us about different aspects of our relationship and actually began writing snips of the ceremony right then and there. We were amazed at how well she seemed to understand our relationship, even from the first meeting. The process stayed flexible and convenient the whole way through — we emailed back and fourth to edit the ceremony until its final version. Pastor April was available to respond to every phone calling email throughout the entire process, and when the big day finally came, I could not have done it without her. I was an extremely anxious bride, and about an hour before my ceremony I started having a meltdown. She was there to comfort me and remind me of what really matters. She went above and beyond, and did so much more for us than we could have imagined. Our ceremony was a perfect representation of who we are as a couple, and our guests continue to comment on how amazing she was! She had everyone laughing and crying in all the best ways. They say that your guests will only really remember the food and music, but ours will also remember Pastor April for sure!!! Thank you SO much EVERYTHING!
By Dara
I can’t say enough pleasant things about Rev April. My husband and I are not super religious, and I wanted a ceremony that wouldn’t feel that way. I had no idea where to begin, but I ended up booking Rev April based off of reviews – I didn’t hadn’t even met her in person yet! We had a conference call to discuss our ceremony, and less than 48 hours later she emailed us a draft. WOW. We made some tweaks over time, and as we got closer to the big day, she followed up with us to answer any questions we had, and to put our minds at ease.
What I especially loved was her always reaching out to us first before I even had a chance to reach out to her. I always hear horror stories of couples who can’t get in touch with their vendors – but not Rev April. She was always responsive. Even after the wedding, she continued to follow-up with us to explain to us the process of when we’d be receiving our marriage license.
After our wedding, our guests told us they LOVED her. From her presence, to the way she actually spoke – they loved the soft tone of her voice. Our ceremony went absolutely perfect. I was so nervous, but she walked us through it before the ceremony, during the rehearsal several minutes before it began and even during (she whispered lol).
If I could do it all over again, I’d hire her in a heartbeat. You will NOT be disappointed with Rev April.By Dana
April was AMAZING!!! From the first day my husband and I met April, we fell in love with her. We met at her house and talked for like 3 hours. She made us feel so comfortable and did an amazing job personalizing our vows.
Anytime you contact her, she gets right back to you. Any questions you have she answers them in full detail.
The day of our wedding April was AMAZING. Everyone is still talking about her!!! I would recommend her to anyone getting married, she will not disappoint! My husband and I will always remember our day!!By Terry
Pastor April did an amazing job for our personalized wedding ceremony! She is so friendly and easy to work with, and she helped to make our special day even more special!
by Bonnie K
My husband and I really enjoyed having Pastor April be a part of our day and for making our marriage official! A lot of our guests came up to us after the ceremony and said how beautiful and simple it was, how it really represented the two of us and our relationship, and how perfectly she delivered it. I also had a really great time working with her before the wedding – not only is April very pleasant and willing to work with whatever vision you have for your ceremony, she is also hysterical and constantly made me laugh, which was nice in the midst of stressful wedding planning! She will also tell you exactly what to do to get your marriage license on time, and sends helpful information on completing your name change after the big day. Thank you again April for your help in making our wedding day perfect!!
By Caitlyn
April was amazing to work with. My husband and I were so impressed with how well she was able to personalize our ceremony and how smoothly everything ran the day of. April was friendly, responsive, and just all around a pleasure to work with. We would highly recommend her!
By Maria
Pastor April is the best!!!! From our very first meeting she completely impressed my fiancé and I with her amazing writing talent. Within an hour, she had already drafted our ceremony and captured our story perfectly. By the time the ceremony day came around, a year and some months later, it sounded fresh and as amazing as when we first heard it. Best of all, during the ceremony, she made us feel extremely special! All of our guests were so impressed and touched with the ceremony, they thought it was so personal and it really captured who we are.
Thank you Pastor April for making our day so special and perfect!!!By Ashleh
My husband and I had pastor April perform our ceremony. Not only did we love her from the moment we first met with her to write our personalized ceremony but our guests won’t stop raving about the amazing job she did! She makes you feel like your love story is the most important one in the world and we couldn’t have been happier with her services!
The PreziosasBy Jess
The easiest part of the wedding planning experience!! We were probably the most clueless for this part of planning the wedding but Pastor April made it so easy. Not only did she do an amazing job but she made the whole process a breeze. She is very helpful and she truly wants to make your day special. Everyone I spoke to told me how great our ceremony was and I already have a relative using her for their wedding! She gives you all the information you need to get ready for the ceremony and everything you need to know about for after. You really will not be disappointed!!
by Stephanie A
Pastor April performed a beautiful ceremony for us. Communicating with her was fast and easy without any fuss. She responded quickly to emails and listened to all our suggestions. She arrived early for our ceremony to walk us through what will be happening and found us after the ceremony to give us a copy of our certificate and to let us know she would be sending out the paperwork in order for us to get our official certificate. Highly recommended!
By Dianne
I would say book Pastor April ASAP, she is wonderful, and accomadating to work with. Pastor April always got back to me in a timely manner, was extremely helpful. I received her name from a work friend and was sooooooo glad I did. All my guest were extremely impressed with her.
by Sarah S
Pastor April performed a beautiful and personal ceremony for us! She was extremely easy and fun to work with and helped us feel so comfortable speaking in front of our families. Pastor April captured what being married meant to my husband and I and how important it was for our families to be included and there to stand witness. She reached out to us before our ceremony to make sure we had everything that was needed on our wedding day. She arrived early the day of and walked us through what was going to happen during the ceremony. That was incredibly kind of her, it really helped relax the bridal party. Pastor Aprils attention to detail shined through our ceremony and we will be forever grateful for such a stress free and beautiful day!
by Sarah S
April is one of the best decisions we made during our wedding planning process. We found another woman via The Knot but she wasn’t available on our date and recommended April. I also did some research and really liked all the experience she has. My husband and I met her at her home and went through every aspect of what we wanted our ceremony to be. I remember telling her my grandma is super religious but we are not, so her answer was to add “a splash of God” which was perfect. She kept in touch and always answered quickly. She made you feel like you were at home when you met with her. On the day of she was early and bursting with enthusiasm which is what I needed because I was about to cry from excitement and needed someone to keep me focused. Everyone loved our ceremony. It wasn’t boring and drawn out. It was about us and we even did a wine ceremony instead of candles which tied into our wine theme. I hope others use April. She will be one of the best decisions you make. Truly a wonderful spirit to have around.
by Teresa R
Pastor April officiated Our Wedding on October 9th and was just so wonderful and amazing. She was kind and helpful and fun throughout the entire process, helping us come up with a ceremony that was exactly what we wanted. I also love having a copy of our certificate to save for the future. When I had any questions at all about the marriage process, from paperwork we needed to obtain, or pointers and reminders as the day was approaching, April was amazing. She is a great public speaker and did a fantastic job officiating our ceremony and conveying our feelings to everyone. Our families and friends all said it was a beautiful ceremony, and we are so very greatful to have had the opportunity to work with her. Thank you!
By Sarah
April was a pleasure to work with , she makes you feel comfortable, relaxed and is extremely helpful throughout the planning process. April made our ceremony personal and it reflected who we are as a couple perfectly. We couldn’t be happier, everyone keeps talking about the ceremony and how personal and intimate it was. I would highly recommend April !!
by Alexis R
We are so glad we went with Pastor April to be our wedding officiant! From our first consultation all the way to the wedding day, everything was smooth and worry free thanks to April. Her policy was always “call me if you have any questions, no matter what!” And we definitely did. She was always available to answer any and all questions or concerns we had in the days leading up to the wedding and really helped ease our minds of so many things.
On the day of the wedding she was on hand hours before to go over the itinerary of the day and answer more questions – she even did a full “dress rehearsal” prior so that no one in the wedding party would be lost when the time actually came.
And all of our guests could not stop raving about how fun and beautiful the actual ceremony was. She kept it non specific to any one religion (which was much appreciated by our melting pot of guests from all walks of life) but filled the time illustrating the love my wife and I share and the joy and happiness we have to look forward to. Injecting a personal touch that was unique to my wife and I really made for a truly beautiful and heart warming ceremony.
Weddings are definitely stressful times for the bride and groom. But I promise you – putting your ceremony in April’s more than capable hands will give you one less thing to stress about. She is truly amazing at what she does.By Mirelle
April was amazing! She was so warm and welcoming. She helped us through the entire process from start to finish. My guests were amazed by her. HIGHLY RECOMMEND!
By Lauren
Pastor April was such a pleasure to work with! She was so accommodating when we sat with her to go over the ceremony and very quick to get our edits back to us each time. She’s always so happy, upbeat, and positive, which is the exact kind of person you could ever ask for to marry you! The day of the wedding she was prompt and prepared. The ceremony went off flawlessly and professionally. Thanks again Pastor April! L&L Lauren & Dan :)
By Theresa
Pastor April is very easy to work with, whether you want to meet in person or talk over the phone. She is very organized and give you a detailed list of what will happened on and after your special day, and she also have different choices for religious ceremonies you can choose from. It was a pleasure to work with her.
by Vicky F
Rev April is AMAZING!!! From the moment April greeted us at her door I knew from her warm welcoming smile and friendly demeanor April was going to be the Officiant for us! Whether you are religious or not April will customize a ceremony that will make your day special and personal to you! After getting to know us at our initial meeting April put together a beautiful ceremony and we wrote our own vows that brought our family & friends to happy tears :) After the ceremony we had multiple guests come to us and tell us how our ceremony was THE BEST they have ever been through at a wedding ever! That it was so touching and personal and how much they thought April did such an amazing job and could tell she really loved what she did and truly took care into getting to know us and not just “show up” and marry us. I recommend April 100% Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for making one of the biggest days of our lives so special and perfect!!!
By Doris
April was amazing. My guest are still talking about how beautiful the ceremony was. She truly listens to you and caters the ceremony to your style. She is personable and the guest felt so involved. If you book April you will not be disappointed. She is a true professional.
by Knottie59826351
April was absolutely amazing!! Our ceremony was perfect and customized to us. She was great about making sure everything went smoothly the day of and following up leading up to the big day. We feel so blessed to have had such a beautiful ceremony. Thank you so much April for everything!
Jon & Andrea
By Veronica
April is AMAZING! My husband first met her at our venue’s showcase and insisted that we look into booking with her. We met with April a couple of months prior to our wedding to make our customize ceremony. She really got to know us on a personal level and that made all of the difference. Our ceremony was absolutely perfect. We received compliments from everyone not only on our ceremony but also on April herself! She is a terrific officiant with a personality to match. If you’re looking for a beautifully personalized, non boring/cookie-cutter ceremony then look no further!
By Rebecca
I would 100% recommend Pastor April (and have done so already) to anyone looking for an officiant. She’s super pleasant, responsive, and it is extremely obvious that she loves what she does. The majority of guests at our non-denominational wedding made comments about how lovely the ceremony was and that it was their favorite part, mostly because of Pastor April. She’s very flexible and works with you needs, making sure you have the most beautiful, special ceremony you could imagine. Please book her if you can!!!!
By Donna
You will LOVE her!!! My husband and I thought we would have a problem finding someone to marry us this year on New Year’s Day, but Pastor Marie April was so accommodating and had no problem at all with that date. I felt an affinity with her during our first phone conversation because she was so warm and friendly… just what you need in an officiant. She’s professional and spiritual with just the right amount of humor! She also gives you all information for your name-change after you’re married. This lady is a beautiful person, and you will be very happy to have her officiate your wedding.
Joe and DonnaBy Pauline
In August 2016, my fiance and I decided to set our wedding date. We decided on October 2016 leaving us with a little under 2 months to plan our wedding with a guest list of 130 people. My cousin (the best wedding planner ever – 1st time wedding planner) went into a panic and said there was no way it could be done. I had a budget of under $30,000, but did we pull it off! Through our officiant, April we were able to set the date as she was very accommodating and extremely helpful. We did not see her in person until our wedding day. I took bits and pieces of ceremonies from April’s website and came up with a masterpiece; all our guests loved it and the feedback of the ceremony as well as everything else was positively astounding. April is right on target and delivers exactly what she promises. To this day, our guests do not believe that our wedding was planned in less than 2 months. Her role did not stop after the ceremony as she kept in touch to ensure that we received our marriage certificate. “Thank you April, you have given us memories to treasure for the rest of our lives!” Pauline & Herbert
By Joann
Bill and I are am beyond thrilled that we chose Pastor April to be the officiant at our wedding. From the moment we met April at her home, we instantly knew we made the right choice. We felt as if we were talking with an old friend. April is warm, welcoming, and put us at ease. Her ability to capture our love story and weave it into a ceremony after talking with us for just about an hour was nothing short of amazing. Within that time, she captured the essence of who we are as a couple. Our family and friends had nothing but good things to say and thought it was written so well, and truly captured Bill and I in a very intimate way. I do not hesitate in recommending Pastor April, and can honestly say, you will not be disappointed!!!
by susan f
You couldn’t ask for a more gracious and personable person to perform your wedding. She married my daughter and son-in-law in a beautiful ceremony. I’ve been to weddings where you couldn’t hear the officiant at all, and she was loud and clear enough for everyone there to understand. She is very sweet!
by Meghan B
Rev. Marie April was truly fantastic! She really listened to us as a couple, and the words that she prepared to describe us were so thoughtful and perfect. During our ceremony the ferry horn sounded and she rolled with it, making everyone laugh. Our guests kept saying what a beautiful ceremony it was. I can not recommend her to enough people!
by Jennifer S
We were married July 3, and used April as our officiant– and we could not be happier with her service!! April is absolutely amazing. From the moment my husband and I reached out to her initially, we knew that we made the right choice. When we had our original consultation with April, she invited us into her home, and asked us about our story. We could tell how genuinely interested she was in getting to know us personally. April treated us like family from start to finish. After our consultation, she had a draft ceremony back to us in less than 24 hours, and made the editing and finalizing process SO easy! Any time we reached out to April, she responded right away. She took care of everything from the ceremony details, all the way to the marriage paperwork afterwards. April was EXTREMELY helpful and professional throughout the entire process. Our ceremony was AMAZING- my husband and I are still getting compliments on how beautiful and unique the ceremony was, etc. We have heard from several of our guests, that it was the best ceremony that they have ever attended. April was able to tie our story into our ceremony making it so intimate, and truly our own. I will always recommend April to anyone who is seeking the best officiant Thank you April!
By Chelsea
We got married on January 21, 2017 and used April as an officiant at our ceremony. April was unbelievable to work with. When we first met her we spent over an hour with her as she got to know us as a couple. We loved that because then we knew our ceremony would be totally personalized. And it was! Throughout the entire wedding, our guests were coming up to us telling us how much they loved the ceremony! We were pleasantly surprised with that because we felt the same! April is so personabale and she was genuinely happy and proud to be there at our wedding. We loved having her and so did our guests! I would highly recommend using April at anyone and everyone’s ceremony! She’s truly the best!!
By Marci
Pastor April came recommended by a friend and more than lived up to my expectations. We were being married by a friend whose services were not seen as legal by Suffolk County, so Pastor April met us at our venue the morning of the ceremony and executed the legal part. She was more than accommodating, professional, personable, compassionate and honorable. She made many helpful and creative suggestions for our ceremony and helped to ease the name change process. I whole heartedly recommend her!!!
by Brooke E
When my now husband and I met with Pastor April, we knew immediately we wanted to work with her. Pastor April officiates a beautiful ceremony and has a way with words and understanding of who we are and the importance of her role in our most special day. 5 months later and our family and friends are still talking about how beautiful our ceremony was! Pastor April was fantastic to work with – she is kind, helpful, and very informative. We worked with her to craft a ceremony that was most perfect for us. She was quick to respond and open to our feedback and ideas. She is a special person and made our ceremony truly personal and unique to us. I highly recommend Pastor April!
By Joanne
If there were more than 5 stars I would use it! April and her team were beyond amazing. She made our wedding day all I hoped it would be! Our ceremony was personal and beautiful and something I will cherish forever! I loved how she sat with us for literally hours at her home to get to know us personally so that she could write our vows “about us”!!! It was perfect and I recommend her to everyone. Our guests were so in love with our ceremony!!!! Thank you a million times over for being the best!!!
by Knottie1466333512
We just had Pastor April officiate at our wedding on 6/5/16 and she was AMAZING!!! From the first time we met her, she was so warm and caring that there was an instant connection. We told her our story and she turned it into the most beautiful ceremony. All of our guests were amazed by her as well and asked where we found her. If you want your ceremony to stand out, look no further than Pastor April!
By User7572740
I am beyond thrilled that I chose Pastor April as my wedding officiant! From start to finish, she was just absolutely AMAZING!! Her personality is magical, she makes you and everyone else smile. She took the time to write our personalized ceremony and it could not have been more perfect. My guests thought it was written so well, and really represented me and my husband in an intimate way. Any questions or concerns I had, April was there to answer them joyfully and quickly. She definitely knows how to put you at ease during what can be a very stressful time! I HIGHLY recommend Pastor April, you will not be disappointed!! Best choice I made!
By Bonnie
My husband and I really enjoyed having Pastor April be a part of our day and for making our marriage official! A lot of our guests came up to us after the ceremony and said how beautiful and simple it was, how it really represented the two of us and our relationship, and how perfectly she delivered it. I also had a really great time working with her before the wedding – not only is April very pleasant and willing to work with whatever vision you have for your ceremony, she is also hysterical and constantly made me laugh, which was nice in the midst of stressful wedding planning! She will also tell you exactly what to do to get your marriage license on time, and sends helpful information on completing your name change after the big day. Thank you again April for your help in making our wedding day perfect!!
by christine a
April Is amazing!!!! she really works with you to make your ceremony as personalized and unique as possible, she has a real way with words to transform your feelings and emotions into an amazing ceremony, we couldn’t be happier with all the hard work she put in for us!
By Kathryn
We had been to multiple weddings and events where April officiated the service, and so it was no question that when it came time for us to book an officiant for our wedding, she would be our choice. April has an amazing way with words and truly works to personalize the ceremony to fit you and your spouse as a couple. She’s wonderful and you can’t go wrong with hiring her!
By John
We are so glad we went with Pastor April to be our wedding officiant! From our first consultation all the way to the wedding day, everything was smooth and worry free thanks to April. Her policy was always “call me if you have any questions, no matter what!” And we definitely did. She was always available to answer any and all questions or concerns we had in the days leading up to the wedding and really helped ease our minds of so many things.
On the day of the wedding she was on hand hours before to go over the itinerary of the day and answer more questions – she even did a full “dress rehearsal” prior so that no one in the wedding party would be lost when the time actually came.
And all of our guests could not stop raving about how fun and beautiful the actual ceremony was. She kept it non specific to any one religion (which was much appreciated by our melting pot of guests from all walks of life) but filled the time illustrating the love my wife and I share and the joy and happiness we have to look forward to. Injecting a personal touch that was unique to my wife and I really made for a truly beautiful and heart warming ceremony.
Weddings are definitely stressful times for the bride and groom. But I promise you – putting your ceremony in April’s more than capable hands will give you one less thing to stress about. She is truly amazing at what she does.by Knottie14367366
We were more than happy with April! I would absolutely, 100% recommend her to anyone. The ceremony she personally wrote for us/with us was beautiful, and we got a very nice copy of it as well. She’s wonderful to work with, a wealth of knowledge, the perfect personality for what she does, a beautiful person. We got wonderful comments from our guests about her and our ceremony, as well.
By Sarah
Pastor April performed a beautiful and personal ceremony for us! She was extremely easy and fun to work with and helped us feel so comfortable speaking in front of our families. Pastor April captured what being married meant to my husband and I and how important it was for our families to be included and there to stand witness. She reached out to us before our ceremony to make sure we had everything that was needed on our wedding day. She arrived early the day of and walked us through what was going to happen during the ceremony. That was incredibly kind of her, it really helped relax the bridal party. Pastor Aprils attention to detail shined through our ceremony and we will be forever grateful for such a stress free and beautiful day!
by Danielle R
April is the best! Choosing her to officiate our wedding was one of the easiest and best decisions that we made throughout the whole planning process. She is kind and professional. We felt completely confident in her abilities to plan and perform our ceremony.
By Stephanie
Pastor April performed a wonderful ceremony for us! She always responded to my emails in a timely fashion and was very flexible to our suggestions. She reached out to us before our ceremony to make sure we knew what was needed on our wedding day. She arrived early the day of and walked us through what was going to happen during the ceremony as well as finding us afterwards to give us a copy of our certificate and letting us know that she was going to mail out what was necessary for the official one. It was all very simple and easy with no fuss, thank you for that !
By Lauren
Mike and I had April as our officiant at our October 22 wedding. From the moment we met her she was so involved in our ceremony planning and immediately took the time to find out about mike and myself. She truly wanted to know about us as individuals and us as a couple. This enables her to make the ceremony so personal and so special for us. April was so enthusiastic during the ceremony and made us and our guest truly get involved. She included my step daughter which was so important to us. I completely recommend her because our ceremony was special, professional and had every touch of who mike and I are included. We love you April
By Colleen
My husband and I just recently got married at the Old Field Club on 10/14/16. We chose Pastor April to be our wedding officiant, she was absolutely AMAZING!!! From the moment we met with her, we were in awe of her and how she was able to take our re-telling of how we met and turn it into the most beautiful, funny, and moving story! She truly has an amazing way with words! She put together the most beautiful ceremony for us and guided us through all that we wanted to convey on our special day! We Highly recommend Pastor April!!! She will without a doubt help you to create your own special and unique wedding ceremony!
by Kaitlyn S
After emailing Pastor April as a recommended Officiant for our venue, we knew right away we had to use her. She was so enthusiastic and excited for us, it made us even more excited! She always responded quickly to all our emails and gave us step by step instructions for everything, from filing for our marriage license to how I go about changing my name post wedding. She worked well with us and made a beautiful ceremony. We are still receiving compliments!! We highly recommend her!
By Kristin
Best part of our wedding for sure! Easy to work with, amazing speaker, and writer.. Super cool and easy to talk to. Very professional and pretty darn rad too. Our guests were floored!!! Awesome awesome awesome
by Dana P
Working with April was an absolute pleasure! We couldn’t have been happier with how our ceremony turned out. We received so many compliments from our guests on the service and how it was one of the loveliest ceremonies they ever witnessed. We had an AMAZING day and April was a huge influence on that.
By Teresa
Pastor April officiated Our Wedding on October 9th and was just so wonderful and amazing. She was kind and helpful and fun throughout the entire process, helping us come up with a ceremony that was exactly what we wanted. I also love having a copy of our certificate to save for the future. When I had any questions at all about the marriage process, from paperwork we needed to obtain, or pointers and reminders as the day was approaching, April was amazing. She is a great public speaker and did a fantastic job officiating our ceremony and conveying our feelings to everyone. Our families and friends all said it was a beautiful ceremony, and we are so very greatful to have had the opportunity to work with her. Thank you!
By Lauren
April officiated our wedding on 9/22/16. From the very beginning she was so helpful and just a pleasure to work with. You can just tell she loves her job. She wrote us a beautiful personalized ceremony that we and our guests really loved. She even gives you a beautiful book of the ceremony printed and a certificate. She had a special dr who certificate made for us since we both are big fans and it is just so perfect. She even adapted really quickly to a last minute processional change I had. I was going to have my sister walk down with the best man and have my grandfather wait in his wheelchair at the end of the aisle for me but my sister really wanted to wheel him down and include him more and I did too. We had a quick and very efficient rehearsal before the ceremony and it worked out just how I wanted it to. She was awesome! We can’t thank her enough!
By Annemarie
April is one of not only the nicest and most genuine person I have ever met but she is so extremely helpful with not only putting a wedding ceremony together but her wealth of knowledge on weddings in general. My husband and I, including our friends and family thought April did an incredible job of keeping our ceremony short and sweet and direct to the point, just as we wanted. If you are looking for an officiant to make your wedding complete, she is the perfect fit. Thanks for everything April !
By Kimberly
My husband and I got married at Westbury Manor on 8/20 dispite the rain storm that kept coming and going Marie April was fantastic! From day one she was very attentive and took care of us no matter how many questions or emails we sent. We truly are very thankful and lucky to have found her. We truly appreciate everything she has done and are beyond ecstatic that we choose her to do our wedding ceremony. Everyone who attended the wedding complemented her in more ways than one and thought the ceremony was beautiful. She truly took the time to make our wedding day special and our own.
By Victoria
The perfect choice if you want something personal and beautiful! Marie took the time to learn who we really are to each other. We have heard nothing but amazing compliments on the ceremony and especially Marie April.
By Cliff
Where do I even begin to describe how incredible Pastor April was for us; She was kind, caring, and genuinely helped us in our journey to the big wedding day. When we had any questions at all about the marriage process, from paperwork we needed to obtain, or pointers and reminders as the day was approaching, April was amazing. Along the way in the months and weeks leading up to the wedding she closely worked with us to make sure our ceremony was absolutely perfect and that it was catered to us. On top of it all she was at our wedding before we even arrived! Making sure she was punctual and as helpful as she could be on the day of the wedding. I highly recommend her for your ceremony, you won’t be disappointed.
By Jennifer
We were married July 3, and used April as our officiant– and we could not be happier with her service!! April is absolutely amazing. From the moment my husband and I reached out to her initially, we knew that we made the right choice. When we had our original consultation with April, she invited us into her home, and asked us about our story. We could tell how genuinely interested she was in getting to know us personally. April treated us like family from start to finish. After our consultation, she had a draft ceremony back to us in less than 24 hours, and made the editing and finalizing process SO easy! Any time we reached out to April, she responded right away. She took care of everything from the ceremony details, all the way to the marriage paperwork afterwards. April was EXTREMELY helpful and professional throughout the entire process. Our ceremony was AMAZING- my husband and I are still getting compliments on how beautiful and unique the ceremony was, etc. We have heard from several of our guests, that it was the best ceremony that they have ever attended. April was able to tie our story into our ceremony making it so intimate, and truly our own. I will always recommend April to anyone who is seeking the best officiant Thank you April!
By Melissa
In one word amazing! We could not be happier seriously if you are getting married go with the church of ancient ways we had April and she was outstanding she seemed genuinely happy to be a part of our day and made our ceremony customized and all about us our relationship and personality we would recommend them to anyone! Thanks so much again april
By User5092581
Pastor April married us in November 2015 and we have to say that marrying people is really her calling. She was born to do this job. If you are like us, we wanted a ceremony that was personal but we didn’t want to have to cry and nervously spill our guts with our own vows in front of a hundred people. We wanted our ceremony to be succinct, lively, and entertaining, but still offer a certain gravity and soulfulness. And we wanted to hit the right note of spirituality without being cheesy or cookie-cutter. Pastor April delivered on all of these parameters and more! Her special talent is being able to interview you as the wedding couple and almost instantaneously write “your story” in a way that is unique and captures who you are as a couple. She has a real gift for language and writing and storytelling in a way that I think many officiants don’t. In person, she is super smart, organized, charismatic in front of a crowd, and has a little boho chic to her. Our guests mentioned that she was very engaging and that the ceremony was very modern and “cool.” She’s also full of useful advice and tips to make your ceremony flow better like having a candle lighting during our singer and wearing my engagement ring on my pinky finger. She has several options for vows and readings and lays them all out so you can pick and choose. She always communicated well with us and gave us plenty of time and was clear about procedures and timelines. On the wedding day, she kept us calm and on track and was truly happy for us from her heart. We also appreciated her keepsake book of our ceremony which is a nice way to remember the day without us having to spend more money on yet another item. We can read our vows each year on our anniversary and relive our beautiful day. Please hire April…she is truly special!! -Lisa and Kevin
By Jenny
April officated my June 4th wedding, and was just so wonderful. She was kind and helpful and fun throughout the entire process, helping us come up with a ceremony that was exactly what we wanted. I also love having a copy to save for the future. Our families and friends all said it was a beautiful ceremony, and we ate so greatful to have had the opportunity to work with her. Thank you!
By User6420022
Thank you so much for officiating our wedding ceremony for us. If anyone is having an interfaith wedding you are the best choice! We feel so lucky to have found you; your service couldn’t have been more perfect. You made the ceremony our own, and at the same time made sure that our guests felt comfortable and understood the meaning behind and reasoning for all aspects of the ceremony. It was such a perfect balance between both Jewish and Catholic traditions. Your knowledge of us as a couple, as well as your sense of humor, really made our guests feel they were part of the experience. They continue to call us and say that our ceremony was incredible. Thank you for all your attention to detail and professionalism! We wish you so much success and we highly recommend you!!
by Lisa N
Pastor April married us in November 2015 and we have to say that marrying people is really her calling. She was born to do this job. If you are like us, we wanted a ceremony that was personal but we didn’t want to have to cry and nervously spill our guts with our own vows in front of a hundred people. We wanted our ceremony to be succinct, lively, and entertaining, but still offer a certain gravity and soulfulness. And we wanted to hit the right note of spirituality without being cheesy or cookie-cutter. Pastor April delivered on all of these parameters and more! Her special talent is being able to interview you as the wedding couple and almost instantaneously write “your story” in a way that is unique and captures who you are as a couple. She has a real gift for language and writing and storytelling in a way that I think many officiants don’t. In person, she is super smart, organized, charismatic in front of a crowd, and has a little boho chic to her. Our guests mentioned that she was very engaging and that the ceremony was very modern and “cool.” She’s also full of useful advice and tips to make your ceremony flow better like having a candle lighting during our singer and wearing my engagement ring on my pinky finger. She has several options for vows and readings and lays them all out so you can pick and choose. She always communicated well with us and gave us plenty of time and was clear about procedures and timelines. On the wedding day, she kept us calm and on track and was truly happy for us from her heart. We also appreciated her keepsake book of our ceremony which is a nice way to remember the day without us having to spend more money on yet another item. We can read our vows each year on our anniversary and relive our beautiful day. Please hire April…she is truly special!!
By Lonnie
We had Rev. April officiate our wedding and she was great. We had a simple ceremony so we just dealt with her through email in the months leading up to the wedding. She made the process so simple. You can either use a sample ceremony on her website or work with her to form your own. On the day of the wedding, she was extremely organized and helped us with everything including the marriage license/certificate process. She is a great public speaker and did a fantastic job officiating our ceremony and conveying our feelings to everyone. We’ve gotten so much positive feedback on her from our family and friends. She was always easy to reach and communicate with. We’d definitely recommend her.
By Aliza
We just had Pastor April officiate at our wedding on 6/5/16 and she was AMAZING!!! From the first time we met her, she was so warm and caring that there was an instant connection. We told her our story and she turned it into the most beautiful ceremony. All of our guests were amazed by her as well and asked where we found her. If you want your ceremony to stand out, look no further than Pastor April!
By Christine
April Is amazing!!!! she really works with you to make your ceremony as personalized and unique as possible, she has a real way with words to transform your feelings and emotions into an amazing ceremony, we couldn’t be happier with all the hard work she put in for us!
by Rebecca M
From our first meeting I knew that April was the right person to marry us. She was warm and inviting and listened to what we wanted. All of our guests loved her too. The ceremony was beautiful and personal. we couldn’t have asked for anything better.
by Kaity T
Pastor April is fabulous! She made my wedding day so special. She was very professional and easy to talk to, and she helped us figure out what we wanted for our ceremony. She also answered our questions promptly in the weeks leading up to the big day. Many thanks, Pastor April!
By Melissa
We were more than happy with April! I would absolutely, 100% recommend her to anyone. The ceremony she personally wrote for us/with us was beautiful, and we got a very nice copy of it as well. She’s wonderful to work with, a wealth of knowledge, the perfect personality for what she does, a beautiful person. We got wonderful comments from our guests about her and our ceremony, as well.
by Jessica R
Pastor April is one of the most amazing people I have ever met. She really got to know my husband and I (besides knowing us from officiating my sisters wedding, as well as another friends wedding). She was perfect at our ceremony. Eloquent, professional, calming, knowledgeable, and genuine. She took care of everything from helping us get all our paperwork together during our whirlwind day, to our first kiss as husband and wife. We were lucky to have her officiate our ceremony. She is the best of the best and she really knows how to make a wedding ceremony the loving celebration it should be between 2 soulmates. We love her!
By Sharon
Rev April was recommended to us for our wedding. From the moment that we spoke to her on the phone, we knew we were headed in the right direction. She was excited and enthusiastic. We met with her for about an hour and half and she was able to capture the whole story of our lives. She worked diligently with us to make sure we were happy with our vows.
The day of our wedding was spectacular. Our guests said it was one of the best wedding’s they ever been to, and that Rev April was mesmerizing with our vows. Everyone, including us, was amazed at her work.
We can’t imagine our wedding day without her. Thank you Rev April.
Sharon & Dianeby Colleen M
Pastor April is AMAZING! As a same sex couple, Pastor April made us feel very comfortable when other officiants we met did the exact opposite. We met with Pastor April to personalize our ceremony at her house. After asking us questions and listening to our responses, she was able to write out our ceremony on the spot- she is brilliant with her words! She assured us that she would guide us throughout the ceremony, which she did so well. From start to finish we felt at ease knowing that she handled everything with professionalism, efficiency, and passion. Everything went perfectly! We are still getting compliments, as our guests are telling us that it was the most intimate ceremony they have been to. We would definitely recommend Pastor April to anyone who asks!
By User5561205
April was a wonderful officiant and spoke beautiful words spoken at my wedding. Although my fiance and I were active participants in writing the vows, April’s delivery and interaction with our family and friends during our ceremony was more than we imagined it could be. Everyone was blown away by how personalized and unique our ceremony was. I can only thank April for helping us along in our journey. We sincerely appreciated it.
By Erica
April was absolutely wonderful to work with from day one. She custom-wrote two full ceremonies for us – our legal civil ceremony which was held privately, and our unity ceremony which was held during the larger reception – after spending nearly 2 hours talking with us to get to know us individually and as a couple and to learn our interests and values. She really listened to us and worked hard to make sure our ceremonies would be meaningful and thoughtful and would achieve exactly what we envisioned, despite our unconventional approach. She even helped us put together a truly unique-to-us unity ceremony in which we combined 8 spices to make a custom blend, aligning the spices to the four elements through traditional symbolism and spoken pledges offered by several of our closest friends. We got so many compliments on our spice ceremony – all of our guests recognized how much of us was in it, and we never would have gotten there without her insight and creativity in putting it all together.
She also officiated our legal ceremony and was warm, down-to-earth, and genuine with a healthy sense of humor – our nearest and dearest who attended had so many kind words afterward. She made everyone feel calm and welcome and was so excited for us that it just felt like having another member of the family there!
Afterward she followed up with an email giving us tracking info for our marriage license, and provided links and instructions for handling my name change, which was super-helpful.
April clearly loves what she does, and it makes all the difference. I would recommend her to anyone looking to do something truly special for your wedding!by Christine C
The most fabulous part of our wedding was the ceremony. April was so easy to work with and made if a fabulous day! She helped us create the ceremony and it was so personalized to be exactly what we wanted it to be. I highly recommend April.
by Nicole & Jose L
Pastor April was amazing! she came ON TIME, set up during the rehearsal and walked us through everything before the ceremony began. It was nice that she checked in with us before the ceremony to make sure we didn’t want to change anything last minute (I GREATLY appreciated this because I was so nervous) Our ceremony was short and sweet, and we have nothing but great things to say of Pastor April! Thanks again!!1
By Betsey
We met with April last night to customize our wedding vows. Wow she is amazingly intuitive, informative, compassionate and a great writer. We felt comfortable and confident in her capable hands. She is friendly adorable and professional and I cant WAIT to hear the final result as we get married in April ….
Dont look any further than this woman …she is fabulous !by Beth G
I had the pleasure of witnessing Pastor April marry two of my close friends and both ceremonies were beautiful. So when it was my turn to get married there was no question who we were going to call! Within the first few minutes of sitting down with her, April had basically written our entire ceremony. She made it sound as though she had known us both for years! April is an absolute pleasure to work with and made our wedding ceremony one to remember. She is very comforting with her calming voice and beautiful words. So many of our guests complimented our ceremony. Call her!
By Andrea
April was absolutely amazing!! Our ceremony was perfect and customized to us. She was great about making sure everything went smoothly the day of and following up leading up to the big day. We feel so blessed to have had such a beautiful ceremony. Thank you so much April for everything!
Jon & Andreaby Jamie H
April was everything my husband and I wanted and more. Everyone responded so joyfully to her animated story telling and the warmth and love in her voice. She made our day incredibly special. She was beyond accommodating and professional, yet she had an aura about her that made her feel like she had been in your family for years. She truly cares for you more than just a client, which is something my husband and I loved about her. She spent the time really getting to know us as people so that she could write a truly beautiful and true ceremony. We loved her and we recommend everyone have her officiate their wedding!!
By Ryann
What can I say? We LOVE Pastor April. She was so amazing to work with and made the seemingly daunting process of creating our ceremony another memory to cherish. From our first meeting to the big day and every step in between Pastor April truly created an amazing experience for us. She has such talent and a way with words, we were blown away by what she put together simply from having a conversation with her. I look forward to working with Pastor April in the future, she is a blessing!!
by Rachael K
Pastor April was amazing! Her warmth added a special touch to our ceremony that could not have been created by anyone else. She created our ceremony exactly to our requests and we could not have asked for anything more. Thank you April for making our big day all the more special!
By Dina
Marie was amazing! She was very spiritual and made the occasion very special for my husband and I. She is very friendly, accommodating, and attentive. Great experience all around!
By Lauren
April was AMAZING. She was kind, sweet, and exactly what we were looking for. She was able to perform just the right ceremony for us (non-religious with a hint of Jewish customs to satisfy the family). We are so grateful that she was the one to marry us. Her professionalism and care shine through in her email and phone exchanges with her. She even agreed to meet with us right before the holidays in December.. in the snow, so that we could have a meet and greet with her!! She is absolutely the person you want to officiate your wedding! Matt and I can not thank you enough!!
by Lisa A
I didn’t even know I wanted to look for/book an officiant when I arrived at the Hilton bridal Showcase. I am so glad I met Pastor April because I instantly knew she was the one for us! She was sweet, open, bubbly and poured enthusiasm for what she does. She went through every step of our ceremony. We chose the “Meet” where my husband and I spoke to her in person, and she listened to our words and our stories, and on the spot, came up with some great wordings for our ceremony. Afterwards, she kept in touch via email, back and forth with editing, until I was happy, even over the phone, and she never once made it seem like she didn’t have time for me, she was always so pleasant to speak with. The day of, I was slightly stressed, and when she arrived, she calmed me down instantly just by being herself and soothing me through the process. My guests commented on her professionalism and sense of care. I would highly recommend her. Thank you, again, April.
by Jasmine I
July 18th Wedding @ Woodbury Country Club – First my husband and I would like to thank Pastor April Gismondi for such a beautiful ceremony. So many of our guests couldn’t stop talking about how much they really enjoyed the ceremony, having described it as beautiful, heart-felt and unique.
From our first meeting all the way through the edits of our vows and finally to the ceremony, Pastor April Gismondi made everything stress free and answered all of our questions along the way with ease. She has a calming and genuinely caring presence which, made our ceremony that more joyful and special for everyone. She allowed us to make the ceremony truly ours, giving us the opportunity to tell our story and journey as a couple that which was incorporated into our vows. We wanted a special ceremony, one that we could remember and cherish and we can honestly say that Pastor Gismondi exceeded our expectations.
By Ira
I can’t say enough GREAT things about Reverend April! She was amazing from the start. Even though we had only communicated via email as my husband and I were from out of town, she made the whole process run smoothly for us. She is just an amazingly sweet lady and we were fortunate enough to have her wed us. Our first meeting in person was actually the day of, and she made sure to come to the bridal suite to introduce herself and give me a heartwarming hug. Thank you so much for your amazing service. It was such a pleasure dealing with you.
by Knottie74827510
We used Pastor April as our officiant on 7-11-15. She was fantastic. She spent at least 2 hours with us the first time we met so she could customize our ceremony in the perfect way. The day the wedding she was very prompt and extremely professional. All of our family and friends thought our ceremony was truly amazing ! we couldn’t have been happier !
By Jasmine
Pastor April thank you for such an amazing and memorable sermon. You truly gave us a ceremony that we can look back on and cherish forever. From the first day we met, Pastor April was so kind and really took the time out to learn about my husband and I as individuals and as a couple. She helped us create the ceremony of our dreams. The first encounter was personable and easy going. Pastor April assured us that we could contact her with any questions without worry and she made the process stress free. She is genuinely a likable and kindhearted individual. Her smile and calming presence during the ceremony was well appreciated because she helped calm our nerves. Pastor April spoke our words of love so eloquently and with compassion. After the ceremony was completed and after the wedding was over, our friends and family couldn’t stop talking about the ceremony. They expressed feeling emotional and touched by the words spoken by Pastor April and how she conveyed the love my husband and I feel for each other. April also made the process of applying for the marriage certificate and how to change my last name by providing us with all of the links and information after our wedding. This made the process smooth and I didn’t have too many questions because of this. She also provided tracking for our marriage license which was sent out promptly after our ceremony. Pastor April, thank you so much for a wonderful and memorable ceremony, it will live in our hearts forever. —Jonathan & Jasmine
By Jamie
April was everything my Husband and I wanted and more! Everyone responded so joyfully to her animated story telling and the warmth and love in her voice. She was beyond accommodating and professional, yet she had this aura about her that made you feel like she has been in your family for years. I can’t thank her enough for making our day so special and I think everyone should have her officiate their wedding,
by Gwynn A
April was great! She was very organized and on point. She was warm and inviting and made it very easy not to be nervous when me and my groom were at the alter. All my guests said how inviting she was. I would definitely recommend her to anyone who is getting married.
By Danaya
Pastor April was simply amazing. She was always quick with responding to emails and was very patient with me. Everyone knows a bride has 101 things on her mind at one time. While I was running late, Pastor April was not lol. The ceremony was great and she gave great examples so you will have no problem arranging your ceremony.
by Knottie13381261
April was so easy to work with!! She has such a great personality and was able to improvise which we loved!! I would definitely recommend her for your wedding!! Believe me you won’t be disappointed!!
By Patty
She was AMAZING !!! She customized our ceremony to be exactly what we wanted.. She was courteous and on time ! Truly a gem !
By Alissa
Marie was our officiant this past weekend. She was so positive, efficient, calming. The ceremony was short, sweet and beautiful! Her voice has such a beautiful flowing effect and both us and our guests loved the ceremony!
by Vivian M
Marie April Gismondi was our wedding officiant 2 weeks ago at the beautiful Westbury Manor. I have to say, it wasn’t easy planning the wedding for me as we traveled all the way from Singapore and his family from the UK. And I also have to say, out of so many vendors that I worked with for my wedding while planning from overseas, she’s the easiest to work with. I first emailed her to find out her service and after numerous email exchanges, we finally called her up and our decision was made soon after we hung up the phone that she’s going to be our wedding officiant. While counting down to our big day, she and her assistant sent us a few emails to remind us about the marriage application, its process and things that we might want to take note of such as name change. The day came which I finally get to meet her in person which is also our big day. She reached the venue before us and we ran through a short rehearsal to make sure everything goes well during the ceremony. And just like her touch of words used in the book that she had prepared for us, she is all positive, sweet and made us feel completely confident and at ease with her. She is also very good with some last minute changes. I had my sister to do some language translation during the ceremony so my non-English speaking relatives could understand. She planned it with my sister a while before the actual ceremony and it went very smoothly. Our guests loved the beautiful ceremony that we had and we have to say it won’t be so without her great service. Thank you for giving us such a wonderful memorable ceremony. We couldn’t ask for more.
By User4296555
We had attended a family wedding where April officiated and really enjoyed the ceremony. So when it came time to select an officiant for our own wedding, it was a no brainer. April was so easy to work with. Her professionalism and experience made the entire process seem effortless. We really liked that she offered different options when planning your ceremony. Whether you choose to piece together something pre-written, customize it to be more personal or both, it will be wonderful. She was a great energy and everything during the ceremony was beautifully said. We received so many compliments from family and friends about how beautiful our ceremony was and it’s all thanks to April. We highly recommend you choose her to perform your wedding ceremony!
By Amanda
Pastor Marie was absolutely phenomenal! Many of our guests commented on how lovely she was and that she made it seem as if she had known us for years! we met with her one evening and she got to know us a little and asked us some questions on what type of ceremony we would like and within 24 hours she emailed me a 17 page document outlining our ceremony with specific personalized aspects as well as different choices of readings and prayers. She was very laid back and non stressing which is so important during such a stressful time. I would highly recommend her and look forward to using her services in the future for baby blessings etc.
By Nicole
Marie April Gismondi was our wedding officiant this past weekend and she exceeded our expectations. From start to finish, her energy was so positive and made us feel completely at ease- she arrived very early and made sure everything ran smoothly. Every single guest commented on what a beautiful ceremony we had and we owe it all to April! She gave us the most beautiful memories for our wonderful wedding day.
by yessenia r
I ABSOLUTELY RECOMMEND MARIE APRIL AS AN OFFICIATE.SHE IS GREAT AND IS WILLING TO HELP YOU AS A BRIDE IN EVERYTHING YOU NEED..
By User5129892
Just got married last weekend with April as our officiant and she was completely wonderful. Will start by saying that she met with us months prior to the ceremony to interview us and get a feel for the type of ceremony that we wanted to have. She wrote us a draft during this which we loved before she even asked for us to commit to having her officiate our wedding ceremony. We hired her on the spot and she was completely helpful and thorough at helping us get through our ceremony and making it very unique. Correspondence amongst us was very easy and she was readily available through all the revisions of our ceremony and vows. I had several compliments after the ceremony on how great everything was and how it was very much in tune with us and our relationship. Thanks so much April!
By David
We could not have been more happy with Pastor April. From our first meeting where she really got to know us we knew we had made the right decision. Hours later we had a complete personalized ceremony, with many options for us to choose from. She was always available for us to talk to for any questions or concerns (even with wedding issues that weren’t about her!) You can tell she wants every wedding day she is a part of to be perfect. They day of she was there early to make sure everything went smoothly. She even got a blanket from her car when she noticed my grandmother was chilly! The ceremony was amazing, just what we wanted, and we got so many compliments from everyone was perfect it and she was. We can’t recommend Pastor April enough.
by Knottie34473909
After meeting April for the first time, I became excited about my wedding ceremony. Our ceremony was fun, uplifting, and personal. I couldn’t have asked for anything more!
By User5083892
We could not have been happier with the services Rev. April provided. From our first meeting until the moment we were married, she made everything fun and easy. Our ceremony was beautiful but most importantly it was very much us. We would recommend Rev. April over and over again. She is very professional and truly a wonderful person.
By Jennifer
After meeting April for the first time, I became excited about my wedding ceremony. Our ceremony was fun, uplifting, and personal. I couldn’t have asked for anything more!