Ceremonies for Sacred Days

he heard what our words and heart said and with great ease and skill she helped us to create just that..our dream wedding! We are forever grateful to her. Anyone who is married by her or does a ceremony with her is extremely fortunate. You will find no one with a greater heart and gracious wisdom.

ideas that left, not only ourselves, but all guests SO Inspired at our wedding! She brought in a great sense of ease during the process that was felt throughout the ceremony. Shyamala is so resourceful! She has experience and knowledge of spiritual traditions that speak universally to all religions or beliefs. She is a wonderful listener and was able to extract from us what we really wished to experience in our wedding. I recommend her highly, and cannot think of a better way to get married if one wants a ceremony that reflects who they are, while being held by Shyamala's wonderful presence and energy and her Love.

ur schedules and was even willing to do all of our meetings via Skype. Our ceremony was exactly what we asked for. Beautiful and simple, but with a lot of personality! We even asked her to add in a few humorous lines here and there because we like to laugh. She was also super flexible when we asked to make changes or add/remove things from the drafts. I would highly recommend hiring Shyamala for any special occasion.

at 'rituals' we wanted to do. With Shyamala, we needn't have worried at all! She made us feel so at ease, meeting with us multiple times over coffee, which really felt like lovely chats with a dear friend! She asked illuminating questions, learned about our history as a couple and helped us zero in on what we valued about having a wedding. She offered suggestions of readings and options of rituals that other couples had done, and always always reminded us that we could make anything our own - do the ceremony in our own way. And we did. With Shyamala's support, we had a beautiful ceremony that represented us as individuals, payed homage to our shared culture, and invited family participation in a simple but meaningful way. It was an incredible ceremony that felt true-to-us, transcendent and intimate. Everything was perfect and we have Shyamala to thank!

was an important part of the special day.

d and asked all the right questions to truly evoke the essence of who we are as both individuals and now as a couple. The ceremony was well beyond what we could have asked for. It was personal, humorous, romantic and honoring. She really saw us. We highly recommend inviting Shayamala to officiate your wedding. As a second review: If there was anyone in the crowd that would have told me otherwise, it would have been my grandmother. She still talks about what a beautiful ceremony it was, and there were plenty others who were complimenting Shayamala throughout the day. We are so grateful. Thank you Shayamala for the perfect memories on our perfect day!

little about us. The day of the ceremony she met us at a park and we walked to a Redwood grove we'd selected in advance. She had composed a lovely ceremony that was personalized, and reflected the unique location we'd chosen. After the ceremony, she provided a printed copy for us to keep. She was patient and encouraging throughout the process, and respected and met our wishes precisely.

nal spot. She was not only flexible in changing the venue, she gave us the opportunity to change the day and time of the ceremony and provided several venue options to look at. We had a beautiful ceremony Shakespeare gardens. A place we out of towners never would have thought about.. Not only did she marry us on 4th of July weekend, it was also her birthday. So awesome!

for us. She is very kind hearted and sweet, but also professional at the same time. She asked us all the right questions and tailored the ceremony to our needs. I really felt like our ceremony was one of a kind and not just another cookie cutter wedding! After our first telephone conversation we set up a Skype date so that she could get to know both me and my husband and that worked out perfect for mine and his busy schedules. She also was very good with emailing us back and forth when we needed her and gave us a full draft of how it would all happen on the day of. We had never met face to face and we never rehearsed the ceremony but it all went so smooth on our wedding day I couldn't have been any happier! She even had my family raving about how wonderful and unique our ceremony was. Thank you again Shyamala for bringing me and my husband together as one on our very special day!

brilliant at what she does. We met with her via Skype, and had two very lovely initial conversations. We didn't think we had "a story" per se, but she turned our disjointed ramblings about how me met and our eleven years of adventures into a real story that could be delivered to an all ages crowd. She had lots of wonderful suggestions of rituals we hadn't heard of, and we chose the ring warming and wine and letter box rituals. She also had us each write a few funny sentences about the other one so that she could work them in and infuse some of our sense of humor and personalities into the ceremony. Shyamala put together a really beautiful ceremony for us. People kept complimenting us on it! It was personal, humorous and sincere. Look no further, Shyamala is everything you could possibly want in a wedding officiant. We can't recommend her enough!

together we wanted to be married. We wanted just a very small, intimate wedding with just the two of us - and our 3 dogs! On a warm summer morning in our tree-filled yard, Shyamala gently guided us through an incredibly personal, romantic and beautiful ceremony; we were both crying. Nothing is too big or too small for her, she was genuinely kind, engaged, responsive and professional. She is awesome. We highly recommend her.

gether we wanted to be married. We wanted just a very small, intimate wedding with just the two of us - and our 3 dogs! On a warm summer morning in our tree-filled yard, Shyamala gently guided us through an incredibly personal, romantic and beautiful ceremony; we were both crying. Nothing is too big or too small for her, she was genuinely kind, engaged, responsive and professional. She is awesome. We highly recommend her.

h our conversations she was able to create a simple ceremony that included our "how we met story" and a ring warming (we passed out our rings to the guests). Shyamala is very open to various ideas and at times, when we were not quite sure what we wanted, she gave many suggestions and examples from other ceremonies. She always responded quickly to any of our questions and she sent us drafts of the ceremony to approve. Our ceremony was wonderful, easy, and full of love. Thanks Shyamala!

lly at ease. She had great suggestions for how to structure the ceremony, and lots of ideas for how to personalize it for us. She listened carefully to the story of our relationship and crafted a beautiful ceremony that was unique to us. She also worked closely with us on incorporating some traditions we wanted to add. Overall, it was a wonderful experience, and I can't think of how it could have gone better. I highly recommend you invite Shayamala into your wedding as your officiant. You won't regret it!

e helped us narrow down what we wanted from our wedding ceremony; provided us with lots of information, examples, and feedback to get us started; and crafted an entire ceremony that reflected us as a couple and our outlook on life. Not only did she have our audience laughing and crying, but she expertly rolled with the punches when we flubbed our parts of the script. We appreciate the time and effort she put into our wedding, and despite the fact that we were just one of the weddings she was performing that day, she always made us feel like the center of her attention.

work through all of the ceremony details, learning about us and our story, giving us many ideas to help spur our own creativity. She was open and encouraging all along the way. We weren't sure how to take our ideas and make them work and flow easily through the ceremony. She had so many great suggestions for us, excellent advice based on her experience, and helped us to develop a beautiful and unique ceremony that felt just right for us. Her fees seemed reasonable to us for our custom ceremony. She met with us for about an hour, then we exchanged emails as we refined the ceremony. We highly recommend Shyamala as a caring guide and officiant. She's a special person doing what she clearly loves.

for our recent nuptials. I've been to many weddings and ceremonies are usually vanilla at best. After just two short visits with Shyamala, she was able to brew up the perfect service for us, seamlessly integrating all that we touched upon and much more. Many of our guests, including our parents, commented that the ceremony was the most touching and emotional they'd ever witnessed, and were truly appreciative of Shyamala's ability to engage the entire audience; "an international village" she noted during the ceremony. You made our day that much more special. Words cannot describe how grateful we are to have met you, but we do hope a simple thank you will suffice. Thank you Shyamala - a beautiful ceremony performed by a beautiful person!

mala at the East Bay Regional Parks wedding fair in Berkeley, and right away knew that she would be a good fit for us. She invited us to her home for an initial consultation where she asked thoughtful questions and really got to know us. A few months later, we met over Skype and she went over a few more details before sending over a draft of the ceremony. Shyamala crafted a beautiful story that incorporated the essence of us as a couple. There were so many small details that made the ceremony so special, including a nod to how we met as well as old traditions. Our family and friends were also impressed with how the ceremony unfolded. We couldn't be happier with how our wedding turned out! Thank you Shyamala!

iciant and has been a major part in our journey for about a year before the wedding. We found her online, which alway carries its own worries. However, after our initial emails and skype sessions we quickly realised that this was a warm and kind hearted woman. She has an ability to make you feel comfortable and relaxed and she finds aspects of yourself and your partner, that you never knew existed. She asked many great questions in order to get to know us better and from that she was able to draft s ceremony that was so personal and emotional. We had various rituals and readings to incorporate into the ceremony and she managed to do this with such ease. Not only did the ceremony mean something to us, but it managed to incorporate the guests as well. We have only had positive feedback about the ceremony itself and Shyamala. Shyamala has a gift, and I hope many more lucky couples get to experience this gift themselves. We could not have asked for more. We are truly lucky that we found her out of so many, and we cannot thank her enough for all she has done.

our culture together in a very unique way. It was a very unique blend. She conducted the cermony so beautifully that everyone of our guest felt so welcomed and warm. I would strongly recommend her. She is the best!! Very detail oriented and very meticulous.

true delight to work with. We ended up going with her standard ceremony instead of her personalized ceremony, but even so, her care, attention to detail, and presence at our ceremony was above and beyond - I cried nearly the whole way through.

ot to know us, what was important to us, and our life paths until the time my husband and I first met. She helped us write a very personal and meaningful wedding ceremony, and it will be something we always cherish. She can help you design a brief ceremony, or a more lengthy one. She can include all the things you wish (from pets to children to friends/family) and make the Ceremony very unique and special. She is calm, low-key, and flexible, and didn't let a microphone glitch at the Ceremony faze her in any way. I give her the highest possible rating and am certain you will be delighted with her, both as a warm, caring person and as a Wedding Officiant. Sandy wedding date 10/18/15

o contact Shyamala was the introduction video on her website - the values and approach she expressed in it really resonated with us, and we felt comfortable with her even before we got in touch. We needed plenty of guidance in creating our ceremony and vows, and Shyamala did a great job facilitating the whole process. She really did "ask all the right questions", helping her to understand who we are and where we'd been, but also helping us to get to the essence of what we wanted to express in our ceremony. She had suggestions when they were needed, and plenty of examples to inspire us. On our wedding day, our ceremony was just what we'd wanted, and Shyamala was just the person to officiate. She made everyone feel welcome and comfortable, and set just the right casual yet dignified tone. We got lots of compliments from our guests on the ceremony, and on Shyamala in particular. Thank you, Shyamala! Niels and Belen Michelsen Seattle, WA

st a friend to perform the ceremony, we decided it'd be best to get a professional officiant. My wife found Shyamala on Yelp, and after our initial meeting with her, we recognized we were in great hands. She was incredibly easy to deal with, and we appreciated her taking the time to get to know our story so she could deliver a very personal ceremony. She gave us lots of helpful advice as we planned our big day, and did a fantastic job at the actual ceremony-- the aforementioned conservative family members who originally bristled at us not getting married in a church even commented on what a nice ceremony it was! It's funny to think how much work it took to secure various vendors for the ceremony and reception. We blindly stumbled across Shyamala, but we were incredibly fortunate to have done so!

She is incredibly experienced and provided us with a beautiful outline (and practical suggestions), and she listened to us to incorporate our wishes. Her presentation at the ceremony was joyful and warm-hearted. Thank you, Shyamala!

at felt original and specific to us, all done through Skype and emails. Because of my schedule and distance we weren't able to meet in person before the wedding but that didn't concern me because she kept open and clear communication and I always knew what to expect. On the day of our wedding everything went perfectly and guests complimented her to me on her presence and beautifully written and spoken ceremony. I highly recommend Shyamala, she's clearly done this so many times that she has it down to a perfected art and it was so nice to have one less thing to worry about.

nsure of what we were looking for out of an officiant. We contacted Shyamala and a few other officiants by email and phone figuring we would talk with a handful and pick whoever most closely met our wants and needs. Shyamala quickly responded and booked a Skype call so we could meet and chat that way. We booked her and cancelled all our other calls after our first conversation. She blew us away and instantly felt like the right match for us. From there on we chatted a few times over skype and email. We were all able to get to know each other and the direction we wanted to go with the ceremony. We were sort of a blank slate as far as what we wanted but she gave tons of suggestions and options without ever being pushy. When the day came we had already gone through a few drafts of the ceremony with her and finalized the pieces we wanted to incorporate. She even kept some personal messages we wrote to each other a secret for us until the ceremony. Shyamala showed up early and was a great calming presence to have around before the ceremony. The ceremony went off without a hitch and we couldn't have been happier! After the ceremony we had a ton of compliments specifically directed at Shyamala and the wonderful job she did with our ceremony. Shyamala really helped make our day less stressful and a wonderful experience We would recommend her services to anyone in need of a wedding officiant regardless of any type of religious affiliations or lack there of.

ewish wedding ceremony performed by a Rabbi. Shyamala Littlefield helped us create the perfect script for the ceremony as a whole and hosted the first section of the ceremony. My wife and I were clear about the way we wanted our ceremony to feel for ourselves and the participants. We connected with Shyamala on the advice of a friend. My wife was enthusiastic about Shyamala because she had been to a wedding that Shyamala had officiated. Before speaking with Shyamala my wife and I had drafted an outline of the sequence for the ceremony that we were considering and we sent it to Shyamala prior to our first call. Shyamala recommended that we connect with her via SKYPE which was a great suggestion because it was more intimate than a phone call would have been. During that first SKYPE connection Shyamala really took the time to get to know us as a couple. We could feel her enthusiasm for love and how it brings people together and transforms their lives. We knew that she would help us make our vision a reality. In the months that we worked together refining the script, Shyamala added many beautiful touches that we hadn't even considered; for example a ring warming ceremony, retelling the story of how we met and more. We left each call with her feeling more in love with each other and more inspired to share the ceremony we were creating. The day of the rehearsal she led the run thru and noted points where we needed to refine things. This was another unexpected benefit of working with someone who does this professionally. We felt completely at ease and let her guide us and our wedding party thru the process. The day of our wedding the ceremony flowed smoothly and Shyamala put her heart into delivering the script. Her attention to detail created a beautiful ceremony that moved our friends and family. Shyamala's joy for celebrating love is infectious and inspiring. We love Shyamala and would recommend her by far. If your in love and looking to celebrate your love with someone who is pure love- choose Shyamala!

and promptly emailed me all the information I needed. She gave me an extremely helpful outline for the direction of the ceremony, multiple reading that could be included, suggestions for special events during the service, etc. During all this, she was more than willing to do all the planning over the phone since we were planning from across the country. During our first telephone meeting, she spent time getting to know my husband and I, hearing our love story, and listening to our desires for the ceremony. We then walked through a tentative timeline and what we wanted included. Over the next few months, we communicated about things I wanted added or subtracted from the ceremony. A few weeks prior to the ceremony, she sent us the entire ceremony and what was going to be said. This was perfect because there would be no surprises! On the day of the wedding, I met Shyamala for the first time. She arrived with more than enough time, looked very professional, and went out of her way to introduce herself to my husband and me. The ceremony could not have gone more smoothly. In fact, many of our guests later came up and said what a great officiant we had that day. Thank you to Shyamala for being such a big part of our special day!

y are not that serious about either. That being said we wanted someone who would A. Marry us out doors B. Help us say our vows in a way that would include all of our family vales (including some religion) When we found Shaymala she hit the nail on the head!! Our ceremony was perfect just as we wanted it, families and friends were all included. His parents said a prayer one of our groomsman said a poem about a Tree. It was all together perfect, Shayamala was professional and compassionate at the same time. We strongly recommend Shayamala Littlefield to anyone in need of a Officiant, for the wedding style they want.

left with sentimental memories for a lifetime. Thank you Shyamala. - CD and Kara

o answer one of them. My (now husband) and I were immediately struck by her calm demeanor, her depth of presence, and her desire to really connect with the two of us and know our story and who we are as a couple. My husband is an aetheist and I'm "spiritual but not religious" and Shyamala did an excellent job finding common ground for us both in the ceremony. We had two meetings with her over tea at her lovely home, where we went over the details of the wedding, the structure, our story, any any other rituals we wanted to add. We had our readers send their material to her (but keep it a secret from us), and she communicated with them directly to keep the wedding day a bit of a surprise. One of the most fantastic things was that she sent us a complete write-up of the ceremony a couple weeks before the wedding, which we went over, gave comments, and then sent back. Almost all of it felt so spot on in the first go--we were really touched and impressed. Finally, the day of she was just fantastic. We got so many compliments on her way of speaking, her warmth, the way she spoke about us during the ceremony...it was so incredibly intimate. We are SO happy we had Shyamala as our officiant and HIGHLY recommend her.

o describe and would be different for different people, but we just got the exact right vibe and energy from her immediately. Searching for a wedding officiant was an odd, uncomfortable thing because all the officiants we "interviewed" asked us important but very personal questions —How did we meet? When did we first fall in love? And it was often an awkward experience sharing that information with someone you just met. But with Shyamala, we simply felt like it was so easy to share that kind of information with her. We wanted to tell her. And she genuinely seemed interested. The process of writing the ceremony material was very straight-forward and simple. Shyamala emailed us a packet containing all sorts of ideas and information such as sample rituals and poems, and descriptions of things to include like "Referencing the location" and "Honoring our parents." From that packet, we sat down on our own time and highlighted what we liked and created an outline of the material with our specific story in it. Then we met with Shyamala once in person where we went over the outline and she asked us more questions and we all brainstormed together over coffee. Then about a month or so later she sent us a written draft of the ceremony, which was pretty much perfect already. We only had to tweak some minor details pertaining to our specific stories. So we gave her those edits and then we saw her again the day of the wedding. And that was that! Shyamala was easy to work with and had such a calming, loving energy about her. She got a number of compliments from our guests, and was willing to work with our budget. We had a non-denominational ceremony and she truly respected that (as opposed to some other officiants we researched who said they would perform a non-denominational ceremony but the sample ceremonies they provided were, in fact, religious). We would definitely recommend her for anyone else's wedding ceremony.

looking for someone who could combine both of our backgrounds without sacrificing tradition. Shyamala went above and beyond in helping us plan our ceremony, and the best part of all is that in the process we ended up with a beautiful and unique wedding that captured the true essence of what it means to become one. We can not recommend Shyamala highly enough. -James &TJ

ed by Shyamala from the start and we were not disappointed. From our first phone call we knew we had found a special person to marry us. Shyamala is so easy to work with. She wants you to be happy and she wants the ceremony to be "yours". We did all of our planning via phone and email and I was surprised how well it worked out. Shyamala is wonderful, loving person and a true professional. She made our special day a day to remember for always. We felt like we were married by a very close friend.

r dining room table, facing our direction, before we even sat down. She was open to our ideas and wanted to do anything she could to make our day extra special, including our request to change the wording of the traditional parts to better suit us, since we were two brides. Closer to the wedding date, Shyamala wanted to get to know us better so she set up a telephone visit. She was genuinely interested in our whole love story, and wanted to use what she learned about us to write up a draft of our ceremony. We had the opportunity to review it and she made us comfortable with making any changes we'd like. On the wedding day, she arrived early, had a calming presence, was very reassuring for us nervous brides, and she did a WONDERFUL job! We had emailed her our vows separately (to keep them a surprise to each other), and she had them printed out on thick cardstock (which helped disguise our shaky hands), and with large font (to be easier to read especially through the tears welling up), and our vows were neatly stowed away for easy access in Shyamala's binder. Bottom line: we had no doubts about Shyamala and her abilities, and she lived up to our high expectations. She was wonderful and I can't say enough good things about her. I would recommend her to ANYONE looking for an officiant.

fered to meet with us, however due to our busy schedules we chose the option to meet via a video call. We had an initial great conversation and hired her during that call. Since we had little time to create our ceremony and vows, Shymala provided us with many great examples as a guide. We actually did not meet her in person until that day and really felt confident and trusting that she was the best choice. Shyamala provided a relaxed atmosphere and the end result was a beautiful ceremony with many compliments from family on how fun and warm our wedding was. This is all thanks to Shymala for helping us create it just as we pictured it.

e did NOT want this to happen to us!!! We wanted an officiant who was articulate and down to earth, and who had had experience officiating gay weddings. We wanted some one who would put us at ease and make us feel comfortable, especially since our families were not 100% accepting of our union. We met Shyamala at her home in the east bay and her extremely warm and friendly demeanor made us feel so calm and in good hands. We hired her on the spot! Shyamala is totally flexible and is able to incorporate any and all sorts of faiths, customs, or rituals that you may want to incorporate in your ceremony. She is really a blank slate and can mold to whatever you want! We wanted something super short and sweet and simple, and Shyamala gave us a big packet of readings and options to consider which was really nice. We then took a couple months to think about and brainstorm what we wanted to say and do. During this time, we developed some pretty intense stage fright,and just couldn't fathom reading these super private vows to each other in front of everyone. This was no big deal, and Shymala was totally happy to do most of the talking! I sent her a Word doc of random quotes, passages,bullet points, and keywords that I liked and I kid you not in return she sent me the PERFECT ceremony!! She took all the fragmented elements we loved and wove them into a beautiful script!! I cried the first time I read it. I seriously only edited two words! To work around our stage fright, Shyamala asked us our vows as questions and we responded together. Our ceremony was all about US, and it was so clear to all the guests that this was not a cookie cutter ceremony but a very personalized celebration all about our relationship, story, values, and future together. We did a rehearsal with Shyamala which I highly recommend. This also quieted our anxieties about where to step and walk etc. Our wedding ceremony was PERFECT and gorgeous and Shyamala didn't make one mistake! She even wore a scarf that coordinated with our colors! We got so many compliments on our ceremony and vows, from all guests, young and old! Some friends even remarked that our ceremony reminded them of the reasons they got married! I am so pleased with how our ceremony turned out and really happy I went with my gut and hired some one that made us feel at ease and had excellent energy. We didn't die of stage fright thanks to Shyamala's flexibility and calm demeanor. Hire Shyamala, you won't be disappointed!

with her, my husband and I both knew she was the person we wanted. She was warm, attentive and we just got a really postive vibe from her. We chose the most basic and shortest ceremony package she offered, but she made our ceremony feel so personalized and it was anything, but basic. I had guests during my reception tell me how good she was. I was so happy that I found her.

rit. We feel fortunate to have met her and honored that she officiated our wedding.

and confident that she would be the right person to marry us. Shyamala listened to each critical and special detail of our story, and then crafted the most touching, heart-felt wedding statement which far exceeded our expectations. Shyamala is incredibly articulate, and possesses incredible social intelligence. Every word that was spoken during our ceremony was crystal clear and our guests are still passing compliments on the beauty of her statements two weeks later! Consider yourself lucky to have Shyamala as your officiant, and consider it a blessing to have her as a friend. Thank you again! -Scott & Chanel Ullrich

hyamala was patient and gracious, while we figured out ourselves out and in the end the ceremony was everything we could have hoped for. Shyamala has the authoritative presence and gravitas to make even a non-religious ceremony feel sacred. Highly recommend her. Lovely person!

is extremely warm and welcoming, and made my husband and I feel instantly at ease both when we spoke with her on the phone and in person (she served us tea and cookies in her lovely home in one of our initial "get to know each other" meetings). She did a beautiful and thoughtful job with the ceremony script, and was very responsive and accommodating to the few changes we wanted to make to the initial draft. Her presence at the ceremony itself made the wedding that much more special, because we both felt so comfortable with her and appreciated her true joy for us and enthusiasm for bringing couples together as an officiant.

s and even provided her home as a venue. She is a warm and welcoming person with a very rich past so she can offer a deep experience to an exciting day.