About this vendor
At Joy-Filled Ceremonies, I am passionate about creating great love stories! I will help create a wedding that is:
A joy-filled occasion.
A special day with a ceremony embracing the essence of your love story and an event to be witnessed by family and friends that no one will forget.
A memory to cherish for years to come as you look back the wedding day.
I am an interfaith minister offering all types of ceremonies such as:
Spiritual Wedding Ceremonies: I marry couples of all spiritual beliefs.
Religious Wedding Ceremonies: I incorporate specific religious elements in your ceremony.
Secular Wedding Ceremonies: I create a ceremony focused on you and your specific love story,
All couples are welcome: traditional, LGBT, all faiths, all ethnic backgrounds and all sexual orientations.
Details
Business Attributes
- Woman-owned Business
Ceremony Types
- Civil Union
- Commitment Ceremony
- Elopement
- Interfaith Ceremony
- Non-Religious Ceremony
- Religious Ceremony
Religious Affiliations
- Baha'i Faith
- Buddhist
- Christian
- Catholic
- Mormon
- Orthodox
Wedding Activities
- Premarital Counseling
- Wedding
- Ceremony
Awards and Affiliations
5-Time 'Best of Weddings'
2026.2025.2023.+2 more.
Best of Weddings
The Knot independently assesses vendors for this award—it’s never self-reported. We base it on firsthand experiences from real couples and guests, and they must have a 4.5-star average across 7+ reviews in the qualifying year.
Hall of Fame
Earned by winning 'Best of Weddings' four or more times.
Reviews
Your trust is our goal. Our community relies on honest reviews to help
you make those big decisions with ease.
5
out of 5.083 reviews
Review photos
Showing slide number 1 out of 2
We chose Ann to be the officiant at our wedding and we could not be happier with our decision. From our first meeting, through the entire process, to the ceremony yesterday, she w...
as gracious, answered all our questions and made everything so easy!
We absolutely loved how our 'love story' was put together and several of our guests commented so positively about it during dinner.
She's wonderful and deserves a rating beyond 5 stars!!!
Ann was an Amazing Officiant, the story she puts together creates such a special moment and really allows everyone to be involved with your special day! I have people come up to m...
e after the wedding and tell me how much they enjoyed the ceremony and how they had never experienced a ceremony like Ann provides! I will always recommend Ann to anyone you will not be disappointed!
We are so grateful to Ann for officiating our wedding on June 30, 2026. It was not an easy task - to unite in marriage a Ukrainian-American bride and Scottish groom in the iItalian...
setting in North Carolina. We wanted to incorporate so many details and traditions from our cultures and have a marriage license signing ceremony as well, and hand fasting, and Ukrainian embroidered towel tradition, and wows, and love story, and bag pipers, and so much more. From the very beginning it was clear, that Ann is the one. She guided us down the path to prepare for our marriage, sharing her joyful and cheerful guidance, and helping us coordinate our day of wedding and official ceremony. We loved her warm cheer, engaging personality, kind and caring nature, her can-do attitude, and the joy she radiates.❤ Imagine someone officiating the wedding and incorporating Scottish 🏴and 🇺🇦Ukrainian traditions into an 🇺🇸American wedding taking place in an Italian 🇮🇹setting. But she said Yes to us on April 28 and made us so happy!
Ann said she would stay with us for a cocktail hour too to meet and talk to our guests, and made them so happy to. She is now a dearly loved special person in our life who made our marriage so meaningful and so joyful.
She performs Celtic/Scottish-style ceremonies handfasting, medieval-style ceremonies, castle weddings, and has experience with bagpipers and kilts! We definitely needed someone with that level of experience.
Me, the bride, Nataliia, met Ann during one of the Bridal Expos in Raleigh 3 years ago (before I met James) while modeling as a bride wearing a wedding gown by a Ukrainian designer. I saved Ann's card for future. Who would imagine that that business card would set in motion a thought on my mind, ' What if one day, I will need a wedding officiant too?" First, there was a dream, as the saying is going.
I cannot overstate how wonderful it was working with Ann!! She took out all of the guesswork out of it for us and provided so much guidance.
She was very helpful, kind, and profe...
ssional. Not to mention she was so easy to communicate with and flexible with her scheduling.
She really listened during our meetings and we felt so heard during our actual ceremony. The love story was so adorable and heartfelt - I highly recommend it!
We cannot recommend Ann enough!
My Husband and I just got married at the Fearrington in Pittsboro, NC (March 2026) and Ann was great! Our families loved the ceremony and Ann was easy to reach, professional, and m...
anaged our requests quick and easy. She did an amazing job as our wedding minister and highly suggest to anyone looking.
Ann is wonderful to work with and told our story in such a heartfelt way.
Ann McKenzie was wonderful to work with and made our wedding ceremony feel meaningful, calm, and beautifully personal. From the start, she was professional, organized, and easy to ...
communicate with, which made the entire process stress free. On the wedding day, everything flowed seamlessly and her presence helped set a warm and sincere tone for the ceremony.
We also appreciated how attentive she was behind the scenes, including promptly mailing our marriage license and keeping us informed throughout the process. Ann was a pleasure to work with, and we would happily recommend her to other couples looking for a thoughtful and reliable officiant.
Ann is the best. Everything went perfectly. We have used Ann for 2 weddings now. She is our go to. We totally recommend.
Ann was truly wonderful! She created a beautiful, heartfelt ceremony that felt completely personal to us. Throughout the entire process, she was incredibly thorough and kept us wel...
l informed every step of the way. Her guidance during the rehearsal was invaluable, helping everything run smoothly and putting everyone at ease. We couldn’t have chosen a better officiant and are so thankful for her kindness, professionalism, and warmth. We highly recommend Ann to any couple!
Highly recommend Ann to serve as an officiant for your wedding! There are so many possible options when searching for officiants, but we were so happy when we decided that Ann woul...
d be the best fit for us. She was always in touch for whatever questions we had while prepping for the wedding. She did such a phenomenal job both writing and officiating our ceremony in November to share our love story. Her ability to personalize the wedding ceremony content to us helped make all of our guests feel extremely connected during the ceremony.
We were so fortunate to have Ann McKenzie as our officiant! As a first-time bride, I didn’t know where to start, but Ann guided me through the entire process with patience, warmth,...
and professionalism. She provided wonderful options to personalize our ceremony script, which made everything feel authentic and meaningful.
Ann’s calm, genuine presence helped me feel completely at ease, and her beautifully delivered ceremony was everything we hoped for — heartfelt, personal, and full of love. Our guests couldn’t stop talking about how special it was!
We can’t recommend Ann McKenzie enough to anyone looking for an officiant who makes the planning process smooth and the ceremony unforgettable.
— The new Brandon and Amber Alford
Ann created a beautiful and meaningful ceremony for my husband and I on our big day. She is very welcoming and patient, which made us feel at ease during our ceremony. She wrote a ...
beautiful ceremony for us and included special details to incorporate our values and our family. The process was seamless from start to finish. She helps guide you on obtaining your license, certificate, and name change as well. Ann makes the extra effort to get to know her couples before performing their ceremonies. This made our ceremony so meaningful to us. We highly recommend her if you are looking for an officiant!
We’re so glad we chose Ann to officiate our wedding! She was such a joy to work with and had a really unique, personal approach that made our ceremony feel special and true to us. ...
We especially loved how she helped us share what we’d written about each other on the day of. It made the ceremony engaging and meaningful for both us and our guests. We can’t recommend her enough!
We had a great time working with Ann! She took the time to meet with us as a couple and ask questions about us, how we met, and what we love about each other. She was able to weave...
our love story into the vows, making it memorable and special. We felt that the ceremony was personal to us both, making it the best way to start our marriage. We are so grateful!
Ann was the perfect choice for our wedding. From the beginning she was extremely easy to communicate with and always very responsive and professional. The quality of service was ...
top tier, she was always checking in to keep us on track and make sure we were satisfied with what she was planning for our ceremony. The ceremony went off without a hitch and w were smiling and laughing the whole time. We are so grateful and thankful that we chose Ann for our special day.
It was a pleasure working with Ann Mckenzie for our wedding. She is very attentive, responsive, and is an overall very sweet person to be around. We loved her style of writing and ...
we got a lot of compliments about the ceremony. We couldn't have done it without Ann Mckenzie!
We couldn't have asked for a better officiant than Ann for our wedding! From the moment we met her, she brought warmth, professionalism, and a genuine passion for making our ceremo...
ny memorable. Ann took the time to get to know us as a couple, understanding our unique story and personal values, and she crafted a ceremony that was heartfelt, eloquent, and perfectly tailored to us.
Fabulous intimate ceremony
It was an absolute delight to have worked with Ann in planning our wedding ceremony & to have her officiate. We could not have been happier!
Ann offere...
d numerous ceremony and vow options which made personalizing our intimate ceremony truly ours.
Ann is responsive, warm, friendly and professional, with a radiant smile, which puts everyone at ease. We highly recommend her!
Ann is an absolutely fantastic officiant and made our special day so incredibly smooth and simple! She communicated with us throughout the process and gave us reminders of what nee...
ded to be done when. She fit both of our needs and wants into the ceremony without making it too secular or too religious.
On our day, she arrived early and went over all of the relevant people and everything with extreme detail. She helped create an amazing ceremony that we absolutely loved. We would absolutely recommend her!
We couldn't be happier with the experience we had with Ann as our wedding officiant. From the very beginning, she took the time to get to know us and our love story, incorporating ...
those special details into a beautiful and personalized ceremony. It felt like a true reflection of our journey together, making the moment incredibly meaningful for us and our guests. At the ceremony's conclusion, Ann executed my idea to stage a second 'first kiss' for a photo opportunity seamlessly, which allowed our photographer to capture the perfect shot.
Ann's professionalism, warmth, and attention to detail made our wedding day seamless and unforgettable. We are so grateful for her exceptional service and for helping to create memories we will cherish forever.
Ann was great. She set the tone for our ceremony, and she conveyed our story with love and humor.
Ann was an amazing wedding officiant - she truly helped make our wedding day absolutely perfect! From start to finish, we feel so fortunate that we found Ann to officiate our weddi...
ng. She made us feel so comfortable and at ease as we got to know her during the planning process. She was very organized and make sure we had all of the pieces necessary together for the ceremony (shared timeline and details for getting our marriage certificate and was clear about how to help her prepare for the ceremony). She made the ceremony match what we wanted - we had the ability to choose what we wanted to include in the ceremony and she also provided us with many great options we wouldn't have thought of on our own. Leading up to the wedding, she captured our love story perfectly and prepared an amazing ceremony. The weekend of the wedding, she made us (and our families) feel calm and relaxed at the rehearsal. The day of the wedding, everything went as planned and she handled everything with our marriage certificate. She even shared details on how I could change my name. Our friends and family shared the best feedback about our ceremony - it was unique, special and helped everyone learn more about our love story. I couldn't recommend Ann enough! Thank you for making our special day that much more wonderful!
Ann is an amazing officiant and I highly recommend her! She did a really great job at our wedding. The ceremony felt heart warming and intimate. We got many compliments! Thank you ...
Ann :)
Loved working with Ann! She definitely kept the nerves at ease during the ceremony and made our love story so personal. Definitely recommend.
Ann is an incredible public speaker and business woman. She made sure my husband and I completed all wedding prep work, recommended some beautiful ceremony components, and wrote a ...
beautiful speech explaining our lives.
In addition to being an incredible officiant, her prices are great, and her flexibility unbeatable. I cannot recommend Ann enough.
Ann McKenzie was great to work with! She cam recommended by our venue, and we can see why! She was extremely communicative and responsive via email, and she allowed us to write rea...
lly personal vows/ a unique love story to us that she told at our ceremony. Several guests commented how great the ceremony was and how more people should be doing it this way!
Ann did a wonderful job communicating with us, and making helpful suggestions for the practice and ceremony.
Ann is a true professional. From the first meeting with Ann, we knew she was the one for us! We have heard from so many of our guests how lovely our love story was told during our ...
ceremony. Ann takes the time to ask important questions and provides thorough follow-up so you know what to expect from start to finish. She has a unique way of delivering traditional information with a personalized touch. She will work with you one-on-one to craft your story. You will get chance to review it ahead of time.
We highly recommend her! Ann, thank you for leading us through our wedding day!
Ann was amazing! She took the time to really get to know us as a couple and her personalized ceremony was perfect! We received such positive feedback from our guest on how much the...
y loved Ann's unique style of officiating!
We could not be happier with all of the ways Ann made our day perfect. She brings energy and passion but in a way that puts everyone at ease. How? It's all genuine, it is immedi...
ately apparent that she loves her work and bringing joy to others and she is a natural at it. We can not sing her praises enough. Not only did she create the perfect ceremony but her efforts along the way let us come into our wedding day knowing that no matter what came our way, Ann would would guide us to joy.
Ann has the most joyous personality! She will provide you with a memorable as well as. valued service
Ann was absolutely wonderful in helping us craft our perfect interfaith ceremony - cannot recommend her strongly enough for a respectful, joy-filled, and lovely ceremony.
Ann was a fantastic officiant for my wife and I! She kept the guests smiling and attentive during the ceremony and we loved the way she began our ceremony with a love story. She ma...
de sure we were both calm and comfortable the day of the wedding and we will never forget how special she made us feel. Ann was a perfect personality fit for our wedding ceremony!
We are so lucky we found Ann for our ceremony. We were new to the area, and she was so helpful in recommending a photographer and location, both of which ended up being perfect. Sh...
e conducted our secular ceremony beautifully, and was really great to work with.
Ann officiated our wedding this October and it was perfect. The several weeks and months leading up to our wedding she was extremely communicative and let us review what she would ...
be saying well in advance, which we appreciated because it was so personalized, thoughtful, and proactive as we were so busy the week leading up to the wedding. She walked the bridal party and us thoroughly during the rehearsal, and even spoke to us beforehand about what we wanted her to wear, which I thought was a nice gesture. During the ceremony, she made all of our loved ones laugh and cry and kept them engaged throughout, and we received so many compliments from our bridal party and guests about how engaging, kind, and great speaker Ann was. We highly recommend Ann!
Ann is kind and knowledgeable. She provided the guidance we needed, making our special day that much more meaningful. She captured and shared our “love story”, which all our guests...
enjoyed. We are so happy we found her and you will be too!
Ann was available to us super last minute and made time to officiate our wedding even though she had to go out of town the same day! Ann accommodated our desires for wording durin...
g our ceremony and was quick to get us everything that we need. We really had a great experience on our wedding day!
Ann was a phenomenal choice for officiating our wedding! Our ceremony was absolutely perfect, and we couldn’t have imagined it with anyone else. She set the best tone for the rest ...
of the night. She did a great job bringing our love story alive to our guests and we will remember it forever!
Ann was amazing to work with. She spent time getting to know Martinique and I every time we met with her. Kept us updated and on schedule throughout the weeks prior and put us at e...
ase of stress on our wedding day. She did a phenomenal job telling our love story as part of our ceremony, got some tears and laughs out of the guests. Would highly recommend Ann to anyone!
Ann was great - flexible, open-minded, and accommodating. The ceremony can be personalized down to the littlest details, but she gives ideas and suggestions (and lets you know what...
is legally required) along the way. The "love story" was very cute and fun to reflect on. She sent my fiance and I each our own survey to fill out with our own perspectives on our relationship, and it turned out so cute and fun. Very "us" as our guests said! Ann was always on time, friendly, and excited to be there with us at the rehearsal and around the ceremony date. She had a great energy. I highly suggest her to anyone looking for someone in the Triangle area!
Ann was amazing and my husband and I are so glad we found her. She was very personable and gave our marriage ceremony a really special event, just as I had hoped. Ann was very acco...
mmodating with changing plans and all our specific requests.
Highly recommended.
Thank you Ann!
Ann was a delight the moment we spoke to her on a zoom call. Her personality, mannerisms, everything was so pleasant. Her take on a wedding ceremony was unique and interesting. She...
was always helpful and supportive when we had questions. Many of my wedding guests complimented the ceremony and stated if was a breath of fresh air. Our experience with her was great.
Ann delivered an excellent ceremony for us. She will incorporate your own personal journey as a couple into the ceremony, and can personalize to your liking! Faith elements can be ...
incorporated or omitted. We highly recommend Ann!
Beautiful, personalized ceremony that included our personality. She helped with everything that I didn't even know to think of... Always an e-mail, phone call, or video chat away ...
with ANY questions in the planning and day-of process. Would recommend to any and all looking for a FLAWLESS officiant.
Ann was amazing to work with. We found her pretty last minute and even though she already had a wedding booked that day, she still worked to fit us in and make our day special. She...
had some amazing recommendations and was super easy to work and communicate with. Ann created a personable ceremony that was filled with love.
Ann did a wonderful job as our officiant at our wedding! She spent a lot of time getting our love story right and told it in a funny and loving way. We were so lucky to have had he...
r there on our special day!
Ann married us in 2020 in a small ceremony with just our immediate family, as COVID postponed our big wedding. She worked closely with us for almost 2 years to make sure we had th...
e perfect ceremony when our families could finally come together this year. Ann created a beautiful and personal ceremony for our 11.7.21 wedding, telling our love story and highlighting our 1 year anniversary. We could not have asked for a better officiant for both of our weddings.
Ann was very easy to work with, and she could tell quickly that we wanted a standard, no frills ceremony with simple vows. She was very professional both during the planning stage ...
and at the ceremony. Would recommend.
We wanted to incorporate a lot of different elements into our wedding and Ann designed and personalized the perfectly unique ceremony for us. As a second marriage, she helped us ...
to incorporate our adult children along with extended family and longtime friends into the celebration. She personalized our love story to give guests an idea of how we came to be together and how we felt about each other. And she seamlessly incorporated our desire for a traditional Celtic handfasting ceremony along with a Star Wars-inspired light saber arch recessional. She was professional and kept nerves calm when last minute weather changed our outdoor garden wedding plans. It was a weekend and ceremony that we will remember forever!
She was extremely friendly and understanding with what my fiancé and I wanted our ceremony to be like. She provided us with the perfect ceremony. She was also so understanding. We ...
had to change dates because of COVID and she did everything she could to accommodate us, and other couples who had to also postpone their wedding. I highly recommend her, she will truly make sure your day is extra special.
Contact
915 Northwoods Dr, Cary, NC | NC
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