Cherise was actually recommended to us by another officiant we reached out to on Wedding Wire, who wasn't available for our date. Initially, my uncle was going to be our officiant (he's a pastor), but he couldn't travel to Seattle, WA. So we di...d what a lot of other couples do, and we turned to Wedding Wire and The Knot for a list of officiants. We reached out to a handful that we liked and met with a few, but hands down, Cherise was by far the coolest, the most caring, understanding, communicative, and helpful. She genuinely wanted to get to know us and felt like this bright, warm, knowledgeable, and funny friend we'd known for years. After our consultation, we didn't even want to meet with anyone else (lol). We did, but it was unanimously clear she was the best choice. We're so glad we did too. She was helpful every step of the way, easing our fears, and confusion around how ceremonies are "supposed to go." She really wanted to tell our love story and make it a cool, modern, and relaxed ceremony. It wasn't stuffy (I did not want a stuffy ceremony), and it wasn't dragged on (I did not want a 45-minute ceremony; honestly, ours was probably 15 minutes, and it was perfect, especially because half of our guests had to sit in the hot sun). She also attended our rehearsal and helped us navigate that really well. She's VERY experienced and very fun to work with. We didn't want a very religious ceremony, but we weren't anti-religion either, so she kept it right in that sweet spot where it didn't offend ANYBODY. I even wrote her a message about some of the things I wanted her to say, and she said it verbatim. I thanked her for that, and she said, "If a couple tells me something they want said, I'm not going to change it thinking I can write it better than them." It was perfect. She added her own words to the ceremony as well that fit just right. She stepped out of the way before pronouncing us husband and wife, so she wasn't in the photo for the first kiss too. We got several compliments on her as our officiant (and my friends and family have no problems telling me how they really feel about something). She did a great job, and I definitely recommend her if you want the kind of ceremony we did. Thank you again, Cherise. Hopefully, we will work together on a different wedding soon (we're musicians [we co-run The Afterparty Band in Seattle], so we perform for a lot of weddings). :-)
~Tristin and Jeff Heiser