James Simmons with Austin area weddings was our officiant. I was so excited for him to be part of our wedding. We paid almost double the rate of other officials in the area because I fell in love with his wedding videos on his website. We even ...met with him the week before to get reacquainted with him to ensure we were front of mind. I had such high hopes going into our wedding day. But, unfortunately it didn’t work out.
Before our ceremony, I had panic meetings with our wedding coordinator wondering why he hadn’t arrived to the ceremony site as the wedding was beginning .
During the middle of our ceremony, he called me the wrong name. It wasn’t one of those “people probably didn’t hear it things”, because everyone heard it loud and clear and the rest of the wedding night, people either brought it up or tried to pretend like they didn’t hear it, hoping I didn’t hear it myself. Not only that, but during the wedding, he was unrehearsed and stumbled upon the other readings that he had prior to the ceremony.
When I approached him about it, he apologized and said he was doing too many weddings.
While I hope other brides that booked him have a great experience, I hope brides looking to book an officiant in the future look to other brides for their experiences and recommendations, rather than relying on reviews from the officiant themselves.