About this vendor
BreakingOpen LLC is a business based out of Seattle, WA, that specializes in wedding officiant services. Ordained Reform Rabbi C.B. Souther has more than a decade of experience working with couples preparing for milestone celebrations.
The importance of the ceremony itself can get lost amidst all of the event-planning details of a wedding. Working with C.B. offers each couple the opportunity to spend time creating a ceremony that is not merely a moment in the event, but an event in and of itself; reminding you what this day is truly all about.
C.B. delights in creating bespoke ceremonies for to-be-weds from all walks of life and backgrounds. This officiant offers personalized services for Jewish couples, as well as those who identify as interfaith, non-religious, spiritual, or anything in between. C.B. recognizes that each union is unique and will work with couples to curate heartfelt ceremonies that reflect their individual love stories.
BreakingOpen LLC is dedicated to designing milestone moments that celebrate the life that to-be-weds have together. To thoughtfully accomplish this, C.B. offers various wedding-related services. They would be happy to help you write vows, though they also welcome you and your partner to create your own. Before your event, C.B. can provide premarital counseling to strengthen your bond before stepping into a new chapter together. This Rabbi is also available for vow renewal ceremonies.
Details
Business Attributes
- LGBTQ+-owned Business
- Woman-owned Business
Ceremony Types
- Civil Union
- Commitment Ceremony
- Elopement
- Interfaith Ceremony
- Non-Religious Ceremony
- Religious Ceremony
Religious Affiliations
- Jewish
- Reform
- Secular
- Spiritual
Wedding Activities
- After The Wedding
- Newlywed Life
- Getting Engaged
- Premarital Counseling
- Wedding
- Ceremony
Awards and Affiliations
2023 'Best of Weddings'
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.
Reviews
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5
out of 5.012 reviews
Rabbi CB was an absolute pleasure to work with. They brought such a warm and lovely presence to the ceremony, creating a meaningful and heartfelt experience for everyone. Thanks fo...
r all your hard work, until the next celebration.
I'm a wedding planner who had the great pleasure of working with CB back in June of 2024. They were punctual, professional, and flexible with all of the happenings of the wedding d...
ay. My clients that hired them only had positive things to say from their perspective as well! As a queer couple it was incredibly important to them to feel seen, supported, and celebrated on their wedding day and CB exceeded expectations. I look forward to working with them again!
I am a Seattle-based wedding planner who recently worked with C.B., who supported a Jewish ceremony at a destination wedding on Whidbey Island. My couple was so enthusiastic to fin...
d them and I came to share that enthusiasm very quickly. C.B. is a great communicator who brings the right amount of openness and direction to the ceremony creation process. They were receptive to the role religion and culture played in my couple's life and created a ceremony that was inclusive, accessible, and sentimental to all in attendance. In the weeks leading up to the celebration, they connected with my couple 1:1 for a grounding consultation to walk through the mechanics of the ceremony and ensure it felt like the perfect fit. On the day of the event, C.B. took their time to explain, modernize, and personalize ancient religious and cultural traditions. The ceremony was beautiful and imbued with meaning--it could not have gone more perfectly. Not to mention, C.B. was a delight to spend time with! I look forward to heartily recommending C.B. to future couples and can't wait to work with them again.
Rabbi Souther was a great officiant, from start to finish. They took the time to get to know us as individuals and as a couple through several meetings, which directly informed bo...
th the ceremony and their remarks. They made us feel at ease as an interfaith couple wanting a Jewish wedding (on a Saturday, no less!), and walked us and our guests through the ceremony by explaining each aspect in an accessible way. Everything day-of went smoothly, and many of our guests went out of their way to compliment Rabbi Souther. We would recommend them to any couple!
Working with Rabbi Souther was, hands down, one of the best decisions we made while preparing for our wedding celebration. In the weeks and months leading up to our wedding, pre-ma...
rital counseling sessions with Rabbi Souther offered invaluable opportunities to pause, reflect, and feel grounded in our partnership despite the flurry of wedding planning details and decisions. When we needed support in personalizing the rituals we brought into our ceremony, Rabbi Souther brainstormed with us about different options and then shared online resources we could consider as we finalized our decisions. When discussing our “day of” logistics, Rabbi Souther encouraged us to carve out time for just the two of us to be together at various points throughout the day – these little windows of one-on-one time ended up being some of our favorite memories from the celebration as a whole. When Rabbi Souther spoke at our wedding, they drew on our conversations from throughout the planning process to create a beautifully personalized ceremony. Rabbi Souther’s calming nature allowed us to actually feel present in the moment during and after our ceremony. They truly exceeded our every hope, making us and our loved ones feel comfortable, inspired, and grounded throughout the wedding rituals. Since we had an interfaith wedding, it was important to us that everyone understand what we were doing and why throughout the ceremony, and Rabbi Souther did a truly artful job of providing that context.
As a professional, Rabbi Souther was extremely communicative, while also being flexible and adaptable when we needed to reschedule a meeting. As a rabbi, they provided the deeply nuanced understanding of Jewish history and traditions that helped us to make meaningful decisions about how best to incorporate Jewish ritual into our celebration. As a person, Rabbi Souther brought warmth, laughter, and openness to every interaction we had with them, and friends and family were coming up to us all day to say how much they enjoyed and appreciated the way Rabbi Souther led our ceremony. We could not recommend Rabbi Souther highly enough. We are so grateful to have worked with Rabbi Souther as we prepared for our wedding, and we look forward to continuing to stay in touch!
Working with CB was our absolute favorite aspects in all of our wedding planning. I could write novels on all of reasons why this was the case, but I'll attempt to keep it brief. C...
B provided such grounding in the process of marriage between my partner and I. They took the time to know us, understand us, and embrace all of that knowledge both before and during the ceremony. Our meetings with CB provided a jumping off point for deeper and more meaningful conversation between my partner and I. Together, we crafted a ceremony full of ritual, personal touches, and so much love. Every single person I talked to after our ceremony noted how touching and personal our ceremony was, and how uniquely "us" it was. Well, it would not have been "us" without CB. We often said that if nothing else would have gone right on our wedding day, that it wouldn't have mattered because we were so confident in CB and their ability to curate our ceremony.
Words cannot express how grateful we are to have had C.B. as a part of our wedding. My husband is Jewish and I was raised Unitarian, and while we were both open to being married by...
a Rabbi, we were most focused on finding someone who we both felt was the “right fit.” C.B. certainly was the right fit.
Our pre-wedding meetings consisted of us getting to know C.B. who expertly explained to us the components of a Jewish wedding in "easy to understand" terms, and who also took significant time to get to know us as a couple and as individuals. In just a few sessions with C.B., they had intuited things about us as individuals and as a couple that they eloquently shared at our wedding ceremony. In the chaos of wedding planning, worrying about which linens to choose, etc., there was a peace in coming to our sessions with C.B. that made us remember what our wedding and marriage was truly about.
On our wedding day, C.B. was a calm, cool, presence who handled the process with grace, from the ketubah signing (which turned out to be one of the most memorable parts of our wedding), to leading a truly beautiful wedding ceremony. I remember during the ceremony being struck by the spot-on summary of our interests, relationship, and hopes and dreams that they shared about us. Countless guests, many of whom had attended many Jewish wedding ceremonies in the past approached us to tell us how beautiful and special ours was. And those who had never been to a Jewish ceremony also expressed how moved they were. Even a few years later, friends and family continue to bring up how beautiful our ceremony was. C.B. was an integral part of the time leading up to and the day of our wedding. C.B. is truly talented and a pleasure to work with, and we would highly recommend having C.B as a part of your wedding!
It is hard to put to words how meaningful our experience with CB was. CB met with us three times getting to know us both individually and as a couple. Knowing that I was still lear...
ning about Judaism, CB explained Jewish wedding traditions, the significance of those traditions and various ways of performing each tradition. CB encouraged us to pick and choose which traditions felt right to us as a couple, helping us to keep to many of the Jewish aspects important to us while allowing us to make our ceremony unique for us and our family. As a person who is still learning about Judaism, CB always made me feel valued, respected and cared about.
CB's real gift is the gift of explaining Jewish traditions in beautiful and meaningful ways. CB took the time to explain each element of the Jewish tradition to our guests, of which it was about 50/50 Jewish and non-Jewish; we’re sure even my husband’s Jewish family learned something. CB also took quotes from our meetings together and wove them into the ceremony, which came as a little bit of a surprise. It was incredibly special to hear from CB’s perspective the special nuances of our relationship.
We still get compliments from our families about what a beautiful ceremony we had and, especially from my non-Jewish family, how meaningful the Jewish traditions are. I am probably biased, but I have yet to find another officiant/Rabbi that has the same poetic way of speaking as CB Souther. I honestly recommend CB to all of my Jewish/interfaith friends getting married.
My wife and I first encountered Rabbi Souther while they were teaching a class on Jewish ritual. My wife was hooked at the first Harry Potter referance and when we walked into the...
ir office and saw Mary Oliver-I knew it was beshert. Rabbi Souther made sure our wedding process was filled with intention, joy and ritual that resonated with us and our communities. As a queer interfaith couple and as nb person I am so grateful to have had them as a safe anchor through our process!
My husband and I recently celebrated our 7-year anniversary and part of what made the wedding so very special was Rabbi Callie and her wonderful personal touch to our ceremony. We ...
got married in a different city than where we lived to be closer to family and she took the time to get to know us, hear our story, and how we feel in love. Her words were sweet, funny, and inspiring. Not to mention, she sings like a nightingale. So very much love Rabbi Callie. We think of her often and especially on our anniversary! Highly recommend!
Rabbi Callie helped us through such a fun and important event and easily navigated a few complexities. We had three different religious traditions in our families, different politi...
cal acceptances of same-sex marriage and lots of opinions. Callie kept her cool and listened to exactly what we, the couple, needed. She was warm, sincere, and fun to work with. Everything went perfectly! She made a universally welcoming spiritual home for both us as a couple and our diverse family members.
My husband and I got married with an intimate "minimony" in a labyrinth on Bainbridge Island....quite the personalized request. Rabbi Souther was incredible and the perfect officia...
nt for our special day. They knew exactly how to make our ceremony right for us - the perfect blend of Judaism, humor, music, and creative ritual. We are so grateful to Rabbi Souther for creating a special experience that we will cherish forever.
Contact
Seattle, WA and Western Washington
BreakingOpen LLC's photos