Ceremonies By Design

ized, but also very kind, and they clearly do this because this is their passion. My only negative comment was that, on our wedding day, Karen seemed a little frazzled, and she struggled to read her notes for the ceremony clearly. It was as if she hadn't practiced reciting any of it beforehand. It would have been nice for her to have "performed" a bit better, but overall, the ceremony was lovely. I would definitely recommend Ceremonies by Design.

ivered. She provided the template, offered suggestions, edits and helped us shape a beautiful and unique ceremony. Words cannot express our appreciation and gratitude for the way she impacted our day. Guests commented repeatedly about how unique and personal the ceremony was. We would highly recommend Joan to any bride or groom. You will not be disappointed!

highlight our lives and relationship perfectly. It was as if she'd known us our whole lives. Highly recommend!

ow that fit all of our needs. She referred us to Gayla Ruby, who performed our ceremony, and did a truly, truly wonderful job. We could not have asked for more, and the compliments we received following our wedding were the most heartfelt and loving. Joan and Gay captured what makes my husband and I “us”, and helped us to incorporate our story and our own vows into our personalized ceremony. We were looking for a non-religious ceremony that would speak to both our religious and non-religious guests, and Joan worked with us until we were completely satisfied with the final draft. On the day of the wedding, Gay was there early and was on top of making sure everything was perfect and ready to go. And it really was! I would highly recommend either Joan or Gay to anyone looking for an officiant.

o special, she was responsive, professional, helped us understand the steps of the license/certificate/etc., and had a lot of fantastic ideas to add into the ceremony to make it that much more meaningful. We couldn't imagine our ceremony being any more perfect than it was. We were so happy to have Joan as our officiant!

Wisconsin wedding" stereotypes. She holds no judgements regarding who you are, or what type of church/religion you attend. She's there to make your day the best day you want it to be.

e discussed what options would be best suited for our wedding ceremony. She made sure she got to know my husband and I and sent us detailed questionnaires so she could write a personal ceremony script. When she sent the first proof, she truly captured exactly what my husband and I were after for our personalized ceremony. Her words were so accurate and true that they made us cry when reading them. Throughout the entire process, she communicated and responded quickly and efficiently and made sure we loved our ceremony experience. For the rehearsal ceremony and wedding day, Joan was consistently available for us and answered any and all questions we had. She was organized, calm, and made me feel very comfortable with the whole process. I would definitely recommend Joan Pape to anyone looking for a ceremony that is personal, unique, and custom. It definitely is evident that this is her passion and I am honored to have had her as our officiant on our wedding day! Thank you, Joan! -Jarrod & Ashley Mayes

ding that best suited our taste. We worked with Rev. Joan Pape and she was so organized and professional to work with. Her presentation style is beautiful and we received so many compliments throughout the evening about how beautiful our ceremony was. She was great at giving us guidance for how to make sure things run smoothly before, during, and after the ceremony. It was perfect! 😍

e was super helpful with all our questions, helping us meet deadlines along the wedding process. She took care of so much and we were so grateful for all her hard work!

eplied fairly quickly to all of our emails and was very accommodating to scheduling a skype meeting since we live in a different state. Once we had our skype meeting we knew that she was the one whom we wanted to marry us and we just had to book her. She shortly sent us a questionnaire for us to fill out to help make the ceremony more personal, which I loved. She gave us samples of readings and a guide ceremony draft for some guidance. we were able to go through a couple of drafts perfecting it until it was the ceremony we wanted and she helped us through it all. On the day of the wedding she was beyond nice and professional. She did a great job and truly helped make our ceremony special. Thank you Reverend Joan M Pape!

know us and was very easy to communicate with through email. Also, Joan was very helpful when my husband and I were writing our vows giving wonderful suggestions and edits. We received so many compliments on our ceremony and how beautiful it was and that is because of her. Any bride would be lucky to have Reverend Joan.

guidance and advice that was much appreciated as we put together our ceremony. She was willing to meet with us several times to get to know us and to answer any and all questions. I would highly recommend Joan as a wedding ceremony officiant!! -Carly & David Mendelsohn

with, detailed oriented, and thoughtful. Not only did we think we had an amazing ceremony, we received many compliments from the guests saying it was the BEST ceremony they had attended! If you are looking for a stress free, personalized ceremony, Ceremonies by Design is the way to go! Highly Recommended!!

of humor and much appreciated experience that will help you feel confident and secure in knowing your wedding ceremony is going to be everything you ever wanted it to be. Through scheduled phone chats Joan helped me piece together our beautiful ceremony and provided a much needed counsel for this stressed bride-to-be :) No matter what style of ceremony you desire Joan will accommodate you and your vision while providing top notch guidance. Look no further for professional, prompt, kind hearted service! Joan is your top choice for a wedding officiant!

got to know her during the process and felt she took a personal interest in making sure we had the ceremony we wanted. She's so easy to work with and has so much experience we found here invaluable to our wedding day.

nt state, communication through e-mail and phone was essential to ensure everything was on track. I never had to worry that things were not being done, and that itself was a gift. Karen also made sure that things ran efficiently and smoothly for the rehearsal and actual wedding. We received so many compliments on our ceremony and would recommend them highly to anyone!

to make last minute changes. We would highly recommend her!

ments from guests on how personal and unique our ceremony was. She has so much wedding knowledge, and was such a calming presence for me. Talking to Rev. Joan made me feel at ease, and trust that everything would turn out right. She was always easy to reach and responded quickly. We loved designing our ceremony together. Before meeting Rev. Joan I was not excited about the ceremony. I felt like it was something I had to get through to get to the party. Talking to her immediately changed that. Now it is truly the best part of the whole day. I was more excited for our ceremony than anything else on the day, and it was perfect. She helped incorporate so much sentiment and personality. I recommend Ceremonies by Design to every couple!

m so glad we had her marry us!!

inal and inspiring our ceremony was. We loved it and so did everyone else. The process was easy and relaxed. I would highly recommend Rev. Joan to anyone who is looking for a unique and personalized ceremony. She also provided us with a very nice booklet of our ceremony, which I absolutely love because I didn't remember to have anyone record our ceremony. So at least we still have the words :)

o easy to talk to and was always responsive and available. She knew exactly what we were looking for in our ceremony and even gave us sample readings and prayers to select for our customized ceremony. We finally met Joan in person a couple of weeks before our wedding, and it felt like we had known her for forever. On the day of the wedding, Joan helped guide everything and everyone along - including our wedding party and vendors. She was so helpful and organized. The ceremony was absolutely beautiful, and we really felt the love in the air that day. After the ceremony, she gave us a bound copy of our ceremony and a little gift. She is such a kind and wonderful person! We absolutely loved working with Joan and would highly recommend her!

ely worth the little extra! Her assistant was also wonderful and very prepared.

She provided us with drafts of "traditional" and "contemporary" wedding ceremonies; each of which had multiple examples for each section of the ceremony. From there she let us completely customize our ceremony so that it was exactly what we wanted. We picked our favorite pieces from the examples she provided and added in some of our own ideas. In the end, we had our dream ceremony. We got so many compliments from our guests on the ceremony. They loved how personal and unique it was. We couldn't be happier!

e, and ability to give us a unique ceremony to our day. After we chose to have her marry us, she took the time to get to know us through questionnaires, and phone calls, so that she could provide us a day that would truly fit our style and relationship. She was very open to working through multiple drafts and revisions of our day until it was exactly what we wanted. I would highly recommend Ceremonies by Design to anyone who wants an incredibly moving and personal ceremony.

aughter. We had many compliments from our guests stating how great our officiant was! I highly reccomend Joan as an officiant!

ntire process of creating a ceremony to fit our personalities and wishes. We were able to combine contemporary and traditional elements into our ceremony and include our own personal touches. We also really appreciated that Joan took the time to create and give us a beautiful copy of the written ceremony. We would love to recommend her to anyone!

hat your officiant is experienced, going to do a great job, and not having to stress about the MOST important part about getting married (the actual ceremony) it was worth it. She was also extremely personable and genuinely cared about the small details and helping make the process easier for us. My husband and I were extremely satisfied with the services provided to us by Joan.

lots of really great suggestions on things we could add to our ceremony, but most of all she was easy to work with and very kind and calm — the exact sort of energy you want when planning a wedding. Working with her felt effortless because she was so professional, responded to all our questions within a reasonable period of time, and helped guide us through the entire process of working with her to create a personalized ceremony that spoke to the relationship my husband and I have built, and what we wanted to communicate to each other and our families on our wedding day. I will suggest Joan to all my closest friends and family for her great service, kindness, and professionalism!

oute and we found Ceremonies by Design. Reverend Joan was warm, compassionate, open-minded, and reassuring. We were able to combine traditional Christian language with contemporary themes and our ceremony was everything we hoped it would be. Reverend Joan was personable, and many of our guests believed that we had known her for years! Hiring Reverend Joan as our officiant was the best decision we made throughout the whole wedding process.

s make our dream of getting married come true, and making the process so easy and fun. Joan helped us put together a beautiful custom ceremony, we got so many compliments on our vows! We really appreciate you being there to celebrate with us. :) Thank you also for the wonderful book and the very nice copy of our ceremony outline!

ore beautiful than I ever imagined! We received sooooo many compliments on our service! Even some family members that were upset that it wasn't going to be very religious, really loved it! My maid of honor, who really dislikes weddings, cried when she read the ceremony draft ahead of time! Joan had great suggestions and ideas throughout the planning process and kept tweaking the draft until we had it exactly how we wanted it. I was really dreading creating a ceremony, but she made it a very simple process! She emailed us tons of readings and vows for ideas and options, which was great so that we didn't have to spend time researching them online. I just can't even express how happy we are that we chose Joan to create our ceremony! We really wanted a personalized service that told our love story, and that's exactly what we got! We couldn't be happier and would HIGHLY recommend Ceremonies By Design!

porated the baptism of three of our children into our wedding ceremony. It came across fluid and seamless. It was great. Rev Joan Pape had helpful suggestions along the way that added nice touches to our day.

utiful ceremony including us, bride and groom.

ble in creating a perfectly custom ceremony. We were given plenty of ceremony plans and readings to choose from, my husband and I were able to choose everything down to the smallest details. Reverend Joan did not personally perform our ceremony as she was already committed to another event, we were married by Rev. Karen Schultz who did a wonderful job. We received many compliments in the days after about how simple, personal and unique our ceremony was from our friends and family. Thank you Joan and Karen!

r ceremony written, and Joan came in to add the perfect compliments to the ceremony we had worked so hard on. The additions and changes she suggested were absolutely fantastic. Joan was very responsive which helped us get our ceremony planned and squared a few months before our actual wedding. Rev. Joan, has an incredibly kind heart and is very professional. She added a level of peacefulness to our ceremony that we really appreciated. She isn't pushy at all when it comes to designing a wedding ceremony. She gently guides you to help create a ceremony that's perfect for you. We had several guests comment that they thought you did a wonderful job. Thank you so much for presiding over our ceremony, you were a pleasure to work with.

t was missing. As a couple that strays away from a more traditional ceremony, we were a little worried about who would be performing our ceremony, but I cannot say enough about Joan's great work. I never once felt pressured to add in elements that we were uncomfortable with, and our ceremony was exactly what we were looking for.

her again in a heartbeat!

y exactly the way we wanted it. On the day of, people commented how personal and special it was. She also was a calming force the day of. She helped get everyone into place and helped us get down the aisle even without a rehearsal the night before. She had a calming influence on everyone.

ft to the professionals. Joan was great at making our ceremony personal and always quick with replies. We had the perfect ceremony we wanted and she made the documenting easy. I would recommend her to anyone looking for an outside officiate.

er and initial meeting through the planning process, ceremony revisions, and all the way through to the wedding day! She even made a last minute revision right before the ceremony began! The ceremony itself was perfect (and not at all cheesy) and it was exactly what we wanted! We received so many compliments on how lovely and personal the ceremony was and I couldn’t agree more. Joan captured the spirit of our relationship and both of us as individuals and created a ceremony that was a perfect reflection of us. I could not be more pleased with how wonderful it all was! We would recommend Joan to anyone!

om the moment we sat down and met with her, we knew she was the perfect fit for our wedding. She is so personable and immediately understood exactly what we were looking for in our ceremony. She gave us a comprehensive sample ceremony with a la carte options. We were able to pick and choose from a wide variety of vows, readings, prayers and additional personalized ceremony options. She was so patient with us deciding on our vows. She would email and call to follow up to see if there was anything she could do for us. Attentive is an understatement. This was all leading up to the actual rehearsal and wedding day. When those days came, she was brilliant. She guided us through the rehearsal with much patience (as our bridal party was a bit rowdy and unruly). The day of the wedding was EVEN BETTER. While everyone around me was asking me questions and adding to my stress, she was the one person who put me at ease. She was so helpful, caring and kind. On top of that, she knows her stuff. She helped guide us through getting our marriage license and even picked it up for us (there was a 5 day waiting period). I loved the packet she gave us after the wedding. There was a beautiful bound copy of our ceremony, our marriage license, a marriage certificate and a wedding gift. I cannot emphasize enough how amazing she was. I would HIGHLY recommend her to anyone that asks.

responses and consistent phone calls and emails with Rev. Joan Pape whenever I needed to speak with her was so easygoing and more importantly she was always available for us. She was such a pleasure to work with during the planning process, the rehearsal, and especially the wedding day. She took lead in some of the most important parts of our day, was incredibly on top of it all, and well organized. It was such a relief to have her. She exceeded our expectations and we had several guests praising her for a job well done. We absolutely loved our ceremony! It was unique...it was us! We were so comfortable working back and forth with her to make it just right! She wont settle for anything, but perfect! Joan is so kind and a pleasure to work with; we couldn't be happier how everything came together so easily. We highly recommend Rev. Joan for your wedding ceremony!

e way. She was very warm and friendly, even when we waited until the last minute to choose our readings and vows. She married us in a state park and met us an hour before the ceremony to make sure everyone felt comfortable with the process. Everyone commented on what a beautiful and unique ceremony we had and wanted to know how we found such a great reverend to marry us out in the woods! Joan has been extremely helpful with everything and I would highly recommend her.