Ceremonies of the Heart - Rev. Deb Viola
About This Vendor
Ceremonies of the Heart - Rev. Deb Viola
Ceremonies of the Heart is a wedding officiant service based out of North Bellmore, NY. Owned and operated by Reverend Debra Viola, this business aims to create personalized ceremonies that do justice to couplesā visions. A dedicated and personable professional, Debra likes to put her clientsā needs first, and she is happy to work with diverse couples from different backgrounds. An ordained interfaith minister, Debra is certainly an experienced individual who has spent many years presiding over a whole host of ceremonies. Since 1999, Debra has been helping couples to enjoy ceremonies that reflect their personal beliefs. She likes to ensure that the big day lives up to expectations, and she also wants to make sure that each unique ceremony can be treasured for years to come. Ceremonies of the Heart can happily oversee lots of different occasions such as civil unions, commitment ceremonies, and interfaith ceremonies. Debra is all about inclusivity and harmony, and this philosophy means that she can perform Buddhist, Christian, Jewish, Interfaith, and other ceremonies. In addition to her wedding services, she can also provide counseling and therapy for clients, helping them enjoy joyous and fulfilled lives together.
Details
Business Attributes
Woman-owned Business
Ceremony Types
Civil Union, Commitment Ceremony, Interfaith Ceremony
Religious Affiliations
Buddhist, Christian, Catholic, Interfaith, Jewish, Muslim
Wedding Activities
Wedding
Awards and Affiliations
Pricing for Ceremonies of the Heart - Rev. Deb Viola
Curious to learn more?
Ceremonies of the Heart - Rev. Deb Viola Reviews
5 out of 5.0
80 reviews
5 Star
98%
4 Star
1%
3 Star
1%
2 Star
0%
1 Star
0%
Look no further! There are not enough stars to properly rate Rev Debra Viola. Rev Deb married us in March and she is fabulous, special and unique. We had the most wonderful experience planning our ceremony with her. She cared deeply about makin...
g sure that she genuinely got to know us as a couple preparing for marriage. We had attended a wedding about two years ago and Rev Deb was the officiant (this was before we were even thinking of marriage). As soon as we got engaged, there was only one person who we wanted to officiate and that was Rev Deb. "Ceremonies of the Heart" perfectly describes the beautiful service which Rev Deb creates. She drafted our ceremony and we then worked closely with her to tailor it exactly for us. She was extremely attentive to every detail and timing of the ceremony. To a person, our guests exclaimed about our ceremony and Rev Deb. It was personal, spiritual, loving and warm with a sprinkling of humor! We would not have changed a single thing. The ceremony perfectly reflected us a couple. We could not be happier and now have an everlasting memory. Rev Deb is extraordinary.
We cannot say enough about how happy we are with how our Wedding Ceremony turned out! We had originally planned to have someone we personally know officiate the wedding, and Rev. Deb was going to come separately to hold a small, private ceremon...
y to legally marry us. Our original officiant got sick about three days before the wedding and had to back out. We called Rev. Deb to see if she was available to step in for the ceremony itself. Not only was she available and happy to step in, but she quickly put together a gorgeous speech which she reviewed with us AND incorporated some of our original officiant's messages so it still felt as personal as it was going to. Rev. Deb made us feel very comfortable on the day of our Wedding as well. She is so sweet and speaks from the heart! As a gay couple, we were also beyond thrilled to find an officiant that is so inclusive and who embraced our marriage. You will not be disappointed with Rev. Deb/Ceremonies of the Heart!!
Rabbi Sara and Rev Deb Viola were both equally amazing ! My husband and I had an interfaith ceremony as my husband is Catholic and I am Jewish. Rabbi Sara and Rev Deb work so well together and knew exactly how to seamlessly blend both of our re...
ligions. Communication between all parties was great and always received quick responses, was ready to answer any questions we had even if they were silly. They were both punctual and explained everything to use prior to the ceremony and addressed any additional questions we had. Communication even after the wedding was great ! I highly recommend both Rabbi Sara or Rev Deb for any future event you may have. You will most certainly not be disappointed.
Any questions?
I found Deb here on The Knot. After our first conversation I knew that she was a perfect fit for our ceremony. Deb was always available via email, and completely guided us on getting our license, etc. She made a process that we knew nothing abo...
ut seamless and stress-free for us. Besides that, her talent and professionalism is immeasurable - we received compliments all night and following our wedding day about how beautiful our ceremony was. Deb worked closely with us to make sure the ceremony felt completely authentically "us", and it was clear that whatever direction we wanted to take the ceremony in she would have made it happen. Our ceremony could not have been more beautiful. Hopefully I will never be getting married again (lol), but if I did, I would call Deb!
Rev Deb made our day flawless. She met via zoom twice . Once to get to know us. She listed to our story how we met and had suggestions for our ceremony which was on the beach. The second time was after she sent us the entire ceremony for us to...
look over and make any changes
She was amazing. Hope she will still be available to do our renewal vows
We had the most beautiful ceremony at sunset harbour!! We are so happy with how special it was. We got tons of compliments about how beautiful and personal our ceremony was which was exactly how we envisioned it!!! Highly recommend:)
Rev. Deb was fantastic and made our wedding ceremony even better than we could have imagined. She was thoughtful and thorough with drafting up the ceremony and delivered the readings perfectly. We would definitely recommend to anyone looking to...
create a heartfelt and special ceremony.
Would highly recommend to anyone! We wanted a non-religious ceremony that felt very personal and unique to us, and Deb really went above and beyond to help us create this, she was a pleasure to work with. The ceremony was perfect and we were so...
happy with the whole experience.
If you want everyone to be talking about how beautiful and amazing your ceremony was for years afterā¦ then book Rev Deb asap! Easily the best vendor we had at the wedding. You would think she knew us for decades by how personalized the ceremony...
was. She also added little details that nobody had ever seen before and guaranteed to either put the crowd in tears or sheer laughter. Thanks again Rev Deb! You set the tone for what was the best night of our lives!!
All I can say isā¦ Wow! Look no further. From the moment we reached out to Deb her communication was so efficient. She always answered us back right away and was a pleasure communicating with. We originally met on zoom and she took the time to ...
talk with us and get to know us. You can tell she really loves what she does. The ceremony that she delivered was everything I dreamed of. Deb did the perfect job at telling our love story. I had so many guests coming up to me saying it was the best ceremony they ever been to.
Highly professional, easy to work with and great speaker!
Deb was great everything was customizable and what we wanted. We had our mothers come up with us and bless the rings. Everyone loved it and our moms loved being included. We highly recommend using Deb! Thank you for making our day so special.
Reverend Deb is the best. She officiated our wedding in October and we couldn't have been happier with how the ceremony went. She worked with us in advance and tailored the ceremony to exactly what we were looking for. Rev Deb was so kind and e...
asy to work with. I would recommend her to anyone.
Rev. Deb is so sweet and professional! We had gotten married in the church on our original wedding day with only 50 people and for our 1 year anniversary (postponed reception) we wanted to renew our vows so all our guests could have the chance ...
to see a ceremony. It turned out perfect! The process was easy and the script was thoughtful and tailored to our needs. You will be in great hands with Deb!
Rev Deb was wonderful to work with! She is so warm and welcoming. She wrote a wonderful ceremony for our wedding that was so personal to us. We received many compliments from our guests! She stuck with us through our two wedding postponements w...
ithout issue and we were so grateful to have her! We highly recommend this kind, flexible, and professional officiant.
Rev. Deb Viola is a great communicator. She personalized our ceremony to ensure that our special moments were shared with our guest. I would highly recommend Rev. Deb Viola to officiate your wedding ceremony.
I found Rev Deb through April Gismondi and she is an absolute gem. Deb has amazing pre-written ceremonies that are absolutely beautiful, we chose one and our family felt like it was written just for us! We also chose 2 readings from her website...
, which has a lot of great choices. We were getting so many compliments throughout the day on how great our officiant was, considering we had never met her in person before...COVID times.... She maintained safe COVID protocol which is a huge plus! Deb also gave us a binder with a copy of our ceremony in it as a keepsake, which is super sweet. I would recommend her completely!!! Made our day amazing!!
My wife and I were actually referred to Rev Deb by another officiant who felt she would be the perfect fit for us. We are so grateful. Rev Deb is responsive, professional, and knowledgeable. She interwove aspects of both of our faiths to create...
a beautiful, unique, and meaningful experience. Our guests have passed along many compliments on the ceremony. Booking Rev Deb was an easy decision for us. We couldn't recommend her enough!
Deb Viola was wonderful!! She made scheduling our ceremony a breeze and stress free. Deb also took the time to make sure that everything was the way that we wanted it for our special day.
Rev. Deb was wonderful to work with. She interviewed us to get our story and an idea of what we were looking for in our ceremony. A few months before the wedding, she sent us a rough draft of our ceremony in which we were able to review and mak...
e changes if we wanted. Her ceremony was beautiful, with touches of humor and sentiments and she listened to what we wanted and did not want included. She was on time, professional, and took care of everything promptly. Since we did a first look, we were able to sign our marriage license before the ceremony. She sent everything in for us and we received our marriage certificate a few weeks later.
Rev Deb was recommended by Officiant April Gismondi. We had our first meeting with Deb at her office & I instantly felt a connection with her! She did an amazing job capturing our story during the ceremony. Iāve heard so many compliments from ...
guests on how well she did. Would definitely recommend her!
Reverend Deb and Ceremonies of the Heart were a key partner in our wedding in November 2019. Our ceremony was very important to us. Some of our family members wished that we had our ceremony in a Catholic church and for various reasons, my husb...
and and I decided it against it. But, we did want to preserve some religious elements into our ceremony along with elements that were āusā ā funny, poignant and sentimental. Reverend Deb met with us prior to the wedding to get to know us and our story and created a beautiful ceremony that struck a balance for everything we were trying to achieve. Weāve received a lot of responses from our family and our guests that the ceremony was so beautiful, personal and unique. We could not be happier. I would highly recommend working with Reverend Deb and Ceremonies of the Heart for any couple looking for an officiant for their upcoming nuptials.
When it came time to looking for officiants for our wedding, which was October 5th 2019, my husband and I said that this was the most important part of wedding planning for us. I am Jewish and my husband is Lutheran. We wanted to involve both r...
eligions and also included Rabbi Sara (please see her page for review, she was also spectacular). Rev Deb was beyond personable, warm, friendly, professional, I could go on! Every single person at our wedding came up to us after to tell us that it was the most funny, warm-hearted, meaningful ceremony they had ever been to! Rabbi Sara and Rev Deb wrote the most beautiful ceremony that truly reflected the love that we share for each other and for our families and friends. It was also important for us to almost educate our guests as some were not Jewish and some were not Christian, so we were able to make everyone feel welcomed and comfortable. Rabbi Sara and Rev Deb involved traditions from both religions so seamlessly. I would recommend them to anyone!! The whole planning process with Rev Deb was easy and, again, she was so professional and organized. Would recommend her to anyone who wants a perfect ceremony, because we will cherish ours for the rest of our lives!!
Rev. Deb was absolutely amazing! From the moment we met with Rev Deb, she was kind and warm- walking us through our entire ceremony. She made sure we it was centered around us and exactly what we wanted! Immediately following our ceremony the c...
ompliments started rolling in, everyone was raving about how personalized and fun the ceremony was. My Uncle said it felt as if he went on the journey of our relationship during the ceremony. My father in law, who really wanted a religious wedding..was in tears! Choosing Rev Deb was the easiest decision of our entire wedding!
Rev Debra Viola was amazing! From our first e-mail encounters to our big day all experiences with Rev Debra Viola were seamless! She is professional, knowledgeable, and makes the ceremony process very easy. She had so many ideas we have never s...
een or heard about at weddings and trust me we have been to a lot of weddings! Our guests were blown away by the ceremony and many of them said it was the best wedding ceremony they have ever experienced. My husband and I highly recommend Rev Debra for all types of wedding ceremonies!
When me and my fiancƩ met with rev Deb we booked her on the spot because of how fast we connected with her .. she was so easy to talk to and super Sweet!
We just had our wedding this past weekend and it Was Amazing... everyone raved about the ...
ceremony and how beautiful everything was especially her speech & readings. Book rev Deb now !!!
My husband and I couldnāt be happier with our decision to hire Rev. Deb to officiate our wedding. Our ceremony was perfect!! Rev. Deb was so down to earth and understanding with the type of ceremony we had. She made us feel at ease as well as o...
ur families. She is extremely knowledgeable and was able to answer any questions we had before our wedding. Rev. Deb always made herself available to any questions and concerns that we had. Hands downā¦. we would recommend her a million times over!!! REV. DEB IS THE BEST š
She did an amazing job. We wanted a quick ceremony and she was able to give us that. She made the ceremony entertaining. She was very easy to communicate with, too. I am so glad I used her!
Reverend Deb was amazing, thoughtful and made our ceremony special! I would recommend her to anyone!
If you are looking for someone to perform your wedding Rev Deb is it!! She made everything so simple and easy. People at my wedding keep telling me that they were shocked we didnāt know each other prior to the wedding because of how personable...
she made it. It also made my grandmother very happy to have that Catholic flair which is exactly what I was hoping for!! So once again thank you so much Rev Deb, we really appreciated it and thought everything turned out great!!
Rabbi Sara & Rev Deb were wonderful and made it possible for Adam and I to have an amazing and unforgettable wedding. Everything was beautiful, the guests were happy and we were beyond pleased. Also, I wanted to say a personal thank you for the...
unexpected pieces, and making my Dad's memorial so lovely and appropriate. We appreciate your patience and understanding. We feel so fortunate to have been able to celebrate our day in such a beautiful space, we had perfect weather, and so many of our friends and family members commented on what a beautiful and personal ceremony you both provided. Everything was so wonderful, and we couldnāt ask for more ā¤ļø
Nicki & Adam
Reverend Deb is a phenomenal Officiant. Even when we first met her, she made us feel at home. It was easy to talk to her and tell her about ourselves. She also answered our questions and emailed back very quickly. The day of, she went over the ...
details and made us feel stress-free. The ceremony was beautiful and she has a way for words that you just have to hear for yourself. Also she printed out the whole ceremony and put it in a binder for us as a keepsake. I highly recommend Reverend Deb.
Rev. Deb made the most important part of the wedding absolutely perfect. Our ceremony was absolutely beautiful and just what we wanted. She let us have complete say in how we wanted it to go, but gave us enough guidance so that we weren't overw...
helmed by it all. She was quick to answer me anytime I had a question and made this process totally stress free. I am still getting compliments on how nice our ceremony was. Thank you so much for a perfect wedding!
We loved Rev Deb! We wanted a short and sweet ceremony and she made sure to give that. Thank you Rev Deb!
Rev. Deb was amazing. She made our ceremony just how we wanted it and I couldn't have asked for anything else. She was so nice and easy to work with. I highly recommend using her for your ceremony!
Rev deb was absolutely amazing! My husband and I are not religious and she was able to cater the ceremony to our needs. She gave us a list of great questions to answer and used this material for our ceremony. She also allowed us to choose diff...
erent ceremonies ( ie: sand ceremony, tie the knot ceremony , etc) as well as choose different passages. She made the ceremony intimate and really captured the essence of our relationship. I am so happy with her services and would strongly recommend her for anyone's wedding.
Our experience with Reverend Deb was amazing! We live out of state but we're getting married on Long Island on June 3, 2018. It was very easy to stay in contact with Reverend Deb via phone and email. Our ceremony was perfect and we are so happ...
y we decided on Reverend Deb as our officiant. Everyone at our wedding continued to tell us throughout the night just how beautiful our ceremony was! We are so happy we decided on Reverend Deb to be our officiant. We will recommend her services to anyone looking in the future! Thank you for making our day so special!
We had our wedding May 27th 2018 and are still hearing great things about our ceremony! She made it personal so much so that people felt like they really knew how we fell in love and why we are together. The happy tears fell, some giggles, so m...
uch joy. She made us feel special and loved. We canāt say enough great things about Tev Deb!
Whatās not to love about Rev Deb? She is as genuine as they come and really put my wife and I at ease, both before and during the ceremony. She offered a number of thoughtful suggestions and was extremely responsively throughout the drafting pr...
ocess. The ceremony itself went off without a hitch and Debās execution was flawless. Thank you so much for being part of our special day!
The minute i had my first chat with this gifted individual, i felt a connection. You see, Rev Debra Viola is not just any officiant - she has a heart of gold, she actually really wants to know you and your spouse to be. She is curious to learn...
what makes your connection special or unique. She literally brings your love to life in front of your guests. Every one of our guests told us they abdolutely adored Debra and found the ceremony tasteful, moving, mesningful and so personalized. It was a pleasure to hear. For a couple in total confusion amidst the high emotions of the day, Debra was the ROCK - reassuring, calming, so experienced and competent. We knew this pilot would land our plane not only safely but elegantly!!! Call Debra!! You can thank me later!!!
Rev Deb was fabulous!! Our guest can not stop talking about how beautiful our ceremony was and neither can my wife and I. I would do it all again just so we can have Rev Deb again. Thank you Rev Deb for making our special day even more amazi...
ng. These truly are "Ceremonies from the Heart"
5 stars isn't good enough for Rev Deb! She is absolutely amazing! From the moment we first met I knew she was the perfect person to marry my husband and I. She set up an appointment with us a few months before our wedding. During this appoi...
ntment she asked us lots of questions about how we met and basically our story. She followed up with us before our wedding with a draft of the ceremony. I couldn't believe she had an entire story written about our whole history from the time we met up until our wedding day. It was not only spot on it was loving and actually had a good amount of humor in it. We added a sand ceremony to the ceremony and she came up last minute with an additional reading that was just beautiful for that part. Our guests were blown away and complimenting us all night that Rev Deb's ceremony was so personalized and how much they enjoyed it. We had met with more then one officiant before we decided who to use. And one of the gentlemen actually had a prewritten generic wedding ceremony that we were suppose to choose from. No thank you!! This was our wedding, one of the most important days in our lives. Rev Deb certainly honored us by making our ceremony one of a kind and she's just such a sweet and wonderful women to work with. We can not thank you enough for truly making our wedding the best day ever! Thanks Rev Deb. -Laurie & Cliff
My husband and I really liked Rev. Deb from the moment we met her. She is very personable and easy to talk to. She made the process easy and I liked how easy it was to communicate with her by email. We were very happy with how she conducted ...
our ceremony at the beach. She even brought her own portable microphone! We would definitely recommend her to anyone looking for someone who is easy to communicate with and a fantastic officiant!
We had Rev Deb marry me and my now husband a few weeks ago, she married my sister and her husband in sept 2010, I couldn't imagine having anyone else perform my ceremony , she was a pleasure to work with since day 1, she is personable and prof...
essional. I would highly recommend Rev Deb
Rev Deb is the best! She is warm and easy to talk to. Our wedding ceremony was so special thanks to her planning. She put us at ease during this stressful time with her reassurance and expertise. She made it a point to make the ceremony reflect...
us and gave us several options and ideas for the how the ceremony could go. She also has a beautiful speaking voice. Many guests commented on what a wonderful job she did.
Rev Deb made our wedding day so special and we cannot thank her enough. From the moment we met her, we instantly felt comfortable with her. My husband is Irish and Catholic and I am Jewish (neither religious) and we knew we wanted a short cere...
mony that incorporated just a touch of each of our backgrounds. She helped us incorporate the breaking of the glass, an Irish blessing, and a quick prayer. She also wrote a special passage honoring my father who passed and her words were just perfect. I can't recommend Rev Deb enough for a special and unique ceremony.
Rev Deb was fantastic! My husband and I live in DC but got married on Long Island. With us being remote, Rev Deb was so flexible in meeting with us and incredible accommodating to our busy schedules. Rev Deb provided us multiple ceremony script...
s to review, which was great! Gave us the perfect ceremony that captured us as a couple! Rev Deb answered all questions with a prompt and thoughtful response. Rev Deb is professional, on time, responsive, and genuinely a very nice person and great to work with. We would recommend Rev Deb to anyone getting married! Thanks again Rev Deb!
Rev Deb was the first and last officiant my husband and I met with. We knew right away that she was PERFECT for us. She is so kind, understanding and personalizes every single ceremony. As much as I had a blast at my reception, my ceremony wa...
s truly the best. All of my guests raved about how perfect it was. My husband and I really aren't too mushy, we are more of the goof ball types and Rev Deb was right on board with that. She cracked jokes and let us create our ceremony with her so we could really feel like it was OURS, and not just the typical wedding. While my husband and I aren't very religious, our families are, and different ones at that. Rev Deb kept the peace and made both of our families happy, while also not bringing religion too much into it to keep my husband and I happy.
Seriously the best officiant I have EVER had the privilege of meeting or seen at any wedding. I'm so thankful we found her.
Rev Deb married my husband and I recently (May 2017) and we have to say she is AMAZING! She is so sweet and wrote the most beautiful and personalized ceremony for us. She did a wonderful job performing the ceremony, so many of our guests have m...
entioned to us how well they thought she did. We couldn't have been happier, highly recommend her!
Rev Deb caught our attention at the only bridal show we attended in preparation for our wedding! We knew she was the one from that moment! Very easy to communicate with and very friendly! We met with her to discuss the wedding and she was so at...
tentive and wanted as much information about us as we could give in order to get to know us on a personal level so she could deliver the best ceremony possible. At the end of this meeting she hugged us each goodbye which was a wonderful touch that made us even more confident!
The wedding day was such a blur but standing there in front of Deb as she performed our ceremony was wonderful! We could tell just how attentive she was at our meeting by how detailed and perfect her material was! She incorporates our story about how we met and she had our guests chuckling several times throughout! We have had a handful of guests tell us how great she was, how there was no dull moment of dread as in some ceremonies they have attended and how she really made it personal! I can not wait to view the video(her son in law was our cinematographer btw!) so we can really watch it from a guests perspective!
Hands down Deb is awesome and we would absolutely recommend her for anyone looking for a personalized ceremony!!
Reverend Deb is amazing. She truly has a gift. She listens intently to your love story and will deliver the most personalized ceremony you could ever imagine! My guests were so impressed with our ceremony. It was so thoughtful, as if she's ...
known us for years. There wasn't a dry eye in the house and it was truly my favorite part of the evening. Reverend Deb is a beautiful person inside and out. I highly recommend her services!
Rev Deb was the absolute best! I cannot say enough to recommend her to be the one to make your special moment memorable!! My husband and I wanted a small short ceremony & she made it as beautiful as possible! Afterwards, all of our guests came ...
over to us to say how beautiful the ceremony was & that Rev Deb was so nice and personable. During the ceremony we were both nervous as nervous can be! She helped us feel more comfortable and tied our love together with her beautiful words!
From our first meeting with Deb, my husband and I knew she was perfect to be our officiant. We really liked the fact that she promised us a personalized ceremony that would showcase our personalities and our dynamic--and she delivered. People a...
ctually thought that she knew us personally, which was what I wanted. Deb was so professional, thorough and sweet throughout the process and did not hesitate to answer any of my questions or concerns. Thank you again for giving us such a special ceremony, we will cherish it forever!!
Reverend Deb is absolutely wonderful! We were looking for a simple ceremony on the Long Beach Boardwalk. After reading all the great reviews about Rev Deb, I knew she would be perfect for us. I sent her a brief email and description of what we ...
had in mind. She replied almost immediately! We had a few communications via email and a brief conversation on the phone. She really listens to what you want, and most importantly, she delivers. Our ceremony was exactly what we wanted. Though only meeting her in person for a quick fifteen minutes or so, I got a very warm, comforting, open and relaxed vibe from Reverend Deb. She gives great directions too, which I think we can all appreciate since (usually) it's our first time doing this. Lol. I really loved our ceremony, it was perfect, for us. I have no doubt whatsoever that she will deliver a ceremony that is perfect and meaningful and wonderfully tailored to each and every couple who chooses her for their big day. Highly recommend giving her a chance to show you how great she is! Thank you so much, Reverend Deb!!! You're the best!
On August 18 2016, Rev. Deb gave us the most beautiful, sentimental ceremony any bride and groom could ask for! Her words were so heartfelt and she had wonderful reading and passages for us to choose from. We will always remember her and our e...
motional amazing day. Thank you Deb! You are wonderful
On June 12th 2016 Rev. Deb married us! And she was awesome !! She understood how we wanted our ceremony.. different & unique describing us along with a spiritual twist and with humor! And she nailed it!! We are thrilled we choose rev. Deb bec...
ause honestly no one else could have done it Better! She was amazing ! I still have guests talking about our ceremony ! How much they loved it! I highly recommend Rev. Deb ! You will be so happy you choose her like we did! :-) !
RevDeb was truly the best choice we could have made when it came to selecting an officiant. We were married on Saturday 7.16.16 at an outdoor ceremony at EastWind. It was beautiful and it was hot. She understood our desire to include all the im...
portant parts of our relationship that eventually brought us to the day of our marriage and said it all in the most expeditiously manner possible.
She is an absolute pleasure to deal with, very professional and possesses the most genuine and loving personality.
Love Rev. Deb Viola! What a pleasure to have had her perform our ceremony. We had a blended family religious ceremony; and I cannot express how beautiful it was. Rev deb also mentioned in prayer and had a moment of silence for my father in l...
aw and my grandmother who recently passed. It Meant a lot to us.
I highly recommend her; she made my day so easy, and she was awesome.
From the moment we met Reverend Deb, we knew she was the one to officiate at our wedding. We wanted a spiritual ceremony and she presented us with many options. Our guests raved about how lovely it was. She is such a warm and engaging person an...
d she really got to know us and our story. It was a day weāll never forget.
Deb is personable, professional and most importantly SPEAKS SO EVERYONE CAN HEAR!
What else can I say? She was in contact with us, did everything we asked, arrived early, spoke loudly, knew what she was doing, etc. etc. etc.
I have zero c...
omplaints - only praises. I would recommend her to anybody.
We loved Reverand Deb!! We came to her a short notice after deciding our original officiant wasn't going to work out. She was so professional and personable. She made our whole ceremony so personalized, everyone keeps raving about it. We couldn...
't have asked for anything better.
We were so honored to have Reverend Debra officiate at our wedding on 10/10/15. We met her 8 months earlier and we knew she was perfect! She is warm, friendly, intelligent and had great ideas for our ceremony! The day of our wedding our guests ...
couldn't stop talking about the ceremony and neither could we! Rev. Deb did an amazing job! Look no further for your wedding!
Rev Deb was raved about by our guests as "one of the best ceremonies" they have ever attended. From our initial meeting to our ceremonial end, Rev Deb provided us a sense of ease (and I was nervous). She assisted us in finding our perfect wed...
ding venue, our photographer, and best of all gave us a copy of our ceremony as a gift to forever preserve the memory. Thank you Rev Deb for everything. Please consider ceremonies of the heart for your special day!
My wife and I had Reverend Deb officiate our wedding on 10/9/2015. We met with Rev Deb after attending a previous wedding the year before where she was the officiant. Even before meeting her we knew she was the one we wanted officiating our cer...
emony. Her attention to detail and personal touches really made the ceremony ours. She was PERFECT! She fine-tuned our ceremony exactly to the way we wanted. Not even missing a beat while mentioning the things my wife and I love about each other, and even including some beautiful words about my father who is no longer with us. After the ceremony, while speaking to my family and friends, the first thing that everyone said to us was how much they LOVED the ceremony. It was everyoneās favorite part of our special day. If youāre looking for an officiant, look no further, Rev Deb Viola is the one for you! Deb even mailed our marriage license for us, and gave us a binder with our ceremony printed out so we can look back on the beautiful words she said about us. Thank you, from the bottoms of our hearts, Deb, for such a beautiful, amazing, and memorable ceremony that we can look back on for years and years to come!
Rev. Deb MADE our wedding! The ceremony she created for us was personal, spiritual, uplifting, and just utterly beautiful. We met with her only once before the big day, and we had people coming up to us after the ceremony asking how long weād k...
nown her, shocked to hear the truth, thinking weād known her forever. One of our groomsmen who was getting married a few weeks later was mad he didnāt know about Rev. Deb before that day, because he wished he could have booked her for his own wedding after being part of the ceremony.
The process from start to finish was pretty simple ā we met with her once, discussed the types of elements we wanted to include in our ceremony, and from there went back and forth over email a few times regarding the ceremony she had drafted. She has some beautiful ideas and excerpts to include, and every single person has since said it was the most beautiful and original ceremony theyāve ever seen.
On the day-of, everything went perfectly, except I actually forgot to bring our marriage license to the venue! I panicked (obviously), but Rev. Deb kept me calm and started talking through all the different scenarios so we could have the license signed before we left the country for two weeks (since the paperwork needs to be sent in within a certain window after the ceremony takes place). She even offered to have us drop by her house on our way to the airport the next day and use her family members as witnesses if necessary! Luckily, a few of our guests were able to retrieve it from our hotel in time, but it was amazing to know she would have done anything to help us out and make sure we didnāt have to worry.
If youāre looking for a personalized, touching ceremony that really speaks to the couple getting married vs. a generic, templated ceremony, Rev. Deb is your gal! We canāt thank her enough for making our day so special and memorable!
Rev Deb made our wedding personal and special. She guided us along the way and made things easy for us to decide. She spoke about us as we had been longtime friends. We didn't want anything to religious but still spiritual, she made that happ...
en.
Rev Deb was great!!!
Rev Deb is absolutely wonderful! So many people said to us after the ceremony how great it was. She really helped make it our own which was really important to us. We made lots of changes especially to our own vows right down to the last day an...
d nothing was ever an issue. She was so easy to work with, it made the whole process really special. We HIGHLY recommend for your special day. THANK YOU CEREMONIES OF THE HEART!!!!
Rev Deb Viola is a warm ,kind and supportive officiant. She made our ceremony very special with her inclusive, inviting personality and her wonderful sense of humor. We would not have wanted anyone else to marry us!
Rev. Deb was a great choice for our wedding. Our ceremony was very personal and perfect. We got so many compliments on it. People loved that she included how we met into the ceremony. There was the perfect a amount of humor and mush, which was ...
just what we wanted. We highly recommend!!! :)
Ceremony was amazing! Rev deb did an amazing job!
Deb put us at ease from the moment we met her at the Westbury Manor Open House. She was kind and warm, which is exactly what we were looking for in an officiant to marry us.
She asked us some great questions when we met with her to incorpora...
te into our ceremony but we certainly could have never anticipated the beautiful ceremony she crafted for us. She even added some personal touches based on what we spoke about that surprised us and it made it even better than we anticipated.
She is a lovely person and my husband and I would 100% recommend her.
We choose Rev. Deb & Rabbi Sara for our interfaith ceremony and it was fantastic! They gave many different options for the ceremony so we were really able to cutomize it to be a true representation of us. They both gave our guests a good desc...
ription of us/our love/our relationship and how we feel about each other. Many of our guests commented on the ceremony and said they really enjoyed it and it was a great combination of the two faiths.
Thank you both again so much for making our day so special and a great representaion of us!
Rev. Deb was very on top of everything. She worked well with Rabbi Frank. Deb took care of everything.
She wrote out a great ceremony. Unfortunately, when asked to shorten a section and get back to us with it, she never got back to us w...
ith the final draft. It would have been nice to see it prior to the day of.
There was one incident that rather upset me with the way the ceremony went. We asked for a ring warming. That was approved of by both of our officiants. However, we felt that Rev. Deb being a Reiki Master, would be the better one to lead that section. We felt that the energy she could provide would not only place the energy we were looking for into our rings, but the symbolism was appropriate. Our Rabbi was under the impression that that would be a section he would perform. We asked Rev. Deb numerous times to take care of the situation because we did not want to offend Rabbi Frank. Not once was it brought up to Rabbi Frank, and he ended up performing that section.
And while the ceremony was beautiful, there was one more thing that bothered me about the way the ceremony was performed. The day of, she told us that if in our vows we did not state the following words, our marriage would not be legally binding. "I take ____ to be my lawful wife/husband from this moment to my last". While I do not object with the sentiment in this, I do object to being lied to about needing to add something to our already laid out vows. It is not the vows that make a marriage legally binding, it is when the signed certificate is sent to the state that does.
But while I had these griefs with the behind the scenes, the ceremony went off without a hitch and everyone thought it was the sweetest ceremony and most original that anyone has seen. So the only people to know that there were issues were me and my husband.
Response from the Vendor on 11/30/2013
A note from Rev Deb.
Thank you for taking the time to add a review and I am glad that you thought the ceremony was beautiful.
I would like to clarify some of the questions you had. During the process of creating this particular ceremony which...
had many components, not only the Jewish and Catholic elements but also a hand fasting, and other things. There were many drafts sent back and forth for the editing processes of the ceremony and because I was coordinating with Rabbi Frank the process sometimes took longer. During most of our email conversations I was under the impression that the ring warming was suggested by Rabbi Frank so my understanding was that he was always going to do it. I also went back into my emails and did not see anything mentioning about me doing the ring warming with Reiki. I would have been happy to do it had you asked me. Also you were concerned about the Rabbi and I having equal time in the ceremony so you had asked that the Rabbi do some of the other options.
As far as the legal ease of the vows; according to NYS there is a legal ease wording that is a required part of performing a legal marriage and is required to execute the license. It is my responsibiity as an officiant to uphold this requirement. I tell all my couples at their initial meetings and also emailed you guys prior to the wedding to let you know that we would need to add this to the vows as it is a legal requirement for an officiant to legally execute the license. As seen here an excerpt from NYS marriage laws:
ā¢ Requirements of a Marriage Ceremony
Article 3, Ā§12 of the Domestic Relations Law of New York states how a marriage may be solemnized. "No particular form
or ceremony is required when a marriage is solemnized as herein provided by a clergyman or magistrate, but the parties
must solemnly declare in the presence of a clergyman or magistrate and the attending witness or witnesses that they
take each other as husband and wife. In every case at least one witness beside the clergyman or magistrate must be
present at the ceremony."
I do my best alwasy to make my couple happy and respond to them as quickly as possible. Each ceremony is equally important to me and as you can see from other reviews usually everything is perfect. It is my obligation to not only create a beautiful and unique ceremony for each couple but also one that is legally binding. Wishing you many years of love, happiness and health!!
Thanks and Happy Holidays!
We contacted a few officiants we had found online and Rev. Deb had an office convenient to us. When we met with her, she made us feel so comfortable. She asked us about how we met, our families and what we loved about each other. She then of...
fered us many ways to create a ceremony that truly expressed who we are.
Our ceremony was wonderful! Everyone remarked at how personal and meaningful it was! She even gave us a keepsake copy of the ceremony. Her price was very reasonable and she helped us to have a wedding day that our entire family will never forget!
Maria Brennan
While the wedding ceremony was beautiful, I was irritated on the wedding day when Rev. Deb showed up 1 hour late (luckily we had built in time so this wasn't too bad) due to her previous wedding running late. Once she arrived one of the first t...
hings out of her mouth was regarding our remaining payment. While it is understandable that she would want the remaining money owed to her, she could have handled it differently, especially since she was so late. I also had to email her numerous times to get responses when deciding the specifics on our ceremony. I must say again that the ceremony turned out beautifully, but it was aggravating dealing with these other issues. She also left a binder with us which includes all the details from our wedding, however, there are numerous typos and errors.
Response from the Vendor on 01/01/2013
A note from Rev Deb.
Thank you for taking the time to add a review and I am glad that you thought the ceremony was beautiful.
I would like to clarify some of the details. Usually I arrive 45 mins to 1 hour before the ceremony start time. ...
That day I arrive 15 mins before the start time due to a delay in my previous ceremony which was beyond their control. I did not want to leave that couple without marrying them and did my best to still have the next ceremony start on time, which it did.
It is usually my policy to take care of the license and balance prior to the ceremony so that afterwards the couple can greet guests, take care of pictures etc. So taking care of that was a normal part of the process.
I do my best alwasy to make my couple happy and respond to them as quickly as possible. Each ceremony is equally important to me and as you can see from other reviews usually everything is perfect.
Thanks and Happy New Year!
When I first contacted Rev Deb I was looking for a short but sweet ceremony, nothing extensive. My husband and I met with Deb once and when she sent me my first draft, I was in tears. Only after meeting us for a little while, she was able to ...
put together one of the nicest ceremonies with some details of our relationship and our personalities. I received many compliments on the ceremony and how lovely it was. Rev Deb was a pleasure to work with. She was responsive with questions and showed up on time and ready to go the day of. She is definitely worth meeting with.
Rev. Deb did such an awesome job officianting my wedding a couple of weeks ago. My fiance and I were able to meet up with her a few months beforehand in order to share some details of our relationship with her. She then took what we shared wi...
th her and turned it into a very personal ceremony. Also, there was a minor mic issue at one point during our ceremony and she handled it very professionally. I'm so happy that we went with her as our officiant.
Rev Deb is incredible. She was so professional and every one of our guests commented on what a wonderful job she did with the ceremony. She is awesome. She took time to get to know us and incorporate it into our ceremony. I would recommend ...
her services to EVERYONE.
What can i say, we had Reverend Deb from Ceremonies of the Heart and she not only did my wedding but also my older sisters wedding 5 years ago. We love reverend Deb! Even with my husband and I being out of state, it was like we had known her fo...
r years, she was very good at answering emails and phone calls going back and forth. She even let us personalize our ceremony, we didn't want something that we had to choose from a pre cut cookie cutter feel out of a book, so we actually took part in making our ceremony up :) exactly how we wanted. I was appalled when i was looking at other officiants who REFUSED to let us make our own ceremony from readings and sample ceremonies online, we had other officiants actually have the nerve to tell us that if we made our own ceremony it would come out horrible. But not Rev Deb :) She was willing to work with us from the start, after all the ceremony is the most important part! We are a kind of unique couple and wanted to incorporate different traditions and she was always on board with us :) She not only recited a beautiful ceremony but also performed a sand ceremony and a hand fasting with us. We got so many compliments from our guests on how beautiful and different our ceremony was and it wouldn't have been possible without Rev Deb. Highly recommended!
I wanted a unique and non-denominational, secular but spiritual ceremony (my husband is more traditional and we needed to blend these things). Reverend Deb met with us for two hours to get to know us, sent us a very detailed set of choices wi...
th some wonderful quotes and ideas. I was so busy, I barely communicated back but she nailed what we wanted from the little I said. In addition, She was warm, funny and very authentic and the ceremony was perhaps the best part of our wedding. I recommend her highly.
Contact Info for Ceremonies of the Heart - Rev. Deb Viola
Message Vendor
Contact for Pricing
By clicking 'Request Quote', you agree that your information will be shared with the vendor and used to create an account on TheKnot.com. Please see our Privacy PolicyĀ andĀ Terms of UseĀ for details.
Typically responds within 24 hours
- Wedding Vendors/
- Officiants + Premarital Counseling/
- New York Officiants + Premarital Counseling/
- East Meadow Officiants + Premarital Counseling/