Dr. Doug Burford, DMin, LPC Relationship Counselor

but he really made us feel at ease when speaking about relatively personal topics with him. We would always leave our meetings in a great mood, just excited to discuss together the things we had talked about with Doug that day. Frankly, we were somewhat apprehensive to the idea of having someone we didn't know officiate our wedding. But are we ever glad that we decided on Doug. The ceremony was absolutely wonderful and touching. He really helped to make our day absolutely perfect.

geable and there were always take aways from our sessions. He gave us visual aids like diagrams and lists related to what we talked about during our sessions. We found those very helpful because we can always have them to look back on and remind us of what we discussed in our sessions. On our wedding day, Doug was very easy to work with and helped everything run smoothly. Our wedding party and vendors enjoyed working with him and our guests had great things to say about him too. Thank you so much Doug!

the pre-marital counseling, we couldn't be happier that we did. Each session gave us more insight into each other and what is necessary to make our marriage work. We received so many compliments from our guests about how nice our ceremony was and how impressed they were with Doug as the officiant. Of all the choices we made for our wedding, the most important was choosing Doug as our officiant. We would recommend him to everyone.

seling leading up to our vows and will never forget your wise and truthful sentiments. Your friends, Elizabeth and Travis

wedding ceremony was beautiful, so touching and relatable for us and all our guests. We have family members with many different religious and spiritual beliefs including atheists and he made the ceremony meaningful and relatable to everyone. Doug is really a special person and a true gift to anyone that would chose him to perform their ceremony and provide counseling. As part of his wedding package he provides 3 counseling sessions which we found incredibly helpful, affirming and provided us guidance in areas we could improve on as a couple. He uses several assessment tools that are very helpful and practical to a sucessful marriage. We look forward to more sessions and attending his marriage workshops in the future. Doug is such a kind, warm person with a great sense of humor that makes your time with him very special. We were so pleased with our choice in Doug to be such an important part of our marriage.

las and we were getting married in Kansas City, we started searching for a good match and knew we had found one when we found Doug! From my first email with Doug he was kind, genuine, and sincere. We discussed what was important to be included in our wedding ceremony and he took detailed notes and have us recommendation and tips as well. Our ceremony truly had Christ at the center of it and Doug was extremely well spoken and relatable. I had numerous people tell me after the wedding that the ceremony was absolutely beautiful. I cannot imagine anyone else performing our wedding ceremony and we will be forever grateful for you joining us together in front of Christ and all our loved ones! Thank you from the bottom of our heart!

ring the pre-marriage counseling sessions, the rehearsal, and ceremony was amazing and something that you do not see in many officiants these days. My wife and I met with 3 officiants before meeting Dr. Burford and after leaving all 3 of them we looked at each other and wondered if that was as good as it gets because all of them either judged us based on religion or gave us very blunt terms of what they do and do not do (One even told us he didn't do rehearsals because "the officiant doesn't need to be there"). Eventually, and Luckily, we ended up finding Dr. Burford and we will forever be grateful that we did. Michael & Kayla B.

d explained things thoroughly. We had to bring our son with us and he was very friendly with him as well and gave him items to color with. We did not have any relationship problems prior to the counseling, but I still feel like it helped strengthen our relationship even more than it was already. At the rehearsal, he showed up early and was extremely helpful in explaining what would happen, what he would say, and let us go through the rehearsal until we were comfortable with it. At the wedding he was also very professional and kind. The wedding ceremony was absolutely beautiful and it was a beautiful service as well. I would highly recommend him to anyone!

y was what I had hoped for, the ceremony was personal and meaningful. We highly recommend Doug to perform your wedding ceremony.

and his personal life lives up to his own counsel. Doug is a person of the highest integrity and strong character. We think you will be satisfied if you choose Doug.

verall great person to work with. Doug also provided our per-marital counseling which I would HIGHLY recommend to anyone before getting married. He brought up really great points and how to deal with them in marriage and how to make your marriage last forever. He worked with our schedules extremely well in order to make sessions work for both of us. Doug is an overall great pastor and his values and beliefs are definitely aligned with mine and my family's. I would recommend him to anyone and would be very happy to work with him again. Thank you again for everything, Doug!

ng for the “I do” questions. He pointed out an important distinction for us. “I do” is in the moment whereas, “I will” is a forever statement. After his point, my then fiancé (now husband of 9 years) and I really thought about his words and decided we agreed – “I will” means today, tomorrow, when I’m sick, when you leave the cap off the toothpaste, when I’m tired, when we fight – I will is forever. We wouldn’t have thought about that and to this day, we still remind each other that “I will”. We have Dr. Burford to thank for that. We also wanted to deviate a little from the “traditional” service and add music where there traditionally wasn’t, scripture where there traditionally wasn’t and prayers were there traditionally wasn’t. He was so gracious about the changes we wanted to make, recognizing their importance to us and never second guessing us. He saw that we had a vision (and a reason) and helped us to incorporate these items so the ceremony flowed seamlessly. Perhaps the best part of having him perform our service though was the part that we really had no influence on – the sermon. He talked about the difference between a wedding and a marriage. He also reminded us (and all our guests) that a marriage is never 50/50. Each person is responsible for giving 100%. If you give 100% then you can make up for your partner having an “off” day. There are going to be times when life is hard and if each of you does your best to give 100% then you have the best chance to survive those difficult times. Guests of our wedding commented after the fact what a great sermon he gave and to a few of our guests, that 100% message rang truer than anyone could have known. Again, 9 years and 2 kids later, it’s a message that my husband and I remind each other of from time to time. Anyone planning a wedding knows there are things that are going to go wrong. Choosing Dr. Burford to perform your ceremony will NEVER be something you look back on as “wrong”. He was great and we are lucky for his words in our special moment.

nseling was invaluable. My husband and I are forever indebted to Pastor Doug and would highly recommend him!