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This vendor updated their storefront within the last 15 days.
South Lake Tahoe, CA
Travel area: No travel restrictions See details
Ian
ULC MINISTER + TRS CERTIFIED RELATIONSHIP COACH
AWARD WINNER
Thanks to recommendations from couples on The Knot
Ian Cruess is the ardent face behind Legacies of Love, a wedding officiant and relationship coaching service based in the heart of the Sierra Nevada mountains, South Lake Tahoe, CA. Ian believes "leaving a legacy of love is a labor of love." That's why he wants to celebrate your unique journey and consecrate your commitment to one another in a way that feels authentic and genuine to you.
Legacies of Love offers a number of services to support you as you step towards marriage and beyond. Ian honors all walks of life, whether you are religious, non-religious, spiritual, LGBTQ+, or BIPOC! Relationship coaching is available and highly encouraged if you're looking for clarity, confidence, and connection within yourself and your relationship!
This also gives Ian invaluable insight when writing your ceremonial script to ensure you feel especially acknowledged, comfortable, and confident on your wedding day. Ian will do his best, responding quickly to your inquiry, answering your questions during consultation, taking sincere time to get to know you and your partner, understanding your combined vision, putting his heart and soul into writing a custom ceremonial script, and offering his genuine presence leading up to and stepping into your marital ceremony.
Details
Ceremony Types
Civil Union
Commitment Ceremony
Elopement
Interfaith Ceremony
Non-Religious Ceremony
Religious Ceremony
Second Wedding
Vow Renewal Ceremony
Religious Affiliations
Baha'i Faith
Buddhist
Christian
Quaker
Hindu
Interfaith
Jewish
Muslim
Pagan
Secular
Sikh
Spiritual
Unitarian
Wiccan
Wedding Activities
After The Wedding
Newlywed Life
Getting Engaged
Premarital Counseling
Wedding
Ceremony
Awards and Affiliations
Any questions?
Meet the team
Ian
ULC Minister + TRS Certified Relationship Coach
My ethos: Using my mind to live through my heart with purpose while helping others to do the same. I've been naturally curious and passionate about relationships from a young age and knew this was an important area of my life. After resigning from my 13-year career as a wildland firefighter, I trained for 3 years and was certified as an individual and couples relationship coach. Around this same time, two couples that are very close friends of mine asked me to officiate their marriages, and that's when it all clicked. Today, I serve couples of all cultural and social backgrounds toward, through, and beyond marriage as an ordained minister and relationship coach. I offer a premium experience for couples who desire truth over tradition by custom-tailoring their uniting ceremony to reflect their unique story, personality, values, mission, and vision. Through the premarital coaching process, couples get to directly invest in improving the quality of their relationship. Simultaneously, we build an intimate connection that lays the foundation for trust and an exceptionally authentic ceremony that genuinely reflects their life.
Reviews
5.0
out of 5.012 reviews
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Review Summary
This AI-generated summary is a snapshot of this vendor's ratings and feedback.
Ian from High Mountain Weddings is highly praised as an exceptional officiant by multiple couples who found themselves in last-minute need of an officiant for their weddings. Ian's personalized and thoughtful approach in creating ceremonies tailored to each couple, his ability to maintain a calming presence, and his genuine enthusiasm are highlighted in the reviews. Couples express their gratitude for Ian's dedication, warmth, and the special touch he brings to their ceremonies, making their wedding days even more meaningful and unforgettable. Ian's attention to detail, care, and ability to capture the essence of each couple's love story receives high recommendation from couples who were delighted with the unique and heartfelt ceremonies he delivered.Review photos
Showing slide number 1 out of 4
Madison W
Highlighted review.
5.0
10/22/2025
Ian is absolutely incredible. We ended up having to find a new officiant literally days before our wedding and we were referred to Ian by our photographer. Right off the bat, he fe...
lt more invested than the previous officiant ever was. In the limited time we had to work on it, Ian was expeditious and inquisitive to ensure that the ceremony was what we wanted it to be. He took the time to get to know us as a couple and to understand what was meaningful to us and why. We incorporated many different elements from different times and cultures, but Ian blended them beautifully to create a seamless ceremony that flowed naturally. Not only did he accommodate us very last minute, but he still showed up fully for us and very clearly put a lot of thought and effort into everything he did for us. We could not have been happier or more grateful!
Feliccia M
5.0
9/18/2025
Ian is a true light. He is intentional with making time for you to discuss questions, concerns and to overall plan and get to know each other to create the ceremony. Each t...
ime we would meet with him we felt uplifted and on top of the world. We also learned so much more about each other as a couple! He creates a safe and supportive space. We are so grateful he made constant effort to get to know us and our families’ legacies, and was present for the rehearsal/dinner. It made our rehearsal day, ceremony, and overall wedding day so much more special! It was a true God moment in nature! There were lots of happy tears and cheers; his words brought the crowd into the moment!
Any questions?
Jesse G
5.0
1/02/2025
Our Wedding Officiant was Ian with High Mountain Weddings. We had a very small intimate wedding in beautiful Lake Tahoe. From the minute Ian began our wedding ceremony we knew we w...
ere in caring and dedicated hands. His warmth, genuine enthusiasm, and ability to perfectly capture our love made our ceremony feel deeply personal and incredibly moving. He was very patient with us and very thoughtful with his words. Not only did he deliver a beautiful ceremony for us, but with his positive and calm demeanor he helped keep us calm as we stood in front of our family and friends taking this next step. We are beyond grateful for Ian and highly recommend him to anyone seeking a truly special wedding ceremony.
India A
5.0
10/14/2024
Ian was absolutely incredible and we are so happy to have had him officiate our wedding! We needed an officiant as our planned one could not show 2 weeks from the wedding. We were ...
recommended Ian and are so grateful for the recommendation. Ian spoke with us and discussed our vision of our wedding and was so incredibly kind. He explained the process and what we should expect. Once we booked with Ian, we had another meeting where we all got to know each other better and delve into more of our story together to understand us as a couple. Our wedding day was incredible and ceremony so heartfelt. Ian tailored our ceremony to who we are as individuals and made it special and unique. I couldn't dream of a better ceremony! We are so blessed we were able to have Ian as part of our day!
BRYAN W
5.0
10/13/2024
Legacies of Love was awesome. Attentive, cared, helped out, did a great job, and made the wedding experience perfect. Super nice awesome guy. Would highly recommend!
Beise k
5.0
10/12/2021
Loved working with Ian! We will always remember our unique to us ceremony and Ian's words. Love the atmosphere he creates 1:1 when he's getting to know us. It's also nice to know t...
hat this isn't some pre-made speech by some guy, it's written specifically for us after taking the time to listen and and talk with us, and someone that you're bonding with who you can always talk/ get advice later on in life as well. 10/10 thank you for everything Ian!
Melissa S
5.0
8/27/2021
Our wedding was on August 15th, 2021 at Rivaura in Juliaetta, Idaho. John and I have been together for nearly three years now and our wedding was absolutely perfect. We booked Ian ...
a few months before the wedding and without him, I am not sure it would have went as well as it did. He was so incredibly helpful during the whole process. With helping on our vows, which I had no idea how to write without his advice. We met with him via zoom a couple times since we don’t live close to him. Ian is so down to earth and we felt a closeness to him, like he is family or a long-time friend.
We felt like we wanted to get to know Ian and his significant other more so it was natural to want to invite him to the family dinner the night before the wedding. It was so nice to get to know him and Jocelyn more, our kids really loved them too. During our meetings with Ian, he came up with a personalized speech for our guests and for us. He sent it to us for review prior to the wedding, making sure it was appropriate and met our personalities.
Wedding Day- Ian helped us with the rehearsal and how we were going to walk and with whom, what order. Truly, a life saver as neither John nor I had been to many weddings. We wanted our children as the bridal party, not traditional but we felt that our three girls and two boys needed to be up at the altar because they are our world. We are not religious at all and Ian had no problem at all preparing his speech and helping us with our vows. After the ceremony, we really wanted Ian and Jocelyn to stay with us to celebrate with our family and friends. They met with our guests and I’d consider them our kids’ new uncle and auntie! They were just so approachable, friendly and considerate to us and the people we love and care about.
John and I both feel that we made the absolute best decision in hiring Ian as our officiant and would recommend him to anyone else getting married. Our wedding would not have been the same with anyone else. We fell Ian genuinely cares about both of us and ensuring our most important day of our lives meant something more. We look forward to keeping in touch with Ian, because he isn’t just an officiant, he is a friend, someone that went out of his way to make our marriage more special and memorable.
Sierra M
5.0
5/04/2021
Ian is spectacular! He took ample time to compose a ceremony that genuinely captured Nate and I, took kindly to the small change we had, and had a wonderful presence at our ceremon...
y. Ian adds charm, beauty, and the perfect touch of humor. When it came to the day of, Ian was even helping us put the ceremony together, and gathered everyone to bless our meals. And then there are our parents, who were reluctant to not use our church’s pastor, and now ABSOLUTELY LOVE IAN! If you ask my parents what their favorite part of the day was - they say, Ian’s sermon. I’d have to agree as well! Thank you Ian, for curating our perfect day. We love you, Ian!
Ginny C
5.0
4/27/2021
I've had the pleasure of connecting with Ian for 9 months on our Relationship Coach Certification journey with The Relationship School.
(Sept 2020 - May 2021)
Ian's passion for co...
aching shines with soulful and loving energy he brings with him into our sessions. I feel caring, compassionate love in my heart space working with Ian. I encourage anyone to reach out and enjoy the benefits of Ian's coaching and officiant services!
Ginny Connon
www.thegutsycoach.com
Courtney K
5.0
4/26/2021
I've received several session of Relationship Coaching with Ian. As a woman, it is so refreshing to be coached by a man who is 100% solid and comfortable with big feelings. With I...
an, I feel absolutely safe and held. In our sessions, Ian invites me to slow down into myself in a way that I have never experienced with another coach. This is definitely his superpower! His voice and presence are so solid and soothing that I am able to relax into myself in a powerful way that makes real change happen quickly. Ian can handle whatever I bring and he so skillfully helps me to see my blindspots while offering sincere loving kindness.
Mariquena V
5.0
4/25/2021
Forever grateful to Ian for officiating the marriage with my beloved Leo. The personalized script he wrote for us was very touching and emotional. After a short interview with us, ...
he was able to verbalize the essence of our love history, setting a very romantic tone to the ceremony. He understood our beliefs and our intentions about marriage and set an impactful blessing for our union.
Not only is he charismatic to officiate weddings, he is profesional and works closely with each partner to make the ceremony as special as can be. Thank you Ian for helping make our wedding unique and unforgettable.
Leo G
5.0
4/25/2021
Ian is as charming, personable and authentic as a human could ever be. The ceremonial magic felt with him officiating our wedding was true bliss. From the moment we first asked him...
to marry us to tying the knot, Ian explored our relationship and the essence of our love to create the story of our life. During the ceremony, he portrayed our love through a beautiful story encapsulating specific highlights of our journey together. Ian’s ability to create and hold ceremonial space is remarkable. I feel incredibly lucky and grateful that my wife and I had such a righteous human marrying us!
Service area & Contact info
Travel area: No travel restrictions
Additional charges may apply
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Legacies of Love
Ian
|
ULC Minister + TRS Certified Relationship Coach
Wedding vendors in South Lake Tahoe
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