Married by Shelley

a couple, but was funny, and true to who we are. She gave us suggestions on what to include, asked great questions about things we had not even considered, and sent us a draft ahead of time to make sure we absolutely loved every aspect! Guests were blown away, to the point where we were all disappointed she couldn't spend the whole evening with us. I cannot recommend Shelley enough. I almost wish we were getting married again so we had another reason to hire her! You will not be disappointed with Shelley!

to earth and with the information she was given was able to paint such a beautiful picture of our life and love story. She has such a way with words and writing I was in awe the whole time. I had a request and she orchestrated it perfectly. She walked us through everything so we knew what to expect and when to do everything, never had to question a thing. I would recommend Shelley to each and every person getting married! Thank you for making such an amazing day even more perfect!

g day. She included our children in parts which was very special to us! She answered every email & text I sent which there were multiple some days 🤪 she was prompt & helped me so much on my wedding day with other tasks! You can trust her with everything!!! Hire her you won’t be disappointed.

s. We laughed and cried during our ceremony and wouldn’t have changed a thing! Communication was EASY! Shelley is very intuitive and her experience is obvious. She clearly loves love and it shows! 5 stars all the way!!! She will be officiating our son’s wedding next year as he witnessed first hand how special she made our ceremony. Hire her or you will be missing out on a unique and meaningful experience from a true professional.

arned the cultural difference as my wife is Asian. Learned their language and incorporated into ceremony. As well always calmed us down and helped out above and beyond with our wedding vows. Shelley goes above and beyond, I highly recommend her to everyone. Dave.

le during the entire process. A year later my family and friends are still talking about how beautiful and heartfelt the ceremony was. Shelley did a phenomenal job and was truly one of the best parts of my wedding day. I highly, highly, highly recommend her!❤️

and disappointment me and my husband felt. Our biggest wedding regret was hiring Shelley. Shelly came recommended from our wedding planner, and we saw that she had great reviews. Our initial meeting was pleasant and she was very nice and personable. We thought things would go well with her so we went ahead and hired her for our wedding. But as we got closer to our wedding date, things started going poorly quickly. On October 27, around 6 weeks before our wedding, we had our ceremony planning meeting. Overall we thought it went well; we went over how my partner and I met, and what we'd like our ceremony to be like. We also talked extensively about how since my dad had very recently passed, we'd like there to be a big part of the ceremony where we honored him and had a moment of silence for him. It was important to the whole family, especially since my family had not gathered since his passing. I promised to send her notes on this as well - I sent them on 11/10. She never confirmed that she got them, so a little over a week later (11/19), I emailed her to follow up (and to confirm that she received our payment in the mail). She said on 11/19 that she would finalize her draft and sent it over in "the next day or two" so we could finalize everything. This didn't happen, so I followed up again a week later (11/25 less than 3 weeks from our wedding). She then said she would send it over that night, but ended up sending it two days later (11/27). At this point, we were really frustrated by all of the broken promises of getting the first draft to us by a certain time. Of course, if she needed more time, that's fine - but to keep promising us that we would get the first draft by a specific time, and then it wouldn't happen, was upsetting. The first draft, which we received within a month of our big day, stressed me out more than anything happening at that time. There were so many details that were just wrong, which was surprising since she took so many notes during our ceremony planning meeting. There were also just a lot of grammatical errors. With less than a month until the wedding, I can't overstate how stressful it was to receive a first draft like this. I spent that day going through and revising everything, correcting details about our love story and filling out the remembrance portion for my late father. I sent her the updated draft that day, and asked for a call to chat. We had a phone call to go over the details later that week, and to get on the same page. Then, on 12/1 (2 weeks from the wedding), she sent me "Draft 2", which had NONE of the edits or corrections that I had sent her prior. So, I had to take this "Draft 2" and re-do all my edits so that they would make it in the final draft, which took up a big portion of my time. I sent her the draft back letting her know that I had to go back in and re-add my corrections. There was more confusion about which draft was correct as now we were in a chain with multiple attachments, but finally on 12/5, we confirmed which draft was correct and had this settled. I understand that some people like doing things last minute, but still having back and forths about my wedding ceremony a week before my wedding was absolutely not ideal. And to have none of my previous corrections and edits be included was unacceptable. It was stressful to say the least. The actual ceremony was extremely disappointing. I think either she was having an off day, or wasn't able to prepare or something, because her performance was awkward, not smooth, and she seemed very nervous. During the remembrance portion for my late father, she stumbled on words, couldn't pronounce the word "revered", and didn't leave enough time for the moment of silence like I had requested. She also said something to the effect of "Thank you for letting Melody have this moment", which I specifically asked her NOT to say - this moment was for the WHOLE family. It wasn't just me who lost him. I was honestly shocked since this was something we had talked about. The worst part that hangs over us the heaviest is that she mispronounced my husband's last name when she pronounced us as husband and wife. I don't even understand how this happened, since during our meeting with her, we went over this. Our hearts absolutely sank in that moment - we were SO unbelievably embarrassed. It was all I could think about when we were leaving the ceremony. What should have been an amazing moment was honestly so awkward and embarrassing, and all of our guests noticed (obviously). During the reception and the brunch after, I had so many family members asking us what happened - they felt bad for Shelley, thinking that we had hired her last minute and that she didn't have any time to prepare because her delivery overall was so awkward. If we had known it was going to be like this, we would have never hired her. Now in our wedding recording, my dad's remembrance and my husband's last name will be forever botched, and this moment can't ever be redone. There were other (more minor) things throughout the process that in retrospect, should have told me to hire someone else early on before our big day. We sent her payments (2 total) via check in the mail, and each time, I had to reach out to her to make sure she got it, despite me requesting in an included note to please send confirmation of receipt. I never had to ask any of my other vendors if they received checks in the mail - they would just email me as soon as they received it. It's a minor thing, but we found it a bit rude. A bigger red flag was that her emails were extremely unprofessional - lacking correct grammar, punctuation, capitalization, and having typos in general. One email she sent to me started with "Heyyyyy", which was very off-putting and uncomfortable. I love being friendly with my vendors, and some of them have even become friends - I don't mind being friendly in emails and adding smiley faces or whatever, but many of her emails were just plain hard to understand due to the presence of typos and sentence fragments. Overall, we are extremely heartbroken with how things went with Shelley. As a person, she is very nice, friendly, and personable. Everyone has bad days, and we completely understand that. We honestly do like her and wish her nothing but the best. But our experience with her services were so disappointing that we felt it important to share, and I sincerely hope she can hear us out and learn from this so that future couples can have a better experience. Thank you for reading.

me to get to know you and your love story to make your ceremony special. All my family and guests said how amazing Shelley was! Shelley also took the time to include our son in our ceremony. I can’t thank Shelley enough with all her help and amazing work she did for us! I would definitely recommend her to anyone!

ere is so much put into this that you wouldn't imagine. long story short all I can say is leave it to the professionals !! thank god she hired Shelley she is the BEST !! I can't imagine the time she put into my cousins ceremony in late October but this is truly her thing she did such an amazing Job and literally saved the day !!! the way she told there love story sent chills through everyone her words where perfection and she truly made this day beyond more special then it was set out to be THANK YOU AGAIN !!!

the time to get to know us and our personal love story and used these details to make our ceremony so special. She also went out of her way to involve my grandparents in the ceremony which was so special and meant so much. We would definitely recommend Shelley to anyone looking for a wedding officiant in the area!

upon Shelley and IMMEDIATELY got the best feeling ever. She is extremely professional, friendly, sweet, and funny. She took the time to get to know us and incorporated things she learned about us and our love story into the ceremony. Afterwards, multiple guests came up to us and told us that it was the most beautiful and genuinely heartfelt ceremony they had ever been to. And that is all thanks to Shelley. I would recommend hiring her as your wedding officiant 11/10. You will not be sorry! Also, you'll have a life-long New Haven pizza friend!!!

Most of the guests assumed that Shelley had known them for years, that is how well she captured who they are! She led the ceremony with a warm and genuine manner that was so welcoming, everyone was smiling throughout. On top of all this, Shelley was a complete professional. She coordinated every detail of the ceremony with our venue manager, DJ and photographer so that everything went perfectly. I highly recommend her!

ciant to capture our love story. Anytime we had any questions either about vows or just the ceremony itself, she was always just a phone call away. She sat with my husband for an hour on the phone helping him with his vows. She added just enough about our love story to the ceremony to really capture who we are as a couple. She even did a baby blessing for our baby girl on the way. If you are looking for an officiant, Shelley is your go to lady! She truly is incredible!

now the couple and asks thoughtful questions so that the ceremony is reflective of the individuals and their relationship. Would HIGHLY recommend Shelley! Thank you Shelley!!!

ionship. She crafted the perfect ceremony that fit our personalities so well.

common. Shelley was quick to call us to have a meeting to go over the results and help us communicate our strong suits and our not so strong suits. She helped give us solutions on what we can do to understand each other better.

ll phone policies and told us what to expect. We just adored the way she delivered the love story it was so heartfelt and engaging as we cried and laughed the entire time! Perfect way to kick off the wedding day celebration !! We have just hired her for our upcoming Vow Renewal and can’t wait because we know it’s going to be such an amazing experience , not only for us but for our friends and family too!

to Shelley!

write your own vows she encouraged us to do so and went over them with us individually letting us know how much more it will add to our ceremony. After it was all over we realized she was right and our wedding ceremony was perfect. Shelley has now become a forever friend!! Michelle and George Riddle

n the remembrance of my daughter and son in law’s journey and our families could not stop talking about how wonderful the ceremony was! She was very professional, super friendly with our family and friends and helpful with the venue staff and our hired vendors. Hire the best -hire Shelley!

received some comments from our guests saying the ceremony was spectacular, emotional, and perfect. She personalizes to exactly your who you are as a person and partner. Our wedding wouldn’t have been our wedding with out Shelley. If you’re thinking about hiring hiring Shelley. I would not double think about it all. She’s defiantly the right person for any wedding! 🥰

s everything we were looking for. She really took the time to get to know us and learn our story, not only as a couple but also as individuals. She was easy to communicate with and was always there to answer any questions we had. A couple weeks prior we sent her our vows for her to review and then we had separate phone conversations to adjust anything she felt needed to be tweaked. The day of our wedding Shelley was there early to coordinate with the musicians and venue and make sure everything was running smoothly. The ceremony she delivered was beautiful. It was personal and felt as if it was done by someone who had known us for years! It’s been a little over a month since our big day and we still keep in touch.

ts commented on how short, sweet, and funny Shelley made our ceremony. She was professional and knew how to read the room, a call away if we needed anything or had any questions regarding the ceremony portion of our wedding. We could not have asked for a better officiant!

d everything we read and decided to cross our fingers and hope she was still available for our date. Shelley responded to us very quickly and booked a time to chat the same day. Immediately we knew she was the perfect person to share our day with. During our consultation, she was genuinely interested in getting to know us and made it feel like we had known her for years. She answered all of our questions and walked us through the process. Fast forward to the week of the wedding, she provided a draft of our ceremony and it left me in tears. My husband and I decided we wanted to exchange personal vows during our first look and Shelley was still able to craft and tell the most beautiful story of our love. Our guests complimented us on multiple occasions after the ceremony saying how beautiful it was. To top it all off, Shelley brought old fashioned donuts for our dog. Why is this important? Because we briefly told her we take Gracie on trips to Dunkin' during our consultation and mentioned how she always gets an old fashioned donut. Seriously, please look no further and book Shelley. I can not recommend her enough, such a kind heart and will listen to every detail to make the perfect ceremony for you. Thank you again for everything!!

had known forever. Our ceremony felt so personalized and our guests couldn't stop saying how well the ceremony matched our personalities and really was "us" in every away. We cannot thank Shelley enough! She really puts her all into what she does!

r ceremony was exactly what we wanted, we even had guests coming up to us and complimenting our ceremony and how great she was! If you’re thinking about booking Shelley as your officiant, DO IT!!

y. She was wonderful about our requests, offered suggestions, and delivered the most gorgeous ceremony I have ever heard (may be biased as the bride but, really!). If you are looking for an officiant or Justice of the Peace, look no further than Shelley!!

ls to our FaceTime videos about our ceremony and questions about each other for our customized ceremony as well as a preview to make sure we liked it. Very professional outgoing. If you want people to talk about I h highly recommend. Shelley makes the process very easy. You’ll love her

ay to work and came right to our aid! Was so informative about the process, patient with paperwork issues and guided us through getting a copy of our license before we left. The ceremony itself was so touching and precious to both of us. A moment we'll always remember and a perfect fit.

tle upset before the ceremony and thankfully Shelley was there to calm me down but to also fix the minor situation. Book her, you will not be disappointed. Shelley we love you!!!

ans we immediately knew she was the perfect fit to be our officiant. So much so that by the end of our initial meet and greet call we already set up an in person meet and were ready to officially book her. She was with us every step of the way and made us feel like complete rock stars. She wrote out a beautiful ceremony for us that blew us away and exceeded our expectations. Shelly, Thank you so much for everything and for playing such an important role on our big day!

ou were going to be perfect for our wedding ceremony. I already miss our pizza dates, Our off-topic discussions about literally everything, you not only were such a fun person to talk to but you came through and gave us the best ceremony ever!! I can’t even tell you or count how many people have come up to me and said “OMG that officiant that you had was amazing!” And my response has been consistently “tell me about it😍” I love how excited she got about literally everything, you can tell she is so passionate about love. We did our Simas assessment and went over the results in great detail and I surprisingly (being that I’m a private person) was so comfortable going over literally everything with her. Judgement free zone for sure! I don’t plan on ever getting married again,But if I ever were to she would be my go to for a ceremony LOL sorry Geoff. No but in all seriousness, when we do a vowel renewal, Shelley will be our girl!Thank you so much for being so accommodating, easy-going and for hyping us up. We were both so nervous going into all of this but you guided us & supported us Through it all. If you’re looking for someone to literally be your mom through this process Shelley is the one for the job! Thank you again so much!

ould have it, Shelley made herself available! And thank god she did!! She had a week to plan and put together a perfect ceremony and was loved by all - especially the best man, Chief!! Highly recommend. Very responsive, very professional, and very personable and fun!!!

s into our ceremony. Highly recommend!

y was the perfect person to marry us! We researched for a JP through various avenues and ended up connecting with Shelley through Facebook. She suggested we meet up for a coffee so she could learn about us and better understand what we were hoping for a ceremony. This turned out to be a great suggestion as we were able to not only share our story with Shelley, but also reminisce fondly about how our relationship started and evolved, with all the funny and meaningful moments thrown in that solidified our connection in the first place. Shelley’s unique personal touch, endearing sense of humor, and appreciation to learning about our story were qualities that immediately struck us both and we left our meeting glowing and put at ease, knowing that we not only made the right decision by going with Shelley but also being able to look back on the memories of our relationship. Shortly after, Shelley sent us the personalized vows she created and with very some minor tweaking we were even more confident going into our wedding day. We decided to have our ceremony at the Hartford City Hall on a holiday, and since this was uncharted territory for us, Shelley assisted us along the way and confidently took charge to assure everything was set when we arrived, while also directing efficiently and empathetically throughout the ceremony. All these actions helped to alleviate any stress we had while still maintaining a loving and vibrant atmosphere that we truly appreciated. Shelley’s professionalism and sincere dedication to learning about us are qualities we will always remember and appreciate dearly that made our wedding day beyond special. We highly recommend Shelley as a Justice of the Peace and know other couples will have just as a profoundly positive experience as we did!

contact Shelley and Shelley stepped in seamlessly. She was able to work with our schedules to meet with us and really take the time to get to know us and personalize our ceremony and make it feel like she had known us for years. She asked so many questions and then took all of the answers and put them together beautifully. We cannot recommend her enough. Thank you Shelley!

e does and is so very warm, funny, thoughtful. We could not have asked for a better officiant. We met with her several times before our big day, our 2nd wedding. She has a ton of wonderful options for vows and different readings, as well as a number of different things she does/says in any ceremony (sand ceremony, lei exchange ceremony etc), so we felt like our ceremony was completely our own without having to come up with the whole thing from scratch! Shelley customized our ceremony vows with us and just made them perfect! After the ceremony, we had many many of our guests come up to us and say it was the best ceremony they ever saw, it was some moving and personal and that shelley was wonderful - and we certainly agree!! we would recommend her to any couple getting married.