About this vendor
Mary Johnson is a wedding officiant based in Sacramento, California, who believes no wedding should be boring. Mary creates personalized ceremonies that focus on the unique stories and relationships of each couple. Mary’s attentive approach ensures that her couples' ceremonies are deeply meaningful both to the couple and to their guests. She works with couples from diverse backgrounds and loves incorporating soon-to-be newlyweds’ traditions and ideas into their unique ceremony. Mary's calendar for 2024 is full. She is currently accepting requests for 2025 and beyond.
To tell your personal story, Mary will bring her professional writing expertise: Mary's work has appeared in the New York Times, The Washington Post, National Public Radio and other publications, as well as her award-winning memoir. An experienced public speaker, Mary has not only officiated dozens of weddings, but has also been featured at national conventions, on college campuses, and on television and radio. A seasoned event planner, Mary pays special attention to coordinating her services with your venue contact, musicians or DJ, and others connected with your big day. Though Mary respects religious faith and appreciates ritual (she was a nun for twenty years), Mary's ceremonies as a Humanist Celebrant express a positive, non-theistic philosophy instead of religious faith.
Understanding that a wedding officiant helps a couple perform a very personal act of commitment in a rather public setting, Mary finds that a wedding works best when a couple and their officiant aren't strangers. Mary gets to know her couples well and works with them through several meetings, either in person or virtually, to get ceremonies just right. Mary provides a comprehensive package, making sure her clients receive the attention to detail they deserve. If you’d like, Mary can create a unique ritual for your wedding, be available for rehearsals, and will provide a beautifully bound copy of your ceremony. Further service options include, but are not limited to:
- Bilingual ceremonies
- Baby namings
- Coming-of-age celebrations
- New home blessings
- and even Celebrations of Life, memorial services, and funerals
Not your least expensive officiant, working with Mary is about relationship. You’ll pronounce your vows in front of an officiant who knows and cares about you — because the three of you have worked together to create a gorgeous ceremony that you and your guests will never forget. If you find that Mary's services exceed your budget, ask about The Andrew and Tommy Fund. Twice a year Mary provides her services completely gratis to couples in special circumstances.
Details
Business Attributes
- LGBTQ+-owned Business
- Woman-owned Business
Ceremony Types
- Civil Union
- Commitment Ceremony
- Elopement
- Interfaith Ceremony
- Non-Religious Ceremony
- Second Wedding
Religious Affiliations
- Interfaith
- Secular
Wedding Activities
- After The Wedding
- Newlywed Life
- Premarital Counseling
- Wedding
- Ceremony
Awards and Affiliations
Reviews
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5
out of 5.039 reviews
Review photos
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Working with Mary was a fantastic experience. She respond fast to our inquiries before the wedding. During our elopement, which included 14 guests and people streamed live online, ...
everyone praised Mary for being a wonderful officiant. Her heartfelt ceremony left an emotional impact on all of us, making the occasion truly special. We HIGHLY RECOMMEND her!
Words cannot express how thankful my husband and I were to have the opportunity to work with Mary. She when above an beyond. She answered all our question in a timely matter, for o...
ur meetings, she worked around our hectic schedule. Our guest have said, that was one of the best ceremony they ever attended. She took our breath away when she gifted us a book with our ceremony details and the cover of the book was my favor painting that means a lot in my life. I couldn’t believe she remembered that piece of detail. Wow just wow!
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There are moments in life when words seem inadequate when emotions run too deep for language to capture. As a group of five best friends embarking on an extraordinary j...
ourney to celebrate our collective love and commitment to each other, we needed someone who could truly understand and honor the essence of our unique bond. Mary Johnson was that beacon of understanding and light.
From the moment we met Mary, we felt an overwhelming sense of warmth and understanding. Her radiant spirit and genuine love for what she does shines through every interaction. Mary isn’t just a celebrant; she is an artist of the human spirit, weaving together stories, emotions, and dreams into a tapestry that perfectly encapsulates the unique journey of each group or couple she works with.
Our wedding wasn't the conventional union of two; it was a sacred circle of five. Five souls standing in perfect harmony, where no one stands in front and no one stands behind, no one stands higher, and no one stands lower. Mary immediately grasped the profound significance of our circle. She understood that in our circle, we are all equal, all cherished, and all pivotal to the magic we share. And she captured this with her signature sparkle, bringing our vision to life in a way that exceeded all our expectations.
The comprehensive package she offers is testament to her commitment to excellence. Every consultation felt like a cherished conversation between lifelong friends. She genuinely listened to each of our stories, our wishes, and our shared dreams for the future.
The rehearsal was meticulously planned yet felt so organic. And on our big day, Mary delivered a ceremony that celebrated our unique bond, leaving not a single dry eye among our gathered loved ones. Receiving a bound copy of our ceremony was a keepsake we will forever hold dear. It's a tangible reminder of that special day, of Mary's gift to us, and of the emotions that surged through every word she spoke.
In Mary, we didn’t just find a celebrant; we found a friend, a confidante, and a beacon of light guiding our group's shared journey. If you are looking for someone to truly honor your unique story and make your day unforgettable, Mary Johnson is the one. She gifts memories that last a lifetime.
Thank you, Mary, for making our day immeasurably beautiful. Our circle of love is forever grateful.
Working with Mary was one of the best parts leading to the wedding. Our ceremony was the most beautiful and meaningful moment of the day. Our guests cannot stop telling us how it w...
as one the most beautiful ceremony they’ve ever witnessed and they felt like she was telling a beautiful love story based in real facts. To say I highly recommend Mary as your officiant is an understatement. We will absolutely work with her as we continue growing as a family.
Mary was an absolute pleasure to work with. We met with her several times the year before our wedding and each time it was like meeting with an old friend. Her attention to detail ...
and the way that she customizes her ceremonies to fit the needs of the couple is unmatched. So many of our guests complimented out ceremony, as it was both personal and memorable. We opted to have her create a bound book of our ceremony and she customized it to fit the theme of our wedding, it was a great keepsake and I am glad we did it. Thank you Mary!
Mary really took the time to get to know us and make sure that our wedding ceremony reflected our personalities and our relationship. We were so happy with her services and she rea...
lly helped to make our day that much more special and memorable. Highly recommended.
We are so happy that we went with Mary to create and officiate our wedding ceremony – we couldn't imagine the day without her! She helped us capture what was important to us so th...
oughtfully, and even supported us (individually and together) in balancing out our vows. She truly got to know us as a couple leading up to the wedding, which resulted in a special ceremony that felt so meaningfully "us" – not to mention how both logistically detailed and beautifully written it was. We went back and forth through a few rounds of edits and always felt that Mary was there to work with us until it felt perfect, which we really appreciated. With everything else going on around wedding planning, it was a relief to know that we could trust that all the details of our ceremony were in Mary's capable and professional hands.
Not only was the ceremony wonderfully crafted, but Mary also did an amazing job actually officiating & performing the ceremony on our wedding day. Her presence on the day was so grounding and caring (even coming to visit me as I was getting ready before the ceremony and calming my nerves a bit!) We had so many guests come up to us afterwards who specifically said how wonderful our officiant was, and how much they loved the ceremony. In addition to the all-around skill and experience Mary brings, we really appreciated how caring and dedicated she was from start to finish, and would recommend her to any couples looking to create a meaningful ceremony!
We had such a wonderful time working with her and she gave us the wedding ceremony of our dreams - we really can't get over how incredible it was. I'm still hearing from guests abo...
ut how much they enjoyed it, and they all said it was the best wedding ceremony they had ever attended! She took the time to get to know us very well and she created a beautifully personalized and professional ceremony that none of us will forget anytime soon. She did such an incredible job and we're recommending her to everyone we know that is getting married in our area of NH/Maine!
Mary was great, she basically got our entire live story and more into our ceremony, she asked questions that maybe not everyone would even think of. She was really understanding ab...
out my financial issues and helped me out which I appreciate so much. She really captured everything I hoped for.
Mary was extremely professional and really catered the ceremony to us as a couple. She held our hand throughout the entire process and wrote up a wonderful ceremony for us. Any w...
edding couple would be wise to use her as their officiant!
Working with Mary was everything we wanted and more. Mary has excellent communication whether it’s via phone, email, or Zoom. She did an incredible job of walking us through how to...
write our vows and what to expect the day of.
But most importantly, Mary took the time to get to know us as a couple. She took that time and created a beautiful ceremony for us that was tailored to us as a couple.
If you’re looking for someone friendly, warm, and willing to get to know you then I highly recommend Mary!
Working with Mary was an amazing experience and an absolute pleasure. The ceremony she wrote for us was very personalized to us as a couple, she helped us incorporate a creative ha...
nd fasting ceremony, listened to what was important to us and gave us the ceremony of our dreams. Our guests were very complimentary of our ceremony and we can only recommend her as an officiant.
Thank you , Mary for making our day so much more special!
Mary was truly amazing to work with in creating our unique and special wedding ceremony. Her guidance and support was invaluable. Everyone in our families raved about how eloquent ...
and moving Mary was during the ceremony, even our other vendors told us how amazing she was! We cannot recommend her enough. 5 stars!
Mary was everything we had hoped for in an officiant - and more! She met with us several times over Zoom to go over all the details. We really felt the care that she put into craft...
ing our ceremony. She expertly wove in so many details about our relationship in a light-hearted and humorous way, which was exactly what we had asked for. After asking us to describe the overall feel we wanted for the readings, Mary provided us with dozens of choices that perfectly matched our vision. Our guests still continue to rave about our ceremony, and many have said that they can’t believe we haven’t known Mary for many, many years! She really took the time to get to know us as a couple and bring in the important elements of our relationship to the ceremony. I am so glad we found her, she was the perfect person to perform our ceremony!
Mary was extremely involved from the time we first met with her to the end of the ceremony. She was driven to give us a very special and personalized ceremony and spent the time to...
discuss different ideas and made sure we were happy every step of the way. Thank you so much for an amazing time, both our families are still talking about you.
Mary Johnson was the best wedding officiant that we could have asked for. She was a pleasure to work with as we collaborated on a wedding ceremony together that truly celebrated wh...
o we were as a couple. Not only were we blown away by both the ceremony content and delivery, but our wedding guests told us that it was the best ceremony they have ever attended! Mary has my highest recommendation as an officiant!
One of the most common observations our wedding guests shared with us was how wonderful, meaningful, and unique the ceremony itself had been. Mary worked extensively with us to lea...
rn our history and our values, and wrote a ceremony that perfectly captured both. If that were all Mary did, it would be enough for 5 stars- but Mary was also responsive, organized, and reassuring throughout the entire process. We are so glad that Mary was our celebrant--working with her, and the ceremony she created for us are two of are our favorite memories from our wedding.
Mary was very easy to talk to and work with. Our family and friends raved about what a great ceremony she conducted and how friendly and welcoming she was. She was fantastic to wor...
k with for our wedding!
Mary is our friend and she has graciously agreed to create our wedding program on a short notice. We worked together picking out the flow, the readings and incorporating elements f...
rom both of our cultures (Bride: Indian, Groom: Catholic). It was such a pleasure to work with Mary. Her questionnaire and the working sessions worked pretty much perfectly to create a beautiful ceremony in a short time. I highly recommend Mary for her dedication, openness and wisdom.
Mary made herself available to marry us, even through a pandemic! She helped us with this process and included us in every part of it. We really loved how she threaded a story, hel...
ped us with our vows, and included other family members in our small, intimate ceremony. Mary is a warm, kind person, a great story teller, and we loved working with her.
Mary was an absolute delight to work with, from the first call to the amazing ceremony. Our wedding blended two families, three generations, and many stories. Mary provided so ma...
ny good ideas, and really made the effort to learn about us and our families. The planning was fun and thoughtful, and the ceremony itself was simply perfect. We would very highly recommend Mary to anyone.
Mary crafted a beautiful ceremony that reflected our values and personalities. Working with her leading up to our wedding day — sharing our story, discussing elements of the ceremo...
ny, readings, etc. — was enriching and fun. Mary delivered the ceremony with warmth, humor and professionalism. She was also terrific with our families, the musicians and event staff. We recommend Mary highly and without reservation.
Mary, we've made music in hundreds of ceremonies, and your service was exquisite, my all time favorite: so thoughtful and personal and inspirational, elegantly proportional and bea...
utifully delivered.
Mary was absolutely wonderful to work with. She really dedicated a lot of time to learn about both my husband and I individually, as well as the development of our relationship. Sh...
e wrote a beautiful piece detailing our story and our hopes for the future together. Her writing was eloquent and sincere. I would highly recommend her to anyone looking for an officiant who will truly care for you through your entire wedding process.
I cannot say enough good things about Mary. My husband and I had no idea where to start when it comes to creating a ceremony, she took us through the entire process step by step an...
d made it all much more approachable. But it gets crazier. The day before our wedding day our venue cancelled on us. I gave Mary a call as she was expecting to meet us for our rehearsal, and said something along the lines of how would you feel about marrying us in 3 hours? She immediately stepped up to the plate and turned what should have been our rehearsal dinner into an impromtu surprise wedding much to the delight of anyone hanging out at the bar at Sea Dog that night. I can't thank her enough for being so flexible and beyond helpful during the most stressful situation of my life.
Our fusion wedding was a little over a month ago, and our guests are still talking about how beautiful our wedding ceremony was. Mary took the time to get to know who we are as ind...
ividuals and as a couple, and our vision for the wedding. She listened to what we were saying a created a ceremony that incorporated elements of the American, Indian and Iranian cultures. She flowed from one culture to the next seamlessly and explained each component so everyone understood what was happening. Mary is so talented and a beautiful person, inside and out. She lead the ceremony confidently, is a fantastic writer (you should also read her book) and is a warm and genuine person. It was an absolute pleasure to work with Mary and we highly recommend her!
Mary was the best! She made us so comfortable during the planning process and really took the time to get to know us. Little did we know how great it would be to get to know her ...
as well. She is a wonderful person and really takes the time to get to know her couples and ensures that your big day is going to really reflect the two of you. We had countless guests tell us how personal and beautiful our ceremony was and we have Mary to thank for that. She was a very calming presence during our wedding weekend and was truly invested in us and the people most important to us. We could not be happier to have had Mary marry us on the best day of our lives!
Mary made our wedding ceremony so incredibly special. Her warm demeanor and raw, natural talent for writing and public speaking are like nothing we have seen at any other wedding, ...
and our wedding day, truly, would not have been the same without her. From the time we spent collaborating with Mary to draft our ceremony, to the library's worth of gorgeous readings she shared with us, to the day of our wedding when we stood in front of all of our friends and loved ones without a dry eye in the house, Mary was nothing short of exceptional. I would highly recommend Mary to anyone looking for a celebrant who will take the time to get to know you, is experienced and knowledgable while still being open to trying new things, and is simply just a darn nice person to be around.
Mary was a fantastic officiant and over the course of planning our wedding I feel that she became more than that. She made our wedding incredibly personal and I know that we will r...
eturn often to reread our wedding ceremony book. We really appreciated how easy she made it to incorporate our ideas and how much time she put into working with us. The wedding guests and especially the wedding vendors continue to comment on how wonderful our ceremony was and what a great job Mary did with it.
Mary did an absolute amazing job as our officiant. Every one of our guests commented how beautiful, funny, and meaningful our ceremony was. She put a tremendous amount of work to ...
really personalize the ceremony to fit us. I could not have imagined a more perfect wedding ceremony.
Mary Johnson learned so much about us as a couple, truly understood us, and created a ceremony that perfectly captured our vibe, our values and our love. Thoughtful, irreverent, li...
terary -- Mary is fantastic.
Mary was excellent to work with! It was a little difficult trying to meet with her a couple times due to my husbands traveling schedule but we made it work through phone calls, sky...
pe, and texting. Mary put together a tremendous ceremony and we are truly thankful.
When getting ready for my wedding, I researched everything. One of the things that stood out to me was an article that said something unexpected will occur on your wedding day. Tha...
t unexpected thing happened because of Mary and it absolutely made my wedding.
Mary invited my (now) husband and I into her home many times so that she knew who we were and what we wanted for our wedding. She understood this only happens once and wanted to get it right. We mentioned having a ukulele player, but couldn't afford it.
The day of our wedding, we were beyond thrilled when she surprised us during our ceremony by bringing her ukulele and playing a song that meant a lot to us. To say the least, there were no dry eyes.
This is the type of celebrant that Mary is. Mary took the time to get to know us and understand our love. She went above and beyond and made for us wonderful memories that we will never forget.
If you want to have a wedding ceremony that is personal and heartfelt, you can't go wrong with Mary.
Mary was excellent! She made a tremendous effort to get to know me and my bride-to-be and supplied questionnaires to supplement the meetings we had with her so that she could make...
the ceremony as personal for us as possible. She had us choose from a wide variety of different readings, vows, wedding blessings, etc. to get a feel for the kind of ceremony that would be perfect for us.
The end result was a beautiful ceremony performed with grace and just the right touch of humor and perfectly tuned to us. We couldn't have found anyone more perfect as our celebrant and we highly recommend Mary.
Mary was fantastic. Such a beautiful ceremony and she was able to meld together our different perspectives in a way that reflected us both. Highly recommend!
"Mary was absolutely wonderful, caring and compassionate when it came to our wedding. She met with us on four occasions prior to our wedding and made herself available whenever we...
needed assistance in planning our ceremony. Mary offered her opinion, but only when asked, and respected our wishes, through and through. She followed through with every detail and left us, our family and friends, with a spiritual ceremony to be remembered forever. "
Mary made our wedding so special. The ceremony was exactly what we wanted—serious, sweet, romantic, and personal. She also made the rehearsal and wedding day run smoothly and compl...
etely removed the burden of stress. It was a pleasure to get to know her and we hope to stay in touch.
Mary was a pleasure to work with. We met with her at her home a couple of times to get to know us, and plan elements of the ceremony.
She wanted to get to know us, to better a...
im the ceremony at our needs, wants, tastes and beliefs.
She offered suggestions for readings, vows and other elements of the ceremony, and worked our requests into the ceremony.
When the ceremony drew near, she was easy to reach by email and phone.
She did a fantastic job to marshal the wedding rehearsal, and even made extra copies of readings on thick wind-proof paper for the ceremony in case our readers forgot.
The final ceremony that she assembled was exactly what we wanted. The right tone, the right content, the right mood. I enthusiastically recommend Mary without reservation.
Mary was the best officiant we could ask for. She clearly explained all the facets we didn't understand and made sure we would get a wedding that we loved and suited us perfectly! ...
We will never forget our wedding or her commitment to us, to deliver the most memorable experience we could have asked for. Mary was caring, understanding, flexible and attentive. I can never thank her enough!
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