Officially Hitched

over the different ways our ceremony could flow and asked questions to get to know us a little better. We had a follow up call a few weeks later to review the ceremony she'd written and allow for any changes to be made. After our ceremony on 10/15/23 many of our guests asked if we knew Rachael personally because of how perfectly our ceremony fit our personalities. She also did the work of turning in our marriage license for us which was just an extra perk. Highly recommend Rachael if you are looking for an officiant who will feel like an old friend on the day of your wedding.

resentative of ourselves as a couple. It was an amazing ceremony and Officially Hitched made the ceremony so easy to manage. They also help submit your paperwork! Super helpful overall! Definitely recommend them!!!

ike he was truly celebrating us as a couple. 100% recommend to any future brides out there!

ecause they assumed she's a friend. She made the day so special for us, was so on top of things and really cares about what she does. Highly, highly recommend meeting with Rachael and you will know immediately that she's going to take care of your day!

ily, Great experience all together.

the county, especially since they would be part of something so personal, but we found Rachael through our photographer and we are so glad that we did! She was incredibly friendly and helpful, she took the time to get to know us, to listen to what we wanted, and to write a ceremony that felt like it was written for us by a close friend or family member. Neither of us knew what we wanted in a ceremony, but Rachael was extremely organized and prepared and knew all of the right questions to ask to guide us through the process and take our ideas into consideration. We had two video calls with her, a questionnaire, a few emails, and that was all it took for her to craft something perfect for us! Very low stress, which is exactly what we wanted for our elopement. We had the best ceremony right by the ocean and we are so thankful that Rachael was able to make it feel so personal and special.

were not local but she made sure we were comfortable and ready for our ceremony when we met in person the day of our wedding. I would recommend Officially Hitched to anyone in the San Francisco area. 5/5!

ur love story. It was a ton of fun reflecting on what brought us together and Rachael made the experience memorable. Throughout our meetings she got to know us as a couple and multiple guests asked how long we'd been friends with her. Thank you, Rachael!

the entire process very personable. Even though we didn’t know Rachael prior to the wedding, her sincere and benevolent attitude made us both feel incredibly comfortable, almost as if we’d known her our entire lives. In fact, many of our guests commented they thought we were long-time friends. Rachael was knowledgeable and was always there when we needed help all the way up until the special day. Her calming presence right before the ceremony was very much appreciated. We don’t live in San Francisco and were grateful for how she would go above and beyond by providing directions/parking to recommendations for restaurants and activities. Our families were very impressed with how professional Rachael was as the officiant and felt the flow of our ceremony was perfect. They said she was genuine, had great projection, and overall was absolutely wonderful. Overall we would highly recommend Rachael, you won’t regret it!

d. From the very beginning, Rachael was professional, organized, and communicative. She took the time to truly get to know us as a couple, and worked with us to create a personalized ceremony that was exactly what we wanted. On the day of the wedding, Rachael was well-prepared. She conducted the ceremony with grace and poise, and made sure everything ran smoothly. Her words were heartfelt and touching, and she made the ceremony feel intimate and personal. We received a ton of compliments from our guests, and some even thought Rachael was someone we've known for a long time! Overall, we would highly recommend Rachael to anyone looking for a wedding officiant. She was an absolute pleasure to work with, and helped to make our special day unforgettable. Thank you Rachael!

ceremony for us. Our planning went super smoothly and she was very flexible with our schedules. She created a folder with samples of vows, ceremony plans and even a questionary that asked very meaningful questions about our relationship. Overall, it was very helpful as we both reflected on our relationship before writing our vows and thinking about what type of ceremony we wanted to have. A walk to our wedding destination was a little hike. Rachael, thank you so much again for walking with us and supporting our friend who had a broken leg!

h every step along the journey to give us confidence and comfort for our special day. She also took the time to help craft our love story in the way it was meant to be shared with our loved ones—it was far beyond anyones expectations. We cannot say enough good things about her!!!

ted for our ceremony. We were initially uncertain, but had a lot of adjustments and omissions that we wanted once we had a draft; Rachael was very flexible and considerate, and helped us figure out what worked best for us while helping us to figure out some additional details. At the event, she was prompt, helpful, and professional, and worked with the other vendors to get the details sorted out while my partner and I got ready. We’re really glad we hired Rachael!

ceremony portion of the night - 1, because we realized we'd left finding an officiant for too late, and 2, because we're non-religious Indians and had no idea what we actually wanted to accomplish with this part of our wedding. Rachael stepped in with 4 weeks to spare and crafted the sweetest, most heartfelt ceremony we could've ever dreamed of! She spent the time getting to know us and incorporated our personalities, quirks and goofiness into every second of the evening. She honored our family, friends and union in a meaningful yet humorous way that felt completely authentic to us. We've since received SO many compliments about how much our closest friends and family thought the ceremony reflected us as humans and how moved they were by this part of the evening! We could not imagine our day without Rachael - thank you, Rachael, for everything!!!!

ael took the time to really get to know us as a couple beforehand and helped to craft a unique, custom, & wonderful ceremony. She was also incredibly helpful when it came time to trim down / finalize our vows. Many of our guests thought we knew Rachel personally - that says a lot about how well she customized and executed our ceremony. She is incredibly well spoken - we feel so lucky to have found her for our special day.

for the ceremony and really got to know us and made the ceremony feel very personal. The result was exactly what we envisioned. To say he knocked it out of the park is really an understatement. We received so much wonderful feedback from guests who were amazed with the ceremony that he created for us. One guest even asked if he was available to come to the East Coast to officiate their ceremony! Derrick elevated our ceremony into something that we’ll never forget and we recommend you allow him to do the same for you .

us figure out what ceremony elements we wanted to keep, change, and toss out, and provided plenty of examples and resources that helped us along the way. She even went the extra mile helping us in the weeks after our wedding when the USPS temporarily lost our marriage license on its way to the county office. Renesha was such a joy to work with and her love of weddings and love is palpable. We are so honored that she married us!

ur personalities. He was very accommodating and flexible and gave us a lot of samples and support along the way. He was incredibly professional, communicative and great to work with. We highly recommend working with Officially Hitched!

ned to our story, asked thoughtful questions, and eventually crafted the most amazing ceremony. The ceremony was one of the main highlights for us AND our guests. We had so many guests tell us how touching and personal Derek's message was- and that they had never been to a ceremony like that. He captured our essence and our day would not have been as special without him. We are so lucky our paths crossed, and I hope you are lucky enough to have him officiate your wedding too :) Thank you, Derek!

able to create an experience that fit our needs!

big day as a way to relive our story and truly embrace one another as we stepped into this next step together, as one. Working with Rachael felt so authentic and real. We quickly became attached to her- like she was meant to be our friend! She helped us understand the rituals behind the ceremony we were really looking for. Educated us, offered us advice and guided us through the process of crafting our ceremony. I will never forget the day, for obvious reasons while marrying my spouse but the way she explained our story, highlighted our love, and inspired our guests was simply, divine. She also helped truly capture the love between us and our guests, and honored all of our requests. She was professional, kind, witty, and a true storyteller- so talented and genuine! Since the wedding, our guests haven’t stopped talking about how wonderful our officiant was and how she truly captured the attention of the guests and the love between us. I am forever thankful that this once known, “stranger” quickly became our friend and our forever officiant. We are so blessed to know her and highly recommend her to other future newlyweds as they begin to plan the best day of their lives!

needed to do but she got to know us as well. We loved that it was so easy to customize different parts of our ceremony so it fit what we wanted (not too long & fun). Our guests loved that we included them in the ceremony which was rachaels idea! Our ceremony was wonderful,meaningful and filled with laughter. THANK YOU RACHAEL

eel so personal to us. She made our guests laugh, cry, and above all just fostered a warm and welcoming energy with our guests. We would highly recommend Renesha if you are looking for someone with a beautiful and authentic spirit to officiate your ceremony.

emony that was perfect for us. The ceremony went so smoothly thanks to her expertise and everything went better than we could have expected. Her calming presence, easy to work with attitude and professionalism really made our experience working with her so positive. We would wholeheartedly recommend Rachael to everyone!!

ny was my favorite part of our wedding, and I thought our wedding was great all-around. He’s very genuine; everyone thought he was an old friend of ours, and it felt like it during the ceremony. He listened to what we wanted (we kept it pretty simple - a little personalized, a few traditional touches, a little light-hearted, and a little touching) and nailed it. Super easy to work with and coordinate with on the lead-up. Fully recommend.

e incorporated all of the elements that are near and dear to my heart. I was so comfortable working with her! She took my jumbled thoughts and turned them into a beautiful ceremony that I’ll cherish forever. I 100% recommend her to others and want to thank her for being sooo great to work with! She had so many great ideas and our wedding ceremony was perfectly us! I love how she made suggestions when I was lost and carefully listened to the details when I knew I wanted. Thank you again from the bottom of my heart!

ies and humor that she added to the ceremony. Our family still talks about how great she was.

s warm and intimate ceremony. My husband is not religious but I am and he found the perfect amount of balance. He brings love and humor on the day of the wedding and guides you through the process before and during the big day! So grateful to have found Derek, he is an incredible human. Thank you Derek!!

ry, and vows, and totally blew everyone away with her delivery. So many people asked us afterward if she was our friend, because that's how personal it felt. And truly, we really did feel like we had a close friend up there with us. We will be forever grateful for the time Renesha took to help us through the process and for being the one to marry us. She made it feel so special and memorable.

ope this fall. She listened carefully to our story and helped develop it into a truly deep and meaningful service and it felt so authentic. We were lucky to have worked with her and would highly recommend her for any type of ceremony!

w her over facetime sessions and could tell she put in work reading through our couples' questionnaire and hearing our ideas about the ceremony to make it just what we wanted. She also took the time to read over our vows separately before the ceremony, and helped lead us into the most important chapter of our lives with grace, laughter and love. She has a wonderful, warm presence and really helped to shape our big day. Thank you Rachael!

that and make your wedding day more special than you can imagine. Rachael was our officiant for our March 2021 minimony - and through that, also became our guide and confidante as my partner and I formed and re-formed our thoughts and hopes for our marriage. Having a hands-on officiant and thoughtful ceremony was always a priority for us, but having an impactful ceremony became all the more important when we (prompted by the paaaandemic) switched gears and decided to have a two-part wedding celebration - one small, intimate ceremony and one larger virtual celebration that centered around the wedding film from our first celebration. Enter! Rachael!! When we chose Rachael (although was there really competition? nahhh), we initially went with a less custom package, but as we started to work with her, we loved her work and approach so much that we upgraded so we could really utilize her skills and guidance. She asked us questions about our partnership, our community, and our approach to celebrations that we would never have thought to ask ourselves about. She brought no judgement and was always so inclusive throughout our time with her. She brought genuine enthusiasm and flexibility to the process; when halfway through planning we decided we wanted to add a Burmese water ceremony to the mix, she really leaned into the idea and helped us find a way to seamlessly weave the water ceremony into the flow of the ceremony. Finally, as far as the parts my partner and I were primarily responsible for - we were so, so nervous about our ‘love letter’ vows and she graciously affirmed our approach, improved our drafts, and as she did with all things ceremony-related, helped us create something that truly felt like us. The ceremony itself was so, so beautiful. She respectfully commanded the ‘stage’ and brought us and our 25 guests into the warm, affecting tone that my partner and I aimed for. The poems, quotes, and flows she chose were perfect for the setting (the *chef’s kiss* amount of celestial references!) and translated very, very well to our wedding film. We had lots of folks tell us that our vows & ceremony moved them to tears, and my partner and I truly credit Rachael for that; we couldn’t have made a ceremony that felt so ‘us’ and so reflective of our love if it wasn’t for her.

y just getting to know us. We had so much fun planning. The ceremony itself was perfect and the delivery was great. So many of our guests came up to us to say how wonderful the ceremony was and how great Rachel was. Thank you so much for such a wonderful day!

proach will put any couple as ease, while his story-telling will be sure to captivate your audience. His attention to feedback is clear as he designs his script. He will be sure to make your special day memorable!

of beautiful details. I actually teared up when I was reading it for the first time. Communication with her was always easy and fast, and she made sure to meet all our needs. I would recommend her to anybody who is looking for a wonderful wedding ceremony beyond expectations.

ave gained a new friend and trusted colleague. Derek is amazing at what he does and someone I confidently can trust to deliver a well thought out, personalized, meaningful, and heartwarming message at your event. When working with him, his approach is genuine and efficient: a listener, a collaborator, a meticulous planner, and a mindful facilitator/presenter. I have seen him through every step of his process with a diverse array of audiences and appreciate the thoughts and actions that come before his final product. With much empathy and ability to leave a room inspired, Derek is your person.

. Beginning with our first phone call, Rachael made both myself and my wife very comfortable. I especially liked her sense of humor😊 Rachael was very quick to respond to our ongoing questions and concerns as the wedding drew closer. This brought much relief to us during this stressful and exciting wedding process. As we provided our relationship history, Rachael created and beautiful and spot on ceremony. She captured our favorite memories, our relationship milestones and also provided a respectful notation for our lost loved ones. Finally meeting her in person at our rehearsal dinner after calls and many emails, we both felt like we had known her for much longer. In short Rachael was amazing! I would recommend her to everyone I know again and again. Our many thanks to Rachael for helping to make our special day happen just like we dreamed. Thank you Rachael! Elena & Carine

bout us from a questionnaire and put together the ultimate ceremony, even mentioning our dogs. I teared up when she sent the draft of our ceremony a few days before the wedding. It was perfect. Our guests were shocked that we hadn't met her/known her as a friend because it seemed like she genuinely knew and cared about us. We're so grateful that we found Rachael because she helped make our wedding day truly special.

y to the ceremony. Even during the heat! Couldn't recommend her more.

and flexible approach given some of our non-traditional elements. Couldn't have really asked for someone better to make our day really special, which is exactly what she did. Thanks so much. Trust me when I tell you that my family knows how to throw wrenches in a plan and literally 5 minutes before the ceremony people came in with songs they wanted to include as part of it. Rachael handled it all with so much poise and was such a problem-solver and trooper!

l, courteous, warm, and friendly. We couldn't have asked for a better officiating experience.

the Knot, we were excited to talk to her. It was so easy to make an appointment with her online, and she sent us a questionnaire so we could share more about ourselves and our wedding. When we first met with Rachael over videochat, it seemed like she already knew us and we immediately felt at ease. Rachael is professional and trustworthy, but also warm, easygoing, and honestly just so cool and calming. After our first meeting, I told my husband that I wanted to be friends with her. We met in person three times, and Rachael guided us beautifully through the process. She took the time to learn all about us and to write the story of our relationship, which hit just the right tone of casual, funny, and heartfelt. She helped us create a very personal ceremony that incorporated Jewish traditions that were important to my husband with literary readings and personal details. She even researched readings that she thought we might want to incorporate. It was just perfect. Rachael was also very flexible--she took the time to come to our wedding rehearsal, and came early for our ketubah signing. After the ceremony, so many people asked us how we knew her (assuming she was a friend) and told us how much they enjoyed the ceremony. She is wonderful, and we’re so glad she will always be a big part of how we remember our day!

found Rachael to be our officiant!