Rabbi Alan C. Stein

trol throughout the entire process, up to and including the ceremony, and his sense of humor and depth of knowledge enriched our special day immeasurably. During the ceremony, his speech about us captured the essence of who we are as a couple and gave us the opportunity to reflect on our relationship. We strongly recommend Rabbi Stein as an officiant for anyone's wedding day!

was less than ideal. He included a perfect balance of Hebrew and non-Hebrew which catered to my Jewish family and my wife's Catholic family. All of our guests commented that he did an outstanding job balancing tradition, modernism, and a little comedic relief. We would definitely recommend Rabbi Stein and are grateful for the memories he gave us.

ighly recommend. Great guy, did exactly what we were looking for and super responsive. Perfect choice.

once to discuss logistics, and another time to get to know us as a couple. He is very open, personable, and a night balance of sentiment and humor. These qualities all showed through during the ceremony – he was able to crack a few light-hearted jokes, while keep the ceremony serious and sweet. We even had a rain scare, which caused us to push the ceremony up and speed it up a bit, which he did seemingly with ease. We got many compliments afterwards on what a beautiful ceremony it was.

ble from the first time we met him. He listened to each request we had, provided suggestions, and was extremely flexible. He was also very responsive, and easy to schedule time with. He never made us feel rushed or pushed any ideas on us and the actual ceremony was amazing. We got many compliments on what a beautiful ceremony we had. It was to the point, loving, traditional, and had a little bit of humor/personalization in it thanks to the Rabbi's words. I would highly recommend him to any couple looking for an officiant of any sorts.

g day... As time was short, rabbi Stein ended up skyping (google hangouts) with my wife and I which made our lives much easier. We got a good feel for him and his personality. On top of this, the "fee" is actually a donation to his synagogue which we liked even more. We had quite a windy wedding day and rabbi Stein rolled with it and was truly entertaining. He turned a typical boring ceremony into one that has some humor, was engaging, and something everyone will truly remember. I received many compliments about him after the wedding. They said how professional he was, funny, and concise. The ceremony did not drag on which was nice. Oh I almost forgot to mention, he is kind enough to provide a Ketubah and he has a portable Chuppah if need be all free of charge. Other rabbi's charge for this which of course makes sense, but rabbi Stein does not! I very highly recommend you reach out to him if you either need a traditional wedding or an interfaith one such as I did. Tell him Geoff and Melissa sent you!

t what made our relationship special. With that information, he really made our wedding about us - it was not just a cookie-cutter one-size-fits-all ceremony. The ceremony was a perfect mix of prayer and laughter. We were happy with his services and would highly recommend him to other couples.

ic rituals and just the right amount of humor. Many of our guests came up to us and complimented us on our Rabbi, saying how beautiful the ceremony was and yet at the same time funny. We found Rabbi Stein online and it was one of the best decisions we made in the wedding planning process. Highly recommended.

his home we were very happy. He spoke well and appeared to be very accommodating. After signing with him we waited until the month before the wedding to meet again. We met him for lunch where he pulled out a piece of paper and jotted some information down. He asked us for words we would use to describe one another, etc. When we spoke about the Sheva Brachot honors, I asked if he had transliterated copies. His response was, "You should really ask someone who knows how to read hebrew." I didn't say anything then because I didn't care what his opinion was but it did leave a sour taste that he would think I would exclude someone because they are not as comfortable with Hebrew text. Then, he proceeded to say that we should call all of the honors up at once to keep the ceremony shorter. I said I wanted to call them up individually but that my husband and I would think about it and get back to him. After that, we discussed the circling tradition at the start of the Jewish ceremony and agreed to do it. After that we left and my husband and I discussed our details. We then e-mailed him and told him we definitely wanted to call them up individually and he confirmed our request. I also e-mailed him a copy of the program so he would see the names and I sent him a transliterated blessing sheet and he approved it. I also asked him whether or not the music continues to play during the circling and he said yes. I thought we were on the same page. Now it is my wedding day. He comes at 6:20 to start the Ketubah ceremony; it's a 7:00pm wedding start. He was not a part of the rehearsal and that worried me. After that, I had my husband remind him about the circling. We walk down the aisle and my mother went to pick up my train so that I could begin circling and Rabbi Stein began to yell to her to come under the chuppah. Talk about embarrassing! I then yelled back to her to come help me. He tried to get me under the chuppah and I said through my teeth, "I am circling." And he responded, "Oh right ok." Then after that slip up, I see him pull out the same scrap paper from lunch! for $750 you would think he would take time to organize his speech and notes.; bad sign. So now comes the blessings, and he calls them all up at once! When I say through my teeth, "We wanted them individually," he responds with, "They are already coming up." At this point I'm laughing inside. Ok now it gets better. I chose not to have him mail the marriage license because I was going to City Hall two days later. Thank goodness I did this! When I got there, the clerk was reading the information, which was written in such a sloppy manner, and says, "OK so you were married July 5th." I was not! I was married in August! He actually put the wrong wedding date! Thank goodness it was resolved and I was there. I have to say I am still shocked by all of this. Thank goodness my guests didn't notice too much but that wedding video will be interesting. I had an amazing time at my wedding, even with all of this but I would never recommend using him for your service. I gave him 2 stars because his voice is nice and that is about it.