Officially Hitched

Not enough good things to say about Rachael! We chose the Made to Measure package which was perfect for our needs. We had an hour long introduction call with Rachael where she went 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.

Officially Hitched was helpful, personable and easy to work with. Shout out to the wonderful and beautiful Rachel Tanner. Our ceremony was beautiful, intimate and authentically representative 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!!!

Racheal was fantastic! We wanted a sweet, simple ceremony that was short and to the point. She delivered 100%! She didn’t carry on or drag anything out, but she also made us feel like he was truly celebrating us as a couple. 100% recommend to any future brides out there!

Thank you so much to Rachael for a beautiful, intimate, special ceremony on top of pre-marital coaching! We had multiple friends & family ask us "how do you know your officiant?" because 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!

Very Professional, timely, happy and efficient service. Payments was easy and convenient. We took pictures with Rachel, she had a lovely smile and was a great fit in with our family, Great experience all together.

My husband and I traveled from New Hampshire to the Northern California coast to elope, truly just the two of us. We were both nervous about the search for an officiant from across 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.

Rachel officiated our wedding at San Francisco city hall. She was wonderful and made sure that we our the exact ceremony that we desired. We had virtual meetings a few times as we 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!

Rachael was incredible! Besides performing a ceremony that we both loved (our families were also blown away), we appreciated the help and guidance she provided as we put together our 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!

Rachael was AMAZING! We held our wedding ceremony at San Francisco city hall and it wouldn’t have been the same without her. Since day one she was professional, organized, and made 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!

My wife and I recently had the pleasure of working with Rachael as our wedding officiant at San Francisco City Hall, and we could not have been happier with the service she provided. 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!

Rachel was the best officiant we could have asked to officiant our marriage! We only contacted her a couple of weeks in advance and she did not mind performing a pretty last minute 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!

It was an absolute pleasure to be able to work with Rachael for our wedding. She's warm, considerate, detailed, communicative, insightful and supportive. She helped guide us through 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!!!

We worked with Rachael Tanner at Officially Hitched and had a wonderful experience. She took the time to catch up with us and get to know us so she could get an idea of what we wanted 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!

Rachael really saved the day for us!!! She was an absolute dream to work with and made our wedding day infinitely more special. My partner and I were absolutely panicking about the 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!!!!

Rachael was awesome - prompt and professional. We were very happy!

We absolutely LOVED working with Rachael for our September 2022 wedding at the Palm Event Center. The ceremony was one of our (and our guest's) favorite parts of the wedding. Rachael 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.

Derrick from Officially Hitched helped to make our wedding a day that we will never forget. He was incredibly diligent in working to understand the tone and mood we wanted to set 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 .

Renesha from Officially Hitched was so lovely to work with! She guided us through creating our unique, queer, non-traditional, secular ceremony that truly reflected us. She helped 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!

Derek and Officially Hitched really came through for us. Derek took the time to get to know us, made us comfortable sharing our story and helped us design a ceremony that matched our 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!

Derek officiated our wedding and my husband and I cannot recommend him enough. When we first met him to see if he would be a fit for us, we were so impressed with how well he listened 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!

Rachael served as an absolutely wonderful officiant for our wedding. It was a small ceremony with a bespoke altar set on the beach. We loved the energy she brought and how she was able to create an experience that fit our needs!

Wow! Where to start….. Choosing Rachael as our officiant for the big day was the best decision we made while planning our wedding. We used the sessions with her leading up to the 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!

TLDR: Amazing, do it! SHES THE BEST. Rachael was amazing to work with! We enjoyed every part of the way from beginning to end. During our meetings she didnt only talk about what 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

Renesha did a fantastic job on our ceremony! She’s warm, funny, and put me and my husband at ease every step of the way. She took the time to get to know us and made the ceremony feel 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.

Rachael was our wedding officiant for our Sonoma vineyard wedding and we loved our experience working with her! Rachael had so many great ideas to help us curate a personalized ceremony 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!!

Derek (with Officially Hitched) was awesome. Numerous people made a point to tell us how much they liked him and the ceremony, asking where we found him, etc. Honestly the ceremony 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.

Amazing! Absolutely perfect! Rachael did more then just officiate our wedding, she carefully crafted a perfectly fitting, unique, special wedding ceremony for me and my husband! She 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!

We wanted an intimate, quick, but personal ceremony, and Rachael absolutely delivered! It was super easy to work with her, and we really appreciated the small bits of personal stories and humor that she added to the ceremony. Our family still talks about how great she was.

Highly highly recommend Derek Owens!!! He told our love story so beautifully and truly made the day even better! Our friends and family thought he was a lifelong friend based on his 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!!

Renesha officiated our wedding and we could not have asked for a better experience. She took the time to get to know us, helped us brainstorm details about the procession, love story, 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.

It was simple and easy to work with Rachael at Officially Hitched. Everything was made clear up front and she was very easy to speak with as we worked to develop our ceremony to elope 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!

Professional yet personable, experienced, genuine, punctual and amazing!

Rachael has a special gift. She so thoughtfully officiated our wedding and made not only us, but our families, feel at ease and completely immersed in the experience. We got to know 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!

No matter what kind of ceremony you’re envisioning - heartfelt, full-on celebratory, or short & sweet (or all of the above!) - I have full confidence that Rachael can help deliver 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.

Rachel was so much fun to work with and did an amazing job at our wedding. She helped us tailor a beautiful wedding ceremony by hearing about our relationship, personalities, and by 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!

If you are looking for someone to cultivate a warm, positive, and loving environment for your special day, look no further! Derek has impeccable facilitation skills. His relaxed approach 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!

We could have not wished for a better officiant. Tina made our big day even more special. She was extraordinarily well-prepared. The ceremony she prepared was very loving and full 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.

I absolutely recommend my dear colleague, Derek Owens, to be your upcoming wedding officiant! I have had the pleasure of knowing Derek for a short while, but through this time, I have 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.

We were so very fortunate to find Rachael to be our minister. She was so professional and fun to work with. She made the ceremony process so clear and easy to follow from the start. 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

Rachael officiated our destination wedding in Napa and it could not have gone any better. She was extremely professional, calm, and easy going. I loved how she pulled information about 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.

Rachael was a rockstar. More than just an officiant she was a partner in helping craft the day exactly as we were hoping. She is professional, caring, and brought the perfect energy to the ceremony. Even during the heat! Couldn't recommend her more.

Rachael helped us out so much with what we needed for the ceremony. Was really a fantastic experience that she made even smoother with her calm demeanor, many years of experience, 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!

Rachael officiated our wedding in August, and she was wonderful to work with. At every point in the process from our initial contact to the day of the wedding, she was professional, courteous, warm, and friendly. We couldn't have asked for a better officiating experience.

We can’t recommend Rachael enough. We did a lot of research for officiants, and were surprised by how hard it was to find someone who seemed right for us. When we found Rachael on 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!

Rachael is wonderful!!! She was extremely professional and her experience showed through minor details. She helped us design a wonderful ceremony and my wife and I are so happy we found Rachael to be our officiant!