About this vendor
I do weddings by traveling throughout the Cleveland Akron areas by going to reception halls, homes, and parks for anyone anywhere, except same sex. Ordained in 1989 by a traditional Bible based Christian church, not some phoney religion, and NOT "instantly" over the internet like almost all the others listed. Your wedding is an important event, not a joke. Otherwise you would go to Las Vegas and get married by an Elvis impersonator. Besides weddings, I pastored a church for 20 years and have done nursing home and prison ministry. That's why I have photos inside and outside church unlike the internet ordained. Video of wedding and honeymoon with music is courtesy of couple I married in 2011 at church. Generally I do a simple but nice Christian ceremony, but I also have a very tasteful non-religious ceremony that I can do for those who want something civil/secular. I give each couple the care and attention that I would give to my own wedding or that of my children. Read the reviews. My fee (starting at $100) is based on how far I have to travel and if a rehearsal is needed. Big or small, I do them all! Call 440-829-7425 or e-mail me revhary@yahoo.com and I'll be happy to discuss your wedding.
Details
Business Attributes
- Veteran-owned Business
Ceremony Types
- Elopement
- Non-Religious Ceremony
- Religious Ceremony
- Second Wedding
- Vow Renewal Ceremony
Religious Affiliations
- Christian
Wedding Activities
- Wedding
- Ceremony
Awards and Affiliations
2016 'Best of Weddings'
Best of Weddings
The Knot independently assesses vendors for this award—it’s never self-reported. We base it on firsthand experiences from real couples and guests, and they must have a 4.5-star average across 7+ reviews in the qualifying year.
Reviews
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5
out of 5.031 reviews
Rev. James Hary did a beautiful job performing our wedding ceremony! We wanted a short and sweet christian ceremony, and that is exactly what he gave us! We will definitely recomme...
nd him to others!
Rev. Hary did a wonderful job with our wedding. He was willing to come to our rehearsal to practice with us. We had a large group and he coordinated everyone well. He did a beautif...
ul job of incorporating religion into our non-church wedding. We were very pleased with his services.
One of our biggest concerns was that we did not want someone with an internet ordination from some fairyland website. We aren't overly religious, but we believe in God and didn't ...
want a pretender. We contacted officiant after officiant and they either had an internet ordination, avoided a direct answer with saying "don't worry I'm licensed", or changed the subject by pointing to their reviews or offered to beat any price. We noticed that Rev. Hary was the only one with a photo inside or outside a church, so we contacted him. We found that he was a genuine minister who had pastored a church and proved it to us. As far as how he did our rehearsal and wedding; he was great! He had the ceremony memorized which came across more personal instead of reading a dialogue. The words he used touched us and our guests profoundly. His fee was reasonable and well worth it. If you want a real minister and a real good wedding; he's the best choice!
Rev. Hary cared for us as people, not as a business transaction. If you want a loving and caring officiant that does an amazing ceremony, he is for you. He was witty, fun, and ye...
t professional in every thing he did and said. He was totally honest with us in all regards and totally helpful. Glad we used him for our special day!
Rev. Hary was wonderful! He officiated our wedding and his words and actions made us feel comfortable and special. He truly cares about people and their happiness!
Rev. Hary helped us to create a wedding of love and harmony. He was easy to work with and responded quickly anytime I telephoned or e-mailed him. The ceremony was a perfect blend...
ing of traditional wedding aspects and up to date elements. The words that he used for our unity candle ceremony were especially terrific, and he had everything memorized so he wasn't just reading cold out of a book.
We were highly impressed by Rev. Hary and what he did for us was absolutely beautiful and we loved it. We will be forever grateful for his part in our lives and would recommend hi...
m to anyone looking to hire a top notch officiant.
Rev. Hary gave us a great ceremony, was easy to work with, fun to be with, and his fee was reasonable. Best choice by far for anyone looking for an officiant.
We will cherish forever the memories of our wedding day and how nice our ceremony was done by Rev. Hary. Smooth, enjoyable, just wonderful! Thank-you so very much Rev. Hary!
I highly recommend him to anyone who is getting married in need of an officiant. He was great doing our wedding.
Rev. Hary was recommended to us by our venue. He was the only one they recommended. They explained that over the years they had seen many officiants do ceremonies, but those offi...
ciants were not of the caliber and professionalism of Rev. Hary. Many were late, some were ill prepared, and most seemed as though it was the first wedding they had ever done. Rev. Hary did a great job at our wedding. Never stumbled with his words and even lightened the mood in just the right places. Rev. Hary's ceremony really allowed us to be in the moment. Highly recommend him!
We had a beautiful wedding with Rev. James Hary facilitating everything and doing such a fantastic job from rehearsal to "you may now kiss the bride."
He made my wedding dream come true! Everything handled wonderfully. Yes I recommend Rev. Hary!
Rev. Hary gave us a wonderful experience to our beginning of a lifetime together. His level of attention and service was super. We are definitely happy we chose him above the oth...
ers we had originally considered.
He was wonderful and always quick to get back to me when I had questions. Not only did he perform the ceremony the way we asked him, but he helped us to figure out how to include ...
2 readings and a sand ceremony. I would highly recommend him to anyone who is looking for an officiant whether their wedding is big like ours was, or just a small gathering.
Thank-you so much for your services! We can't thank you enough for making our day so special. Bless you and your family!
Rev. Hary is totally top notch. He conducted our wedding in a personal manner and it all came out the way we wanted it to. We had gotten a wide range of prices from other officia...
nts, but Rev. Hary was certainly the one with the fairest fee in regards to his experience and ability. Our ceremony was important to us, that's why we chose him.
I cannot be happier about the wedding Rev. Hary did for me. He was extremely helpful before the wedding in answering all my questions and getting me fully prepared. Thank-you Rev...
. Hary!
Rev. Hary's ceremony fit us perfectly. He was caring and compassionate and we felt a true sincerity from him, instead of just being processed simply as clients.
We truly appreciated all the effort and thoughtfulness that Rev. Hary put into our ceremony. He was remarkable!
Our choice to use Rev. Hary was a good choice. Rev. Hary did a superb wedding for us.
We were pleased and happy with Rev. Hary's ceremony that he did for us. Our wedding party was very large with 8 on each side plus 2 ring bearers and 2 flower girls. The rehearsal...
went great with Rev. Hary getting everyone to understand what to do, where to stand, and how to walk in and out. I can't fully express just how good Rev. Hary was. One of the nicest things was that he didn't read out of a book or from a script. He had everything memorized!
Super excellent officiant. Good communicator all the way through. Would give more stars if possible!
Rev. Hary exceeded our expectations and so we feel we can recommend him. Thanks Rev. you were great!
Thank-you so much for presiding over and performing our wedding! Your warm & friendly personality instantly set both of us at ease. For us, our wedding couldn't have been more wo...
nderful or special.
We had some interesting experiences before we found Rev. Hary and hired him. One lady minister's day job was travel agent and she talked more about how she could get us a good dea...
l on a honeymoon rather than our wedding, and there was another lady Rev. from Scranton who also does tarot card readings, which seemed to me a conflict of interest with God. Doesn't seem ethical either, but I guess people are trying to make money any way they can. Rev. Hary was what you would figure a minister to be and we were very much satisfied with him and the wedding he did.
We had our wedding at our house and Rev. Hary came and did a really nice ceremony for a very fair fee. We were very happy with him.
Rev. Hary was very accommodating and flexible in helping us to include certain aspects of personalization into the ceremony which were important to us. Everything came together pe...
rfectly and the feedback from everyone was all positive.
Our wedding was enhanced by Rev. Hary in so many ways. The ceremony, the ease of getting everything organized, etc. Everything was heartfelt and special. He answered all of my q...
uestions upfront and followed through on what he promised. His fee was well within our limited budget and he was more than worth it. Everyone was impressed that he had the ceremony memorized rather than reading out of a book. So much more meaningful and romantic that way.
The service went great and all the details were taken care of nicely by the Rev. Everything was well ordered and we felt very at ease with him. His fee was reasonable too. It wa...
s a win win for us!
We were fortunate to get Rev. Hary to do our wedding on short notice and he did a really fine wedding ceremony for us. Originally we were going to wait till next year, but because...
my husband's parents were moving to Florida in a month, we moved our plans up. To make things more of a challenge, when we went to apply for our marriage license, the clerk told us to be careful in looking for a minister as there can be legal problems as to whether or not some of them are legally qualified to do marriages if they don't have a regular church that they actually conduct services at, not just supposedly affiliated with or have some sort of instant internet ordination. We were relieved in knowing that Rev. Hary has a church that he has been the pastor of for many years. Between that and he was not high priced, I (we) can put my name to recommending him.
Contact
17599 Whitney Road Apt. 128, Strongsville, OH | Cleveland Akron and surrounding areas
Rev. James Hary's photos