Not a surprise for us or Jesse of course but, it was a surprise for most of our 100 guests. We have been a couple for 22 years and were in the midst of planning my 50th Birthday, preparing the guest list, and realized that just about everyone w...e were inviting to my birthday would be the people we would want at our wedding so we decided to "Tie The Knot" too! Needless to say we pulled everything together last minute including the officiate, DJ, venue, photographer, singer to take place ON New Year's Day. We were extremely fortunate to have been referred to Jesse by a colleague of his that spoke very highly of him. Marilyn and I met Jesse, in person, so we could get a feel for whether or not Jesse was the right person to officiate our wedding and, of course, discuss our needs and expectations for our ceremony and officiant. You would think, after being together for 22 years, interviewing an officiant and planning a non-religious but spiritual loving and inclusive ceremony would be a breeze for the two of us...not so much. Jesse however listened to BOTH of us and facilitated the creation of a memorable, moving and loving ceremony. To help us with the process, Jesse emailed us a 5 page questionaire and requested that we fill it out seperately, no peeking at eachothers answers, this way he could get to know us as individuals and, when the time comes, be able to speak about us in a very genuine, intimate and familiar way. We were both pretty clueless about planning a wedding, do's and don'ts, vows, etc. Jesse provided us traditional and non-traditional suggestions and ideas of things we might want to incorporate into the wedding ceremony plus, BIG PLUS, he emailed us a plethora of sample readings and vows to help us get our creative juices flowing. FYI: To do this right, both Bride and Bride in this case, must be participants and involved in the process. We did not want a, "repeat after me" cookie-cutter ceremony. It was truly a team effort and the final result was everything we had hoped the event would be. "WE" (Jesse, Marilyn and I) did it! Thank you Jesse! We could not have done it without you. Jana & Marilyn