Reverend Samora -Common Ground Ceremonies

From the moment, I spoke with Reverend Samora on the phone I told my fiancé I had a good feeling! I loved her story and background! I knew immediately she would be a good fit and perfect for our circumstances. So much warmth and positive energy! Reverend Samora was especially... Read More helpful with a pre-marital counseling session that we did a few months before our wedding and gave us guidance that was important and so needed during a stressful time during our engagement. The questionnaire /assignment we had to do for her really enabled us to reflect on our relationship and she was able to craft a ceremony that was so perfect, heartfelt, warm and engaging! All our guests commented on how wonderful and personal the ceremony was. The wedding day goes by so fast but of all the parts I remember it was the ceremony and all the love we felt on that day! We highly recommend! Thank you Rev. Samora for marrying us and sharing in our special day! Blessings! Lisa & Lloyd

Reverend Samora was an absolute pleasure to work with for our wedding ceremony. Our venue recommended her and she did not disappoint. Her ceremony was exactly what we had envisioned. We first met with her about 7 months before our wedding. She gave us some "homework" to get to... Read More know us better and to learn about our relationship and how we met. Answering her questions was such a treat for my husband and I. We got to relive our love story, put it in writing and have someone else create a beautiful ceremony with our own words. She offered us assistance with picking our readings and with how we would like to format our ceremony. She was kind and not pushy and made everything so easy. We met with her a few weeks before our wedding - Rev. Samora wrote the most touching, loving ceremony - completely capturing our feelings for each other. Our guests gave us so many compliments and told us there was not a dry eye in the room. They even asked for her contact information! Standing in front of all of your friends and family can be intimidating and I was definitely nervous. Once I saw her and she spoke with me prior to the ceremony, all of my anxieties left. Rev. Samora has such a calming presence and a soft voice. While she was officiating our outdoor ceremony, there was a soft breeze and the sun was shining, - her words were so beautiful and I looked at my husband and thought "wow! This is exactly what I had dreamed of and more. It can't get any better than this" HIGHLY RECOMMEND - Thank you so much Reverend Samora

Samora made our Ceremony Perfect

After looking into different options for our ceremony, we opted for an officiant that would provide a non-denominational service, as we are both spiritual, but not overtly religious. Samora connected with us immediately. She understood who we were, what brought us together,... Read More and what we envisioned for our big day. She guided us through the whole process and made it easy for us to relax and enjoy it. We opted to write our vows, and Samora integrated everything into a personalized experience. On the day-of, Samora was on time, organized and kept the focus on keeping our special moment just that. She talked us through the steps leading up to the ceremony, setting our minds at ease and orchestrating a beautiful service. Truth be told, in all of the commotion and nervousness leading up to the big moment, the rings were misplaced, by the husband-to-be, in a waiting area before the ceremony. It did not occur to us until at the altar that there were no rings. Samora instinctively picked up what had occurred without being told and continued with the ceremony reassuring us that we would have a symbolic exchange in place of the ring exchange. Amazingly, a family member located the rings just in time for this part of the service, and Samora simply reincorporated them. She seamlessly delivered the service without the guests even realizing that the ring debacle occurred. It was a rollercoaster of an experience and Samora was ever the professional. The ceremony was perfect in the end. Samora has a special way with people and understanding what brings them together. We are forever indebted to her and cannot speak highly enough of how incredible of a person she is to us. Thank you Samora.

We found Samora very helpful with the planning of our wedding, especially as we were traveling from the UK and wanted to ensure we ticked all the boxes with US Regulations. Samora pointed us in the right direction and arranged permits and a Photographer for us. We wanted our... Read More service to be simple and a day to remember and Samora helped us achieve that. Upon our return to the UK our friends and family couldn't believe we had actually married in Central Park.

We were amazed by the all the great reviews for Reverend Samora and decide to meet with her to get a feel for her energy. Upon introduction, my fiancé and I were greeted with a big beautiful, warm and welcoming smiling. Her energy filled the room and we instantly knew she was... Read More the one to preform our ceremony. The day of our wedding, she ensured everything went smoothly and couldn't have done a better job delivering sincerity, warmth and humor (when our vowels called for it). Our guests loved her as much as we did. I cant recommend her enough and will forever be great full for finding her!

We cared a great deal about all the details of our wedding, but nothing weighed more in importance than the ceremony . We wanted the ceremony to be the highlight of our celebration. And Rev. Samora went above and beyond in delivering that. She crafted everything from scratch.... Read More She captured the important nuances of our story (and our story is complex, but she did it beautifully!). She was able to bring our families and cultures together, and her words spoke directly to us but also to our very diverse group of guests. It was personal to us (e.g. she remembered that I liked the poet Rumi and she added a beautiful verse from his work) and yet timeless. We had countless friends and family members commend the ceremony and say it's the best officiating they've heard. Above all, we couldn't say enough about how kind and patient and calm she is, just the right type of person to trust on such a big day.

When my husband and I decided to get married in NY I felt lost and worried because we were only going to have a ceremony and wanted it to be the high light of our wedding. My friend Marilyn sent me a link to Rev Samora - Common Ground Ceremonies website. I wanted an outdoor... Read More wedding and Rev Samora was a God sent angel who helped me plan my wedding ceremony exactly how I wanted it and even better. She was the perfect fit who spoke such beautiful words and helped create the ceremony of my dreams. She referred the most amazing videographer and photographer who captured the best parts of our wedding ceremony which I will cherish for years to come. Thank you Samora for making one of the happiest days of our lives even more memorable.

Rev Samora was exactly what we needed to make our combined religion ceremony special and feel truly like us! I am Jewish, and my (now) husband is Catholic, so we wanted a ceremony that tied in both religions, was short & Sweet, and felt like us - this was the most important part... Read More to our entire Wedding, and Rev Samora was able to do just that for us! Samora worked with us to make the ceremony plan from scratch - loved how easy she was to talk to, her voice is so peaceful and loved the way she spoke, but most of all I loved how we were able to tailor the ceremony to exactly fit our needs. She also had great suggestions, using her years of expertise, and everything went off without a hitch. After the wedding, everyones comments on how much fun they had, how good the food was etc. It's rare anyone comments on the ceremony - but we got tons of compliments on how great it was! You could feel like the love. For anyone looking to do a totally custom ceremony, Rev Samora will make it work for you! We were able to combine everything I wanted : traditional vows, Jewish prayers, wine & breaking the glass, a "Catholic" reading that was a bit more unique, and unity candle. The ceremony was truly lovely and I would recommend Rev Samora in a heart beat! She was easy to work with, responsive, and very flexible.

We could not have asked for a better officiant. I met Rev Samora WAY before our wedding date had been finalized and she was absolutely pleasant the entire year before and of course the day of. She set us at ease, gave a dream ceremony that we teared up when we heard her words... Read More again watching the wedding video. Highly recommend!!! You will be so happy you did! ♥️ Thank you Rev Samora!

I set up a surprise vow renewal in Central Park for my wife and me for our 20th anniversary. I found Rev. Samora online and I could tell right away from communicating with her that she would be top notch! She did not disappoint! With short notice, she put together a lovely... Read More ceremony for us and more than delivered on everything I asked for. A true treat to have her perform our ceremony. She will forever be in our hearts!

With all the flurry of preparation for our wedding, it seemed like the "emotion of it all" can sometimes be placed in the background! Rev. Samora brought my wife and I right back to the "moment." I remember standing in front of everyone and seeing my beautiful wife slowly... Read More walking towards me and thinking, "this is it!" and then Rev. Samora started to speak beautiful, heartfelt words that put us both in tears of happiness and we felt such appreciation for each other. It was just beautiful!

We got married one week ago and are still on Cloud 9. Reverend Samora helped make our day so unbelievably special and memorable. If you are looking for an officiant, Reverend Samora is the best around-- the compliments we received after our ceremony were numerous, people "felt... Read More her love," they could tell "that she was deeply spiritual" and someone even said that it was "the most powerful service" they have witnessed. These are not common comments about a wedding officiant and these are a true testament to how special she is-- kind, caring, calm, experienced, and overall wonderful. We felt extremely lucky to have her with us on our special day.

My wife and I found Samora on the Knot. We loved her video and how she expressed herself. We knew she would be a match for us and immediately scheduled a meeting. From the moment we sat down with her, we could see her sweet personality. We chatted a bit and she made us feel... Read More comfortable. Conversation came easy with her because of her warm and open spirit. We asked her to work with us on the spot. In order to better know us and our history, she sent each of us a questionnaire to fill out without seeing each others answers. In a couple days, Samora sent us a beautifully written ceremony for our review. She offered to edit it but it was so beautiful and perfectly written that we left it as is. She really captured the true essence of our story, quirks and emotions. We teared when we first read it and every time we see our video. The day of our wedding, she arrived early, ready and looking professional. She delivered a beautiful ceremony that brought us and our guest to tears. Her timing was perfect, not too long, not too short. We were beyond happy with Samora and are so glad we found her. Now that all is past, we don’t know we could have had a more perfect ceremony. She definitely set the tone for our meaningful day.

We were looking to have our wedding in central park. As we were looking for an officiant who could do it at central park Rev. Samora Smith came up. I contacted her and she immediately contacted me back. I spoke with her for about half hour or so. As I was taking with her I knew... Read More she would be great and give us just what we wanted. We wanted a simple ceremony with only our family. I asked her a lot of questions about how it would work at central park and what I needed to do. She answered all of my questions and put me at ease. Through out the process, she always kept in touch, she answered any questions I had almost immediately. The wedding day was picture perfect! As the ceremony was performed, the sound of her kind and gentle voice added to the beautiful words she wrote for our ceremony and made the perfect day magical. She truly was amazing, kind, gentle and not pushy, she helped make the day absolutely perfect! She is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED- Thank you so much Reverend Samora.

My husband and I cannot say enough great things about Samora. We got married 7/21 and Samora worked with us from beginning to end. When we met with Samora she made us feel completely comfortable, we knew she was the officiant for us. On the day of the event Samora arrived early... Read More and continued to check on me to keep me calm. She allowed our day to be special and we can't thank her enough....We would highly recommend her to anyone looking to make their wedding day as special as ours

Rev. Samora was amazing! We eloped to New York City so we did not know what to expect. She spent time talking to us before we arrived to go over the location and the details of the ceremony which really put my mind at ease. When we got there (Dec. 26, 2016 at Rockefeller Center)... Read More it was packed and I had no idea how we would have a ceremony, let alone hear each other. Rev. Samora had already scoped out the perfect spot so we met with her and headed that way. We had our own private area and had no problems with the crowd or hearing each other. We wanted a general ceremony so we did not have specific requests to be added. The ceremony she wrote was beautiful and even though it was not specifically drafted to us, it said exactly how we felt towards each other. I have been working weddings as a caterer and later as a planner (so I have seen hundreds of ceremonies) and I balled my eyes out during my own because it felt so much like us and what we wanted to say. Rev. Samora was fun to work with and she made our special day amazing! Having so much experience with weddings and working with her on my own wedding, I would recommend her to everyone getting married in NYC. She was a delight to work with and made our day seamless. Thank you for making our ceremony so memorable!

We received many compliments from our guests regarding Samora's ceremony. We wanted something meaningful, words focused on keeping matrimony at the core, and non-religious. Samora provided us a write up and we took the time to provide her our comments - she did an amazing job.... Read More Short, sweet, and meaningful - thank you for officiating our wedding!

We had a surprise wedding, so Rev.Samora had to blend into our "going away" party and even handle the difficult, "how do you know them,' questions easily, until it was time for her to step forward and marry us. It was a pleasure working with her and getting her guidance on... Read More writing our vows. Her approach and lovely words added such a special touch to a wonderful night, I couldn't recommend Rev. Samora more highly!

I highly recommend Rev. Samora. My husband and I decided to get married on pretty short notice in a very small ceremony in the Central Park Conservatory Gardens. We knew it might be a challenge to balance what we wanted (an intimate, secular ceremony) against the expectations of... Read More some of our more religious family members. Rev. Samora struck the perfect balance and tone for the ceremony - everyone was happy! She also helped us organize a photographer and took care of all other logistics, allowing us to enjoy the day and each other. I was 5 months pregnant when we got married so I was especially grateful for such a seamless, stress-free experience. Rev. Samora is everything you could ask for - thoughtful, organized, flexible, and punctual. 5 stars!

We had Reverend Samora recommended to us very close to our wedding day after another officiant flaked on us. She did a great job working with us to create the unique ceremony we had in mind: melding Persian traditions with some of our own original ideas. She was very calming,... Read More warm and did a great job of letting the ceremony breathe on it's own. She was the perfect presence for our big day!

Rev. Samora was our officiant for our April 7th, 2016 wedding and our very small and personal ceremony was absolutely perfect! Samora was super professional and easy to work with. She was the utmost perfect fit for our short, sweet, and light hearted ceremony in Central Park. I... Read More would highly recommend Rev. Samora and Common Ground Ceremonies 100 times over!

Moeisha & Jason – May 23, 2016 We were recently married in May 2016 and could not have asked for a better ceremony! It all started with our decision to employ Rev. Samora Smith on behalf of “Common Ground Ceremonies” as our officiant and day-of wedding coordinator. From our... Read More first meeting with Samora, we undoubtedly knew she was the right fit. We were easily swayed by her warm demeanor, attention to detail and genuine interest in getting to know us. Her involvement was consistent throughout the entire planning process as she not only provided us with a general framework but was also there to help us fill in the blanks each step of the way. She helped us merge our existing ideas and non-ideas (things we either overlooked or were not sure of) and was able to utilize our unique input to create and customize our ideal ceremony. She accomplished this by listening, learning our story and sharing our vision. All of this at a very affordable price, we could not have asked for more! Samora’s insight and resourcefulness came in handy as well. She is very well-versed with the NYC landscape and made several suggestions during our planning. She has great knowledge of potential ceremony locations, reception venues, hotels for out-of-town guests and even transportation. We were so pleased after surveying several locations when Samora recommended and helped us finalize the perfect spot in Central Park for our ceremony. (The Cop Cot, which we highly recommend to anyone planning a Spring/Summer wedding in the park). Samora also arranged and booked a musician to play live guitar during our ceremony. Beyond that, she even advised us to have a back-up location on stand-by just in case of bad weather. Thankfully, the day was beautiful but it was just one more thing that gave us peace of mind on our big day. The list goes on and on… She was always on time, very organized, always brought a great attitude and always had answers (or suggestions) when we had concerns. These are some of the measureable attributes, but we were more impressed with the intangibles she brought forth. The ownership and pride she took in overseeing our special ceremony is what truly set her apart from the rest. She made it so easy for us and our big day was truly AMAZING to say the least thanks to Samora. We highly recommend “Common Ground Ceremonies” to take your wedding celebration to the next level!

Rev Samora executed very well for our small intimate marriage ceremony in nyc. She was attentive to the details, coming in to adjust my wife's gown during her procession to the altar and doing so naturally and gently. She also carried out the marriage ceremony with an air of... Read More authority through our readings (well written by her), vow and ring exchanges to the kissing of the bride that moved our families. I would definitely recommend Rev Samora to officiant for any intimate marriage ceremony in the city.

Reverend Samora was fantastic. She made us feel very comfortable about the planning process and employs a system that is easy to use and completely stress free. We told her that we wanted a ceremony that touched on religion but focused more on love and our relationship. After... Read More receiving some information from us, Samora was able to craft a beautiful ceremony that went exactly as we had hoped. Samora was incredibly easy to work with and did a great job. We highly recommend her.

My husband and I are from Houston and only had a few weeks to plan a wedding in Central Park. Our main concern was finding the perfect person to officiate our wedding, I believe we could not have made a better choice. Rev. Samora was very attentive from day one to all of our... Read More questions and concerns, she did an amazing job putting us at ease so that we could have an unforgettable day. Through the process she seemed to be only interested in making sure our day was perfect. Our ceremony was AMAZING we would do it all over again!!! Thanks Rev. Samora!