About this vendor
Hello! I am Rev. Samantha McGovern, a I have been providing wedding services in the New Orleans area for couples just like you since 2002!
I officiate non-denominational & civil ceremonies at your location. I also provide photography services for small weddings and elopements.
Whether a grand event or an elopement, I can help simplify & make your wedding what you dream of!
Please visit my website at www.RomanceInNewOrleans.com to:
Use my online Scheduler to check availability and secure your date;
Review sample vows and ceremonies, and get tips on creating yours;
Check marriage license requirements and issuing locations; and,
Learn and research much more about New Orleans Weddings!
Officiant fee $295.00
Eloper’s Package $595.00
Feel free to call, text or email me anytime: 504-214-0610; and you can check my availability at www.RomanceInNewOrleans.acuityscheduling.com.
LGBTQ Friendly! Love is Love!!!
Details
Ceremony Types
- Civil Union
- Commitment Ceremony
- Elopement
- Interfaith Ceremony
- Non-Religious Ceremony
- Religious Ceremony
Religious Affiliations
- Spiritual
Wedding Activities
- Wedding
- Ceremony
Awards and Affiliations
6-Time 'Best of Weddings'
2024.2023.2022.+3 more.
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.
Hall of Fame
Earned by winning 'Best of Weddings' four or more times.
Reviews
Your trust is our goal. Our community relies on honest reviews to help
you make those big decisions with ease.
4.9
out of 5.091 reviews
Review photos
Showing slide number 1 out of 3
Samantha was very helpful & quick to reply to any questions I had. She delivered a beautiful ceremony & easily accommodated all my details.
Samantha and her services were impeccable, and we cannot recommend her highly enough. We relied on her for literally everything (related and unrelated to the wedding), and was qui...
ckly responsive and flexible with my mind changing several times on location and time. She was incredibly knowledgeable about locations, areas for photos, and pretty much everything in between related to NOLA. It felt like we had our very own elopement concierge. She made us feel like we were her first priority, and generously shared her insider-take on NOLA (she lives in the French Quarter) We were a little scattered trying to get everything together in such a short time, and she was a steady, positive guiding light that calmed (my) nerves about pulling together an impromptu out of town elopement.
The ceremony was elegant, heartfelt, and seamless. She helped us select the absolute perfect location from speaking with us and looking up photos, performed and elegant and heartfelt ceremony that was tailored to us, and captured photos that rival the work of any professional photographer! People that see the photos ask for the name of who we used ! They are truly so beautiful. Her expertise and experience, along with talent, and a caring heart made the day absolutely perfect. She put a lot of attention into every detail, and helped keep us on track the day before, and of, the elopement. She executed an impeccable and enjoyable experience for our elopement in the French Quarter of New Orleans.
Samantha cares and listens to all the details and then she makes it happen. She went above and beyond for our wedding day. No only was the ceremony perfect but the pictures were gr...
eat.
Samantha went above and beyond ! She was not only an exceptional officiant but also a talented photographer who captured stunning pictures of us in charming New Orleans locations. ...
We couldn't be happier. Was also very reasonably priced given the fact she did it all on short moments notice. 🙂
Samantha was wonderful to work with! My fiancée and I planned a secret elopement in New Orleans and she helped us come up with a beautiful ceremony that honored both of our spiritu...
al traditions. She was a huge help to us in getting our paperwork down and gave us great recommendations on local sights to see.
We purchased the photo package and they turned out great. She took lots of creative shots and went out of her way to make sure we were satisfied with them, even arranging to meet with us after a different wedding she performed so that we could transfer the photos onto my phone using her cable.
You can tell she has been doing this work for years and that she loves what she does. She is warm hearted, knowledgeable, and above all she is professional! I would recommend her to anyone looking for an officiant.
Perfectly perfect! Samantha made our ceremony perfect and was very communicative during the whole process. 10/10 would recommend.
Let me first tell you how easy it was working with Samantha. She was incredibly responsive, had wonderful suggestions, and took initiative to help make sure we had everything we ne...
eded. When you are from out of state it makes such a huge difference. She kept in touch leading up to our ceremony and again was so communicative she exceeded all of our expectations. The day of the ceremony was perfect, we wanted something short and she tailored it to fit our needs. She is truly amazing.
Samantha was wonderful! My dream wedding was given to me and she was so pivitol. I wantedour wedding to be just him and I in New Orleans. We had to reschedule though twice for a me...
dical emergency and then a hurricane. She guided us as far as which court house to go to, what documents to bring, what salon I got my hair and makeup done. At the last moment I wanted to change my location where we got married and she knew exactly where to go down the street. She had all of her equipment and took photos that captured us alongwith a video. The very next day I could share those pictures with our family and friends. Samantha calmed down my nerves on so many levels. I am blessed that we found her!
Samantha was amazing! The ceremony was short but touching, and the unedited pictures were perfect! She also knows a ton about New Orleans which made the walk around the Quarter tha...
t much more fun. We highly recommend her for your New Orleans wedding.
Samantha is absolutely superb, has been available for 12 months since we booked to help and advise on everything, couldn't have asked for a better Minister and 'unofficial' tour gu...
ide to an amazing city. See you in Landrys next time we visit Samantha, thank you from the bottom of our hearts
I loved having Samantha as our wedding officiant and photographer. Samantha is authentic and kind. She made me feel like such a beautiful bride. The entire process was easy and fun...
. Our photos came out great too. Another great thing about Samantha is how experienced she is at her job and how much she knows about New Orleans. She was able to recommend venues, hotels and restaurants and was flexible to plans changing.
We knew it was going to be great when we were scouting our City Park elopement location and ran into Samantha prepping for another ceremony! She knew the area really well and helpe...
d us locate the perfect spot.
We also had a hiccup (totally our fault) at the wedding license office, but when we mentioned we were working with Samantha, the clerks knew her well, which helped smooth over the issue.
So, not only was Samantha a lovely and charming officiant for our ceremony that we couldn't be happier about, she's also a well known and expert wedding professional. You're in the best hands you could be with her.
My now husband and I got married on Halloween in New Orleans this year and let me tell you it was not an easy task to find somebody just four months before our wedding day. I immed...
iately clicked with Samantha after finding her on Google and we had great conversation. She knows all about the French Quarter, and exactly where to go and what to do. She listened to us completely about our desire for a nondenominational vowel exchange and executed it perfectly. She also did photographs for us after the wedding and went above and beyond. We ran all over the French Quarter to take photos at every photo op opportunity! Thank you again, Samantha
Samantha did a wonderful job for our wedding in NOLA! She was very professional, worked with everything we asked, and did great pictures!!! Would highly recommend!
Samantha married us Aug 2021!! Would highly recommend her! Very knowledgeable about NOLA! Knows all the great spots for pictures and does magic with her camera!
Samantha was so easy to work with and helped deliver a beautiful ceremony for our dream wedding in New Orleans. We put together all the parts of our ceremony ourselves so that it w...
as special to us and she performed it so well. We had to make a slight change with the location of our outdoor ceremony and she was responsive and on time. Thank you so much, Samantha, we are so happy to have you as part of our New Orleans love story for life!
Jadah Booker, Brashard Booker
AMAZING SERVICE. Samantha was the most sweet, patient, and professional person ever. Our wedding location didn’t go as planned and she helped brainst...
orm with us and our family on the spot. She even included a lovely poem. We really appreciated that. 10 out of 10💓💓💓
Samantha McGovern is heaven sent! She delivered a sweet and memorable ceremony with perfectly picked poetry and passages. I am so please with her officiating. Her warmth was evide...
nt.
I have worked with Samantha on many occasions. She is always professional friendly and accommodating. She goes above and beyond for her clients making sure they have the best poss...
ible experience. I would highly recommend her to anyone!
Samantha made our wedding day absolutely perfect, she was very professional but made us feel completely at ease all at the same time. Samantha also took lots of beautiful photograp...
hs of us, was very patient and took her time. It was a very relaxed and enjoyable experience.
When it rained on our balcony wedding, Samantha secured a new location for our ceremony & saved the day! She was so kind & extremely patient with us & our guests, taking the time t...
o get to know us & taylor the experience for us. We will definitely recommend her to others!
Samantha made our day so special! She was wonderful to work with, prompt and responsive to communication. She read our ceremony perfectly and was so kind and full of grace and laug...
hter, which put our nerves at ease!
Samantha helped make sure our wedding day was a truly memorable one. We were getting married on a budget and I truly believe you can’t tell that at all!
She is such a professiona...
l officiant and photographer! We have so many incredible photos to choose from and she guided us through it in an amazing way. Even though we didn’t have a lot of time together her personality really shines through.
You won’t be disappointed at all! She’s worth way more than she charges!
Samantha made our day so special and unique from the vows and prayer to the photo locations. She was wonderful and fun to work with, we would recommend her to anyone!
Samantha is very fun and personable, and she goes out of her way to make your day how you want it. She is very responsive with emails and texts and is very accommodating, especial...
ly with last minute requests. We would recommend her to anyone, especially if you're on a budget.
Ms Samantha was awesome she knew the answers to all the questions you will have and will respond to one within a working time frames! She made our day much less stressful!!!!
Samantha was everything we needed her to be. She was a great communicator, had ideas for venues and poses, effortlessly guided us through the process, and made the experience easy...
, relaxing, and fun. She took amazing photos that we will treasure forever. We are so happy with the experience!
Samantha was absolutely wonderful! I couldn’t have imagined a better ceremony! It was exactly what my husband and I were wanting, short and sweet but still covered all the traditio...
nal bases and added in a couple unique parts too! She was always prompt with communication, and super professional and very friendly!
We highly recommend using Samantha and her services! We had our elopement in New Orleans and were so happy we found Samantha. She was a great communicator, she helped answer all ou...
r questions and was very flexible with what we were needing. Not only those things but she was a pleasure to be around and made sure our day was perfect. The pricing for the services were very reasonable as well! 5 stars!
Would highly recommend. Samantha is great!
Samantha was great! She officiated our ceremony and we couldn't have asked for a better person to do so. Both friendly and humorous, we were extremely happy with the outcome. Th...
anks, Samantha!
Samantha did an amazing job helping us set up our elopement ceremony. She was punctual, extremely friendly and easy to talk to. Samantha answered all my questions and was very help...
ful setting up our dated and times. She was also our photographer after the ceremony. The pictures turned out beautifully. I couldn't recommend her more!
Everything about Samantha was amazing. Neither of us would have changed anything about our ceremony or our pictures!
Rev. Samantha was a godsend! Our marriage license was about to expire and we needed to find someone to officiate our wedding right away. Her website has an online booking feature t...
hat made it very easy to say exactly where I wanted to have our little ceremony. She emailed me back right away to confirm and 2 days later we were married! She was easy to work with, knowledgeable, and still made our ceremony feel special. We are very thankful to have found her and for her to perform our ceremony.
We loved her service. The pictures and ceremony were perfect. We highly recommend her!
Samantha created a beautiful ceremony for us. She was considerate of our wishes, paid attention to details, and made the whole process a lot smoother. She was a lovely presence at ...
our wedding.
Samantha was absolutely the Best!!! She was so accommodating and just made everything so perfect. It was absolutely just what we wanted! I definitely would recommend her. Very prof...
essional but very personal!!!!
Mrs. Samantha was absolutely wonderful for our wedding. We had a small elopement type ceremony and she was amazing. Super sweet and beautiful experience all thanks to her. I would ...
recommend her to any and everyone❤️
She was on time and helped us find the perfect spot in the park to tie the knot!
Samantha was so wonderful and very professional. She was so easy going it made it so easy to be comfortable with all our photos! Our wedding ceremony was magical!
Any couples out there want to get married in New Orleans before March 27th 2021? Due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, the declared national emergency, and my history of lung relat...
ed illness, my fiancee are unable to make the trip to New Orleans to be wed as planned. Airbnb, American Airlines, the restaurant we booked for the post wedding meal, and the hairstylist that was booked have been very understanding and have refunded us in full. The officiant we scheduled, Samantha McGovern at “Romance in New Orleans” is unwilling to meet our request to meet in the middle and have the photography portion of our package refunded. Well, our loss could be someone’s gain! Please share with as many people as possible. I will donate the entire package (includes one and one half hours for photography and ceremony plus paperwork a $395.00 value!) to a couple that is looking to have a beautiful New Orleans wedding with such a caring and understanding company as www.RomanceInNewOrleans.com and Samantha McGovern.
I purchased Samantha's Eloper's Special on her website RomanceinNewOrleans.com a month before our elopement date and Samantha was incredibly helpful, informative and communicative ...
all the way to the big day. We chose to meet her in City Park on an admittedly grey and freezing day but the photos she took were bright, whimsical and absolutely gorgeous. She captured the pure happiness and excitement we felt and still feel about the day. I absolutely recommend using her incredibly convenient and affordable services for a small wedding!!
This was exactly what we were hoping for. Samantha was amazing and made us feel comfortable. She came right to our hotel and we were able to have the quick and easy wedding that we...
were looking for. As promised, it was less than 20 min. which allowed us the time we wanted to view the city on our vacation. The vows were amazing and incorporated God in the way we had hoped it would. She had given great suggestions as to where to eat and must see places. Couldn't have asked for a better experience or a better person to share our day with. A million Thank you's!!
Samantha was absolutely amazing from the first moment we reached out to her to the day of our wedding! From being a NOLA expert to officiating our special day to amazing photograph...
y - she is the perfect fit for anyone wanting to marry in New Orleans! Did I mention the photos?! Wish y’all could see them! They are so memorable & captures us so well!!
Booking Samantha as our officiant was very easy on her website and she responded immediately. She also provided some relevant details about our stay in New Orleans to help us out. ...
She communicated with me through text to confirm our plans a couple of days before the ceremony, and was super accommodating when we had a last minute change of itinerary. Our photos turned out beautifully, and the ceremony was exactly what we wanted. She also provided lots of cool details about City Park as we were walking around taking the pictures. Samantha was amazing and I would absolutely recommend her officiant and photography services!
She was completely awesome. Very professional, punctual, and responsive. The ceremony was exactly what we were wanting. I highly recommend.
Samantha was patient, she was kind, she was very professional, flexible and efficient. We were very comfortable with her and had a lot of fun taking pictures. Samantha's photos cam...
e out great,
and because it was a private elopement, it was the most intimate and liberating experience two people could capture on video and in photography. The vows that Samantha read were nicely individualized. We couldn't be more pleased.
Samantha was amazing! Our wedding day was absolutely perfect!
Samantha gave us a beautiful ceremony. We asked her to where her clergy robe and it was perfect. We had a cermony that was combined with God, love and commitmetment, and our own vo...
ws. She is kind and helpful and highly recommend!
Samantha was the cherry on top of our wedding day. She contacted us early on the morning of our ceremony with a lovely Happy Wedding Day text and reached out to us several times t...
hroughout the day in response to my last minute confusions. I am extremely thankful for her patience...we had decided to take the trolley from the Bourbon Street area up to City Park where we would elope under the Singing Oak (which couldn’t have been more perfect). As it turned out RTA service is NOT as on time as they claim to be and it took us over an hour to make a 31 minute trip...not to mention a mid trip transfer to a bus which actually took us to our final destination. Alas...Samantha was there waiting, with a calming smile, when we finally arrived. Her civil ceremony and Apache blessing were perfect for us. I highly recommend Samantha and am confident she will meet (if not exceed) the expectations of couples looking for marriage officiant services.
THANK YOU Samantha!!
Jody and Danny S.
We really didn’t know what we were doing — about the ceremony AND picture taking — and Samantha made us feel confident and comfortable. She is friendly, extremely accommodating and...
flexible. Couldn’t recommend her enough 🙂
Contact
750 Decatur Street, New Orleans, LA | Greater New Orleans Area
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