About this vendor
Rev. Claire Frances is an ordained wedding officiant based in Charlottesville, VA. This experienced minister strives to provide unique and heartfelt ceremonies for each of her clients, helping them express their love on the big day in an authentic way.
Rev. Claire Frances established her business, Sacred Ground Ceremonies back in 2004 and has proudly officiated more than 1,000 wedding ceremonies over the years. As the success of Claire’s company grew, so too did her team of talented ministers. In 2017, Rev. Marla Cantor joined the business, This dedicated team can perform at a range of ceremonies, such as religious and non-religious events, vow renewals, and elopements, with intercultural weddings, also included. Claire and the team enjoy getting to know her clients personally and forging genuine connections in the process.
The Rev. Claire Frances team offers to-be-weds a range of services for their special day. Claire will begin by providing an in-depth consultation and follow-up questionnaire to discuss your desired event style, size, and budget. She and the team are happy to customize proceedings in line with your creative vision and also encourage you to personalize vows, rituals, and blessings as you wish. Claire can even conduct a full rehearsal in advance of the big day, allowing you and your love to feel prepared and make any last-minute adjustments to your ceremony.
Details
Business Attributes
- Woman-owned Business
Ceremony Types
- Civil Union
- Commitment Ceremony
- Elopement
- Interfaith Ceremony
- Non-Religious Ceremony
- Second Wedding
Religious Affiliations
- Interfaith
- Secular
- Spiritual
- Unitarian
Wedding Activities
- Wedding
- Ceremony
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Reviews
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5
out of 5.025 reviews
Review photos
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Marla created the most beautiful ceremony for our wedding! She made it such an easy and joyful process, giving us plenty of options to make the ceremony fit us as a couple. Her bea...
utiful words had our guests in tears. Thank you for being part of our special day!
When our original officiant fell through and we had to find a new one only 2 months before the wedding, Marla saved the day! Not only did she do a great job and fill the role on sh...
ort notice, she also brought so much more depth and life to our ceremony than we would’ve had otherwise.
We had no idea where to start in terms of planning our ceremony structure, readings, tone, wording, etc, but Marla gave us tons of options to choose from and also made an effort to learn about us in order to tailor everything to be personal to us and our story.
Marla gave a beautiful ceremony and made it feel so personal to us. Her energy was warm and inviting, which set the perfect tone for our special day. We are so grateful that Marla was the one who married us! Wholly recommend her!
Marla was a pleasure to work with! She stepped in just three months before our wedding day and agreed to marry us. With so little time, Marla was on top of planning our ceremony fr...
om the moment we had our first zoom call together. Marla created beautiful nuptials for me and my husband. Even with some minor wind difficulties the day of, Marla spoke loud enough so that all our wedding guest could hear. We are glad we were able to meet and work with Marla and highly recommend her to anyone who is looking for an officiant!
Marla was incredible to work with throughout the whole process. We were able to personalize our ceremony and loved having so many options to choose from. The ceremony was beautiful...
ly written, and was exactly what we hoped for. Marla even found a perfect poem for us as a reading that we will cherish forever. We are so grateful we found Marla and that she was open to a mountain side wedding on the parkway!
We greatly enjoyed working with Rev. Claire to craft a ceremony that was reflective of us. She sent us a large packet of choices for each part of our ceremony, which really helped ...
us figure out what we wanted. We appreciated her guidance and attention to detail -- our ceremony came out great! It really expressed who we are as a couple and what we value, and we are so glad we chose to work with her! We wanted someone who could work with our spiritual beliefs that don't quite fall in line with common religion, as well as someone who could help us work in traditions from our background. Rev. Claire hit all of those points for us!
Claire was our officiant at both our mini-ceremony with family and recently our big wedding that we finally got to have after several postponements. She was communicative, professi...
onal, and very thorough. She made herself available for video calls at odd hours to accommodate my husband's work schedule and differing time zones. Our ceremonies felt personal, intimate, and romantic. Claire provided us with many options for each part of our ceremony and we were able to put together something that was uniquely ours. She even went above and beyond to mail us our vow cards after the fact so that we can keep and treasure them. Thank you for everything, Claire!
We had a lovely ceremony thanks to Claire. It was raining on our wedding day so she had to pivot a little bit so we could get our guests out of the rain, but she did it flawlessly....
She had an amazing intake form for us that ensured she got to know us and our relationship so she had the appropriate ceremony script for us. We loved working with Claire!
We loved working with Claire! From the first moment we spoke on the phone we connected, and my husband and I knew we wanted her to marry us. We live out of state, so Claire very ki...
ndly agreed to Facetime with both of us so we could all get acquainted. The questionnaire she sent us was extremely thorough and made us feel like she was really taking the time to get to know us before our wedding day. My husband and I come from different faith backgrounds, and Claire was fantastic at helping us navigate so that we had a ceremony that we (and our families!) were both happy and comfortable with. We had to postpone our original wedding date due to COVID, and Claire was beyond kind and understanding. Her grace made a difficult time a little bit easier! When our wedding day finally arrived, our ceremony was everything we could have hoped for. It was sweet, personal to us, and a perfect length. Claire even stepped out of the way for our first kiss (without us asking!), which felt like a next-level professional thing to do. Thank you, Claire, for helping to make our day so special!
We were so happy to have Reverend Claire to help guide us through creating a perfect and personal ceremony. My husband and I had very different religious upbringings and she did a...
wonderful job of blending religious pieces with spiritual concepts. She also reminded during the ceremony to stop and appreciate the moment and the beautiful event that was occurring. Highly recommend.
We feel so lucky to have had Reverend Claire Frances as our officiant. She guided us through the process of designing a ceremony that was meaningful to us. Her questions for us abo...
ut our beliefs and values and those of our families helped us discuss with each other how we wanted our ceremony to feel. Claire also presented examples of different approaches to the individual elements of the ceremony for us to choose from and adapt.
On the day of the wedding, Claire brought a warm energy and kind attentiveness to the proceedings. We appreciated her advice to pause and take in the moment in the midst of the ceremony. Finally, since we limited our attendees to our parents and siblings due to the coronavirus, Claire found ways to acknowledge our loved ones streaming in from their homes in a way that felt natural and intimate. We are so grateful to Claire for making our ceremony so special and recommend her highly!
Claire did such a great job officiating our ceremony. We were the most nervous about our ceremony, but Claire put us at ease. She included little details from our questionaire whic...
h really put a personal spin on it. The words she wrote made our ceremony feel so sweet and intimate. Couldn’t have asked for anyone better!
Rev. Claire Frances created such a beautiful and memorable ceremony - everything she said was perfect and made us both feel so comfortable!! Only thing I regret is not having a vi...
deographer to watch the ceremony over and over again! Highly recommend this wonderful woman!
Claire was great! She helped us create a ceremony that was personal to us. She had plenty of suggestions for readings, prayers and even some things to help us get started on writin...
g our own vows. I'm half Indian and wanted to incorporate the seven steps into our ceremony and she was so helpful in figuring out how to do this as well! Our ceremony was short, sweet and unique to us and we are so happy we chose Claire to marry us. So many of our guests told us how much they loved our ceremony! Highly recommend Claire!
We used Rev. Claire Frances as our officiant for our wedding, and we could not have been more pleased. She made the planning process incredibly easy, with many suggestions and opti...
ons for pieces of the ceremony. The ceremony itself turned out perfectly, and we had many guests come up to tell us how much they enjoyed it. We live on the west coast, and were only able to actually meet in person with Claire for the first time on the day of the rehearsal dinner. Despite this, with the help of Skype and email, she was able to make the ceremony feel intimate and personal.
Reverend Claire Frances did such an amazing job at creating a personal and memorable ceremony. We had no idea what to expect when we were seeking an officiant, but Rev. Claire Fran...
ces made the process incredibly easy with a video call and a questionnaire that we each filled out. She asked us about hobbies or interests that were a part of our relationship and found ways to interweave Star Wars and Office quotes into our program without them taking away from the ceremony. We appreciated her guidance when it came to writing our own vows and how she reminded us to take in the moment (as the day will fly by!). We are so grateful to the various Charlottesville vendors that referred us to her service!
Claire did an incredible job as the officiant for our wedding. We knew after our initial meeting that she would be perfect for our day. She took the time to ask about the two of us...
, our family, and what we wanted for the ceremony. She stayed in contact during the months and weeks leading up to our wedding and gave us a very organized and extensive list of possible options for the various parts of the ceremony. During the rehearsal and on the big day her calm energy definitely helped our nerves and she did an amazing job! Several of our guests complimented her afterwards!
When we first met with Rev. Claire Frances during our planning, we felt instantly at ease with her. It was an easy decision to choose her as our officiant. Putting the ceremony tog...
ether with Rev. Claire was a very easy process and we appreciated her input in how to easily incorporate our different religious backgrounds into the ceremony. During the rehearsal and on the day of the wedding, Rev. Claire was nothing less than an absolute pro. The ceremony was flawless, despite the cold weather that day, and Rev. Claire made sure that everything flowed smoothly. We appreciate all of her help in making our ceremony so memorable.
Rev. Claire Frances performed such a beautiful ceremony for us! It was exactly what we wanted and so heartfelt. We had so many guests come up to us after saying it was the best cer...
emony they have ever attended. Claire was so easy to work with and we are so happy she could marry us and be part of our big day!
we loved the ceremony rev claire goodman created for us. we are both not religious but very spiritual, and come from families that are religious but follow different faiths. we lov...
ed the way our ceremony, and especially her address and blessings, were so inclusive. our ceremony was beautiful.
also, on the logistic side, claire was great at running our rehearsal down to the tiniest detail so that everyone knew what to expect, when to cue music, etc for the actual wedding.
After a series of interviews with Claire,we couldn't have chosen anyone else as an Officiant. She not only answered every question we had and help us in choosing our ceremony syle,...
but made everything so easy for us. She was wonderful and put our minds at ease.
We were lucky enough to find Claire with only three weeks to go, after snafu with our original plans. We already had some specific ideas of what we wanted in the ceremony, and she ...
wove them all together beautifully, and even gave a few suggestions that added even more. She is warm and genuine, and sincerely means what she says. It was a pleasure working with her.
Rev. Goodman was fantastic! She crafted the most beautful ceremony for us that reflected our personalities in just the right way. She had great ideas and allowed us to incorporate ...
our own.
Reverend Claire did such a beautiful job composing a ceremony that was just perfect for my husband and I, as well as the location and vibe of the wedding. She puts considerable tim...
e and thought into getting to know the bride and groom so that she can make the ceremony truely personal- as if we had told her exactly what to say- except that would have taken a lot of time and planning on our part, and I could not have put things so eloquently as she did. She makes everything easy with her kind, calming demeanor. She was able to lead the rehearsal effectively and efficiently- we even regretted hiring a Day-of coordinator because she did everything so well her self. Many guests complimented her through us on such a beautiful, personal ceremony.
I really enjoyed working with Claire-- she was very easy going and helped us put together the perfect ceremony easily. You start by filling out a questionnaire with your fiance, a...
nd then she responds with a large selection of possibilities for each part of the ceremony. It was so easy and came out beautifully. However, no one could hear her! If you work with Claire, make sure to work out an amplification system and test it with her before the wedding day.
Rev. Clare really provided a beautiful atmosphere for us to commit ourselves to each other. The process she uses is wonderful and really provides a relaxing and special feeling to...
planning your wedding. I would highly recommend Rev. Clare!!!!
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Charlottesville, VA | Charlottesville & Central Virginia
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