About this vendor
Destination Wedding Officiant + Intentional Ceremony Scripts for YOUR loved one to perform.
You know your love story, I know wedding ceremonies. We're better together.
I offer ceremony solutions for modern and couples and believe in ceremonies with soul and a story. Your story.
My guess is you're here because you want a one-of-a-kind wedding ceremony that's as real and unique as your love story. I design and perform modern marriage ceremonies that are rooted in your beliefs, values, and intentions. Together, we make your wedding ceremony meaningful and memorable as you embark on a marriage as beautiful as your wedding day.
In addition to officiating, I specialize in guiding couples who've asked a loved one to marry them through the ceremony creation process. Because every couple and wedding is unique, I offer a range of ceremony-related services.
My goal is to bring couples and communities closer through ceremonies and maximize the emotional opportunity that weddings present.
Details
Business Attributes
- Woman-owned Business
Ceremony Types
- Commitment Ceremony
- Elopement
- Interfaith Ceremony
- Non-Religious Ceremony
- Second Wedding
- Vow Renewal Ceremony
Wedding Activities
- After The Wedding
- Newlywed Life
- Getting Engaged
- Premarital Counseling
- Wedding
- Ceremony
Reviews
Your trust is our goal. Our community relies on honest reviews to help you make those big decisions with ease.
5
out of 5.021 reviews
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We just got married in June in Maine, and Michelle was such an important part of our wedding day as our ceremony ghost-writer. Our officiant was a family member, and therefore not experienced in the job. We worked with Michelle to prepare a script for them, and the end result was a beautiful, personalized ceremony. The process of working with Michelle was really fun - we loved answering our questionnaire for her to get to know us, and working with her was always enjoyable.
Choosing Michelle as our officiant was one of the best decisions we made for our wedding! Her hard work leading up to the day and her warm, open, and kind personality made us feel super calm ahead of the wedding and highly present on the day of. We really felt like she took the time to get to know us and was receptive to any feedback we had about the ceremony script ahead of time. She wrote such a beautiful ceremony and it had exactly the intimate, personal, and genuine feel we hoped for. So many of our guests asked us about Michelle and Swoon Union afterward--they couldn't believe she hadn't known us our whole lives! The rehearsal she ran with us the evening before also set such a positive, relaxed tone for the weekend, which we and our families appreciated. We really can't imagine our wedding without Michelle and we can't recommend her enough!
Michelle is one of the best people I have ever met, and choosing her was the best decision for our wedding. She is kind, thoughtful, and intentional, and put her all into crafting a ceremony that perfectly captured us. There was not a dry eye during the ceremony, except for me, because I was simply enjoying myself too much to cry! Not only was the actual ceremony experience perfect, but everything leading up to it was exceptional as well. We met a few times to get to know each other and for Michelle to understand who we are as a couple. We were given the chance to review the ceremony ahead of time too and make any changes (if necessary). Michelle traveled all the way from Maine for our DC wedding, and by the time we got to our rehearsal, it felt like meeting up with an old friend. If you want your ceremony to be the most memorable moment of the day, choose Swoon Union! Michelle will make your love story come to life as you enter this next chapter.
We worked with Michelle to craft a script and general structure for our July 2023 wedding, and she helped my brother prepare for his role as our officiant. Michelle’s process was brilliant, and a perfect solution for us.
For us, the ceremony wasn’t a half-hour to “get through” - we wanted it to be the emotional climax of the weekend. But we knew it would be a challenge. My husband and I live in California, our wedding venue was in Rhode Island, and my brother (our officiant) lives in Connecticut. I’m Catholic, my husband is Jewish, and he’s a writer whose first instinct is to do everything himself - so we needed someone to marry all of this together and deliver a plan for the ceremony that would incorporate our traditions, capture us as individuals, and speak to our families and friends in a way that honored everyone and welcomed them into our story.
After our initial conversation with Michelle, she supplied us with a set of questions about ourselves: who we are as individuals, what we are like as a couple, and what we envision our marriage being like. They were perfectly-chosen questions, designed to get to know us on a deep level: my husband mentioned that it reminded him of the “36 questions that lead to love” - just answering them made us feel closer. After we sent our detailed responses, we had a virtual coffee with Michelle, and got to know her better (and vice versa) as we reviewed our answers.
Michelle is so welcoming and genuinely wanted to get to know us.
All of this was great, but the most important part came next: Michelle wove together what we’d written and told her - our story, our hopes, our traditions, our preferences for the flow of the wedding (including lots of ideas we wouldn’t have thought of, and can’t thank her enough for) - into a script for the ceremony. We made some minor changes and added some readings as the day approached, and Michelle met with my brother virtually to work through some of his questions (and honestly, his fears) about officiating. And finally, Michelle read over my vows and reassured me when I was nervous about what I’d written!
In the end, the ceremony was absolutely incredible: I’m biased, but so many people told us that they’d never been so moved, or laughed and cried as much during a wedding ceremony. It wouldn’t have been possible without Michelle. We can’t thank her enough, and highly recommend her work!
Working with Michelle on our ceremony was such a special part of the wedding planning process and our ceremony was such a meaningful part of the day! Michelle came highly recommended by our wedding photographer and we can totally see why. From booking to planning to the ceremony rehearsal to the wedding day, she brought warmth, kindness, curiosity, and love to every single interaction.
Michelle took the time to get to know us personally and it definitely showed in our ceremony. She did this through the use of her signature questionnaire and several video calls leading up to the wedding. Both my husband and I absolutely loved filling out the questionnaire and we learned a lot about ourselves and each other through the process. Michelle then worked her magic and wrote an incredible ceremony that truly reflected us, our values, and our story.
When the wedding weekend finally came, Michelle was such a calming and steady presence and we’re so grateful to her for everything. Michelle was an absolute pleasure to work with and we feel so lucky to have found her. All of our family and friends can’t stop talking about how much they love Michelle, too! We are so grateful that she both wrote and officiated our ceremony, and we highly recommend Michelle for your wedding!
If you're planning a wedding, the best advice I can give you is working with Michelle for your ceremony. We wanted to have someone close to us officiate our wedding, but we weren't sure we wanted to put the burden of writing a whole ceremony on a friend. We also wanted to make sure that the ceremony was an important and significant part of the day, which isn't always the case in other weddings we attended. As soon as I heard about Swoon Union, I thought this could be the perfect solution - and one conversation with Michelle made it obvious. (And if we didn't want to have a friend officiate, she would have been amazing herself!)
Truly, the ceremony was PERFECT. Every guest came up to us and told us that it was the most personal and beautiful ceremony they had ever witnessed. The tears flowed throughout - we were basically sobbing through our vows, and there was not a dry eye in the house. (Her vow guidance was extremely helpful...we used her templates to come up with our own template). A friend described it as "funeral level tears" - but in a good way! Someone else described it as "the most cathartic wedding ever." People told us that it allowed them to get to know both of us better - which was exactly what we wanted. And our friend who officiated ended up looking like a brilliant genius - she got compliments all night.
One bonus was the process itself. Michelle's questionnaire was a lovely moment in wedding planning to pause and reflect on our relationship, what we love about each other and our plans for the future.
We loved working with Michelle and can't recommend the Swoon Union experience enough!
Michelle is an incredible person to work with if you want support in designing the ceremony of your dreams. My husband and I knew we didn't want the traditional ceremony language so we worked with Michelle to gather ideas for how we wanted to conduct our ceremony. In an hour she helped us understand different formats, identify key stories we wanted to include, and shape the flow of our ceremony. Her questionnaire alone is an amazing resource in helping your identify what you really want to highlight during the ceremony. 10/10 recommend Michelle and absolutely loved her insights and help leading up to our celebration.
We had the absolute best experience working with Michelle to write our wedding ceremony script! From the first call we had with her, Michelle genuinely cared and wanted to get to know us as both individuals and as a couple. By the time our wedding script was finalized it felt like we had known Michelle for years. We wanted our ceremony script to be meaningful and intentional, and that is exactly what Michelle delivered. Not only that, but the process of working with her and answering several questions about each other/us as a couple was so much fun. Wedding planning can be stressful and overwhelming, and often times in the process you can lose sight of the meaning behind the big day, but working with Michelle allowed us to focus on what was important. Our ceremony script means so much to us and is something that we will keep forever. I cannot recommend Michelle enough - we are so happy she was a part of our wedding day!
I tell a lot of people this, but the best money we spent on our wedding was on ceremony writing with Michelle. Our ceremony was a beautiful blend of our cultures and values, and we seriously would not have been able to put all of that together without Michelle's expertise, unique and personal process, and collaboration. If you work with Michelle, I promise you will go into your wedding day more connected with your partner than ever, partially because of the thoughtfulness, conversations, and care Michelle puts into getting to know you as a couple. Michelle is brilliant, a beautiful writer, soulful, and full of love that she pours into her couples. Do not hesitate to hire Swoon Union, Michelle is truly the best!
Our ceremony was by far one of the best parts and memories of our wedding weekend. Many of our guests also mentioned that the ceremony was their favorite part. I have no doubt that Michelle and Swoon Union were one of the main reasons for that. With Michelle, we created a ceremony that felt effortless, told our story, and created so many incredible memories for us and our family. If you are looking for a ceremony that is not like any other, has heart, and uniquely represents you and your significant other, we highly recommend Swoon Union.
Michelle helped make our wedding ceremony an impactful moment that we will cherish for the rest of our lives! From the moment we met her, she made us feel at ease throughout the entire process. She truly took the time to get to know us, helpfully answered all our questions, and facilitated a deep dive look into our story. Working with Michelle helped us form an even deeper bond as a couple throughout the wedding process. Michelle is accepting, understanding of all backgrounds and we never felt like we had to censor who we are. We met with her over coffee and felt like we were meeting with a dear friend we hadn’t seen in years. She became so much more than an officiant to us – she is someone we formed trust with and knew would help make this moment special. The Swoon Process is something you need to experience for yourself, I don’t want to give too much away, but I can tell you it's absolutely magical. Our friends and family are still discussing the engaging rehearsal moments Michelle helped lead and what a beautiful experience it was. She reminded us to focus on “presence over perfection,” this really resonated with everyone- us especially. The ceremony she crafted encapsulated who we are as individuals, our story together, and everything truly important to us. Swoon Union Ceremonies is a must have. It was truly the most important part of our wedding day. We can’t thank Michelle enough for all that she did for us. We are so grateful we found her and had the opportunity to include her in the best day of our lives!!
Michelle with Swoon Union is the biggest sweetheart imagineable. For two stressed-out soon-to-be-newlyweds, her guidance was beyond helpful! The questions she sent led us both down a sentimental review of our relationship, and guided our minds toward a wonderful future together. The ceremony she created and delivered was so authentic and the highlight of our day. Michelle was communicative and so genuine with us, and we wouldn't change a thing about having her be the one to marry us. Much love from Rachel and Andrew!
It’s hard to put into words how happy we are that we used Michelle for our wedding ceremony. In our opinion, the ceremony should be the most important part of your wedding day. It’s the reason why everyone is there. It should be authentic, genuine, heartfelt and filled with love. Our ceremony was all those things and more, thanks to Michelle. Despite only meeting Michelle a handful of times, we had an immediate connection and felt like we knew her forever. She genuinely cared about getting to know us and forming a relationship. She checked in often, even on life events non-wedding related. We had multiple calls and she even drove to Boston to meet with us in person. She went above and beyond to form a connection and we now feel like old friends. Having that connection with her made our ceremony that much more special. And, we loved the method she used to write the ceremony. After being with someone for 10 years, you feel like there isn’t much to go over. Filling out her questionnaire and going over it together was so fun. It was such a nice exercise to do amongst some of the other wedding planning activities. It grounded us during a stressful planning process. Michelle also has such a calming presence. We were so nervous about standing in front of everyone but while we were up there with Michelle, we felt calm. Everyone said how wonderful and heartfelt our ceremony was. “Beautiful” was the word I heard most to describe it. Do not think twice about booking Michelle for your ceremony!
Michelle is absolutely the best and easiest vendor decision we made for our wedding! For some couples, the ceremony is a means to the reception. For us, we wanted it to be the most significant and memorable part of our day, which it should be...shouldn't it? Michelle seamlessly made it just that. Our ceremony was hands down, the best part of the day, not only for us...but for all our guests (they still continue to tell us). Following our very first phone call, my husband and I hung up and just looked at each other, we didn't need to say anything. We were both in agreement that she was one of the most genuine, kind and patient people either of us had ever met, we actually both said "we just want to be friends with her". With every phone call she brought such a positive light in the darkness of planning a wedding during a pandemic. With Michelle's couple survey, she taught my husband and I so much about each other, she opened up discussions that had not been addressed even after being together 4.5 years. Michelle created a D R E A M ceremony, our dream, it represented US, it felt like US. That is what made our ceremony so perfect, nothing felt forced, out of place or distant to who my husband and I are as a couple. In addition to the ceremony, she help us write letters when downsizing our wedding and editing our day of letters to each other. Throughout our process with Michelle, we never met in person due to COVID. As you would expect, on our wedding day she exceeded all our expectations in person. She was warm, welcoming, comforting and kind not only to us but to all our family and friends. Following all the raving reviews from our family and friends, my husband and I were in agreement that we wanted it documented, we put in a request to our videographer to to a separate video of just our ceremony. If it isn't obvious yet, the ceremony was the best part of the day, and Michelle gets all the credit. Please book her! I promise, you wont be disappointed! XOXO TenTwo
Michelle is absolutely the best of the best. We worked with Michelle to write our ceremony for my sister to perform as our officiant. She wrote the most heartful, thoughtful and beautiful ceremony for us. She managed to show our individuality in the ceremony, while also showing our partnership. She managed to tie our histories together in a way that perfectly showed how they led to our present and future. She weaved in our families and friends in without it being inside jokes and she told our love-story in a way that allowed everyone else to step into it for a day. We could not have asked for anything more in a ceremony. Beyond this, Michelle went above and beyond to make sure we had everything we need and offered to be boots on the ground as we planned our Maine wedding from Texas. She entered our lives for the wedding, but we know she will be in our lives forever because she is the kind of person you meet and immediately feel like she is family.
Michelle put together the most perfect ceremony for our wedding! We received so many compliments about how well it captures us as a couple and it was so well written! She goes above and beyond with every detail of ceremony writing, and we could tell how much she truly cares with every interaction :) Highly recommend!!
We absolutely LOVED working with Michelle! We had dreamed of an authentic, meaningful, genuine, sentimental ceremony, and Michelle helped us bring it to life! Michelle took the time to really get to know us - she helped guide us every step of the way, provided inspiration, and facilitated conversations between my husband and I that lead to a personal, meaningful ceremony. Every part of wedding planning can be a bit overwhelming, but working with Michelle put us completely at ease because we knew the ceremony was going to be so unique, full of love, and special. We are so grateful to have had the opportunity to work with Michelle and highly recommend her!
From our first conversation with Michelle, we were sure we found the right person for us. We were both very unsure of what we wanted out of our ceremony and Michelle had ways of helping us figure it out. She gave us a really wonderful exercise with thoughtful questions, many of which we never thought to ask ourselves or each other, which helped us with the ceremony specifically but also brought us closer. Michelle was so enthusiastic and genuine in every interaction it helped us realize how important the occasion was.
As for the event, Michelle traveled 3 hours to join us! She came up the night before and spent a ton of time with us relaxing at the hotel and getting to know us and our family- way above and beyond what we could have hoped for. She even brought two thoughtful gifts for us. The day of, we had a large party bus to take us to Acadia. She rode with us- getting off at every stop and walking to all the attractions with us, even when some of our family went off on their own. She helped with my dress, held my bouquet, helped get my hair out of my face, and was just very present and supportive.
The ceremony itself was beyond expectations. Michelle gave us a copy of the ceremony and welcomed critiques and tweaks leading up to the day, and even though we'd read it a dozen times we were blown away by the sincerity, thoughtfulness, and genuine care in every word that day. My family was in complete amazement as well, and couldn't stop telling us how incredible she was- which for me was the most important thing, as they were her audience.
Sorry for being so wordy but I genuinely can't say enough about Michelle. We were so lucky to find her!
Michelle was a dream come true to find in the Maine wedding community. After not really thinking about having to "book" an officiant, I wasn't really sure where to start. Plus our extended families were split between very religious and not religious at all, so we needed a very unique standpoint to make everyone feel comfortable, but most importantly make it unique to us. We toyed with the idea of a family member officiating, but I'm so glad I realized that was NOT the way to go! Michelle's style was perfect for us. Modern, relaxed, fun...We had a 100% custom ceremony that was beyond PERFECT. It's all anyone could talk about at the reception. There was no other ceremony that they felt so engaged in. EVER! We put a lot of time into the discovery phase with Michelle, which actually felt a lot like the kick off point of our marriage. We uncovered deep emotions and recounted stories throughout our relationship that just brought these powerful feelings to the surface. We both surprised ourselves at how much we learned about eachother...even after being together for almost 10 years. I couldn't have imagined a better way to plan the ceremony. Michelle put us at ease with everything along the way. She ran everything from the rehearsal, getting everyone involved to be on the same page, getting extra copies of our vows, and following up with the marriage license filing. I'm so beyond happy we were able to find her! You get what you pay for, and Michelle is worth it and more!!
We feel so lucky to have had Michelle as our officiant! We were looking for an officiant that would help us craft an informal, lighthearted, but respectful ceremony, and she listened to what we wanted and gave us exactly that. Michelle not only wrote us the perfect ceremony, but she was also an awesome resource for practical wedding advice. She made herself available to answer any of those weird wedding questions where it’s helpful to have the perspective of someone outside of the family. Michelle is a very warm-hearted person and makes the stressful and nerve-wracking process of planning a wedding so much easier. Michelle has our absolute highest recommendation!
Michelle is THE BEST -- we literally cannot say enough good things about her. She delivered the most unbelievable, personal, love-filled ceremony we ever could have imagined- we are still in awe. She truly took the time to get to know us and it was evident (so many people asked "how we know Michelle" after the ceremony!). We would recommend Michelle to anyone who wants a genuine officiant and unique & personal ceremony!
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New England, Pacific NW, Destinations
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