Vows to Cherish is a Frankford, DE-based wedding officiant service led by Mary Barneby, an ordained celebrant in the Universal Life Ministries. Mary aims to work with each couple to create the most meaningful ceremony possible.
Vows to Cherish is honored to work with couples of all religious and spiritual beliefs, including interfaith, traditional, and modern, as well as ceremonies that exclude references to God or other deities. Mary is inclusive of couples of all sexual and gender preferences. It gives her true joy to officiate when two people who love one another come together to express their love and commitment in the presence of their loved ones.
Whether you dream of having a wedding celebration in a sumptuous country club or at the beach, Mary is eager and willing to plan with you and be part of the team that makes your day memorable. She is also open to leading the wedding rehearsal before the event and working with you on understanding the process for obtaining and filing your license. Contact Vows to Keep today to find out more.
Woman-owned Business
Prices & packages
Couples usually spend $225
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Details
Ceremony Types
Civil Union
Commitment Ceremony
Elopement
Interfaith Ceremony
Non-Religious Ceremony
Religious Ceremony
Second Wedding
Vow Renewal Ceremony
Religious Affiliations
Interfaith
Secular
Spiritual
Wedding Activities
Wedding
Ceremony
Any questions?
Meet the team
Mary Barneby
Owner
Mary Barneby was ordained into the Universal Life Ministries in July 2023 after a very successful career that spanned 40 years as a corporate and a non profit leader. She has a BA in Psychology and Philosophy from New York University and an MBA in Finance from Fordham University. She has served on several non profit Boards and has extensive experience as a public speaker. She has appeared on numerous news programs during her time as CEO for Girl Scouts of Connecticut and as CEO for the Greater NY Region of the American Red Cross.
Availability
Reviews
5.0
out of 5.0
7 reviews
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Review Summary
This AI-generated summary is a snapshot of this vendor's ratings and feedback.
Mary is an exceptional wedding officiant who goes above and beyond to make ceremonies special and personalized. Reviewers praise her for her professionalism, communication, attention to detail, and emotional intelligence. Mary is described as sweet, caring, and accommodating, making the wedding planning process smooth and stress-free. She is highly recommended for her responsive communication, flexibility, and ability to tailor ceremonies to meet couples' needs and preferences.
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Erin E
5.0
2/09/2025
Mary went ABOVE AND BEYOND to make our wedding special!
Mary is professional, sweet, caring, and absolutely LOVES doing this! This combination made for a perfect wedding day and I've now gained a friend from this process! Mary is the BEST!
We originally had hired a wedding planning service to do a beach ceremony which included an officant. About six months prior the wedding we were going over details and she informed us she was unable to officate our wedding. Fourtunatly I found Mary's contact information. She reached out right away and she was available the day of our wedding!! I am over the moon happy the other company couldn't officate our wedding because Mary definitely made me feel like a person instead of feeling like a number from the other company. She took the time to get to know us as a couple, which ultimately made for the most special wedding ceremony I could've ever imagined! We weren't sure what to say in our vows and how to plan out our ceremony. Mary wrote our vows for us and made it personal. She had our ceremony planned weeks before our wedding and we were able to proof read and adjust things. She also recommended that we add sand to our ceremony so we each(including our son) added sand to a vase. We now have a special keepsake from the ceremony. When Mary came out for the rehearsal she brought our son a gift to make him feel special and included him in our ceremony. She is the sweetest person, and this was by far the smoothest part of wedding planning. Thank you again Mary! We love you!
Lauren V
5.0
10/30/2024
Mary was our wedding officiant for our beach ceremony in Rehoboth and she was a joy to work with for our wedding. Mary was responsive to all of our phone calls and emails and met with us multiple times ahead of our wedding day because she really cared about getting to know us and catered our wedding ceremony to meet our needs. She made the whole process very easy and took care of the paperwork responsibilities. We highly recommend hiring Mary as your wedding officiant.
Any questions?
Patricia T
5.0
9/22/2024
We loved having Mary as our officiant! She was offered so much support and was very flexible, even with some of our last minutes changes to the ceremony. She was so wonderful to work with and definitely wanted to make the ceremony personalized and work however we wanted it. We would definitely recommend hiring Mary!
M M
5.0
9/02/2024
Professionalism, communication, level of service and value - those are just the nuts and bolts of what Mary provides. The soft skills of emotional intelligence, sincerity, kindness and thoughtfulness are the ones that really make working with her a pleasure and a joy. Couldn’t recommend enough and you never leave reviews for anything.
Heather S
5.0
7/12/2024
Mary was incredible!!!
If you are looking for someone to officiate your ceremony, contact Mary! I spoke to several others about officiating the ceremony before I found Mary. She was more about the union of marriage verses greed of making a huge profit off of an "Out of state" wedding.
We had a weekend trip planned for the beach weeks prior. Then a week and a half before I came up with the plan to elope. Once my better half agreed, I spoke to her about officiating our ceremony. I told her we wanted something simple, short & sweet on the beach. She guided me on what to for the "Out of state" wedding and told me her cost. She later called to talk to both of us prior to, so she could get to know us. We got everything taken care of. Our courthouse notarized the form needed and we sent everything over night. I was going to pay extra to have the marriage license mailed back to us before we left. Mary offered to go to the court house and pick up the license on our behalf so we knew we had it. Once she got our license she sent me a picture of it!
The day we traveled to the beach, Mary sent us a text telling us safe travels and she would see us at our hotel later that evening around 7 after a wedding rehearsal. She sent us another text when she arrived at the hotel/boardwalk, told us she was there and for us to take our time & not to rush getting ready. We finally met Mary in person and she brought along her sweet husband (to keep her company on the drive)💕.
Mary greeted us with beautiful bouquets💐. Our ceremony was exactly what we wanted & more. It was absolutely perfect!! Afterwards, Mary took photos of us and her husband took photos of the three of us. Mary also gave us a certificate of marriage, signed our license and gave us the copy of her ceremony note's for a keepsake. After 22+ years I married my best friend and soul mate 🥰💍. Thank you Mary for everything you did for us!!!
response07/30/2024
Thank you, Heather and Jennifer. It was a joy to work with you both and wishing you many ...
more years of love and happiness. Best, Mary
Jenna G
5.0
7/08/2024
Mary was amazing, and we honestly now consider her a family friend! She was nothing but friendly, warm, accommodating and knowledgeable about getting married in DE. She made our ceremony fun and tailored it to our love story. Our wedding day wouldn’t have been the same without her! THANKS MARY!!
Anne C
5.0
5/07/2024
Mary was amazing from the minute we connected with her. She spent the time to understand who we and what was important to us. Her suggestions on how to craft the ceremony were extremely helpful. On the day of the wedding, she came prepared and. She delivered the vows in a way that resonated with our guests. Highly recommend!
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Vows to Cherish
Mary Barneby
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Owner
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