White Robed Monks Of St. Benedict

We had Fr Joe Bravo as our officiant. Very nice man. My husband is really not a religious person and our original plan was to do a Catholic Church wedding. We met with a Catholic priest for 5 times and my husband never felt comfortable. There was a change of plans 2 months before the wedding because they wanted us to do MORE stuff even though we are almost finished with the pre-cana. So we just decided to do a civil ceremony by our winery reception. My husband was so happy because just the first meeting, he felt comfortable with Fr Joe. Fr Joe went to our house because he is having a ceremony in the area. He is a very sweet and intelligent man. He explained everything to my husband, as in step by step procedure that will happen, and my husband felt really good and comfortable with him. My husband is happy so I'm happy. He also make sure that we understand it and that we are agreeable with things. On the day-of, Fr Joe was so sweet that he gave me a call ta ask how I am doing and if im feeling okay. The ceremony was nice. The sermon was good and Fr Joe was able to get some comments and laughter from the guest. I was told that he introduced himself to the bridal party and also he asked Andrew how he was feeling and talked to him while waiting. Fr Joe is a sweet man.

Father Milton is a nice guy but the ceremony didn’t go as smoothly as I had hoped. There were a few mishaps which I could look over but the thing that upset me the most was the fact that he said the wrong name when announcing us as husband and wife! It’s not like he said my last name instead of his or just pronounced it incorrectly, he just flat out said the WRONG name. Also, the Catholics without a Church organization works off of donations BUT before the ceremony he ASKED for the donation even though we never mentioned that we were giving one. Don’t get me wrong, we fully intended on giving a donation and I even asked him how that whole process worked but first off, he indicated that we should donate a minimum amount (which was about twice what it would have cost if we would have hired an officiant) and he ASKED for it which makes it seem less like a donation and more like a payment. We ended up giving the same amount it would have cost to hire an officiant but I’m pretty sure if we were giving the donation after the ceremony, it would have been less.

I wanted to have a Catholic ceremony, but outdoors because my now husband is Baptisted, so I looked and researched for many hours trying to find an officiant that could do this. I found this guy Father Milton, he had rave reviews and looked legit. NOT AT ALL. my first clue should have been that after we planned our ceremony he sent us a "donation fee Schedule" which told us that for him to come to Fort Worth to do our wedding it would be $500 plus lodging, and I was to give the donation to him upon arrival! I thought that was a little much but I did it anyway. Then during the rehearsal he took over my coordinators job and tried to run the show...and acted like this was no big deal and it wasn't important to practice. Then for the ceremony, he DID NOT run a Catholic ceremony, and DID NOT say anything remotely Religious, or anything about us!!! he gave some ridiculous speech about rockets blowing up that had nothing to do with LOVE, MARRIAGE, or the BRIDE and GROOM!! I wanted to cry I was so unhappy with his work. I would never let Anyone I know use this guy. P.S. We don't even know if we are really married cause he disappeared after the ceremony and took the marriage license, we DIDN'T even sign it!!!

Father George Lucey was wonderful! We connected with him and were able to customize the ceremony to our preferences.