About this vendor
Winner Weddings by Roya is a licensed wedding officiant service based in Castro Valley, CA. Between your walk down the aisle and your first kiss, Roya Soleimani Winner is prepared to create a ceremony that captures your wedding vision. With personalized vows and a friendly atmosphere, Roya Soleimani Winner looks forward to adding to your special day.
Roya Soleimani Winner is an ordained minister and officiant that specializes in Persian and multi-cultural ceremonies. After writing and designing for local weddings, Roya Solemani Winner soon founded her officiant service Winner Weddings by Roya and has been inspired by every couple ever since. Today, Roya enjoys bringing couples from different cultures and backgrounds to celebrate one-of-a-kind love stories.
Winner Weddings by Roya looks forward to officiating your civil union, commitment ceremony, elopement, non-religious ceremony, second wedding, or vow renewal in the State of California. This service also provides a full ceremony rehearsal between 30 and 60 minutes long. Depending on your preference, these marriage services may be in Persian, English, or both.
Details
Business Attributes
- Woman-owned Business
Ceremony Types
- Civil Union
- Commitment Ceremony
- Elopement
- Non-Religious Ceremony
- Second Wedding
- Vow Renewal Ceremony
Religious Affiliations
- Spiritual
Wedding Activities
- Wedding
- Ceremony
Awards and Affiliations
2-Time 'Best of Weddings'
2025.2023.
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.
Reviews
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5
out of 5.028 reviews
Review photos
Showing slide number 1 out of 5
Roya was an absolute joy to work with, from start to finish. She did an amazing job officiating our Persian and Chinese-American wedding. (FYI Groom is Iranian, Bride is Chinese, b...
oth born and raised in Bay Area.) Roya ensured to get to know us as people with a few calls and a beautifully simple questionnaire so she could draft a script that felt unique to us and shared our love story.
Our favorite part about working with Roya is that she let us pick and choose which parts of the traditional Persian and Western ceremony we wanted to keep and which ones we felt like we could leave behind. I also love that she gave us a chance to directly leave feedback on the script so we could tailor it for length, accuracy, and ensure pronunciations of names were spelled out correct.
Another bonus was that she is bilingual and for some of our guests who do not know as much English she made sure to balance what she was translating to Farsi and what she would say in English.
But perhaps a critical skill she possessed that we didn’t know of till we were literally in the ceremony is her ability to smooth over any hiccups without anyone knowing or making it awkward. My husband, the groom said “I do” a bit too early and she made it into such a heartwarming moment, which ended up being my favorite part of the whole weekend.
We would recommend Roya to anyone who wants to get married, period. It doesn’t matter if you are planning a Persian wedding. She is a beautiful speaker and there was no one better to be part of our special day.
P.S. Have her run your rehearsal, it’s worth it!!! We would’ve been a mess without it!
I knew I wanted an officiant who spoke both Farsi and English fluently and who understood Persian wedding traditions. Roya exceeded all of my expectations. Not only is she an absol...
ute joy to speak with, she treated our wedding with so much love and reverence and made us feel truly so special. Her speech was beautiful, moving, and captured us perfectly. She clearly knew the traditions and their origins, but also listened to us and helped us make our own perfect ceremony. We felt very heard by her and that she valued creating a beautiful experience for us. Her communication was always timely and extremely respectful. She arrived without any problems, looked spectacular, and was a favorite among any guests who had the opportunity to speak with her. During the ceremony, she spoke with so much grace and love and made our beautiful traditions come to life. She was one of our favorite people who we had a chance to work with throughout our whole wedding and I would recommend her a thousand times over.
Roya is charisma, warmth, and gentleness - personified. We had a 400+ person wedding where she was the orchestrator and emcee of our Persian "sofreh aghd". She spent months prepari...
ng for the moment - working with my fiancee and I to diligently and systematically gather details of our love story and architect the perfect marriage ceremony. Her delivery was perfect and her presence and her presence was palpable.
What she could not have prepared for, was for the audio system to stop working halfway through the ceremony. She did not miss a beat. Roya stepped into the middle of the aisle surrounded by 400 people and continued beautifully without a microphone and speakers
She truly cares and was born for this work. We would not have it any other way and recommend her wholeheartedly.
Roya was absolutely amazing. She made our wedding day truly exceptional. We had elements of both a Persian and American wedding and she helped make the two flow seamlessly. Her spe...
ech was absolutely personalized and perfect for the two of us. She included both English and Farsi elements in her speech. We had met with other officiants who made the ceremony seem very cookie cutter. But during our meeting with Roya, she made sure to include elements that we wanted, how we wanted it. Perfectly tailored to us.
My husband is Iranian and he didn’t have as good of an eye for details of the Persian elements of the ceremony. Roya helped immensely here to help fill in the gaps. She provided us (including my wedding party) feedback and cues throughout the ceremony to help make it flow so smoothly. She is truly such a professional. Would 100% recommend!!
We had friends and family come up to us commending how special the ceremony was. Even our Iranian guests were raving about how great the Persian elements were in the ceremony. I couldn’t have imagined our day without Roya.
Thank you so much Roya for making our day so special! Roya was a dream to work with! From our first call she made us realise how special she is! She helped us prepare for the big d...
ay, she was so prompt with creating a beautiful ceremony and have us review it. More than that, she learned a few words in our native language and she surprised us with a poem written by poet from our home country. I would 100% recommend working with Roya if you want your day to be truly special.
We’re incredibly grateful to Roya for making our day so unforgettable. She was an absolute joy to work with from start to finish. From our very first call, we knew she was someone truly special. She guided us through the preparation process with such care and thoughtfulness, and quickly created a beautiful ceremony for us to review.
What meant even more was the personal touch she added, learning a few words in our native language and surprising us with a poem from a poet from our home country. It made the experience deeply meaningful.
We wholeheartedly recommend Roya to anyone looking to make their special day genuinely extraordinary.
My husband and I couldn’t have asked for a better officiant than Roya for our Persian-American wedding. Initially we were unsure how to honor both of our heritages in a way that fe...
lt authentic and engaging, until we found Roya - she exceeded every expectation!
From the moment our ceremony began, Roya had our guests captivated. She seamlessly wove together Persian and American wedding traditions, taking the time to explain the cultural significance of each Persian element in a way that was both entertaining and educational. Her storytelling kept everyone engaged, and she beautifully incorporated our personal love story throughout, adding just the right amount of cultural richness without overwhelming the moment.
Our guests raved about the ceremony afterward – even five months later, people still bring up how special it was and how memorable she made the experience. Friends and family from both cultures felt equally included and moved by the experience.
Roya was also there for our rehearsal the day before, which was exactly what we needed. She walked us through how everything would come together, helped our bridal party and parents understand their roles, and made sure the flow felt clear and natural for everyone
If you’re looking for an officiant who can thoughtfully bridge two cultures while designing a ceremony that is authentic to your love story - Roya is the one to choose, she’s exceptional! She took what could have been a challenging task and turned it into the highlight of our wedding day. We’re forever grateful for her talent and expertise.
I can't say enough great things about Roya. She flew from California to New York to lead our wedding ceremony. We had a mix of Persian and American attendees. She set such a beauti...
ful foundation for the entire day/night by leading us in this ceremony and made sure we were happy with everything leading up to it. She is vibrant, present and powerful. She made us feel like family. We hope other couples have the opportunity to work with Roya and we highly recommend her and her services!
I could not imagine our wedding day without Roya! She helped us craft the most beautiful wedding ceremony, weaving together both Persian and American cultures and including aspects...
of our relationship she gathered from our questionnaires and conversations.
Roya is a joy to work with. She is incredibly kind, courteous, and loves what she does. It made us all the more excited for our wedding day. We received many compliments on how beautiful our ceremony was and were even asked if Roya was a family member because she seemed to know us so well. I think that’s a testament to Roya’s talent, and I would recommend her as an officiant to anyone looking for a unique and meaningful ceremony.
Thank you, Roya Joon!
Roya was an amazing officiant. We worked together on the script and I was very involved in the edits, so it felt very much tailored to our story and very "us". She's great at balan...
cing to make sure that different cultures are recognized, not just persian. We had sound issues during the ceremony but she dealt with it like a true professional and it felt seamless. We highly recommend Roya!
Roya was an excellent officiant! I immediately connected with her friendly nature in our first call and she made everything a breeze. It's clearly evident that she's a confident sp...
eaker and she delivered our ceremony like a pro. There were even a few challenges and unpredictable moments that she handled professionally and with ease. Thank you Roya for a wonderful ceremony!
Working with Roya is hands-down the best decision you can make when planning a wedding! I cannot put into words the impact she had on our entire wedding, and our planning process. ...
She guided us and gave us wisdom throughout the planning process. She even went above and beyond by helping us write and translate my non-Iranian husband's Farsi wedding toast.
Our family and friends from all walks of life cannot stop raving about the amazing Persian ceremony she wrote and delivered. We had a 3 day wedding with both Persian and Hindu ceremonies, and she weaved together our cultures and stories very well.
You are the BEST Of the best, Roya!
Where do I even begin? Hiring Roya as our wedding officiant was the best decision of our entire wedding planning process. My husband is Persian, born in Iran but raised in the US, ...
and I am American. After searching and searching for a wedding officiant that could blend together a traditional Persian wedding ceremony with a Sofreh Aghd, with American style vows, the universe so graciously led us to Roya. She made every step of planning our ceremony seamless and individualized. She was available for multiple planning meetings which helped to solidify our plans and intentions for our ceremony. The way she got to know us as individuals and as a couple, my guests thought she had known us all our lives. She is not only an incredible officiant, but just the sweetest person you could ever meet. Do yourselves a favor and stop looking anywhere else, and just hire Roya. You and your significant other could not be in better or more capable hands, no matter how traditional or “hybrid” you want your ceremony to be.
Roya was one of the best vendors we hired for our wedding. We felt her professionalism, her way with words, and her commitment to illustrating the beauty of our relationship from o...
ur first conversation. She asked us the perfect questions, offering us a chance to reflect on our love for each other and focusing on what really matters, even in the midst of the stress and hustle of wedding planning. She helped us feel grounded, and focused on each other, throughout the planning process and even down to the last moment of our wedding ceremony. She had fantastic ceremony scripts and ideas ready to go, catering to the multi-cultural aspects of our wedding and our individual stories. And her attention to detail is just…*chef’s kiss.* As a lover of words, I knew I’d be heavy-handed in producing our ceremony script, and Roya was the perfect collaborator. She is the type of professional you want by your side for your wedding: thorough, thoughtful, and someone who takes complete ownership. She went above and beyond with details like word pronunciations and handled the post-wedding license submission process with our county registrar absolutely seamlessly. We couldn’t have asked for a better person to have played such a significant and spiritual part of our union as a couple. We are forever grateful.
I can't say enough good things about Roya who officiated our Persian wedding. We got so many compliments from our guests about how lovely, polished, professional, and warm she was ...
officiating our ceremony. Book her asap if you want a seamless, professional, and loving/warm ceremony!
Roya was an exceptional officiant for our wedding. From the start, she made a genuine effort to get to know us on a personal level, crafting a ceremony that truly reflected our uni...
que bond. Her ability to connect with our families added a special touch, making everyone feel included and cherished. Roya's calming presence created a serene atmosphere, helping to ease any pre-wedding nerves and allowing us to fully enjoy our special day. Her warmth, professionalism, and personal touch made our ceremony unforgettable. We couldn’t have asked for a better officiant to guide us through such a meaningful occasion.
I highly recommend Roya from Winner Weddings as a wedding officiant. Roya possesses a unique ability to seamlessly blend Persian and English languages, effortlessly capturing the e...
ssence of both cultures in our ceremony. Her bilingual proficiency ensured that all our guests felt included and connected throughout the event.
From our initial meeting, Roya's professionalism and positive energy were evident. She took the time to understand our backgrounds and preferences, crafting a ceremony that beautifully reflected our journey together. Roya's attention to detail and thoughtful guidance made the planning process smooth and enjoyable.
On our wedding day, Roya's presence was a true highlight. Her delivery was heartfelt and sincere, resonating with both our Persian and English-speaking guests. She brought a wonderful balance of tradition and modernity, creating a ceremony that was deeply meaningful and memorable for us and our families.
If you're searching for a wedding officiant who not only speaks multiple languages but also understands and honors cultural nuances, Roya and Winner Weddings are the perfect choice. We are immensely grateful to Roya for making our wedding day truly special.
Roya proved to be an exceptional officiant, making the entire process seamless and stress-free. My husband and I initially struggled to find an officiant whose package aligned with...
our specific needs. However, Roya quickly tailored a package that perfectly suited us. Her professionalism shone through as she effortlessly met all deadlines and collaborated closely with us to create a ceremony that felt truly personalized. On the day of the event, Roya's presence felt like having a close friend guiding us toward marriage. She was a calming presence at the altar , and her warm, friendly nature made our intimate ceremony all the more memorable. Additionally, Roya's expertise in bridging cultures and bringing families together was evident as all the cultural elements, both Persian and Mexican, we wanted to include were woven perfectly into our ceremony. We couldn't be happier with how everything turned out, thanks in large part to Roya.
Roya officiated our Persian ceremony in Napa and was truly a pleasure to work with! She knew exactly how to create a seamless flow with our American officiant and had great ideas f...
or our ceremony structure. She brought joy, beauty, and laughter to our ceremony through her words, and she captured our vision perfectly. I can't recommend working with Roya enough!
We could not have asked for a better experience having Roya as our officiant! Our wedding was multicultural, blending Persian and Arab traditions. From our first conversation, Roya...
came in with a warmth and positive energy that we instantly knew we wanted to work with her the rest of the way. She took the time to get to know us by asking us questions about our love story and our values, and constructed a script that beautifully blended these together with the traditional aspects of a Persian ceremony. She even went above and beyond in learning and delivering parts of the ceremony in Arabic, which was greatly appreciated by my wife's family. Many of our family and friends commented on what a wonderful job she did in officiating our ceremony (and some of them even want to work with her when it's their time!).
My wife and I felt very comfortable and excited throughout the process of working with Roya, and the end result was a beautiful ceremony that we will look back on and cherish. If you are searching for an officiant that truly listens to you to achieve your vision for your wedding ceremony and particularly excels with multicultural couples, don't think twice and contact Roya now!
Roya is such a warm and joyful person and we couldn't be more thrilled that she officiated our wedding! We had an extremely intimate ceremony so we wanted to be very intentional ab...
out who we chose- my dad had worked with Roya previously and he immediately thought of her when brainstorming who would officiate our wedding. She was extremely thoughtful in the words she chose during our ceremony and made a huge effort to get to know me and my partner beforehand in order to personalize our script as much as possible.
I highly recommend Roya if you want a vibrant, fun and special wedding officiator who will truly make your day unforgettable. Thank you Roya :)
We were so lucky to have had Roya officiate our wedding in October and would highly recommend her to any couple who is currently planning their wedding! Roya finds a beautiful bala...
nce between being professional AND being a supportive friend who is excited to be part of your day. During each planning call and upon finally meeting her in person, Roya keeps what is most important at top of mind by reminding you "we are here to celebrate your love!" While planning, she provides such thoughtful guidance, options and ideas to really customize your ceremony and experience of getting married. During the wedding day, she couples her masterful public speaking skills with her calm, friendly energy that is infectious and helps everyone there feel welcome and excited. She knew exactly what to do with the marriage certificate, which we appreciated because you can't make any mistakes!
Instead of a religious ceremony, we really wanted to focus on our personal connection to nature and the peace it brings us, and our wedding was outside so this was a perfect fit. I come from a catholic background while my husband does not, so Roya gently suggested we give a nod to religion once and only one during the ceremony by inviting our guests to greet the ones around them. I thought that was beautiful.
Roya carefully drafts her ceremony script based on questionnaires that you and your partner fill out separately, and she shows it to you ahead of time so you can edit if you want to. We both teared up reading her beautiful words the first time, and had little to no edits! She did a phenomenal job capturing our connection and our words about eachother, and we still have the script to read back on our anniversaries.
I will also mention that she did a great job with time management of the ceremony as were both a little nervous to stand in front of everyone, and wanted to keep the ceremony short so she devised the script accordingly. Many of our guests came up to us after to say it was one of the best ceremonies they have attended, that they loved Roya's energy and her beautiful words! It feels good knowing that not only was it memorable for us, but for our guests too.
Though we have no plans to renew our vows, I find myself wanting to somehow work with Roya again!! (and I can't say that about all of our wedding vendors lol) If I can lend any advise to another couple who is considering hiring Roya to officiate their wedding it is to book her and don't look back! Allow Roya to guide you through the process and facilitate *joy* on your special day.
Roya is a fantastic officiant. We interviewed a few and she was the obvious choice right off the bat. She's very organized and has a great process to put together a ceremony that’s...
prefect for you, especially multicultural weddings. Ours was a Persian ceremony with the script written in both Farsi and English but with many family members being Russian, she learned some Russian words and came up with a creative way to use them in our script. She had many great suggestions to weave in both cultures throughout our conversations. We got tons of compliments about her on the day of our wedding and days after. She has a great presence and is very well spoken. Wedding vendors can be very stressful to manage but you will not have that problem with Roya, she's on the ball and super responsive so do yourself a favor and hire her right now! Roya, thanks for making our day special and for delivering such a beautiful script. We loved working with you!
I'm so glad that I chose Roya as my officiant! At first it was suggested that I use a family friend and a friend also said that she officiates at weddings. However, I wanted to d...
o some research to see what else is out there and I'm so glad I came across Roya! I mainly wanted to research any officiants that also specialized in multicultural weddings and when I saw that her and her husband's background are similar to me and my now husband's, I thought that she might be a good choice to officiate our wedding. Both my husband and I were also very impressed with her background and when she sent me a video of a wedding that she had officiated that sealed the deal for us!
Many, if not most, of our guests on my side were Persian and we wanted an officiant who could incorporate at least some of the culture into the ceremony as well as speak some Farsi. Roya did all that and more! She was also very responsive and we were very happy with her script and could tell she spent a lot of time working on it to make it special for us! I even asked her to add something last minute to the ceremony that I'd forgotten to double-check on and she did so without hesitation! My parents were also very happy with her and the way the ceremony went and believe me, it's not easy to please them, lol.
We wanted a short and sweet, non-religious ceremony that incorporated Persian elements, since I had the traditional Persian wedding spread, or "Sofreh Aghd" and we felt she made the ceremony just as we imagined it-even better! She's also very well-spoken and personable and truly one of the nicest vendors that we worked with. I highly recommend her as an officiant, whatever type of ceremony you want or whatever your background is. She will make your ceremony stand out! Thank you so much, Roya-joon!
Roya officiated our July wedding and did an amazing job!
From the first time we spoke with Roya we were impressed with how incredibly warm, well-spoken and empathetic she was. My ...
husband and I instantly connected with her and felt that she was the perfect officiant to marry us. We loved how professional she was yet still easy to talk to. She made us feel comfortable and like we had known her for years.
She worked with us to create a beautiful script using a questionnaire which we both answered separately about our relationship. Her questionnaire was in-depth enough to pull the fun and special parts of our relationship out so she could highlight them without being overwhelming and feeling like homework. We also loved her flexibility in regards to writing scripts for secular (as was our case) and religious couples alike. She made our secular ceremony feel magical.
Our wedding wasn't exactly without it's challenges but Roya stepped up and made it look easy. About a week out from our wedding the worst happened; both my husband and I tested positive for covid. We were devastated but we knew we had to do the right thing and post-pone our celebration. We emailed our vendors and Roya responded with some kind words that really needed. She let us know she would work with us to find a new date, asked how we were doing, reassured us that we were making the right, albeit hard, choice and that if we ever just need to talk she was there for us. She was gentle and assuring in a time that was extremely chaotic for us which we can't overstate just how much that meant to us.
We also wanted to incorporate a traditional Celtic handfasting ceremony into our wedding which she wasn't initially familiar with. She let us know it would be her first handfasting but she would gladly do her research and make it beautiful. She was absolutely right! She really delivered and impressed us with the knowledge she had gathered and we actually learned a thing or two about the tradition! She had us hold hands and she wrapped our handfasting cord around our hands and had us remove our hands to pull the ends of the cord to create an infinity knot! We were extremely impressed with how it turned out.
During the rest of the ceremony she shared a few beautiful poems, excerpts from our questionnaire answers and wove it all together into a beautiful story of our relationship. After the ceremony we received so many compliments for our officiant and how beautiful of a ceremony it was thanks to Roya.
We are truly overjoyed with how our ceremony went and the script that Roya wrote for us. It felt like it was a script personal to the two of us and our relationship because it really was. We can't recommend Roya enough! If you're reading this HIRE HER! SHE IS AMAZING!
Roya was the perfect choice to officiate our mixed cultural wedding. She was so easy and fun to work with, and her professionalism and preparation for our big day was flawless. She...
met with us several times to get to know us and understand our vision for our wedding, and she blended in Persian and American language & traditions beautifully. This bride & groom, as well as our mixed families, enjoyed every minute of her wonderfully crafted ceremony. We are eternally grateful to her for joining us in matrimony, and for all the love, emotion, and fun she brought to her role along the way.
Roya was a life saver!
She worked with me and provided details and presentations that have worked in the past. This was of invaluable help, and having her on our side to guide the...
presentation was the right decisions.
TAHNK YOU ROYA!
Who knew she would be a perfect fit for the happy couple? Roya knew. Roya has a natural talent and has developed her craft to deliver one of the most meaningful wedding ceremony e...
xperiences.
How does she do it? Roya met, learned and understood the Bride & Groom’s background, shared values and aspirations as a committed couple. Roya then wrote and spoke about the spiritual inspiration from their Hindi and Catholic faith, their mutual feelings of respect and love from their families and their shared commitment to each other going forward.
Choosing Roya was a surprisingly good decision and turned out even better than anticipated.
I am so glad we chose Roya to be our officiant for our wedding! She was the best. All my guests keep telling us how amazing our officiant was, and that it was the best wedding they...
have been to. My Persian grandmother keeps raving about how great Roya was! We had a multicultural wedding including Persian and Taiwanese cultures and she did an excellent job bringing those together and conveying mine and my husband's story and love for each other through the ceremony. She also took the time to look over our vows to make sure they had the same funny but sweet tone and it was all perfect. She flawlessly weaves Farsi and English together and very captivating. We highly recommend Roya for anyone looking for an officiant!
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