We were looking for an officiant to conduct our wedding before we found out that my father in law was able to marry us after all (he is a pastor), and we met up with Rev. Kolanowski to talk about the details pertaining to the ceremony. Instantly we really liked his sunny personality as well as the warmth and professional demeanor that he brought to the meeting.

He asked about our backgrounds and the story about how we met, in a way that didn't feel at all part of a routine, but rather, friendly and triggered by genuine interest. He gave us lots of options to customize every portion and tone of the ceremony; as well as offered us wonderful suggestions. He even sent us great wedding poems when he found out we loved poetry!

Due to our monetary constraints, and the offer from my father-in-law, we decided to have him marry us instead; however, I was very impressed with pastor Barry and would HIGHLY recommend them to anybody who was looking for a heartfelt and memorable wedding service. Pastor Barry pours himself into his work and we could tell that it isn't a "job" for him, he likes helping couples on their special day and it really shows.

It was a pleasure to meet him.

-Susy and Steve

Reverend Barry was amazing….simply amazing!!! We can’t say enough good things about him. We had met with other reverends but they all felt very cold and distant. It was just business with them; some even came off as arrogant. We were at the point of absolute frustration when we came across Barry. We scheduled a day to meet with him and we knew within the first few minutes of meeting Reverend Barry that he was just what we were looking for. He really listens and genuinely cares about the people he is uniting in marriage. He is warm and friendly and I can’t imagine having anyone else marry us. It was definitely worth the long hard search to find him! If you are reading this review stop looking!!

We chose to attend his partner for life seminar and it was great. He opened our minds up to things that you don’t normally reflect on every day. It wasn’t pressured and you didn’t have to get up and share your answers in a big room with strangers. It is very laid back but he is still opening up the lines of communication and bringing people closer together. They made us very comfortable and it was a very warm and open environment. I’m glad that we attended this.

Barry also did our rehearsal and covered the steps of the ceremony with us until everyone was comfortable. He didn’t give away the entire ceremony though to our friends and family that was in attendance.

He really listened to what we wanted for our readings and vow selections. The ceremony was beautiful. My husband still says the ceremony was his favorite part of the day. Barry threw in extra special touches that were personal to our relationship that really painted the picture of how we came to the point of marriage for everyone. It was amazing of him to really personalize it for us. Our family all were blown away by him and what a beautiful ceremony it was. We can’t thank him enough!!!

We can sum it up simply: Barry was perfect. He took the time and effort to listen and understand us AND our relationship. He was interested and caring. Our service was perfect. During our rehearsal he was careful and responsive, walking us through what would become one of our happiest memories, but making sure we remained confident and alert.

We received so many compliments throughout the reception for Barry's excellent non-denominational service. A few even told us that it was the best, most PERSONAL service they had ever witnessed. They were correct – during our ceremony, Barry remembered key facts and tidbits that we had only glossed over during our initial meeting (e.g. our tiny apartment in France that did NOT feature a bathroom door, and our first meeting/date in our freshman year of high school). These little mentions made the ceremony very special for us as well as our friends and family.

Barry himself even seemed moved during our ceremony, creating a very personal atmosphere throughout the entire service.

If we had to get married again tomorrow, we would pick Barry again. Simple as that. He was MORE than what we had asked for and really, truly delivered on his promises. My wife and I couldn't have been happier with Barry as our officiant. He will always be remembered by us as one of the highlights of our wedding day.

Barry was everything we were looking for in an officiant: friendly, flexible, and low maintenance! He provided us with information to customize our ceremony as much as we liked, was a pleasure to have coordinating the rehearsal, and officiated our wedding joyfully (even in 100 degree heat!). He was so easy to work with!!

Barry is wonderful! So easy to work with, extremely down to earth, and gives you TONS of examples of things to do to make the ceremony perfect! Thank you so very much Barry...for doing the research on the Celtic Stone Ceremony and putting together a beautiful reading that symbolizes extactly what the stone represents. It was so unique and beautiful. It really helped make our ceremony even more special! Thank you again for making our rehearsal and wedding day go so smoothly!

Reverend Barry Kolanowski helped us to create the intimate ceremony we were looking for. He really helped to bring our personal story into our vows which made our ceremony extra special and original. My husband and I felt very comfortable with Reverend Barry and could not be happier with his service. His fee is minimal compared to others I researched, his services are beyond exceptional.

Barry is amazing! We met Barry only one time and somehow he managed to personalize our ceremony remarkably. He must have taken great notes during that initial meeting because his whole introductory speech at the wedding was about my husband and I and how we met, etc. I had no idea he was going to do all that and I was so impressed as I stood up there. Barry also showed great improvisation during the ceremony when he suddenly saw the look of panic on my face when I realized that the presentation roses for the rose ceremony for our parents were nowhere to be seen. He quickly and smoothly grabbed two roses from the altar pieces and handed them to us…along with a few chuckles from the guests. We knew we wanted Barry to officiate our wedding the moment we met him and we have no regrets. He let us plan our whole ceremony and gave us tons of readings/vows to choose from. He is also the most reasonably priced officiant that I found. I would highly recommend Barry to anyone planning a wedding!

Rev. Barry Kolanowski was a pleasure to work with. He provided us with a free consultation prior to contracting him, which (much to the surprise of my wife and I) many other officiants actually charge for. He's such a genuinely nice and friendly person, that we decided on him immediately after we left the initial meeting. His fee was very manageable, and he was very responsive to our emails and phone calls throughout the process. He provided us with a wide variety of good quality sample ceremony readings, and using that, we were able to craft a beautiful ceremony. And last but not least, he was punctual! We definitely recommend Rev. Barry.

We interviewed many officiates; nobody understood us or our vision like Rev. Barry did. Our families and friends all commented on how Rev. Barry did a wonderful job and most importantly the ceremony reflected us 100%. We couldn’t be happier with our ceremony. Perfect doesn’t even come close to describing it. It was that good. Bottom line…Hire him. You will not be disappointed.

Barry was fantastic in allowing us to customize the ceremony to our liking. He keep the ceremony heartfelt with a touch of humor. Our guests thought we knew Barry for years! I will recommend him to anyone looking for an officiant.

I am so glad that I found Reverand Barry and chicagoweddings.org on this website. He did an awesome job with our ceremony and he was also very reasonably priced. We had our initial meeting with him and after that he sent us a bunch of different choices for our ceremony and vows. He is willing to work with you to make your wedding as special as you want it to be. We got a lot of compliments from our guests on the great job he did and on how wonderful the ceremony was. I strongly recommend him.

Barry was the second officiant my husband and I met with while planning our wedding. As soon as we met him, we both knew we wanted Barry to perform our ceremony. Barry is so friendly and personable which came through not only in our meeting with him, but during our ceremony. Once we decided to engage Barry's services he provided us with a materials to help us plan our ceremony. That was very helpful to us and we used the templates he provided for our ceremony but he was open to anything we would have wanted. Our ceremony was just beautiful - touching and sweet but also with a touch of humor which was absolutely perfect for us. Additionally, Barry's rate was fraction of the rate of the other ministers I contacted so it was an excelllent value for our budget.

Barry was absolutely fantastic! He was always early to every appointment we had. He made us feel the most comfortable of all the officiants we met with. He was genuinely interested in us and our life together. After meeting him for the first time, I felt like I knew him for years. Our rehearsal ran extremely smoothly because of him and our ceremony was fantastic. Everyone that attended the ceremony loved the way he ran it and his message to us. He was very humorous too. I will recommend him to anyone I know who is getting married.

What can I say about Barry... Well he is a Wonderful person the first time my husband and I had a meeting with him. He is so kind and understanding and most of all he did a great job ! He interacted with our relatives throughout the ceremony and even had them laughing. It was the best day of our lives and we are extremely happy that Barry was apart of it.

My husband and I were extremely greatful that Barry was our officiant. We could not have asked for anyone better. He set the perfect tone for our ceremony. I had many guests compliment how laidback and fun our ceremony was and I credit that to Barry for understanding us as a couple. Thank you Barry for making our wedding ceremony everything we wanted.

Barry is an excellent officiant. He handled our wedding with the grace, class, and expertise that you would hope for from an officiant. He really was able to organize our wedding party and made the ceremony seem effortless.