GREAT!!! We found Rev. Dowen through an online search and were very pleased. Rev. Dowen offered us counseling and advise if needed. Rev. Dowen was not "just an officiate", but a kind, knowledgeable man who really cares. I would recommend Rev. Dowen to anyone who is not a member of a church and needs an officiant to oversee their wedding.

To Whom it may concern;

Regarding the services provided by Rev. Dr. Robert L. Dowen, I would say he provides a beautiful ceremony and conducts himself very professionally, yet he is very soft spoken and kind. We were glad we decided to have him oversee the rehearsal as well otherwise we would have been lost. I would recommend him to other couples as well with no hesitation. We did not have a lot of requests but he accommodated the requests we did have.We had no complaints what so ever.

Leslie and Keith Varner

We knew we had found the right person to marry during our first conversation. From the questionnaire that gave my bride and myself some interesting discussion points to the the actual ceremony, we could not have asked for a better overall experience then what JTW provided. Both families our families were very impressed in our selection of an Officiant. If we had to do it all over again, JTW will be the first call we made. Highly recommended.

Rev. Dowen with Joined Together Weddings was absolutely wonderful. Mark and I so enjoyed our meetings with him. He offers a comprehensive questionnaire and counseling in addition to performing the ceremony. He was so supportive and we really felt like he was part of the family! The ceremony itself was amazing. Rev. Dowen is very professional, and helped us to develop a Traditional Christian ceremony that would suit one very Catholic family and one Non-Denominational family. Our families really enjoyed it and made several comments on how well he spoke and with such feeling. He has a personal touch and really cares about the couples he works with. I would absolutely recommend his services. Thank you Rev. Dowen for everything - you helped to make our special day unforgettable!

Renee & Mark

Thank you for being so easy to work with and for great communication about what you needed and what we needed to do before the wedding in order to get everything lined up. You made it very easy to meet, talk and set everything up. The website you have made it very convenient for us to review everything before we called you. Everyone in my very religious family loved the ceremony and the way you presented it. Your sense of humor kept the mood light when I stumbled on my vows. Thank you for being an important part of our day!

I would recommend Rev. Dowen to any one who needs an officiant. With only 6 weeks to plan our wedding, we found Rev. Dowen through an internet search. From the moment I spoke with him on the phone to the initial meeting session to the ceremony day, he was very professional and comfronting (even when we changed the ceremony venue and day). Its two months later and our families still can not stop raving about Rev. Dowen.

Thank you, Rev. Dowen for being apart of one of the most important days of our lives.

Rev. Dowen was the perfect choice to perform our wedding ceremony. He provided us with everything we needed on the big day including taking care of the marriage license. We had piece of mind and knew he would do exactly what he promised. He was easy to talk to and encouraging. We would highly recommend him for any type of wedding service. He can do it all!

We had chosen this officiant because we wanted to have a Christian service--we were very disappointed in his "services."

1.) He was very inflexible. We live 45 minutes away, and had to meet at his house two times prior for services we did not require (i.e., counseling)...he mentioned the first time we could meet half-way, some place convenient for both us all. The offer did not stand when we had to make our second appointment for unnecessary counseling. And he was only able to render these services on Tuesday and Thursday nights, in slots of either 6 pm or 7 pm...(no weekends, and since we lived so far away and worked 30 minutes in the opposite direction from our house, it literally took us an hour and a half to get to Clayton in the dark, both times!)

2.) He asked us what we wanted him to wear, a choice of 3 ensembles--he showed up in the wrong one, and was aware of this when he asked if it would be OK to me...at that point the wedding was in 20 minutes, what was I supposed to say?

3.) He repetitively asked us the same questions about the rehearsal etc., for which we had told him from the get-go we wouldn't need his services for. It was an additional $75 for him to come the night before-- we didn't have the cash to just throw to him).

4.) Our biggest gripe, his service and professionalism. We were paying him a hefty sum to marry us in, at tops, a 30 minute ceremony...His price was $278.50 for his services. Mind the word "services"-- we were paying him, and therefore, he wasn't in charge of a church or donating his time and facility to marry us, nor was he going to let us get away without paying every dime (i.e., he had told me the deposit was $100 and then the balance was due right before the wedding--I had written for clarificiation to insure it was the other half $178.50, and he said no, you for got an extra $3.50 for him to send the license in after the wedding)...anyway, with keeping that he was providing one of many wedding services we were paying for that day (and is a significant chunk of money when it is all added together), he actually asked if he was invited to the reception that followed. We were paying for his "services" (a point he specified time and again), and we did not really know him at all on a personal level--we hired him to do a job, to marry us, and he made sure through the process, until this point, that we knew it was a service, and we had to abide by his terms...he proceeded to e-mail us a week before the wedding asking us if he AND his wife were invited to the reception dinner that followed...my husband and I did not even think of this, since we were paying for his "services"...so, why would we send him an invitation (which is why he asked for one from the get-go--we never sent it to him because, I felt, it was not proper if we were not inviting him to the reception). Ours was an expensive sit down dinner, for which we invited close friends and family, and for which we were paying for ourselves). We did not invite him to the reception because we could not afford someone who didn't even know us, and we were paying already for his "service"...for which he was nickle and diming us. We told him in response to his e-mail for an invitation that we wouldn't be needing his "services" following the ceremony-- and we never heard a response from him thereafter. We hoped, at that point, that he would just honor his contract and show up to marry us on our wedding day.

Anyway, the day of the wedding, he uttered maybe five words to me, nothing to my husband who sat with him silently and nervously for 10 minutes before the service began, and then he begrudgingly (according to my guests, and following the service) he directed them to where the cocktail hour was to be held (he had told us part of his job was the direct our guests to where they should go following the ceremony; this was his volunteering, when he thought he was going to be invited to the reception).

5.) The ceremony was so fast we were lucky if it last more than 17 minutes...everyone couldn't believe how fast he ran through everything, and it was embarassing and unprofessional, esp. for the amount of money and time and effort we had to use when abiding to his rules. We were paying him on our wedding day, and he selfishly took offense to something that he was providing as a service. Basically, he wanted his cake and to eat it too. It was his way, and if he didn't get his way, he was very ineffective and highly childish.

6.) He made a request at our first meeting, which was he wanted a picture with the bride and groom (us) for his photos...he made sure he wasn't there to get one, since he wasn't getting what he wanted. I thought it was odd to tell us to make sure he had a photo with us, since it was our photographer.

All in all, we made a hasty mistake in having him as a minister. It was unfortunate that he cannot seem to separate business and pleasure in favor of his clients, but then he expects his clients to separate business and pleasure for his sake. If he had given a little and not have been so demanding and had followed through with some of our expectations, then it would have been a more symbiotic exchange for both parties involved.

The officiant was great to work with and very helpful in assisting with beautiful wedding. I am glad to have had him be a part of our special day and would recommend him to any couple getting married. He will definetly bless your union with his presence...

He was professional throughout the experience but was not flexible in making last minute changes. He would not do the Lords Prayer as a last minute change, I found this unbelievable coming from a minister.