To me and my now wife Lauren it seems like the universe sent Bonnie to Earth and said "You will officiate weddings in a way that they will be the best weddings - full of joy and happiness, and great fun to remember. Go, help people when they do not know exactly what a wedding takes, introduce them gently to the sacred meaning of the ceremony, guide them thoughtfully through the process to forever crystalise the beautiful thoughts that they have, to sprinkle their every day with the best memory of this most important moment in their lives!"

We can attest that Bonnie was the warmest person that we could have had for this task, she provided adorable guidance and best writing and editing services. She never put pressure on us, even when we were wondering if we need to be pushed forward a bit, but she always kept us informed with the current tasks and the process onward.

It was a joy to talk to her during the interviews we scheduled - she made it seem important to all of us, and she opened our insight into the essence of our love. She gently compiled all the important bits of our love and life into a beautiful ceremonial script. That is now becoming our private holy reading at our personal celebrations.

It was astonishing, the way she supported us in presenting our love at the special day in the most beautiful way, where her presence was deeply felt and has made a lovely impression on all of our family and friends. They, too will never forget Bonnie Pipkin.

We are just now editing a book that includes the whole text, the vows, photos, some other details about the event - and we will always see her as our affectionate fairy godmother who said those special words that made us a happy husband & wife.

Thank you, Bonnie!

I was sister-of-the-groom but took over the job of delivering the Best Man's speech at my brother's wedding. I had a rough idea of the speech, but I was hoping to get help tying the whole thing together and with some of the awkward parts (opener, closer, transitions) that just weren't feeling right to me. I was introduced to Bonnie by a friend whose vows Bonnie had written, and Bonnie was an incredible resource from start to finish. Bonnie was, firstly, incredibly responsive and flexible. I reached out without a lot of lead time, and I was travelling a good bit during our editing period, and she fully accommodated my schedule and time line. She was also flexible and completely understanding when I adjusted the scope of the work (and as a result, her fee reduced) - which was very helpful and a point of distinction in terms of Bonnie's consultative approach - as we all know, there are very often situations where specs change and a project becomes smaller than what the vendor was originally told. And there are many vendors who will still take on the project but do so begrudgingly, and make the client feel like they're getting a favor or less attention than if they were a 'bigger' client. This was absolutely not the case with Bonnie, and I was very happy to work with her, and very pleased with how accommodating she was.

Bonnie was consummately professional and ultra-thorough in her approach - we spoke at length about the subjects of the speech, and I felt very much like she captured what I was going for - she not only improved on the sentiments that I could put into words, she also captured all the stuff I just hadn't been able to articulate. She was integral to turning this into a ready-for-prime time speech that I delivered, confidently and with pride, because I knew I had a real pro behind me.

I am so glad I worked with Bonnie on what ended up being a remarkable and memorable wedding toast. One of the bride's friends came up to me afterwards to tell me that he's been to a LOT of weddings, and heard a LOT of speeches, and he gave this one an A+. I also had a tough crowd that night filled with word smiths who would have happily picked it apart if they could - but all I got was effusive kudos and congrats, and the bride and groom got a toast to remember.

Thanks for making me look good, Bonnie! I'd recommend you without reservation, and I absolutely intend to use your services again.

Bonnie was the perfect officiant for our wedding. After meeting a handful of folks who felt like they would be putting on a show, our planner Ashley Chamblin recommended Dearly Beloved. We liked her immediately, and when we read a sample of one of her past ceremonies, we both teared up, knowing that she was exactly the person we had been looking for. We spent a wonderful weekend afternoon telling her about ourselves, our relationship, our vision for the wedding, and our hopes and dreams for marriage - she synthesized them all into a beautifully written story that felt completely true to us as a couple. Unsure what sort of unity ritual felt right to us, she suggested the perfect thing which felt unique and personal. She also has an incredibly soothing reading voice, which added an extra layer of richness to her words. We would recommend Bonnie highly to anyone who wants a touching, poetic ceremony, and wants to work with an officiant as a partner in crafting the feeling as well as the content.

Chris and I were married at the Wythe Hotel in August. Bonnie was wonderful to work with: she’s very responsive, professional, and just fun to be around. We received tons of compliments, and many of our guests assumed we were childhood friends given how well her ceremony captured our relationship.

Sometimes when your sharing an intimate moment like a vow renewal, it can be hard to find an officiant that makes you feel comfortable saying such personal things in a public setting. I can honestly say having Bonnie officiate our wedding vow renewal was as easy and comfortable as it comes. Bonnie is a true professional, from her sweet demeanor and quick response to our questions she was an absolute pleasure to work with. Our ceremony was truly unique and perfectly captured what we were feeling that day. I would hire Bonnie over and over again, she was the perfect choice to making our day magical.

I came across Bonnie after conducting a great deal of online research and was instantly drawn in by the overall aesthetic of her website and the excellent reviews that I read on both her website as well as Yelp. She just seemed like she would get us. So, without hesitation, I contacted Bonnie right away and she got back to me within hours. We set up a coffee date a few weeks later and instantly clicked, as I had a feeling we would. During our conversation, we talked about life in New York and life in general and it felt like I was hanging out with an old friend. Bonnie listened patiently while I described the vision that Daniel and I had for our ceremony (short and sweet!) and Bonnie not only got it, she made our vision come alive beautifully. It truly was perfectly us. After our initial meeting, Bonnie came to our apartment in Brooklyn to get to know us better, learn more about the story of how we met, and discuss in more detail what we wanted for our ceremony. Bonnie asked relevant and thought-provoking questions and took notes as she listened to Daniel and I define and describe our overall vision. We weren't entirely sure about what we wanted prior to discussing it all with Bonnie and she really stepped in and helped us flesh it all out. I can't tell you how much this helped to allay our nervous jitters and put us at ease. A week or two after our meeting, Bonnie sent us the most beautiful ceremony text in which she perfectly captured our story and our love for each other. The ceremony was short and sweet which was exactly what we wanted but it was also incredibly moving. In fact, our friends and family complimented Bonnie all night long and kept coming up to us and asking "how did you find her?!" All I can say is I'm so very glad we did because I can't imagine our wedding any other way. Bonnie was an absolutely pleasure and joy to work with and we recommend her so highly.

We happened upon Bonnie while we were venue shopping for our wedding, her name appearing on a list of recommended vendors. Though we ended up not using that particular venue, it did lead us to our perfect officiant. After reaching out, Bonnie walked us through her entire process in detail, making sure to get to know us along the way. She has a great warmth and is amazingly thoughtful when planning out the ceremony. Expect lots of questions and a bit of homework! Our wedding was a small one, with only our absolutely closest friends and family invited. We needed an officiant that could tell our story as if she had known us all along, and Bonnie managed to achieve just that. She mixed anecdotes, jokes, and even a book reading to create a bespoke memory for us and all our friends. We cannot recommend her enough to any couple that wants a much (much) more personal ceremony.

Bonnie is one-of-a-kind. Since our wedding (about a month ago at the time of writing this) everyone is still asking us for copies of our vows and Bonnie's ceremony reading. She not only delivered an incredible speech but coached us on writing the best vows we possibly could. Not only that, she enabled those meaningful words to flow out of us and into our vows by giving us the confidence and assurance that we could.

What started with a quick drink to meet each other became a long discussion about all the overlapping threads between us. We met Bonnie and soon realized we shared friends, and similar experiences in Brooklyn. We felt like we knew her from another lifetime and instantly felt comfortable and completely at ease.

Part of what makes working with Bonnie so special is her process. After our first meeting Bonnie came over to our apartment and got to know us. We told her our whole story (which is a long one) but she genuinely was interested and took notes the whole time. It made us feel really understood and special! Then a couple weeks later she sent us her ceremony speech---it left us in happy tears and completely awe-struck! Bonnie got us 100% and captured everything we wanted to share about ourselves and our love story.

We recommend working with Bonnie for your wedding, speech or vows. Honestly, our recommendation couldn't do what she did for us justice! She is just such an incredible talent and a one in a million gem of a person.

Jen and I have a great love and home and a child together already and we'd been planning to get married at city hall for a while. We got the marriage license and then we got to thinking that Bonnie marries people and maybe she could just do it for us, real quick and easy. Also it should be noted that Bonnie is a wonderful old friend with whom I've celebrated many a wedding and birthday over the years. She's the kind of thoughtful host that really goes above and beyond in her enthusiasm and warmth.

So I called her and told her a bit about our relationship and Jen sent her an email. From those exchanges, Bonnie wrote a short history of our love. She came over in the rain and our neighbor and best friend came by too. Jen held our son while Bonnie read and I couldn't have explained our story better. We all cried. Then we finished the ceremony and drank a toast and ate some cake. It was perfect.

I have been lucky to have as Bonnie a friend for many years. She has a knack for bringing people together and acknowledging both the big and little things in life with splendid celebration and ceremony. When we got engaged it was a no brainer for me that Bonnie should be our officiant. My trust in her was so great that I actually spent very little time in our initial wedding planning thinking about vows and the ceremony itself. Fortunately Bonnie was able to bring us into focus. Her questionnaire and the subsequent meeting brought me out of wedding planning mania to focus on why we were doing this, what we love about each other, and how to acknowledge all the different family and friends we wanted to celebrate with.
She wrote our ceremony start to finish including the vows. When she sent us the first (and final) draft I literally cried emotional happy tears on the subway. Her words managed to express our story in such a personal,funny,and tender way that we struggled to do ourselves.
She was a perfect professional on the day of helping keep things on track and delivering the ceremony with a strong, smooth, and warmhearted tone. We are so grateful this exceptional woman was a part of our wedding day. She's the best!