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About

Joyful Unions provides experienced, non-religious wedding officiating in Tucson, Arizona. Liz O'Brien, the owner, is a non-religious wedding officiant happily serving a diverse array of couples throughout the Tucson metro area. She has successfully and nonjudgmentally guided hundreds of couples at their wedding altar during her more than 20 years in the business. Liz is a warm, smart, and experienced speaker and offers a grounding yet uplifting presence for you and your guests. She combines your ideas with her best practices to create a personalized and authentic narrative wedding ceremony that you and your community of family and friends will feel and remember.

Services Offered

Joyful Unions provides non-religious officiant services for wedding ceremonies, elopements, and vow renewals. Rehearsals are available if needed. A licensed officiant, Liz can help couples create custom vows, incorporate readings, and participate in cultural rituals such as a wine-box ceremony, wishing stones, unity sand or candle ceremony, a handfasting, or a smashing of the glass. She also provides unlimited email, phone, virtual, and text support prior to the ceremony, files your marriage license afterward, and also sends you a keepsake copy of your ceremony script.

  • Woman-owned
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Frequently asked questions

Does starting price include the ceremony rehearsal?

No

What is the starting price for ceremony rehearsals?

$75

What types of weddings and events do you provide services for?

Non-religious
Interfaith
Ceremony Rehearsal
Vow Renewal

What religious affiliations do you serve?

Agnostic
Earth-Based
Jewish
No Denomination
Pagan
Unitarian

On average, how long are wedding ceremonies you officiate?

Less than 30 mins.

In which states are you licensed?

AZ
CA
CO
NM

What languages do you speak?

English

Reviews of Joyful Unions

This AI-generated summary gives you a snapshot of the overall ratings and feedback from the reviews this vendor has received.

Review summary

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Liz creates deeply personal, memorable ceremonies that move couples and guests, blending emotion, warmth, humor, and tradition. She’s professional, responsive, and detail-oriented—guiding planning, handling paperwork, and even returning keepsakes. Reviewers call her a highlight of the day and highly recommend hiring her.

Review summary

Powered by AI
This AI-generated summary gives you a snapshot of the overall ratings and feedback from the reviews this vendor has received.

Liz creates deeply personal, memorable ceremonies that move couples and guests, blending emotion, warmth, humor, and tradition. She’s professional, responsive, and detail-oriented—guiding planning, handling paperwork, and even returning keepsakes. Reviewers call her a highlight of the day and highly recommend hiring her.

D
Dani Sent on 06/18/2026
5 out of 5 rating

Liz is the BEST officiant!

Liz was hands down one of the best decisions we made for our wedding!! To this day, so many of our guests still talk about our ceremony, and that is entirely because of her. When people think back on our wedding, one of the first things they mention isn’t the reception or the party, and talk about the the ceremony itself. We had countless guests tell us it was one of the most meaningful, personal, and memorable ceremonies they had ever witnessed. That is such a testament to Liz’s talent and the care she puts into her work!

She took the time to meet with us beforehand, learn our story, and truly get to know us as a couple. It never felt like she was reading a generic script. Instead, every word felt intentional, heartfelt, and unique to us. You could tell she genuinely cared about understanding who we were and what our relationship meant, and that care came through in every part of the ceremony.

Liz has such a warm presence and an incredible speaking voice that immediately draws everyone in. She created the perfect balance of emotion, laughter, sincerity, and love. 

Beyond creating an unforgettable ceremony, Liz also helped guide us through the marriage license process and made sure everything was signed and completed correctly. After the wedding, she mailed our marriage certificate to the county for us and then mailed it back to us once it was processed, which was one less thing for us to worry about during such a busy and exciting time. She also sent us a beautiful keepsake package that included a copy of the ceremony script she had written. Being able to read through those words again after the wedding was incredibly special and is something we will treasure forever. These thoughtful touches perfectly reflect who Liz is, someone who genuinely cares about her couples and goes above and beyond in every aspect of her work.

Of all the amazing memories from our wedding day, the ceremony remains one of our favorites, and we have Liz to thank for that. We are so grateful for the time, care, and heart she poured into our day!
And bonus points! She perfectly timed moving out of the way for our first kiss for our photographers!! 😋
If you’re looking for an officiant who will make your ceremony unforgettable, Liz is absolutely the person you want standing with you on your wedding day!

This may be the longest review I’ve ever written but Liz truly made our day so special and memorable, she deserves all the praise!
Joey
Joey Sent on 10/25/2025
5 out of 5 rating

Amazing officiant!

Liz was so amazing! Her personalized speech was beautiful and immersive. It felt like she really knew us and told our story as if she'd been there for it all! Highly HIGHLY recommend her!
Bryce
Bryce Sent on 07/05/2025
5 out of 5 rating

Amazing! Exceeded our expectations

Liz was great! She was professional and very sweet throughout the process from booking to the ceremony itself. She was very detailed and made the ceremony better than what we were expecting. I would highly recommend!
S
Shannon Sent on 06/23/2025
5 out of 5 rating

The best officiant

We really feel lucky to have found Liz. She was always quick to respond and patient and helpful through the entire process. Her time, care, and attention to detail were clear in our ceremony and she delivered something that felt so personal and wonderful. The value she brings is much more than the price tag, I highly recommend her for your special day.
K
Katherine Sent on 06/19/2025
5 out of 5 rating

Joyful wedding at Urban Grove

I can't recommend Joyful Unions highly enough. Liz took the time to get to know us and created a ceremony that was personal, charming, and that really captured us as a couple. Her advice to me as a first time bride was spot on and I especially loved her guidance to us and to our guests to be fully present.
Kari
Kari Sent on 04/22/2025
5 out of 5 rating

A beautiful and unique ceremony!

Liz did such an amazing job at my wedding! I gave Liz a very lengthy love story for the ceremony, but she put everything into her own words beautifully. I had a bunch of my guests loving the ceremony because of how unique it was. I really appreciate getting a copy of the ceremony script to save for my memories as well. Definitely an amazing gift and never expected my officiant to gift us with something so meaningful. She was very well spoken the whole ceremony and really appreciated it!
Caroline
Caroline Sent on 03/16/2025
5 out of 5 rating

Happily Married by Liz

Liz was beyond fabulous as our wedding officiant! Almost every guest we talked to after the ceremony commented on what a wonderful job she did, and how it was apparent that she loves uniting two people in marriage. Liz took the time to really get to know us as a couple, and our love story. She then incorporated it into our ceremony. It was as if she knew us for years. We really appreciated the personal, loving feel Liz brought to our ceremony, and our guests loved hearing the story of our relationship up to our wedding day. Liz arrived at the venue in plenty of time to check in with my husband at the venue, and with me in my bridal dressing area. She wanted to let us know she was there, and to check and see to see how we were both feeling. So sweet! We could not have selected a better officiant to marry us. I highly recommend Liz at Joyful Unions! You will also be very happy that you did. Thank you, Liz!!
Leanne
Leanne Sent on 03/04/2025
5 out of 5 rating

Liz was the PERFECT Officiant for our Wedding!

We can't thank Liz enough for her perfect leadership before, during, and after our wedding ceremony. Her professionalism and commitment to ensuring a smooth, heart-felt, memory making ceremony from our first phone call with her, to meeting her in person to discuss our relationship story, to checking in and ensuring everything was ready to go in the days before the weekend, to helping organize the wedding party pre-wedding, to officiating a beautiful ceremony, to signing and sending the marriage license was so very appreciated. Our ceremony truly captured the love, emotions, and commitment of the day! Liz took all of our wishes in account-including a family blending activity and incorporating both our own written vows and some traditional I do's. We highly recommend Liz to any couple looking for a tear-jerking ceremony filled with love and respect for the sentimentality of marriage!
Nikki
Nikki Sent on 12/15/2024
5 out of 5 rating

The Perfect Officiant for Our Special Day

We cannot recommend Liz enough! From the very beginning, her communication was exceptional—she was so kind, attentive, and truly accommodating to everything we hoped for in our ceremony. She took the time to get to know us as a couple and crafted a beautiful, heartfelt ceremony that perfectly captured our love story in the most authentic way.

Her words moved everyone in attendance; there wasn’t a dry eye throughout the entire ceremony. She struck the perfect balance between our Jewish traditions and the personal touches we wanted to include, making it such a meaningful and memorable experience for us and our guests.

Liz was an absolute joy to work with, and we feel so blessed that she played such an important role in our day. If you’re looking for an officiant who is thoughtful, talented, and truly cares, look no further!
Alli
Alli Sent on 11/24/2024
5 out of 5 rating

Super Special

Working with Liz was amazing! She made our ceremony so special telling our family how me and my husband met and spoke of the spiritual connection in marriage. We loved her words and received so many compliment on her ceremony. I highly recommend her services and am so happy we found her!
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Awards

197
WeddingWire Couples' Choice Awards 2026 Winner
WeddingWire Couples' Choice Awards 2025 Winner
WeddingWire Couples' Choice Awards 2023 Winner
WeddingWire Couples' Choice Awards 2022 Winner
WeddingWire Couples' Choice Awards 2021 Winner
WeddingWire Couples' Choice Awards 2020 Winner
WeddingWire Couples' Choice Awards 2019 Winner
WeddingWire Couples' Choice Awards 2018 Winner
WeddingWire Couples' Choice Awards 2017 Winner
WeddingWire Couples' Choice Awards 2016 Winner
WeddingWire Couples' Choice Awards 2015 Winner
WeddingWire Couples' Choice Awards 2014 Winner
WeddingWire Couples' Choice Awards 2013 Winner

Professional Network & Endorsements

5 Endorsements
Photography by Joshua Killeen Photography by Joshua Killeen Wedding Photographers

Words can't describe the amazing experience that I had working with Joyful Unions! Absolutely professional, and extremely pleasurable to work with from start to finish. Quality vendors that work well together make every single event better for everyone involved (especially the clients), and this collaboration was no exception. Looking forward to future events with Joyful Unions!

Alis Fashion Design Alis Fashion Design Wedding Dresses

Such a wonderful speech Liz gave for one of our brides who we have designed the bridal gowns. We felt as if Liz was the best friend of the bride and groom forever and speech filled with love, care, happiness made us moved. Thank you Liz!

Got You Covered Got You Covered Wedding DJs

Liz at Joyful Unions is awesome! Her ceremony style is innovative and fun. In other words a perfect fit for our clients :)

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