We got married two weeks ago and had the best experience with Judy as our officiant! Her work was not limited to just the wedding day itself - she met with us via zoom 2-3 times before the wedding, starting from several months out. She sent us "homework," which included questions and conversations for her not only to get to know us better, but also to set us up for success as a married couple. It really felt like Judy cared about getting to know us on a personal level, and she did not feel like a stranger on the day of. Also, it was important to her that we talked through difficult topics as a couple, and it felt like our happiness was her number one priority. She provides both secular and nonsecular options, and her officiating is very personalized - she helps you pick the readings, the prayers, the vows, etc., all the details down to the wording. She also was available for our rehearsal the day prior. She also made sure that we completed necessary tasks on time, such as obtaining the marriage license. Judy went above and beyond and held our hand throughout the entire process leading up to the wedding day. We would definitely recommend her to anyone looking to hire an officiant outside of a church.

Judy was an absolute joy to work with through the entire wedding planning process! She's thoughtful, open-minded, and professional, and she made us feel at ease from our very first conversation. She did an amazing job guiding us in being reflective and intentional - over the course of planning she sent us questionnaires to fill out that really had us both thinking about our relationship and what we want marriage to look like, and in the week prior to the wedding she sent us a list of activities we could do together to make sure we were taking time for ourselves in the midst of a very busy week. She was also flexible through the whole process, whether it was adjusting to our changes to the ceremony as they popped up or making the time to come to a weekday rehearsal. Our ceremony was beautiful and so personal, and we both felt like it was a fantastic reflection of our relationship as a whole. We had such a great time working with Judy - she's amazing at what she does!

As our officiant, Judy did a phenomenal job helping us organize and orchestrate our beautiful wedding ceremony. Throughout the planning process, she worked with us to determine what level of tradition and individuality we wanted to bring to the day, giving us lots of ideas on how to be ourselves while navigating expectations from those around us. She gave us many opportunities to reflect about the decision we were making and helped guide us through communicating these thoughts to one another and eventually our friends and family. Judy was truly wonderful to work with and get to know, she brought a sense of assuredness and familiarity to the planning process and wedding day itself. We would definitely recommend Judy to anyone looking for an officiant.

Having Judy officiate our wedding was a wonderful journey. Judy is dedicated, responsible and always there for help! As a new couple, we were not sure what to do at start, Judy explained and walked us through all the details, provided great ideas for us to think about how to make the wedding memorable. During the rehearsal, Judy not only focus on us, but also orchestrated the entire group of people, made us feel confident and comfortable that our wedding will be awesome! The actual wedding was great and smooth, everything was fantastic. Thank you Judy for all the help!

Judy was knowledgeable and a great hand to hold throughout my husband and I's wedding process. She communicates well and walks you through everything and stays in touch until the big day! Thank you so much Judy for helping my husband and I make things official on the big day!

My husband and I wanted a small elopement and Judy was the perfect choice. Beautiful ceremony.

I'll be honest: having my Mom officiate my wedding was not the original plan. But the original plan was a Catholic church in April of 2020 - you remember April of 2020 - and by mid-March, with COVID fully upon us, the original plan was scrapped. On Monday, March 30, as the governor announced that a stay-at-home order would go into effect at 8pm that evening, and tired of the constantly shifting guidelines, we decided...why not today? Get married, get everyone home by 8. One phone call to my mother later, the decision was final. Mom had not been super familiar with the plans for the ceremony we had made with the priest, so after a quick rundown from me, she buried herself in ceremony construction. I want to take a beat here - I'm writing about this flippantly now, but it's hard for me to imagine what it must have been like for my Mom to take on rebuilding her daughter's wedding. It's no small thing to plan anyone's ceremony, but being The Person to put the pieces of it back together into something even remotely resembling what it was supposed to be while AT THE SAME TIME working through all of her own feelings about all of it because it's HER KID whose big day fell apart? It was a big ask.
But she did it.
Because that's what my Mom does. She shows up with her whole heart. Later that day, when all who could gathered in the church parking lot (there was nowhere else to go), Mom directed the ceremony with such grace. We were streaming  everything via Facebook to our family and friends across the country, and she spoke directly to them and invited them into the moment as much as was possible under the circumstances. After it was all said and done, so many commented on how moving and beautiful the ceremony was, and how our wedding was a much-needed light in a dark time. We remain tremendously grateful for her amazing gifts of presence and insight. It was far more than we could have thought to ask for.

We hired Judy for our wedding at Brookside Gardens, and we are very glad we did. Judy was very professional and easy to work with, and helped ease the stress of planning a wedding.

Judy took the time to get to know us as a couple, and she used this knowledge to write a great reflections portion for our wedding ceremony. She was very considerate of our beliefs and how we wanted the ceremony to be, but at the same time, she helped give us ideas to realize our vision of the ceremony.

When it came time for rehearsal and for the wedding day itself, Judy was well organized, and helped ensure the ceremony went smoothly. She was a charismatic speaker and made our wedding ceremony seem that more special.

Judy went above and beyond to make our interfaith ceremony beautiful and meaningful! She sat with us, listened to our thoughts, ideas, and needs for our civil ceremony at the National Cathedral, and was able to offer suggestions and structure when we needed it. She made the ceremony incredibly personal with a beautiful reflection about the two of us as a couple. She hit the right note of creating a spiritual atmosphere that was truly interfaith. As a couple from different religious and cultural backgrounds, we needed someone as skilled as Judy to help us create a ceremony where both families felt equally welcome and respected. Judy also went the extra mile to follow up with the DC government ahead of time to make sure every legal T crossed and I dotted so that we could just enjoy the day. You won't go wrong by having your wedding officiated by Judy Lorenz!