Your Custom Ceremony is a wedding officiant company founded in 2010. Owner Chris Dickens brings his experience as a former stand-up comedian to provide laughter and entertainment, while his current role and experience as a pastor brings the reverence that your wedding ceremony deserves.
Every ceremony is created from scratch and is tailored to the couple's desires. Chris invests the time needed to get to know you as individuals and as a couple so that Your Custom Ceremony can deliver a service that reflects your desires, values, and beliefs. Pastor Dickens and his team are comfortable officiating any type of ceremony from Christian weddings for any denomination, to weddings with no religion at all.
This bespoke approach to wedding ceremonies is not for everyone. Your Custom Ceremony couples are unique individuals and couples who want their wedding ceremony to be a reflection of their personalities and a memorable experience for them and their guests. The results speak for themselves.
With multiple Couple's Choice Awards, over 90 WeddingWire 5-star reviews (and counting), and having been featured in Vogue magazine Chris Dickens' services have been sought by couples all over the U.S.
Experience Chris has been officiating weddings since April of 2010. Your Custom Ceremony serves all of Southern California including Los Angeles County, Orange County, San Diego, and beyond. With a Bachelor's in Religion from Vanguard University, Chris Dickens has been working in ministry since 2008. A black wedding officiant, Chris grew up in the cultural melting pot of Cerritos, CA, and having studied multiple faiths and practices, he is comfortable officiating multicultural and most interfaith weddings. Pastor Dickens is currently pursuing his Master of Divinity at Fuller Theological Seminary and serves as a Teaching Pastor in Orange County California.
Services Offered In addition to custom wedding ceremonies, Chris Dickens and Your Custom Ceremony also provide premarital counseling and other select services.
24 hours before our ceremony, our officiant cancelled and we had to scatter to find a new officiant. I was freaking out to say the least. After a google search and looking over his reviews, I decided to give Chris a call. He called me back almost instantly. His communication was amazing and so professional.
He gave me run down and was honest with me in letting me know, that he had never done a wedding on such short notice before. He let me know he really like to get to know his couples before hand, so this was something very new to him and he was willing to give it a shot.
We met with him via Zoom the night before our wedding and he gave us our homework question, which in my opinion was one of the highlights of our ceremony. He showed up on time and was so patient with us (santa ana winds and a fire broke out less than 10 minutes from us, less than an hour before our ceremony). Our friends and family attended via zoom and all they could talk about after was how amazing Chris was and I even had a few people reach out for his info! He is beyond amazing at what he does and he really completed our ceremony and completely saved it. Chris is hands down the best of the best and worth every penny. Thank you Chris for everything you did for us!
Sent on 01/15/2021
Deniz King
· Married on 11/07/2020
5.0
Quality of service:
5.0
Responsiveness:
5.0
Value:
5.0
Flexibility:
5.0
Professionalism:
5.0
Chris is the ABSOLUTE best!!!
We are wedding planners who recently had a wedding in Costa Mesa. Chris provided such a heartfelt ceremony that was so true to our couple. He was able to make the crowd laugh and found a perfect way to honor the couple's special traditions. They were worried about how they were going to Break the Glass and Jump the Broom in the same ceremony but with Chris' expertise he guided the couple and their witnesses through a perfectly scripted and timed ceremony.
Sent on 02/17/2020
Micah Carter
· Married on 10/10/2020
5.0
Quality of service:
5.0
Responsiveness:
5.0
Value:
5.0
Flexibility:
5.0
Professionalism:
5.0
Great time
Having hired Chris was one of the best things I did. I wanted a black person to officiate my wedding and Chris did not disappoint. My family and friends all said that they enjoyed the way he handled the ceremony as well as I and my now husband. The homework was a different and nice touch to give our guests an inside look at our relationship. He was very professional and personable. Mr. Dickens added that special touch of uniqueness and wow factor that made our wedding the most memorable day. Thank you so much!
Sent on 10/27/2020
Your Custom Ceremony's reply:
Thank you Micah! I had a lot of fun at your wedding and I love the pictures. I appreciate your kind words and I am glad that you were pleased with your ceremony. Blessings!
What is the typical price for your wedding services?
$ 695
What is the starting price for your wedding services?
$ 395
Does starting price include the ceremony rehearsal?
No
What is the starting price for ceremony rehearsals?
$ 200
What is the starting price for pre-marital counseling (per session)?
$ 100
What types of weddings and events do you provide services for?
Non-religious
Interfaith
Ceremony Rehearsal
Vow Renewal
Civil Union
Single Religion
What services do you provide?
Allow Couples' Own Vows
Premarital Counseling
What religious affiliations do you serve?
Agnostic
Anglican
Baptist
Catholic
Episcopalian
Evangelical
Jewish
Lutheran
Methodist
No Denomination
Orthodox Christian
Presbyterian
On average, how long are wedding ceremonies you officiate?
Less than 30 mins.
In which states are you licensed?
AZ
CA
CO
What languages do you speak?
English
2 Wedding Deals & Discounts
5% discount for WeddingWire couples
If you found us on WeddingWire we will give you a 5% discount on our services. Remember to show us your voucher when you come see us.
10% off for veterans!
As a veteran myself, I can appreciate the sacrifices that the men and women of our armed forces make in service to our country. For that reason, all military personnel (with a valid military ID card) receive 10% off wedding officiant services.
All of us here at Waveform Events LOVE working with Chris of Your Custom Ceremony. The key to his success is right there in the name. Custom. It's never a routine with Chris, never a formula. He takes the time to get to know all of his couples, and works with them to design the ceremony exactly as they have envisioned it. The result is a moving, personal experience that each couple will cherish in their memories. He's a pleasure to work with as a dj, always ready and happy to go over the ceremony with us, so that we know the proper music cues and sound levels, and can help him create a seamless event. If you want a ceremony especially tailored to your lifetime dream, look no further than Chris of Your Custom Ceremony.
Chris is a pleasure to work with. The depth that he goes to get to know each couple and their story really shows in the very personal and warm ceremonies he performs. I give him 5 stars for his ceremonies. They engage and touch all who attend your big day.
"We see a lot of wedding officiants, but Chaplain Chris and Your Custom Ceremony impressed us. He was engaging, funny, but still very professional. The way he talked about the bride and groom we thought that he was a friend of the family, but it turned out he'd only known them a few weeks. Chaplain Chris really gets to know his couples and that makes for a great ceremony"
