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Dave Norris, Charlottesville-Area Wedding Officiant Reviews

Dave Norris, Charlottesville-Area Wedding Officiant

Dave Norris, Charlottesville-Area Wedding Officiant

Charlottesville, VA
5.0 out of 5 rating, 38 Reviews
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Reviews

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38 Reviews
100% recommend it
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Awards

38
WeddingWire Couples' Choice Awards 2020 Winner
WeddingWire Couples' Choice Awards 2018 Winner
WeddingWire Couples' Choice Awards 2017 Winner
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    Lena Sent on 09/15/2023
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    Shenandoah Elopement

    Dave officiated a gorgeous elopement ceremony for us at Shenandoah National Park. He was a pleasure to work with, flexible and very professional. We did a consultation first and were able to customize the ceremony to add our own vows, rope tying and glass breaking. A little rain and wind did not stop the sunset ceremony. So grateful. Highly recommend.
  • Caroline
    Caroline Sent on 03/09/2019
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    Just what we needed!

    When we found out that our friend could not marry us legally in VA we were sad and worried we couldn't have the ceremony we planned. Then we found out about Dave Norris! Dave helped us legally marry so that we could have our friend "officiate" our wedding in VA. Dave kept in contact with us and showed up the day of the wedding a few hours before the ceremony (after our reveal). He performed a quick and (most importantly) legal ceremony, signed the paperwork, and submitted it to the county court house. He even offered to give our friend pointers on officiating!

    Dave was professional, kind, and on-time! He was exactly what we needed! Thank you!
  • Katherine
    Katherine R. Sent on 09/27/2022
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    HIRE DAVE to make your life easier!!!

    We used Dave to sign our marriage license the day before our wedding since my older brother was doing our ceremony! Dave was kind, professional, and accommodating toward us. He met with us at a time and place that was convenient for us and quickly helped us make our marriage legal! Despite the brevity of our marriage license signing with him, he still made the moment feel special, which we appreciated! I highly recommend working with Dave!
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    Esther E. Sent on 09/07/2022
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    Don't look further

    Dave married me & my husband on 8/27/22. We booked him last minute but he was super professional and very easy to work with. He provided us a template of his speech in which we were able to make comments and suggestions for edits. He was able to get this back to us super quickly and with fantastic edits. The ceremony itself couldn't have gone better with Dave as our officiant. His tone was great and he performed exactly what we were asking for. The guests raved about him and said that the ceremony was beautiful. Thank you Dave for being a part of our wedding day! We will be recommending to friends and family.

    -Esther & Chris
    VMFA Richmond, VA wedding on 8/27/22
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    Hannah B. Sent on 06/12/2022
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    Easygoing and Professional

    I am so happy with our decision to use Dave as our wedding officiant. We wanted a non-religious ceremony that was short and sweet but also intimate and not “cookie cutter.” Dave provided just that. He listened to all our desires/requests for our ceremony and our guests raved about how beautiful our ceremony was and that it was the “perfect length.” Dave is experienced, professional, and kind. We first reached out to Dave in 2020 and he continued to respond quickly to all my emails for the next 2 years. He made the process very easy and also walked us through how to obtain our marriage license (twice!). I would definitely recommend Dave if you’re looking for someone who will make your ceremony feel personal (even if you don’t meet until rehearsal day because of a pandemic!).
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    Emily Sent on 12/31/2021
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    Great Experience!

    Dave was very helpful throughout the planning process, day of and even following our wedding. He provided a template for a typical ceremony and then helped us to customize it to our liking. Dave did an excellent job of making our special day as amazing as it was!
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    Jennifer S. Sent on 10/31/2021
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    Dave is Wonderful

    Dave was wonderful to work with and he really helped make our day meaningful to us. He provided us with a base ceremony script and we were able to tailor it to fit what we were looking for. He was also really helpful in working with us around covid delays and giving us information about the logistics of the ceremony and what to expect after with our license. Above all that he’s super nice!
  • Jessica
    Jessica B. Sent on 08/18/2021
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    Responsive and friendly

    We hired Dave to “make us legal” and complete the marriage paperwork separately from our ceremony. He was super responsive and flexible to work with and organize a meeting time. If you want a friend or family member to do the ceremony and they are not ordained, Dave is the way to go!
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    Jordan C. Sent on 08/03/2021
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    Wonderful officiant!

    Dave was the best officiant we could have asked for at our wedding! He was very easy to work with- he’s laidback, responsive to emails/calls, and always willing to give recommendations or suggestions to help with ceremony planning. Dave is an amazing public speaker and led our ceremony and delivered the script (which we drafted with Dave before the wedding) with ease. Many of my guests commented on how great of a storyteller he was and how smoothly he transitioned from each part of the ceremony to the next. I highly recommend Dave if you’re looking for an officiant who will structure and deliver a seamless wedding ceremony :)
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    Joseph R. Sent on 09/22/2020
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    Dave Norris was great to work with for our recent wedding!!!

    We were married on September 19th, after rescheduling things due to covid. He responded quickly to our questions, made the process very easy, and did an outstanding job officiating the wedding.

    We highly recommend him as a wedding officiant!!!

    Mr and Mrs Joseph and Bern'Nadette Ryan
  • Melissa
    Melissa L. Sent on 10/04/2020
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    Dave was Fantastic

    Our experience with Dave was amazing. We lost our officiant for our August 2020 wedding less than 60 days out. Dave readily stepped in and helped us design a ceremony that represented us as a couple. During the ceremony my vows went awol, and Dave did a great job thinking in the moment to find them while keeping the ceremony moving forward. Highly recommend Dave to anyone who wants a personal touch at their wedding!
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    Mel Sent on 07/26/2020
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    Great Officiant

    Dave was such a great officiant to work with! When we had to reschedule our wedding, he was willing to still marry us on our originally planned date. Then he also officiated at our rescheduled wedding, so we could marry again with all of our closest friends and family. We wanted a simple, yet meaningful ceremony, and he delivered exactly what we were looking for. He gave us so many ideas when we weren't exactly sure where to start. He made the whole process easy and everyone enjoyed the beautiful ceremony.
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    Morgan H. Sent on 06/21/2020
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    Great officiant!

    Dave married my wife and I in March of 2020. We had first reached out to Dave back in the Fall of 2019 over phone and liked how easy going he was. We explained the type of ceremony we would like to have, and he emailed us a few templates to tailor of ceremony too. Between our phone call and wedding day, he walked us through the process of obtaining our marriage license and what we could expect. We had a small (less than 20) family only ceremony and everyone remarked at how beautiful the ceremony was because of Dave's presentation. Dave left us a beautiful note, wishing us a lifetime of happiness and included a nice keepsake wedding certificate. He filed our marriage license the next business day and told us to follow up if we had any questions. I would highly recommend Dave to anyone getting married in the Charlottesville area. His kindness and professionalism made our wedding day as stress free as possible.
  • Michelle
    Michelle L. Sent on 11/12/2019
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    Great Officiant!

    Dave was perfect for our wedding! Dave gave us a flat fee, showed up to our rehearsal early, and even provided us with a nice guideline to write our vows from. We put a couple of poems in and he articulated them beautifully! He checked all the boxes and more! Highly recommend.
  • Deanna
    Deanna Sent on 09/05/2019
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    Wedding officiant

    Our ceremony was the thing I was worried about the most for our wedding day. I had no idea how to wrap my head around everything that went into the ceremony. Luckily we had Dave who gave us an outline to work from, helped us with our whiskey barrel unity ceremony reading and kept the whole ceremony organized and running perfectly. I would highly recommend Dave for your wedding ceremony officiant!
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    Colleen Sent on 05/20/2019
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    Absolutely perfect!

    Dave was the best! He completely let us make the ceremony our own. We wrote our own vows but also did traditional vows as well. He also asked that we give him some bullet points on our "story" and and he did such a great job using that information. It was almost as if he knew us personally! He was recommended by our day-of-coordinator, and it was a perfect suggestion! Would recommend to anyone!
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    Laura Sent on 04/28/2019
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    We loved working with Dave!

    Dave did an excellent job officiating our wedding. He got us started by sending us a template that gave us a solid foundation, then we worked with him over a few Skype meetings to make it our own. Some examples include him writing a great personal reflection based on some notes we sent him about our relationship and helping us find and adapt a wine ceremony that felt just right to us. Through the scripting process, he was always accommodating and flexible, and he has an easy-going warm personality that makes him so easy to work with.
    At the rehearsal, Dave did a great job walking us through everything- including a lot of smaller details I had not thought about (remembering to pause to adjust the bride’s train, handing off the bouquet, where to put your hands, etc)- and putting everyone at ease. On the wedding day he was a calming presence, spoke clearly and confidently, and the ceremony went just as we’d hoped. He was a real pro and did a bunch of little things to make our day a success, including some we didn’t even notice in the moment, like stepping out of the photo for the first kiss.
    We got a lot of compliments about how beautiful our ceremony was, and it all started with Dave.
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    Sylvia T. Sent on 01/23/2019
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    Awesome Experience!!!

    Mr. Norris performed our ceremony which was small with only our siblings and parents surrounding us. Communication prior was helpful with selecting our vows and what our expectations were. He was on time and spoke with each of us before the ceremony. He took care of getting our license dropped off to the courthouse which was helpful. I highly recommend Mr. Norris for his service.
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    Heather Sent on 03/10/2019
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    Dave helped us create just the ceremony we wanted

    Dave was such a delight to work with. He had a calming presence, thoughtful responses to all our questions, and a great sense of humor. He had templates and examples to help us plan our ceremony and he also helped advise us on writing our own vows. He led us through a rehearsal that was efficient but spent plenty of time ensuring we had all our questions answered and felt comfortable and ready to go on the day of. We had guests comment after the ceremony that Dave was just radiating positivity the whole time--we felt it too!
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    Chelsea Sent on 09/23/2018
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    Dave was awesome! He was so kind and professional and accommodating. Couldn’t have asked for a better officiant! He is really outstanding and made our ceremony as amazing as we could have imagined. Thank you Dave!
  • Rebecca
    Rebecca Sent on 09/25/2018
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    Dave officiated our wedding at Old Metropolitan Hall on 8/18/18, and was absolutely amazing. We wanted someone who did non-denominational ceremonies and was flexible with ceremony format, and Dave was the perfect fit. He was easy to work with, professional, has a wonderful presence, and works hard to ensure your ceremony is exactly as you dream. I highly recommend Dave's services for anyone on their big day.
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    Quinn Sent on 06/26/2018
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    Dave was one of the best decisions that we made for our wedding day! He was professional and fun to work with, and he made the planning process so easy. He helped my husband and I customize our ceremony exactly how we wanted it, and we are still getting compliments on how sweet it was even weeks after the wedding. We would recommend Dave to anybody who is looking for an officiant for their wedding!
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    Sarah Sent on 08/27/2017
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    We loved having Dave officiate our wedding! His friendly, relaxed manner helped put us at completely ease on what could have been a stressful day. He worked with us to come up with a ceremony that felt just right for us. Can't recommend him highly enough!
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    Allyson Sent on 08/02/2017
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    Dave was the perfect officiant for our wedding! He was very kind and well spoken. When we weren't sure which readings we wanted, he had several different options he offered as possibilities. He gave great suggestions for how to run the ceremony smoothly. My husband and I have families that were raised very differently in regards to religion, but Dave worked with us to find a great balance. People from both sides have said it was a beautiful ceremony that they loved!
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    Emily Sent on 06/30/2017
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    Dave was fantastic! He was accommodating, patient, and calm, and made sure all of the necessary paperwork was taken care of after our wedding.

    My husband and I had a tiny wedding - nine people in the building including Dave and our photography team - but our ceremony was exactly what we wanted. Dave was so easy to work with and our guests thought the ceremony was beautiful.
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