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Joan Phillips, Officiant & Celebrant Reviews

Joan Phillips, Officiant & Celebrant

Joan Phillips, Officiant & Celebrant

Silver Spring, MD
5.0 out of 5 rating, 169 Reviews
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Reviews

5.0 out of 5 rating
WeddingWire Couples' Choice Awards 2024 Winner
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169 Reviews
100% recommend it
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Awards

169
WeddingWire Couples' Choice Awards 2024 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
  • Renáta
    Renáta H. Sent on 12/06/2023
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    The best officiant we could have had!

    When I was looking for an officiant for our micro wedding, I was choosing based on reviews because that's how you really get to know someone and the way they work.
    Joan was our first choice and she ended up being the best one too! Despite me contacting her just about two months before the wedding day, she made sure to respond to my emails as soon as possible and I never waited too long for a reply. We set up a Zoom call so that we can meet "face to face" and discuss further details about the ceremony.
    On the wedding day, Joan was amazing. The wording was everything we could have hoped for and she made sure to talk about everything that was important to both my and my husband.
    I would recommend Joan to everyone who wants a personalized ceremony and make their day even more perfect.
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    Tainah Sent on 10/23/2023
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    Incredible Experience

    We couldn't have made a better decision! Joan was incredibly patient and kind with us.
    I am a photographer and I photograph weddings all the time, specially small ones. I have seen many officiants and I can say for sure Joan is one of, if not THE best I have ever seen. I am used to see plenty of officiants being impersonal, too fast and even "cold" sometimes. Joan not only tried to connect with us before the ceremony, asking questions, wanting to know how we met, but she also incorporated it all to our ceremony, making us feel special.

    My husband and I are so happy with our choice and I would definitely recommend her to anyone!

    Thank you Joan, you have helped us make our day even more special!
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    Emily Sent on 12/29/2023
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    Joan is the Best

    Joan exceeded expectations! Her warmth and passion for delivering the best wedding ceremony is clear from the first interaction we had with her. She took the time to meet with us, get to learn about us as a couple, and worked with us to make the best wedding ceremony and vows possible. On top of it, she has a fantastic presence which translates to a great wedding ceremony. We were stopped many times to ask how we knew Joan because people felt that she knew us so well that she must have been a close family friend. We cannot recommend Joan enough and suggest booking her well in advance because she's honestly the best.
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  • Yujing
    Yujing Sent on 10/15/2023
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    A Heartfelt and Personalized Ceremony with Joan: A Wonderful Officiant

    We had the pleasure of having Joan as our officiant for our wedding, and we couldn't have been happier with her services. What sets Joan apart is her incredible ability to create a personalized and heartfelt ceremony that truly reflected our love story. She is not one to simply copy and paste from a generic script; instead, she took the time to understand our journey and beautifully wove it into our ceremony. Joan's professionalism, warmth, and patience stood out throughout the entire process. She made us feel at ease, guiding us every step of the way. She is a wonderful officiant.
  • Chalo396
    Chalo396 Sent on 09/29/2023
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    Joan made our wedding day super special!!

    Joan was amazing!! she came all the way to us for the rehearsal on a raining day, gave us points and help us through everything on what to expect, she went above and beyond to make sure our day was memorable and amazing!!

    I would highly recommend Joan for any wedding or anything at all!!!

    THANK YOU SO MUCH JOAN!!! We are gonna remember you forever!!

    Stephanie and Jose Quiroz!!
  • Samuel
    Samuel D. Sent on 11/28/2023
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    Joan helped make our wedding perfect!!

    Joan did such an amazing job! Her approach is totally centered around how you want your ceremony to go, and she helped us think of all the things we would or wouldn’t want in our ceremony. On top of this she made the whole process easy, and yet the ceremony was totally customized to our liking. During the ceremony Joan did an excellent job expressing the joy of the day and everything went perfectly. We can’t recommend her highly enough!!
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    Jwb Sent on 05/23/2023
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    Joan is a MUST hire for a magical ceremony

    Joan is an absolute treasure - not just as an officiant, but as a person. Not only did she craft the most beautiful, thoughtful, joyful ceremony, she went above and beyond in the process leading up to our wedding. After an introductory call in which she walked us through a sample ceremony flow, we also met in person to get to know each other better. She even spoke to my mom over the phone for an hour! Her kindness, enthusiasm, and professionalism are unmatched. She also stayed after the ceremony and boogied the night away with our family and friends! We recommend Joan wholeheartedly and are so grateful she was such an integral part of our special day.
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    Bradley Sent on 05/08/2023
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    Awesome Experience

    Joan was very attentive, helpful, resourceful and communicative through the planning and finishing process. She went the extra step in gathering useful information about from both of us. This allowed her to perform our ceremony as a special story and which she was familiar and this added to a very personal experience for guest and especially us. And although our wedding was small, Joan gave it a big wedding ambiance.

    Thanks Joan for the forever memories you’ve created for us and our guest.
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    Brian B. Sent on 05/15/2023
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    Extraordinary Officiant!

    Joan was recommended to us by a friend, and we found her to be incredibly helpful from step one given her extensive knowledge having performed so many ceremonies. We considered using a friend as an officiant, but Joan's ability to craft the ceremony including readings, our story, and giving us space to completely personalize it to our liking was something that a friend could never have come close to. She took the time to have multiple calls with us and meet us in person to get to know us and walk through each detail.

    On the wedding day, Joan's speaking and presence during the ceremony earned many compliments from guests, and more importantly as the groom I could not have imagined a more perfect encapsulation of us. One of our guests even tried to book Joan for another wedding during our reception! If you are looking for a truly expert officiant, look no farther than Joan.
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    Rebecca W. Sent on 03/16/2021
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    Joan is a Blessing to This Industry!!

    Working with Joan was an absolute gift. With the pandemic and family health concerns to think about, we'd decided to have an intimate elopement ceremony rather than holding out for a larger ceremony. But Joan's warm presence made it feel like we had family there with us nonetheless. Having absolutely no idea what we were doing at the start, Joan provided thoughtful guidance and tips as we worked out details of our ceremony and vows. In the end, she created a gorgeous ceremony that we'll look back on with happy tears for years to come. Just wow!!! We can't say thank you enough for Joan's preparedness, insight, and assistance. Would highly recommend
  • DG
    Dg Sent on 11/21/2022
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    Can't recommend Joan highly enough!!

    Joan is an incredibly kind, skilled, and professional officiant. I can't recommend Joan highly enough.

    We got married on short notice, and we were worried that we might not find a suitable officiant in time. After a brief intro call with Joan, I knew immediately that she'd do a wonderful job.

    Joan laid out the process very clearly, and ensured that we supplied all necessary info for her to organize the ceremony.

    In short order, Joan fused the info we shared with our specific requests, and conducted a beautiful and highly-personalized ceremony that we'll never forget.

    Joan made it feel like she's known us our whole lives, and it couldn't have gone better.

    Thank you again, Joan! We're grateful for the role you played in making our special day so.... special :)
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    Travis C. Sent on 11/05/2022
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    An excellent, thoughtful officiant

    Joan was an excellent, helpful officiant. She really listened to us as we planned our ceremony and made sure that her words reflected the tone and content we wanted. She provided a draft of the ceremony script ahead of time and was happy to revise to match our vision. She also provided very helpful resources for thinking about the ceremony and our vows. She even helped us incorporate unique cultural elements into our ceremony that were important to us. We would highly recommend Joan as an officiant.
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    Alexander H. Sent on 02/04/2023
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    She's the Best!

    We had talked to about 10 different people to be our officiant, but once we talked to Joan, we knew there was no other choice. From our initial call, Joan understood exactly what we were trying to do with our ceremony. She knew exactly how to customize it to tell our story, and our ceremony felt very personal and very "us". We love filling out her questionnaires, as it really made us think about our relationship in new ways which really came in handy when it came time to write our own vows! I've had countless people tell me how beautiful the ceremony came out, and Joan did a great job herding everyone through all the steps during the day of the ceremony. We loved Joan and would highly recommend her to anyone!
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    Jenna G. Sent on 08/19/2022
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    The most beautiful & magical ceremony!!

    I cannot begin to say enough wonderful things about Joan Phillips. The first thing I did when starting to plan our July 2022 wedding was research who would help us do the ceremony since I knew that the ceremony was the heart of the wedding day and it meant so much to me for that to be special. We were looking for a non religious ceremony and I went straight to wedding wire. I read so many amazing reviews for Joan so I reached out right away. After our first phone call, I knew I wanted Joan to be the person to marry us. She is so kind, caring, responsive, attentive and helpful. Especially early on during our wedding planning process, she helped us figure out so much of how we wanted to create a very personal ceremony that would be just right for us. On the wedding day, Joan's delivery of our love story was so perfect and beautiful. We had so many friends and family coming up to us all night asking where we found Joan and telling us how it was one of the most loving and special ceremonies they had witnessed. There seemed to not be a dry eye there but plenty of smiles and laughter too! I could go on and say more about how amazing Joan was and is but if you are looking for an officiant to help you create the ceremony of your dreams, look no further! :) Thank you, Joan!
  • Allyson
    Allyson S. Sent on 02/14/2020
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    Perfectly customized ceremony

    We held a private ceremony in our home. Joan really listened to us and understood our desire for a short ceremony, yet still filled it with all the love and customization we could have hoped for! She was professional and, in short, the perfect pick. So glad we went with her.
  • Melissa
    Melissa V. Sent on 07/10/2022
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    Joan is the absolute best

    The compliment I heard most about our wedding was how amazing/engaging/moving/emotional/funny/etc. the ceremony was, and my husband and I couldn’t agree more. I’ve been to a lot of weddings, and typically the ceremony is the part most people can’t wait to get through, but Joan made it one of the most memorable and enjoyable ceremonies we’ve ever seen. Everything from her script to her delivery of it was perfect. She captured who we are as individuals and as a couple so perfectly, and so many of our guests told us they laughed and cried at her truly remarkable script. I couldn’t believe how amazing the ceremony was! We are so so so happy we chose Joan!
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    Remi M. Sent on 09/11/2020
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    Joan is WONDERFUL in every way!

    We could not recommend Joan more! She made our elopement ceremony better and more special than we ever could have hoped for. We customized every aspect of it, and the resources she provided beforehand helped us immensely. She was so easy to contact with questions and so easy-going and so well-spoken at the ceremony. She filed our marriage license so quickly the following day and made sure to follow up with us with instructions as we were out of state and mailing the paperwork in for certified copies. All in all you should stop what you're doing right now and hire Joan to be your officiant, you will not regret it!
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    Mark M. Sent on 07/19/2022
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    Wonderful to work with!

    Joan was an absolute pleasure to work with, dedicating so much time to give us a detailed draft, run through it with us, incorporate changes, attend our rehearsal dinner, and ceremony. only great things to say!
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    Hannah N. Sent on 06/05/2022
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    Amazing experience!

    Joan was absolutely wonderful to work with! Customized our ceremony exactly the way we wanted. We are not religious and she was completely receptive, she was also very helpful with the filing process. Can't recommend her enough!
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    Rachel H. Sent on 07/06/2020
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    Joan is amazing!

    My now husband and I are so happy that we found Joan to officiate our wedding. Before meeting with her, I was feeling very overwhelmed by the prospect of putting together a marriage ceremony (especially since we were wanting something a little different) - I had no idea what all would be involved or where to begin. She made everything so easy and did an incredible job of explaining the process to us and giving us ample resources to use along the way. Also, she's just so sweet! My husband said that she's "absolutely meant to be doing this." We have zero complaints and would recommend her to anyone!
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    Sarah C. Sent on 02/13/2021
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    Joan is wonderful!

    Joan was absolutely wonderful. She was so organized and experienced. She provided us with a ton of really helpful materials to help us plan our ceremony: resources to help us write our vows, popular wedding readings, and sample language for us to use for different parts of the ceremony. She was extremely flexible and open to anything that we wanted, but she also provided us a ton of guidance for how things are traditionally or most often done for different parts of the ceremony (always with the caveat that we could adjust anything we wanted to). Our ceremony was personalized, meaningful, and so special. Thank you so much, Joan!!
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    Chris Sent on 02/03/2020
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    Joan is simply amazing!

    From our first outreach, Joan exuded professionalism, thoughtfulness, and positive energy! She instilled confidence by responding to out questions thoroughly. And based on her own of us, she ensured that she understood our inputs and was focused on making our day “ours”, not a preconceived formality. She really listened, shared resources, and wove our “homework” into a truly beautiful ceremony!!! Ours was a small home wedding and our family and guests were most impressed by Joan’s natural ability to bring people together into the community of our day. Whatever you have planned for your special day, we have confidence that Joan will make you and your day brightly shine!
  • Rachel
    Rachel M. Sent on 02/04/2022
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    Joan was invaluable!

    From our first call, we knew Joan was the right person to be our officiant. She is such a kind person and an amazing listener. She made sure she knew exactly what we wanted for our ceremony and was a wealth of resources. She provided a questionnaire for us to complete at our leisure so she could personalize our ceremony, which she did expertly. She also was a complete lifesaver in going to the DC Courts to take care of all the marriage-related paperwork (for a very reasonable fee). You want to feel confident, relaxed, and secure during wedding planning and your wedding day, and Joan was a pivotal part of making us feel that way, and of making our wedding day so special. HIGHLY recommend!
  • Andrew
    Andrew B. Sent on 01/12/2022
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    Joan was simply the best!

    Like many couples we were a COVID reschedule wedding from October 2020 to October 2021. During the course of the year, the officiant we had been working with had become ill and could no longer perform our services for us though we had already had our ceremony drafted. She kindly put us in touch with Joan and we could not have been happier with everything!

    Joan came in in July without knowing much about us, and set up an initial meeting so we could get to know each other and get an idea of what we were looking for on the day. She was so easy to talk to and so energetic we knew she was going to be fantastic to work with. We provided her with a copy of our previous draft since my wife really liked a lot of it, but told her to feel free to give it her own voice and make any changes she saw fit. The ceremony we got back was perfect. We thought the initial draft was great but once Joan got to work on it, she really made it everything we wanted.

    Joan was easy to keep in contact with despite what I’m sure was a full plate of 2021 weddings and rescheduled 2020 weddings packed into weekends. She worked seamlessly with our month / day of coordinator for scheduling and making sure our other vendors were well prepared for the ceremony, including our DJ and videographer for mic’ing. She was absolutely wonderful and provided reassurance and nerve calming words of wisdom at the rehearsal and pre-ceremony and I (the groom), especially appreciated that.

    Our ceremony couldn’t have been more perfect. From Joan’s delivery, to timing and energy she generated (especially with getting some audience interaction and some perfect comedic timing) everything was just wonderful.

    Thank you again Joan for coming in a bit late with us and helping to ensure our big day was perfect.
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    Dan L. Sent on 10/20/2021
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    Joan is a wonderful officiant!

    We were so happy to find Joan Phillips on Wedding Wire! She’s wonderful to work with and is very kind. She took the time to get to know us before the ceremony and asked us great questions, which helped her officiate a very personalized and heartwarming wedding. She did an outstanding job and we’d recommend her to anyone.
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