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Why Choose Wedded Your Way?

With nearly a decade of experience performing over a hundred weddings a year, our founding minister, Rev. Leah Light and the other professional nondenominational ministers on our team, are ready to assist you in creating the wedding of your dreams.  Experience makes all the difference.  A wide variety of choices is available to couples wanting to tie the knot.  The wedding officiant is the most essential element of the day.  Without one, you would not have a legal marriage, and without a good one, you might even have a complete disaster on your hands!

A seasoned pro has seen it all before, from fainting groomsmen to forgotten bouquets.  You can count on us not only to make sure your paperwork is in order, but to smooth things over, pass the tissue when tears flow, and often head off problems at the pass.  As your Portland Oregon wedding officiant, we will stand beside you and lend an air of calm confidence to what may be the most important--and hopefully, the happiest--day of your life!

We are happy to officiate ALL kinds of ceremonies, large or small, religious or not, simple, elaborate, creative, interfaith, multi-cultural, same sex, or whatever your two hearts desire, at your place or ours.  Counseling is not required before you use us as your Portland Oregon wedding minister. The first meeting is at no cost or obligation.  Last-minute ceremonies are welcome and often possible.

Vows/Ceremonies

 Please see our Vows page for ideas on what you might want to recite to each other.  See also the Ceremonies page for three basic sample ceremonies.  These are just some of the choices.  We're happy to go over other options with you during our initial consultation, which is at no cost or obligation.  Any ideas you wish to share are welcome. 

Wedding Chapel for Elopements and weddings on a Small Scale

Another choice is offered for those couples who just want to "Elope" or for a simple no-frills Justice-of-the-Peace style ceremony, though much more warm and personal than what you could have at the courthouse.  For small wedding parties, we are happy to marry the two of you in our Wedding Chapel, which is set in a pretty, woodsy area on a creek.  We will provide the required two witnesses, too, if you wish--or you may invite up to 20 guests for a reasonable price.  If you or your sweetheart are in the service, please ask for a Military Discount, which we offer on our in-house weddings.  A Senior Discount is also offered for those who are 55 or better.

Location, Location...

 As of January 1, 2008, Oregon law allows Domestic Partnerships.  We will assist in all kinds of ceremonies:  commitment ceremonies, same-sex, vow renewals, baby namings or baby blessings, house blessings, and Memorials and Funerals.  If you have an idea of what type of celebration your heart desires, we would be pleased to help you create it.

If you don't have a location yet, we can help you with information on very lovely places around the Portland metro area.  We serve the greater Portland Metropolitan and Vancouver, Washington areas, and are happy to come to you.  A small travel fee will apply for locations outside a 15-mile radius from our location.

Pre-marriage Counseling Not Required
Pre-marriage counseling is available if you ask for it, but is not required.

Last-Minute Ceremony?  No problem as long as we have room in our calendar.  Last-minute ceremonies are welcome and often possible--although please bear in mind that both Oregon and Washington require a three-day waiting period after you have purchased a marriage license.  Oregon is willing to waive it, while Washington is not. Feel free to call for information or contact your local County clerk.

Personal Statement from Our Founder: How Wedded Your Way was Born

I was inspired to begin Wedded Your Way in 2002 after attending my best friend's wedding in Las Vegas. She had wanted something completely different than her ultra religious first wedding; hence her choice of a hotel chapel in Vegas for the second time around.  My friend and her fiance specifically asked their officiant for a ceremony minus religious elements.  Alas, he apparently could not refrain from throwing in at least one scripture reading.  Unfortunately, the one he included was the very same verse quoted at my friend's first wedding.  That's all she needed on her wedding day--a reminder of her failed first marriage.

For me, an idea was born.  Why can't a couple have what they want and ask for on their special day?  Whose wedding is it, anyway?  I have strived ever since to make sure there are no unhappy surprises in a couple's ceremony.  I will honor their wishes, whether they want religious or secular, spiritual, nonreligious, special cultural elements, or perhaps a mix of all the above.  I help them find common ground when their backgrounds differ, and to unite families who embrace differing faiths.  Our officiants will work with you to create the celebration your two hearts desire.

Performing wedding ceremonies and other rites is my true heart's calling.  I enjoy finding the common denominator of love to define a couple's day, bringing families together for this most important of all occasions.  While we can and should celebrate our differences, what we have in common is far more important than what divides us.  That underlying principle is what I try to bring to every ceremony.

I feel comfortable and confident officiating most any kind of wedding, including same-sex.  There are only a few I cannot bring myself to do.  Please don't ask me to jump out of a plane, and don't ask me to write vows that include the "O" word, as in Love, Honor, and "Obey."  Otherwise, bring your ideas to our first meeting, which is at no cost or obligation, and together we'll find the language and tone that will help you to be Wedded Your Way.