Reviews from Barbara Densmore, Certified Celebrant & Wedding Officiant

Nicole, Married on 09/06/2018

Magical, Memorable, Emotional & Personal Ceremony

I thought it might be easiest to sum up Barbara's contribution to our wedding day with some direct quotes/ comments I received from friends and family after the ceremony - many of whom still had tears in their eyes or were still openly crying, in turn making me cry more. You get the picture - it was a mess, but a good one!

- "That was absolutely, hands-down, THE most beautiful ceremony I have ever witnessed" (these words were said many times over by many different people)

- "That was positively magical. The love and the emotion in the room were palpable."

- "The ceremony was my favourite part of the wedding. The officiant's words, your words, the space - everything felt so heartfelt and magical."

- "I never cry at weddings and I sobbed the whole time throughout your ceremony!"

- "I can't believe how funny, emotional, personal, and how YOU that ceremony was!"

- "WHO is that officiant woman?! She was amazing - like part comedian, part yoga instructor or spiritual guru or something!"

Finding an officiant for the wedding was the thing I was dreading the most about planning our day. We aren't a religious couple, but I would say we're spiritual and I had no idea where to start finding someone who would represent us well. As soon as I read Barbara's website I felt like she was perfect. After our first skype date with her, we both KNEW she was perfect. She was wonderful and supportive through the whole process, despite our being nowhere near ideal clients. (I never thought I'd be this person but we handed everything in to her late - I'm so sorry!) We absolutely recommend Barbara to everyone. Is it a little more money than your run-of-the-mill officiant? Sure. Is it worth the money? Oh yes, and so much more. Thank you Barbara, you made our day so magical and memorable and special. I've never felt love and energy like I did during our ceremony. The air felt heavy and weighted with emotion and love. We believe you created and held the space for that. Thank you! xx

Milo Rp, Married on 29/03/2018

Best Day Ever

Barbara was perfect. There aren't enough words in the world to say all the good things we have to say about her. She worked with us personally to make sure our day was exactly what we wanted. We had an unusual elopement with a few out of the box requests, and she was more than happy to accommodate everything we asked for. She had the best ideas and suggestions when we weren't sure what direction we wanted to go, and was more than happy to alter any ideas to fit our needs and desires. She was able to take a nebulous idea we had and craft it into an intensely personal and beautiful ceremony, and bring all of our dreams about the day to life. I would recommend her to anyone, from anywhere. Travel to see her. It's worth every second.

Benjamin Trepanier, Married on 02/09/2017

My partner and I are convinced, after our wedding in September 2017, that Barbara Densmore is the best wedding celebrant on the planet. This might sound like an exaggeration but we honestly could not have imagined more of a perfect ceremony on our big day. Within about 2 minutes of our initial skype meeting with Barbara, I was nudging my partner in the ribs to try to indicate that this was obviously the person we needed to go with and from that moment on it was an absolute privilege to get to work with Barbara. Every time we met with her she managed to tap into exactly what it was we were looking for with such ease. To complicate things, we were living on opposite sides of the country (I in Vancouver, and my partner in Toronto) in the lead up to our wedding. We were slow to return to emails, late on all of the suggested "due dates" for revisions on drafts of the ceremony, and all around did NOT make it easy for Barbara. She never missed a beat, and went far above and beyond what I would have expected from her based on what she charges for her services. She drafted up a ceremony that captured the essence of our relationship, and that managed to make everyone present like that were a part of the ceremony. By the end, it felt like pretty much everyone was crying and afterwards we received numerous comments that this was the best and most genuine wedding ceremony people had ever attended. Other compliments received from others about Barbara's style were the fact that she took her time and took pauses in the most appropriate places, that she moved around and didn't stand in the typical "ministerial" position, and that she managed the crowd beautifully in the time prior to the ceremony. In the few days before the wedding, Barbara voluntarily stepped into a coordinator role that we did not even expect her to take on, emailing both the photographer and the resort coordinator to make things happen. I don't know that I can put into words how fortunate we feel to have had Barbara officiate our ceremony, and I don't think we could provide a more enthusiastic recommendation of her services. I hope she never stops doing what she does.

Alisha Mody, Married on 28/08/2017

We wanted our wedding ceremony to be special and personal but without any religious affiliation to guide us, didn't know where to begin. Barbara was the perfect solution. She crafted a unique, touching and memorable ceremony. She was lovely to work with and gave us all the time we needed, to craft our ceremony, feel comfortable with it and on our day itself. Many of our wedding guests commented on how wonderful our ceremony was. It set the tone for a perfect day. We would recommend Barbara without hesitation! She is GREAT.

Jordan, Married on 26/08/2017

When we decided to get married we agreed we wanted a ceremony that people would remember. We’ve all been to wedding ceremonies that felt like a chore to get through in order to get to the party. At first we weren’t quite sure how to make that happen. We looked around a little for some celebrants with good reviews. We talked to some that performed as many as 5 ceremonies a day. Then we were referred by a friend to Barbara. We arranged our first meeting via Skype so Barbara could tell us what she did. Within 5 minutes we were sold.

Barbara helped us create a ceremony that was so personal and so memorable. She spent hours getting to know who we are as individuals and as a couple in order to really understand our story, our lives and our wishes for one of the most important moments in our lives. We lost count of the people who came up to us at the reception and since our wedding to tell us it was the most unique and best ceremony they’d ever been to. From the way she provided material and a framework that gave us the space to really make it our own, to the way she made sure to involve our children and our families, it was so far beyond what we planned or could have expected.

Barbara made our wedding come to life and made our ceremony the most memorable part of our special day. If you’re not interested in settling for a canned wedding ceremony that has been repeated a few hundred times, and you want something that is uniquely yours, Barbara will help you create that. She is truly one of a kind. We would recommend Barbara to anyone interested in creating their own one of a kind wedding.

Laura Fairbourn, Married on 18/08/2017

My husband and I chose to elope so picking the right celebrant was an important decision for us. Barbara was more than a celebrant to us - she was a friend who made us feel special and comfortable on our special day. We had a few long Skype chats before the ceremony to make sure everything was perfect. We couldn't have had a better day and we would recommend Barbara to anyone looking for a celebrant. Thanks Barbara!

Jessica Havens, Married on 05/08/2017

We wanted a ceremony that was traditional in many respects, but still unique to us, and involved us in a creative process. Barb worked with us to craft not one, but TWO ceremonies: a handfasting that was incredibly intimate, and a public, legal ceremony for a year later.

Christina L Rhodes, Married on 05/08/2017

Working with Barbara was fantastic! Even though we weren't in the same city we worked with her through FaceTime just as if we were. She walked us through every step of the process and really listened to us as a couple and came up with an awesome ceremony that was very reflective of us as a couple. We even had many guests comment to as after the ceremony how wonderful and unique it was! Barbara was also really great about making sure everyone was comfortable and knew what they needed to do on the day of the wedding. We also really appreciated how she placed herself during the ceremony in a way that was natural yet so that the focus was more on us than her. Her delivery of the ceremony was also flawless and perfect in every way for the setting and type of ceremony.

Would highly highly highly recommend her for anyone looking for a very personal ceremony.

Steve Mumford, Married on 29/07/2017

We are so happy we chose Barbara to be our Wedding Celebrant. Her contribution was such a wonderful and important part of our wedding.

We wanted something that reflected us and our family in a way that a typical wedding ceremony doesn't offer. After our first consultation with Barbara, we knew that having her as our celebrant would make our ceremony much more personal and special than a typical wedding ceremony ever could.

It was really cool to be able to have so much input into our vows and the flow of the ceremony. She took a personal interest in us as a couple and a family, and wrote a ceremony which suited us perfectly.

We really enjoyed how fun, witty and heartwarming it was, and had a wonderful wedding that we'll cherish forever. Thank you so much!

Steve & Lindsay

Billy Ho, Married on 11/07/2017

Barbara is an absolute delight. She was a very big part of our wedding and it was so important for us to find and work with someone like Barbara who not only brought a wonderful joy to our ceremony, but worked with us on making it truly ours.

She has great ideas, has a wide range of knowledge of different cultures and customs, and has this great ability to control the guests and crowd on the day. She worked with us over time to craft, write and create a ceremony that was so very personal to us. We are so happy with how our ceremony turned out and were so grateful for the day, and a big part of that was Barbara.