Vida Jurcic, Married on 10/08/2018

Celebrant with Soul & Style

Lisa was extraordinary! She guided and prepared us well for the celebration of our special day. She was extremely engaged, and created a custom, perfect ceremony for us. She was inclusive of our family and guests, and made them all feel welcome and a part of our story. The whole process was designed to really see each other and ourselves in each others eyes and to culminate in a fun, glorious ceremony that we will cherish forever. Lisa is an angel.

Simply Ceremony's reply:

Dearest Vida,
What a joy and delight to work with you and Dean. I was so happy to meet your amazing family; Moms, nieces and nephews and friends you call family.
Good Luck!

Kristi, Married on 24/05/2018

Kristi & Madison Edwards ceremony

My husband and I decided to do a surprise ceremony at our "rehearsal dinner" for our 30 closest family and friends at the end of May. Lisa happily helped us coordinate our happy prank, as well as helped us refine our hand-written vows. She was very flexible about the passages we wanted read and very accommodating to our mixed spiritual backgrounds. Thank you, Lisa!

Simply Ceremony's reply:

It was a fun day Kristi, I wish you both all the best in your marriage!
Fun to work with you both.
Lisa

Mary Konkin-Eruera, Married on 28/05/2016

Lisa was an absolute pleasure to work with from the first meeting, to receiving our marriage certificate in the mail just this week. Our ceremony was the most important aspect of our wedding given that this was my first, and my husband's second marriage. He has 2 boys that very much wanted to be integrated into the ceremony and celebration. We had already written our ceremony and vows, then only a month before the wedding we started our search for an officiant when we came across Lisa Hartley, family celebrant (I'd never heard that term). We found her website and listened to a radio interview she'd done. I immediately liked her voice (this is important!) as it was strong and calm, as well as her philosophy.

Flexible and accommodating are 2 of the first words that come to mind. How she structures her offerings reflect this -as you can have as much or as little guidance from her as you wish. Because we had most of our ideas in place, Lisa worked with us to structure it, strengthen it, and make sure it flowed on the day. She managed our rehearsal like a pro- which we needed given that our wedding party consisted of us, plus 5 kids aged 9-12 yrs. And while we had the words we wanted- she physically "staged" us so that the boys were seamlessly integrated and we moved as a family unit throughout the ceremony. It was absolutely beautiful- and we would never have thought of the level of detail she brought to our planning.

On our actual wedding day- despite that the skies opened up into a torrential monsoon skewing all of our grandiose outdoor plans- she was able to quickly move to our "Plan B", setting the tone for the day by thoughtfully sending us an email first thing in the a/m, about the beauty of rain on one's wedding day signifying "fertility, cleansing, unity, renewal, tears...happy tears".

She helped everyone focus on the silver lining in the dark clouds and the significance of our day, and in the end it was more beautiful and memorable than we ever could have imagined. Consistent with the weather, the room was full of happy tears and Lisa was an instrumental part of making our day one that we will never forget. Thank you, Lisa!

p.s. Lisa brings her own inconspicuous wireless head set and speaker which is a godsend in many settings. Her mic is bionic and easily picked up our voices, precluding us from having a big handheld mic in our faces and wedding photos throughout the ceremony.

Simply Ceremony's reply:

Mary, you have me in tears.
It was such a wonderful experience to collaborate with you and your beautiful family. Truly an honour to be part of your wedding day.
With warmth and respect,
Lisa

Quentin Rogers, Married on 21/05/2016

Lisa came in at the last minute and turned what was going to be a beaurocratic trip to the JP, into a beautiful ceremony on the beach.

She came in the last minute, and talked us through all the steps, and made us realise that despite our limited time and means, that we could still do something beautiful, meaningful and fun. And then she made it happen.

The ceremony she built for us was moving and transformational during a time of great change.

Lisa has a strong intuition and a keen sense of knowing how to work with people in order to help them to identify and meet their own spritual and emotional needs.

She was able to build a formation around our different cultures as well as able to gently reveal some of the big unknown questions that we needed to figure out.

And through all that she kept us sane, and even managed to summon an eagle to fly overhead just as the I DO's were being said.

She rocks.

Simply Ceremony's reply:

Thank you for your kind words Quentin. Such an honour to work with you and Leena.
So glad I could help.
Lisa

Sylvan, Married on 12/07/2014

My wife and I strongly recommend Lisa Hartley as your celebrant for your wedding day because her talent as a celebrant is only surpassed by her positive energy. Lisa's professionalism, creativity, and calming demeanor made for an experience that went above and beyond our hopes for a perfect ceremony. We were impressed at the dedication she provided us, not only during the ceremony, but beforehand as well. Lisa's attention to detail was demonstrated when she personalized our ceremony in a way that allowed us freedom of expression and through our collaboration, brought a truly unique experience. Having Lisa as our celebrant for our wedding gave us peace of mind because we knew the ceremony was in more than capable hands.