Stillness Connections

Janice went above and beyond to create a lasting and special memory for this day. I would HIGHLY Recommend having her perform your ceremony. Thank you again

Hiring Janice to do our Handfasting was the best decision we could have made. She was incredibly supportive of us, and had many ideas and suggestions for us, for vows etc. but she was so willing and excited to incorporate our own ideas. She was the perfect mix of humourous and professional. My husband (eeek!) was concerned about keeping the ceremony respectful while being lighthearted and Janice handled that beautifully!

AND she has an authentic Scottish brogue! Not going to lie, that was a big influence haha!

Dr. Reverend Janice Dodds and Stillness Connections was recommended to us by the owner of our Reception Venue because our wedding had a “celestial” theme and they thought Janice would be a great fit. I’m a bit of a Type-A personality, super organized and I always plan everything down to the smallest detail. Janice is definitely a free spirit! She’s a little more “go with the flow” than I am, which has some benefits and a couple drawbacks.

We had a very limited amount of time in our Ceremony space, which I did communicate a few times to Janice. We chose to do the 30-minute ceremony option vs. the 15-minute option, but were pretty adamant about being on-time, yet by the time our ceremony was actually complete, it ended up being nearly a full hour, which put a bit of a rush on our photos/teardown, etc.
Over the phone, Janice had mentioned every time we spoke that my mom had to stay standing so she could answer Janice’s question regarding who was giving me away. My mom was ready for this, but Janice pivoted last minute to more of an audience participation thing instead, so my mom stood there for a bit not sure what to do before eventually taking a seat!

As well, we had a few technical aspects to our ceremony, particularly at the end. I had laid out and sent the venue and Janice the exact order of events numerous times, but the lighting/music/visual cues were all out of order at the end. I’m pretty positive only the groom and I noticed, but it was a little frustrating.

We had requested Janice to be at our rehearsal the night before because it was a very different space (at the TELUS World of Science Zeidler Dome), a large bridal party, with all these technical pieces, and we would have gladly payed the fee (and more) to have her come so we were all on the same page for the ceremony, but she was pretty determined that she wasn’t needed, although I do feel that if she were at the rehearsal, a few of the hiccups may have been alleviated.

All in all, however, Janice was a crucial part of making our ceremony light, and fun. Her personality and charm made everyone laugh and fit the theme of the wedding perfectly. Despite our differences in how we plan/organize things, Janice was truly a pleasure to work with. She dresses to fit the wedding colours, brings all her own gear (table, podium, speaker/mic) as required, personalizes the ceremony to the couple, and ensures that everyone is comfortable and knows what they’re doing leading up to and throughout the ceremony. Her unique flair made our ceremony all the more memorable and we are happy that we chose her as our officiant.

I would have to say a few people approached me after the ceremony to mention that Janice was amazing ! She made the ceremony better than I expected ! She added a little humour to keep the guests going ! She’s very sweet ,accommodating, punctual, and very professional! I myself enjoyed the ceremony she made me feel at ease. She incorporated us into the ceremony readings which I thought was very sweet ! Overall , Janice was absolutely lovely and my day wouldn’t have been the same without her .

Janice was amazing for our wedding day!❤️ We wanted small and intimate and that’s exactly what she was able to do for us. We also were so happy that she was perfectly great and supportive of having our Fur-babies involved.

Janice was wonderful. She went above and beyond what I was expecting and was so flexible despite the many changes due to Covid-19. I would definitely recommend her to everyone :)

Gary and I are so happy we chose Janice as our officiant. Our ceremony was absolutely perfect. Our guests had only good things to say as well.

Absolutely amazing. Personalized our ceremony, offered different options and was so much help with everything. Friendly and very easy to talk to. Great at thinking on her feet and problem solving. She made the ceremony fun for everyone- nobody got bored through it.

Janice was very kind and designed the ceremony to what we wanted. All of our guests talked about how beautiful the ceremony was.