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Weddings

About

Tidal Ceremonies is based on Gabriola Island, British Columbia serving primarily the central Vancouver Island region, but willing to travel further.

Rev. Dr. Karen Arends is a Certified Master Life-Cycle Celebrant who earned her certification at the Celebrant Foundation and Institute, and is ordained by the Canadian International Metaphysical Ministry.

Karen has more than 25 years of experience creating personally meaningful ceremonies and passages that reflect the desires of her clients. Her wedding ceremonies range from short-and-sweet to personalized and even fully-themed ceremonies. In her ministry practice, Karen is inclusive, professional, and eclectic.

Services Offered

Tidal Ceremonies offers licensed services and support for couples writing their own vows. Karen lends her expertise to couples celebrating metaphysical, pagan, and earth-based spiritual weddings. Creating a ceremony from your answers to a questionnaire, the final script is completely approved by you.

Your experience will include personal ceremony creation, research into traditions and rituals, script consultations and edits, rehearsal, officiating, and a final keepsake document of the ceremony. Karen also provides officiating services for vow renewals, commitment ceremonies, and more.

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Frequently asked questions

What types of weddings and events do you provide services for?

Single religion
Interfaith ceremony
Vow renewal
Ceremony rehearsal

What services do you provide?

Licensed
Allow couple' own vows

What religious affiliations do you serve?

Agnostic
No denomination
Earth-based
Pagan

On average, how long are wedding ceremonies you officiate?

Less than 30 mins.

What is the starting price for your wedding services?

$350

Does starting price include the ceremony rehearsal?

No

What is the starting price for ceremony rehearsals?

$150

If you offer pre-marital counseling, what is the starting price for (per session)?

$50
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Any other questions?

Reviews for Tidal Ceremonies

We're all about trust. Our community relies on honest reviews to help you make those big decisions with ease.
4.9 out of 5 rating
4.9 out of 5 rating
17 reviews
99% recommend it
  • Quality of service
    5 out of 5 rating
  • Response time
    4.9 out of 5 rating
  • Professionalism
    4.8 out of 5 rating
  • Value
    4.9 out of 5 rating
  • Flexibility
    4.9 out of 5 rating
P
Phil Sent on 08/07/2024
5 out of 5 rating

Gabriola Wedding

Karen was a wonderful support for our wedding. She was knowledgable and guided our ceremony rehearsal which was a huge help for us. She has a great energy and we'd certainly recommend her to anyone else getting married!
M
Marla Sent on 20/09/2023
5 out of 5 rating

Unforgetable

Karen is amazing, from initial contact to the congratulations email after our wedding was over, it was one of the most positive experiences we've had. Karen, thank you for all your kindness and hard work to make our day memorable for the rest of ours, our family, and friends lives. We had a small intimate wedding and Karen's touch took it over the top, her spirit brings love and light to the ceremony space. I still have members talking about how wonderful, welcoming, and beautiful the ceremony was (over a month later), emphasising Karen's work. She tells YOUR story, not a copy and paste cookie cutter script. She sends a questionnaire, for the bride and groom to fill out separately and from that she generates a breathtaking tale sharing how we got to this day. Easy to work with, helpful, and very kind. There were people of my wedding party that are now talking about renewing their vows with Karen. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you, Karen.
Meriem
Meriem Sent on 16/08/2022
5 out of 5 rating

Magically Unique

Thank you so much Karen.
Our wedding ceremony was magical, unique, and so enjoyable. Your questions and communication was thorough, even when you were dealing with personal family matters. Our ceremony was the highlight of the day, all of our guests were so impressed and loved every aspect of it, and most importantly my husband and myself had an amazing time. You incorporated every single aspect we requested, and went above and beyond with matching your words to the exact feeling we wanted to portray.
Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for being such a huge part of our wedding day. We will remember you always.
W
Wendy Sent on 04/06/2022
5 out of 5 rating

We would not hesitate to recommend Karen

From the start of our interaction, Karen made it all about us and what we wanted. Yet she added some valuable insights and helped us every step of the way with our vows. She took time to get to know us as a couple and so thorough which was why our wedding turned out so perfectly. Highly recommend going with Karen, such a memorable ceremony.
J
Janna Sent on 02/09/2021
5 out of 5 rating

Compassionate and accommodating celebrant

Karen was very accommodating to us on our big day. After a sudden loss of a family member just prior to the ceremony, Karen stepped in to help us on short notice after we re-planned our entire ceremony. Her delivery was natural with a good flow and made everyone feel welcome and involved at the ceremony. We highly recommend Karen to anyone searching for a celebrant.
Dayna
Dayna Sent on 13/10/2020
4.6 out of 5 rating

Beautifully Personal Ceremony

Karen writes an amazing ceremony based on your love story. It's beautiful and personal and brings a lovely touch to a wedding. I would wholly recommend her to anyone wanting a unique ceremony based entirely on your relationship.

You do, however, need to be willing to put in the work to tell that story. If you're looking for an officiant that will marry you without any effort on your part, she might not be the one for you.
B
Brittney Sent on 20/07/2020
5 out of 5 rating

Amazing Officiant

Karen was an amazing Officiant and couldn't have asked for a more beautiful ceremony. If you are looking for a personal ceremony that shares your love story, she will do an amazing job. Karen was on top of everything and made the process of planning the ceremony and writing vows easier. Thanks again, Karen!
S
Sam C. Sent on 11/07/2020
5 out of 5 rating

Beautiful ceremony

Karen was more than we could have hoped for in an officiant for our intimate wedding. She asked us detailed questions in order to make a beautiful personalized ceremony for us and our guests. She also looked over our vows ahead of time to make sure they were balanced with each other and offered many great suggestions for readings and how to include our loved ones in the ceremony. I can't recommend her services enough. You would be lucky to be married by such a warm, kind and professional woman.
Annalise
Annalise Sent on 05/04/2020
5 out of 5 rating

Lovely and unique ceremony

Karen is a fantastic officiant, we couldn't have asked for a better one to guide us through the process. She met and emailed with us multiple times, and was always quick to reply. We had vague ideas for a handfasting and slightly Nordic style wedding which she effortlessly wove into a full ceremony along with a family tradition and much loved reading. Our friends and family couldn't stop commenting in the receiving line how much they enjoyed the personalization. More than a few even said it was the best ceremony they had ever been to! Looking back at our photos I can easily recall all the teary heartfelt parts as well the laughs we shared. Thank you, Karen, it meant so much to us.
J
Jennifer Sent on 30/11/2019
4.8 out of 5 rating

Amazing, personal and super fun

We had such a fun experience with Kestrel. She really made our ceremony into exactly what we wanted. We got to know her and her husband really well while we worked together on our special day, they came to our house a few times and had tea while we wrote and organized our ceremony. They even stayed and drank with us for a while after the wedding! I totally loved the experience, Kes was fun, personal, open to our ideas, and suggestive of her own. I couldn’t have asked for more. The only setback we had was a tiny spelling error on the certificate itself, but that was very quickly corrected and we had no trouble filing our marriage at the registry.
Honestly, we can’t say enough good things about Kes. She was just what we needed in our lives.
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Gabriola V0R 1X6 Nanaimo (British Columbia)

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