First things first, it has taken my husband and I over a year to write this review... simply due to the fact that we were overwhelmed by the thought of using ONLY words to express just how amazing of a person and officiant Lauren is! When we first met Lauren, her energy radiated positivity, openness and warmth. And this was felt just by talking to her via video chat! Lauren has a way of connecting with every single individual on a level where you feel safe, at ease and like you are at the center of her universe... I can only guess that this is what an interaction with Gandhi would resemble! :) With all that is involved in planning a destination wedding in California, she took so much weight off of our shoulders by making the planning of the ceremony a breeze. John and I wanted to have a ceremony that represented us... two introverted, quirky, nerdy, sarcastic people that have been in a relationship for over 10 years. We also wanted to honor those that could not be at the cerem... Read moreony for various reasons. Lauren was somehow able to wrap all of that into one ceremony. We truly felt like our relationship and the members of our support system were honored. Tailoring our ceremony in that way made for an unbelievably special and sacred moment. The cherry on top is that weeks after the wedding, our family kept talking about Lauren! We reminded them that we waited ten years to get married and that we should be celebrated, but they insisted Lauren was the star! ;) I would say that a majority of our immediate family are now following her on social media because she left that great of an impression! I told Lauren that the review would take some time to write because it would essentially be a love letter! Lauren, I hope that this was a decent love letter from John and I! We appreciate you so much and wish you and your beautiful family the best. Just hire her! You won't regret it!

Lauren is on her own level. We wanted a custom ceremony that spoke to who were we are as people and what we wanted our marriage to be. And she delivered. She guided us through a thorough and beautiful process to create such a ceremony. She is more than a day of officiant, we spent a few months getting to know each other, through calls, her discovery process and our wedding weekend. We did not do any pre-marital counseling but found our sessions with Lauren more than just planning, they truly set us up for defining our marriage and preparing ourselves for it at the same time. She helpful reassure us through all the uncertainty of pandemic wedding planning. Due to covid we were separate from friends and family during our elopement. She facilitated a beautiful zoom call the night before that helped us feel connected to our loved ones. We felt so seen and loved. She suggested they all light candles during our ceremony as an act of unity. We woke up the following days to tons and tons of ph... Read moreotos of lit candles in our honor, it was SO SPECIAL. She hiked a mountain with us to get our ceremony spot and delivered a beautiful ceremony that left us both laughing and in tears. She balanced out the lightheartedness with depth and meaning. She told our story throughout the ceremony and we find that invaluable as we will look back on it for years to come. We left as friends having shared such an intimate experience together. We felt supported throughout the whole entire process. We are so grateful for who she is and what she does. THANK YOU LAUREN from the bottom of our hearts, you helped make our day one we'll never forget!!

While Lauren is a masterful wedding officiant and storyteller, she is also an empathetic listener, a creative and dynamic ideator, an authentic creator, and the most amazing human! Her passion and love for what she does is clear in her careful, heart-filled, and artful work. We got to know each other over the course of 8 wonderful months where she helped us navigate and generate ideas around everything from unexpected challenges at work to navigating wedding planning during a once-in-a-lifetime and extended quarantine. In so many ways, without her, our wedding would not have been possible and it is the sweetest, warmest, most authentic memory of us and our next steps as a family, thanks to having Lauren at our side. She officiated our socially-distanced wedding (her second ever, at the time!) and seamlessly stepped into the role of emcee in order to ensure our guests on Zoom had a wonderful, fun-filled experience. I firmly believe there is nothing that she can't do - her intelligence, ... Read morewarmth, and humor make her an absolute treasure. She is real and loving - there is truly nobody else who could have stood with us as we became husband and wife. Here's to our first year of friendship with Lauren and to many more!

When COVID-19 impacted our destination wedding, my now wife and I had to start from scratch and scramble to plan a new wedding in Sonoma County after deciding to keep our original date. It was the best decision we ever made. We streamed the event on Zoom, allowing our family and friends to tune in. When looking for a wedding officiant we came across Lauren Snead’s profile and could instantly feel a connection with her energy and approach to the wedding process. On our first call with her, we knew we had made the right decision. Lauren was so understanding of our situation and was willing to adjust her typical process to accommodate our shortened timeline. We can’t express how much we got out of working with her. Through all of our discussions, Lauren crafted a ceremony that was so intimate and spoke to our relationship and future together. Her ability to take all of the information we had provided through engaging conversations and distill it into such a beautiful ceremony impre... Read moressed everyone. Lauren was so attentive to the physical distancing guidelines and made sure that everyone was safe. We would recommend Lauren to any couple in a heartbeat. We can’t wait to be able to see her in the future and give her a big hug. Thank you again, Lauren!!!!

It was an immediate connection with Lauren as we went through the process of meeting with three officiants on exploratory Zoom calls. She had a warm, caring and kind spirit and we both knew she was our officiant after the introductory conversation. Over the course of months, we worked with her to articulate our values and what is important to us big and small as we begin life as a married couple. I enjoyed every minute of her creative process, which I will not divulge too much of here so you can truly enjoy it for yourself organically. She had thoughtful and fun ideas to engage our families, celebrate our parents and honor traditions we were raised in. We even added a creative ritual that we will do every year on our anniversary - and she coached us individually through the writing of our vows. As the wedding started to look grim with event and travel bans due to COVID, she immediately reached out and hopped on a call with us to brainstorm. We pivoted to a small intimate and socially d... Read moreistanced ceremony at our original venue with a larger celebration rescheduled to the fall. We knew we wanted her to perform the official wedding, and we were so glad she did. She helped us rewrite portions of the ceremony to reflect these uncharted times and family on video who are currently unable to travel. She drove to our venue in the redwoods and was absolutely charming - engaging my family in person and my husbands family (and 93 year old Granny) on video. She made everyone feel welcome, infused humor and love into every minute and truly put her whole heart into the day. She is such a friend to us, and we are infinitely lucky to have been blessed by her professionalism, intelligence, creativity and passion for creating amazing wedding day experiences, full of intimacy and laughter.

There aren't words to describe what Lauren did for me and my husband and what she came to mean to both of us but I'll certainly try to find them... As our officiant- Lauren got to the core of our separate selves and us as a couple and really reflected that special knowledge in our ceremony which had our guests laughing, crying, and up on their feet participating. And as our newest friend- Lauren held our hands throughout the planning process and the day-of our wedding, making us feel supported and cherished and always, always celebrated and loved. We are incredibly grateful to have had her by our sides throughout this important time in our lives and we hope that anyone going through this same process would have the amazing opportunity to work with her, and get to know her, as well.

So my husband and I finally decided to tie the knot and he thought it would be a great idea to travel from Scotland to San Francisco to have our wedding. Where do you even start? So picking the venue was easy enough. The magnificent City Hall. Next who will perform our ceremony, we didnt want it to feel like a business transaction. So the search started. So I stumbled upon Lauren's webpage one afternoon in work, sent an email off had a reply and our journey began. Lauren is absolutely amazing. She is such a lovely, kind hearted person and we connected with her straight away. She captured our love story perfectly, piece by piece and performed such a beautiful ceremony. I can't even describe how wonderfully personal it was. It left us and our friends smiling, laughing and crying all at the same time. Our friends said how beautiful the ceremony was. We would recommend her again and again. Lauren we cannot thank you enough

Lauren was everything we needed, and more. I cannot see my wedding, without her. She was such a hugely important part of our process. She really took care of us during all the stressful months that led up to our special day together... and I wouldn’t want anyone else standing up there with us but her. She was the reason our ceremony was so special, and such a tear jerker. The way she connects with the couples she works with makes all the difference. She doesn’t just show up the day of the wedding... she works with the couple months ahead, giving so much love and support. She’s incredibly thoughtful, loving and one of the most passionate people I will ever meet. You can tell, that she truly and absolutely loves what she does. Lauren is worth it. My husband and I just love her to death and will never forget what she did for us.

My husband and I got married in September and we’ve taken over a month to write this review because we don’t know how to accurately describe how amazing Lauren is. She is nothing but exceptional and we truly believe she is one of the key reasons why our wedding was so special and meaningful. Lauren took the time to truly get to know us and bond with us. She created a safe space for my husband and I to explore and strengthen our relationship through her discovery phase, made our families feel comfortable and brought them closer together during our welcome circle and wedding day, and created a ceremony that was authentic and unique to us. She showed up fully for us, laughed and cried with us, and always made us feel special, seen, and supported. She is truly a gift and we feel so lucky to have had the opportunity to work with her and now call her a friend. Please book Lauren if you are looking for an officiant who is passionate, sentimental, talented, fun, and willing to... Read more explore what marriage is all about with you and your partner. Thank you for sharing some of your magic with us, Lauren. We love you and hope you know how special you are to us and our family.

Lauren is such an awesome officiant! Both my husband and I was looking for an officiant who is energetic, and funny. We also want a wedding ceremony that is unique, meaningful and full of positive vibes. Lauren was able to do deliver what we wanted! She spent time talking to the both of us over video calls and emails. She’s always checking up on me (the bride) and supported me on how I’m feeling since I told her that I don’t like to be the center of attention. We both love how she’s creative and always giving us ideas for the ceremony. We love how she was able to get all the guests to be a part of the ceremony and keeping them engaged. Everyone really enjoyed the ceremony that she officiates. Honestly, we couldn’t be any happier and feel thankful to have Lauren be a part of our special day. Much love, Mr. and Mrs. Huynh

What can we possibly say about Lauren that isn’t already reflected in her outstanding reviews?? She is truly all of that…. And more! When we first started planning our wedding, we had a different vision in mind, but as we started the process we realized the vision didn’t match who we truly are. Lauren was such a critical sounding board as we worked to actualize our dream wedding. From our first interview with Lauren through to our elopement, we knew Lauren was there to support and encourage us. While we had no idea what to expect from an officiant, as I imagine many couples experience, we couldn’t have asked for better. The discovery process allowed us the opportunity to explore topics that prepared us for marriage. Lauren’s ceremony development was so spot-on, I couldn’t believe she had so accurately pinpointed who we are, individually and as a couple. We were shocked by how accurately she had understood us for having known us such a short time. We can’t help but feel as... Read more though we had known Lauren for years, when it was literally months. Lauren was there, too, when we experienced the loss of our very senior pup, just the day before our wedding. A heartbreaking experience at any time, it seemed amplified by the timing. Her understanding and support as we went through the process was beyond any expectations. She found beautiful ways to acknowledge our very raw loss without detracting from our ceremony and wedding day experience. There’s not a handbook for how to handle situations like these (at least, not that we know of), but Lauren could write that book, truly. She allowed us to experience the pain of a fresh loss, while guiding us toward our new chapter as a married couple. We can’t let our review go without also acknowledging her ability to “do what needs to be done”. Lauren carried a canopy about 2 miles roundtrip, up and down stairs, up and down rocks, to our ceremony site at the edge of a cliff. Just in case it rained. Seriously, Lauren is a ROCK STAR.

As a passionate teacher and distiller, we are a couple who can tell if someone loves their job. Lauren most definitely LOVES her job and we couldn't ask for more out of an officiant. (And frankly, neither can you!) We loved having her be a part of our journey! Lauren gave us the courage to be bold and proud with our relationship and helped us explore the depths of our connection. This made for an amazing, meaningful ceremony that everyone remembered fondly and a wedding full of happy tears. Lauren helped workshop our vows and kept us positive throughout this entire process. We couldn't have asked for a better person who embodied what we felt was the most important thing about celebrating a union: love. No one will remember what your bouquet was or why it meant something to you, but everyone will remember how you looked at each other on that day. And - even though I know my husband looks at me with a smile that ends wars - this day, everyone else was able to see that out of h... Read moreim too. :) Lauren, thank you so much for everything. You are an amazing soul and you make the world a better place.

If you're looking at all the 5-star reviews of Lauren and thinking "Is she really that good?" the answer is an empathetic YES! Out of all our vendors, my husband and I spent the most time researching officiants since the act of getting married IS the reason we invited all our friends and family to our special day. We wanted to feel a connection with our officiant, and not have a cookie cutter ceremony. Lauren checked all of our boxes, and then some. From our first conversation, we immediately felt at ease. It was obvious Lauren is very passionate about what she does, and her warmth and enthusiasm exudes from within. Because we lived a few hours away from each other, we coordinated the ceremony by video chat and email. Lauren asked us to answer some questions she called the "discovery" process, and it helped my husband and I clearly articulate how we feel about each other and gave us some great insight on our communication styles (which has allowed us to understand each other better... Read more). The ceremony itself was beautiful. The ceremony she wrote was humorous, playful, loving and sincere -- she did a fantastic job capturing what we are like as a couple, and telling our love story to our guests. So many people commented how much they loved Lauren after the ceremony. Do yourself a favor and get in touch with Lauren! You won't regret it.

Lauren really is the only officiant to consider. A very bold statement I agree, but from the vey first email to the after care we received, Lauren was truly wonderful. The journey you go through together with Lauren ensures your ceremony is everything you wish it could be and more. We eloped to San Francisco in October 2018, we had no idea how or what we could do. With Lauren's help and guidance, our ceremony really was OUR ceremony. We were a little nervous prior to speaking with her face to face over web cam, but the moment you meet Lauren you simply know that there is no one better suited, more genuine or qualified to be the person that marries you. Our ceremony was filled with Laughter, Love, Joy and Sun Shine. A day we will remember forever and Lauren will remain a huge part of that.