Julie Laudicina, Celebrant!

Julie performed a same sex marriage for me and my partner the day before Easter. I found her through the Celebrant Institute www.celebrantinstitute.org. We live in the UK and it was a 'random' selection but absolutely the perfect match for us. We were first driven by location as the wedding was on Staten Island, my home town where Julie lives but she fit many other criteria. Importantly she was not only 'comfortable' marrying two women but is personally vocal about the right to same sex marriage and incorporated some very wise words about this in our ceremony and honoured the lesbian herstory of the location of the event, The Alice Austen House Museum aliceausten.org. Everything was arranged via email and one long phone call. We had less than 4 months to plan with Julie but her expert preparation, scripting and response to our ideas made the whole process go extremely smoothly. The ceremony had several elements in it including readings and prayers recited by friends and the inclusion of our two sons. It all flowed so well on the page and on the day it was just perfect. We didn't even have a rehearsal! Even though it was the first time we were meeting Julie in person we felt a special connection to her. She has great depth and presence as an officiator and many of our guests were very moved by the service.

It has been just over a month since I was married on March 31st, 2012 and looking back at the entire picture, the most meaningful part of the entire event was standing up at the alter, looking out at all of our loved ones. Julie Laudicina made the entire ceremony feel so special. We are a mixed marriage, my husband is Christian and I am Jewish, so we wanted an officiant to marry us so we could combine our two faiths in a non-denomination ceremony that would touch on both of our backgrounds. Julie was able to help us blend these two faiths in such a wonderful way, so they became part of the ceremony in a unifying way - bringing us together, rather than pointing out our differences. Eric and I live in London but got married in New York City, which could have been potentially difficult to work with Julie in coordinating our ceremony. Julie has a wonderful way of working with her clients, and the process was incredibly easy, and her flexibility left us with no stress before our wedding day. People still comment on how personal our ceremony was, and by the end we felt that Julie tailored a ceremony that was exactly what we wanted - it incorporated the importance of our families, my husband's and my love for one another, and our vows expressed our shared values and ideas of marriage. She made us feel comfortable standing up there in front of almost 200 people, providing a sense of calm and joy, which Julie naturally radiates. The whole event seemed effortless and incredibly special, thanks to Julie's art with words and presence. Thank you, Julie for helping to facilitate the best day of our lives. Cheers from London, Tara and Eric

My husband and I were blessed to work with Julie when she volunteered her services as part of the Nicotra's Ballroom 10th Anniversary "I Do All Over Again" contest. We had an initial meeting with Julie, after which she sent us thorough questionnaires and used them to design a personal ceremony for us. She was so patient and responsive during the entire process, responding quickly to our edits and tailoring the ceremony to our preferences. The result was a unique and beautiful ceremony that reflected us as a couple. Many of our guests commented on how sweet the ceremony was and what an eloquent speaker Julie is. My sister-in-law echoed this sentiment, saying she was so engaged in the ceremony that she found herself hanging on Julie's every word. I was so thrilled it was so memorable for us as well as our guests. I would highly recommend Julie Laudicina to anyone looking for a ceremony officiant.

What can we said about Julie! She was professional and such a delite to work with. She recreated "our Love story" to read at our wedding! The guests are still talking about how personal and touching our ceremony was! Julie made our special day MAGICAL!

We couldn't have asked for a more perfect officiant. Julie really took the time to create a very personal ceremony for us - one that had the perfect balance of seriousness and lighthearted moments. It also felt substantial even though it wasn't a religious ceremony. -Although she will work with you to make whatever it is you are looking for. She was very easy-going about comments/changes, and didn't limit the number of rounds we could go on the script. Day of, her delivery was perfect. She has a very calming demeanor and was cool as a cucumber. She has a nice pace and great presence. We received so many compliments on our ceremony after. Many of our friends said that it gave them ideas for how they'd like to have theirs someday. I would highly recommend Julie to anyone. She's a real professional and extremely pleasant to work with.

Julie was recommended to us by Brian Friedman our wedding photographer and we couldn't have been happier with the service she provided. Even though we didn't meet her before our wedding day, Julie was in contact with us via regular emails and wrote a wonderful ceremony that was perfect and very personal to us. Also, thanks to Julie's husband Joe for filming the ceremony for us....we hadn't planned this but our parents back in the UK were delighted that he did!! We wouldn't hestitate to recommend Julie, you won't be disappointed..... Thank you Julie

Sweet, thoughtful, professional . . . just a few of the words that pop into my head when I think about Julie. She was the only officiant we met and immediately I had a good gut feeling about her and we were so right. She helped us created a truly personalized and unique wedding ceremony to capture our Jewish and Persian backgrounds. We had SO many compliments on her eloquent speaking, the warmth the ceremony provided, and the overall flow of the it all. Without a doubt, we would recommend her to anyone. Her caring ways are shown by her responsiveness and ability to incorporate a ceremony that is simply what you want it to be and more. We loved every bit of it, and our so grateful to Julie. Thank you, a million times over. Yalda, NYC PS Take time to complete her questionnaire.

Julie did an amazing job with our ceremony. We had an interfaith wedding, where we wanted to include both traditions. Julie did an amazing job bringing both religions together, as well as making it a very personal and beautiful ceremony.

From the first meeting with Julie we knew she would be the officiant we were looking for. She told us we would see our draft ceremony from first draft to last and be able add/revise/delete whatever we wanted. Her couples questionnaire really helps her learn about the both of you and create the perfect ceremony. Since this is a 2nd marraige, we wanted to include our daughters. Julie gave us ideas on how to include them. Our ceremony was perfect, exactly as we imagined, mix of humor and love. Everyone told us that it was the best ceremony they had ever attended. Julie was perfect. I highly recommend her to anyone getting married.

Our Experience with Julie was extremely great , since we got to know her and all the preps through the wedding were really good and she provided us with options for our ceremony and she came up with a Beer ceremony!! it was perfect for both of us Thanks Julie for everything!! Thomas & Jessica

Julie is a lovely lady who is very professional. She was the only one of three celebrants whom I contacted who replied with professionalism, courtesy and all the essential information we needed for our wedding in NYC. I knew at that moment we would receive a wonderful service. She also recommended a fantastic photographer (Brian Freedman) who took the most amazing photos. Julie conducted our intimate ceremony with a love for sharing these special moments in life, she bought the words of our ceremony to life and was an essential component of the best day ever!. Thank you Julie!

As we were from the UK and were getting married in New York, the most important aspect for us was having confidence and trust in our wedding officiant and were immediately put at ease when Julie helped us put together our perfect ceremony. The ceremony was so personal and special to us and we could not have created this without Julie.

Julie was amazing! From the beginning she was very helpful in giving suggestions and direction for the ceremony! The ceremony she wrote was beautiful and really touching for all the friends and family who were there, and of course the Bride and Groom! Even at the 11th hour there was a problem with our ceremony site, and Julie was extremely helpful in helping us find a solution to the problem!! She did an amazing job, and really took the wedding to another level! She was more like a family member, or close friend, rather than just the officiant of that day!

When my husband Matthew and I were planning our wedding back on April 30, 2011, my mom read an amazing article in the local Staten Island Advance newspaper about Julie Laudicina and how she had been officiating many wedding. When Matt and I met with Julie a few months before our wedding, we felt so comfortable with her and she went over how the officiating profess works. About 3 months prior to our wedding, Julie sent both of us questionarie that we both filled out about our love story and what we want for our marriage. A month after finishing the questions, Julie sent us a draft of what she would read at the wedding. I cried like a baby. She wrote an amazing wedding script and with a few changes, it was perfect. Julie also helped us put together our wedding program. On the wedding day, Julie met us an hour before the ceremony to give a run down of the ceremony. Once the ceremony started, to finally hear Julie read the ceremony script was amazing. It felt as if Julie really knew Matt and I and our guest were very impressed how she make the whole ceremony personal to us. Julie incorporated parts into our vows that were special to us and was open to hear our suggestions and ideas. Another part of the ceremony people enjoyed was when she included all our guest to answer questions about letting Matt and I into their lives and reminding them of our wedding day. Julie was professional, kept to a timeline/schedule, warm, kind and amazing. Matthew and I highly recommend Julie to anyone who needs an officiant for their wedding. After speaking or meeting once with Julie, she will blow you away with just how amazing and professional is she. Thanks again for being our officiant and if you are looking for an amazing officiant, Julie Laudicina is the best officiant anyone can ask for.

Julie was brilliant. She was so helpful from start to finish. The ceremony which was extremely personal was very well written by Julie, and brought tears to our eyes. We eloped from the UK and so Julie invited friends and family to send greetings which was a really lovely touch. She then sent them a photograph after the ceremony which everybody really apprecaited. I can't praise Julie enough she is great! Highly recommended.

Julie made sure she included us every step of the way, showed us rough drafts of the service and encouraged us to add to it, make corrections. We gave her just over a week to put together our wedding and she did a fantastic job and more. My husband & I are buddhist and she incorporated our beliefs into our ceromony. Since our wedding was so small, she made a wonderful suggestion to tie our wedding rings together and pass them around to our guests, so that they could be included. We enjoyed her husband Joe as well; you get 2 for the price of 1!

Julie was very open to ideas and offering so unique ideas for a wedding ceremony. Her readings and presentation were off the charts outstanding. Even boasted they had never seen such a nice ceremony and she even had the men crying and saying it was so touching to share in those moments. She is caring and it just pours out in all her work.

It was such a pleasure to work wiith Julie Laudicina! She really created a magical ceremony for us and we'll never forget it!

Working with Julia was a wonderful experience. Flexible, knowledgable, profesional, and all around lovely. My husband and I highly recommend working with her!

We live in the UK and had arranged to meet some New York wedding officiants, Julie being one of them. We met with Julie and her husband Joe. It was a very easy decision to use Julie as our wedding officiant because from the moment we met, Julie put us both completely at ease and we knew that we would be in safe hands! This proved true both on the run up to our wedding and on the day itself. We were able to create a very personal ceremony and set of vows – Julie’s suggestions and advice combined with our personal input made for the unique ceremony we wanted. Our guests only had positive comments to make and they also said that the words we used spoke volumes about how we felt about each other. Many said it was the nicest ceremony that they had attended. Julie was very relaxed - this was very reassuring and helped us lose (most!) of our nerves during the ceremony and her directions helped to guide us through the afternoon. We cannot thank Julie enough for how easy she made every aspect of our ceremony and would recommend, without hesitation, that anyone else use her as their officiant. Mark & Lyn Johnstone