Our wedding ceremony was absolutely perfect. Thank you so much for all of your hard work and dedication. Several family members told us it was the most beautiful ceremony they had ever seen. I don't think there was a dry eye in the house. You are such a kind, beautiful soul and you really helped to make our families and traditions come together flawlessly. Thank you for making our dreams come true. It was everything we could have wanted. We are forever grateful for your love and support. Thank you endlessly for everything.
Ranjan and Rachel's Hindu-Jewish Interfaith Ceremony on Tribeca Rooftop September 2016.
Let me tell you a little about the way I work and about my unique service to couples of all backgrounds.
What I offer couples is the chance to work closely with me to design a wedding ceremony that enables them to truly express their love and commitment in a personalized and memorable way.
I consider myself a creative, contemporary clergy person. My philosophy is that your relationship is unique and your wedding ceremony should be too! I write ceremonies that reflect the values, beliefs, and cultures of the bride and groom.
At the core of the ceremony is a celebration of your love.
All the ceremonies I write are created especially for each couple.
* Couples who want a creative ceremony that is unique and "all them."
My contemporary spiritual ceremonies or romantic non-religious ceremonies are all created with your unique union in mind.
Because I am experienced with working with couples of all backgrounds I am comfortable including and blending elements from any tradition. Most recently I have officiated weddings that have included rituals, readings or elements from: Hinduism, Kabbalah, Judaism, Islam, Catholicism, Christianity, Wicca, Buddhism, Toaism, as well as rituals from African, African American, Latin, Filipino, Thai, Native American, Celtic and Persian cultures.
Then again, some ceremonies make no reference at all to culture or faith. It is up to the couple.
We focus on including only the ceremonial elements that are meaningful! Also, I am glad to include the honoring of your families … rituals that allow families to participate … and readings and blessings that can be read by loved ones and friends.
* A comprehensive consultation and interview in which I outline all your options and help clarify the kind of ceremony you would like to have.
* A questionnaire that helps you both share your feelings and thoughts on marriage, and provides material that allows me to personalize your ceremony.
* A Wedding Readings e-book with a wide collection of wedding readings to choose from.
* Personal support with writing your wedding vows and expressions of love, and a gift copy of my new book, YOUR PERFECT WEDDING VOWS, which provides an assorted collection of wedding vows and ring vows to choose or find inspiration from.
* A gift copy of my book, WEDDING GODDESS, to help you deal with wedding stress.
I am also available to provide spiritual counseling as needed for couples and families.
My aim is to help you have an awesome wedding ceremony, filled with love, warmth, romance, creativity and good spirits.
My husband and I are of differing faith backgrounds and we were searching for an officiant who would offer a spiritual ceremony that paid subtle tribute to both of our faiths. What we received with Laurie Sue Brockway was nothing short of perfect. She is a lovely, warm woman with a gentle and kind voice and spirit. She was willing to custom create our ceremony to include exactly the elements that captured our style and personalities as well as various traditions from our faiths. The end result was very special and unique blend of traditional and modern, east meets west, while remaining respectful, spiritual, and personal. All family members from both families were so impressed at the way all of our traditions were intertwined throughout the ceremony. Additionally, we were moved to tears by the lovely things that Laurie Sue wrote in her message. Absolutely recommend Laurie Sue 100%!!
For those looking for a personal, warm, enchanting, custom crafted wedding ceremony for intercultural and eclectic spirituality, I cannot rate Laurie Sue highly enough. After a friend leant me her copy of Laurie Sue's book, Wedding Goddess, I contact her and promptly booked her. I had the most meaningful wedding ceremony I can imagine. My guests were totally enthralled during a half-hour ceremony. Laurie Sue wore an interfaith shawl that showed all the major spiritual symbols and helped everyone at my wedding feel included. She got to know us well before the wedding and now feels like family.
Rev Laurie Sue Brockway did a fabulous job helping my husband and I plan and execute the vow renewal ceremony for our 40th anniversary. With her wise counsel and support this event far exceeded our expectations and wowed our guests. With love, joy and even some humor this ceremony was significantly more meaningful to us than the one that happened 40 years before!
A Truly Personalized, Magical Wedding!
When it came to crafting a unique and special wedding ceremony, Rev. Laurie Sue surpassed all my wildest hopes. She is warm, accepting, funny but utterly respectful, and an absolute delight. She made my wedding unforgettable, and I'd recommend her to anyone looking for a ceremony that is tailored to you and your loved one.
Rev. Laurie Sue Brockway officiated my wedding in 2005. I cannot begin to sing her praises! I had some family drama, and wanted to get the legal part out of the way before the big ceremony. She spent an hour on the phone with me as I explained the situation and asked for her counsel. She went out of her way to give us an intimate, private ceremony in Bryant Park where we were legally married, and then the big ceremony was a week later in Central Park. It went off without a hitch! More than anything, she understood us as a couple and treated us with great compassion and dignity. I still look back on the experience with a smile on my face. People still talk about how beautiful our ceremony was. I highly recommend her - I can't imagine finding a better wedding officiant in New York City. This is a person who loves her job and takes it very seriously. You will not be sorry.
I was married by Rev. Laurie Sue Brockway on 08 December 2003. We had our 10 anniversary last year and our marriage has never been better. This is because of the foundation that was laid when we were married by Laurie Sue. We shaped and created vows that we say to each other sometimes every day or at least every other day. We were both active participants in the process of planning our wedding even though we flew in from London to get married by her. Laurie Sue went out of her way to support us, even arranging to conduct the ceremony in her own space when our venue fell through. I have even been inspired to train as an Interfaith Minister myself as a direct result of my experience with her. Choose Rev. Laurie Sue if you want some who will help you to start your marriage with love and joy and help you to stay that way.
Rev Laurie Sue was tremendous in our weekend V-day wedding in Manhattan. In a driving snowstorm we were married under the arches of the NYC library. She was so patient, professional and genuine! Her suggestions and knowing our personal journey meant a lot. She took all the time when needed for all kinds of photos with low temps and the driving snow. Very very sweet, kind, and thoughtful! Definitely a true gem on our special day! Thank you so much! Would recommend to all couples!
Amazing Wedding Officiant! Exactly the Person We Were Looking For!
I knew Rev. Laurie Sue Brockway was the officiant my husband and I had been looking for the second I spoke to her. Love and warmth radiates through her. She really listened to us to figure out exactly what we wanted and gave us the completely personalized ceremony we both wanted. She seamlessly infused both of our family's backgrounds along with specifics we wanted included into our ceremony in order to provide us with a meaningful and highly personal ceremony. Laurie Sue is open, knowledgeable, patient, and an eloquent speaker. I recommend her with no reservations! She played a huge role in providing me with the wedding of my dreams and I thank her for being part of that special day I will remember forever!
This summer my husband and I celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary and 'till this day, friends and family say that our wedding was the most intimate and spiritual wedding they've attended. And I give full credit where credit is due...to our beautiful and spiritual wedding officiant, Rev. Laurie Sue Brockway.
From the moment we met Laurie Sue, we were welcomed with open arms and she immediately "got" us. A big worry for me when seeking an officiant was finding someone who understood and who could combine our faiths (my husband is Christian and I am Jewish). This was never an issue with Rev. Laurie Sue and all the important rituals from both faiths were effortlessly combined and integrated into our ceremony.
I truly feel that our lives together began on that rainy day in August, centered around love and honesty and Laurie Sue made that happen for us so perfectly. We were lucky to find our angel in disguise early on in our wedding journey and it made all the difference in the world!
Rev Laurie Sue truly understood us and went above and beyond to make our day unique and reflective of both of us. Her insight, care and understanding of human relations made this process easier and enjoyable. Laurie - Thank you for sharing love’s milestone with us. Your spirit of generosity has made our day so very special and memorable!
Laurie Sue officiated at our wedding and I am so, so incredibly grateful that we found her and were able to work with her. In short, she rocks! She was patient, kind and compassionate throughout the whole ceremony-planning process.
I'm a writer by trade and it was very important to me to have a lot of input and creative control over what was said during the ceremony, which she allowed us to have--yet her own suggestions and framework were so valuable and spot-on. I felt like in the end the ceremony script was something that was so beautiful and really a labor of love for all three of us. One of my favorite things she did was having us each write something about the other that she read aloud -- it was simple but so sweet and a memory I really cherish.
Rev. Laurie Sue Brockway was an integral resource to understanding marriage. Both my partner and I are non-traditionalists with strong opinions and distinct aesthetic differences. After our first consultation, Andrzej and I agreed that Rev. Brockway was the right person. She helped us focus and vocalize our commonalities – our threads of compassion. Her deep well of knowledge allowed us to gracefully construct an unforgettable moment for our guests and us. There were joyous tears, boisterous laughs, and embraceable surprise--reflections of our quirkiness.
And throughout the process Rev. Brockway helped us breathe. She reminded us to focus on the one important truth: this is our day. The psychology of honoring the moment allowed my husband and I to open up ourselves to the full potential of limitless love. Thank you. Laurie Sue.
We had a non-traditional ceremony (read: last-minute and in our apartment!) and Laurie Sue rolled with us every step of our quirky, last-minute way. Though it was only a four-guest wedding, she took it all with great gravity, and guided us through writing our vows, creating the ceremony, and made sure it fit and expressed us exactly.
She has such a vast store of knowledge on wedding traditions from every faith and around the globe that she was a virtual library of information waiting to be tapped.
She hand-held when needed and nudged us in the right direction when that was required. And when it was showtime, her presence was vibrant and calming and brought a special air of... something special, the exact kind of mix of seriousness, playfulness, professionalism, and spirit I wanted in an officiant.
Everything We Were Looking For--And More!
We were on the search for an officiant and met with a few, but as soon as i met Laurie Sue -- I KNEW she was the one for us. You know when you leave a meeting and you just have the best feeling? Like it was a slam dunk? That was how we felt after meeting Laurie Sue.
She really worked hard to personalize our wedding without making us say the vows ourselves - loved that! I can't tell you how many friends and relatives came up to me afterward and said it was the best ceremony they had been to because it was a perfect mix of personal and traditional (without being rigid at all).
We have been happily married for 4.5 years now - and we still keep in touch with Rev. Laurie Sue! She readily comments on pictures of our baby on Facebook and it's so special that she is still in our life! I hope she is for many more years to come.
Laurie Sue helped us create a ceremony that blended 2 families of children while keeping the romance/passion that my (now) husband and I wanted to feel as we said our vows. Those of you who blend families may know what skill that requires!
She helped us find traditions that spoke to us and added small surprises that made the day even more special. Both my husband and I felt that our personalities and beliefs we woven together perfectly.
Thank you Laurie Sue for making our first day as husband and wife the perfect first step into the rest of our lives.