Philip and the whole team at Asheville Marriages are amazing at what they do. We were referred to Philip when we contacted another officiant in the area who was unavailable, and I'm so glad he was the one to make our wedding official. He is very professional- from the opening email and ensuing phone calls to post-wedding "to-do's", everything was top notch. We are living across the country, in California, and he was able to work with us, with the time difference, to set up meetings and really get to know us. We never met in person until a few weeks before the wedding but it didn't matter, it was so natural. We also used the "Marriage Enrichment" program which Philip offers for an extra fee. It was beyond worth it. Even if you think you already know everything about someone, the program brings up great conversations and questions that may not come up otherwise. I'm sure that each of these conversations made our marriage and bond stronger, and really helped us write our vows as well. The program also helped Philip get to know us better. We were amazed when we read the first draft of the ceremony that he wrote for us. It was as if he had known us for years. The final version (we changed very little) was just perfect. It incorporated our family, our friends, and really our entire lives!
The day of the ceremony, Philip was on top of everything. He made sure we were ready, the vows, the acoustics, the layout....everything. We had a few bumps in the ceremony, nothing that we could have planned for, and he worked through the bumps like a pro. Our guests loved him and raved about his ceremony, his jokes, his cool demeanor and his natural ability to bring out the importance of our day.
I cannot recommend him enough, and the rest of the team. I feel like instead of just getting an officiant, we made a new friend, who we will always remember for his part in our wedding.
We are so excited to be working with Phillip from Asheville Marriages. We knew as soon as we spoke to him on the phone for our consultation that it was going to be a good fit. He was open, kind, curious about us and knew what he was doing. Since then we met with him for a casual meet and greet where we met his lovely family and he met some of ours. I'm looking forward to his personalized, and creative way during our ceremony!
Asheville Marriages was so great to work with!! I would recommend them to everyone! Jenn, our officiant was amazing!! We had so many guests compliment her ceremony. Jenn was so easy to work with and really helped to make me and my husband feel so comfortable and confident on the big day!
I absolutely loved using Asheville Marriages to find an officiant for our wedding. I had found a few glowing reviews for Michael DeSerio and knew that I wanted him for our wedding. The process was so easy and the company stayed in contact the whole time through emails which I loved. I didn't feel like we were just another number to them! Michael was wonderful and such a joy to work with. He wrote a beautiful ceremony and made sure that it was exactly what we wanted. Day of, he showed up with a big smile on his face and did an excellent job. I'm so pleased with him and the whole experience, I just can't thank him enough. He is your guy if you're looking for someone warm, friendly, eloquent, with a big smile!
Asheville Marriages was such a great choice for our wedding. For the beginning, the service options were easy to understand and making a selection based on our needs was simple. Working with Philip on our vows was enjoyable – he was always friendly and flexible and truly wanted our vows to match our desires and personalities. Our ceremony was everything we hoped for – full of love and lots of laughter!!
Thank you so much Dina, it was such a pleasure working with you! I wish you both the very best and I hope our paths cross again!
Our experience with Phil was beyond incredible. Neither of us have a church or are religious, but we wanted an officiant that didn't just say blanket platitudes about love and not feel like there was anything personal. Phil talked with us on the phone, and we did the AM marriage courses, which I'd highly recommend. The program's guidelines for difficult conversations, some of which I'd never tried to put into words before, were so helpful in navigating our relationship, wedding planning, and foreseeing our expectations for post-wedding - you know, marriage :) our friends and family were so impressed with Phil, commenting on his choice of wording, his warmth, and his spending time with many friends and family during the reception. We were so lucky to work with him, and feel like we found an amazing person and friend in the process.
Thanks Melissa, it was pure joy for me! I wish you both the very best and I can't wait for our paths to cross again!
We were so pleased with the responsiveness of Asheville Marriages. Vaughn was very flexible and open to moving our ceremony spot!
Vaughn was wonderful. First of all our original spot was muddy and I was freaking out that it would be too hard of a hike for my family and we changed the location the week before. Vaughn was so understanding and willing to accommodate us on our change and open to any time during the day! On the day if he was very personable, kind, and sweet to us! I loved how intimate and authentic the ceremony was. We are so lucky that we had Vaughn on this special day!
After finding out that our personal preferences for officiating our wedding could not attend our date, we were in a pickle trying to find someone we had never met to be a part of our special day. We have nothing but wonderful things to day about AM and Mike DeSerio. He was fantastic and all of our guests thought so as well. His speech is fluent, no interruptions, distractions, and his words are beautiful! He added just the right amount of humor. Thank you AM for making our day so special!
Loved having Keith as our officiant!
We narrowed down who we thought we wanted to be our officiant from the Asheville Marriages group pretty early on and the preliminary interviews definitely helped us feel really confident in our final pick. Keith was AMAZING to work with and we are so happy he is who married us! We incorporated some traditional Greek Orthodox elements into the ceremony that were new to him, but he did so much research and honored the tradition perfectly! It meant the world to us how much he listened and customized our ceremony to who we are as individuals and a couple. He is super laid back, but takes what matters to you so seriously - a perfect balance. Would definitely recommend to anyone!!
Philip was amazing to work with! We are more spiritual than religious, and the ceremony he wrote for us was perfect! My very Catholic parents said his ceremony was the best they've ever experienced!
My husband and I did our ceremony with Asheville Marriages last weekend at the Botanical Gardens at UNC Asheville. The experience was wonderful. When we experienced a slight concern, Philip immediately stepped in and went above and beyond. He and our officiant, Vaughn, were great to work with. Both of them were professional, friendly, flexible, and we really appreciated the sense of humor. Things turned out even better than we hoped. I highly recommend them to anyone doing a wedding or vow renewal ceremony.
Keith was our wedding officiant. He was great! He is very vivacious and friendly with a vibrant personality. We loved getting to know him and have him officiate our wedding day. Asheville Marriages was also great to work with as a company. Phillip spent time talking to me to get to know us as a couple so they could personalize our wedding. I highly recommend this company!
We hired Philip Lingle as our wedding officiant. The entire process was easy and stress free. We were given a great template for the ceremony and then were able to customize as much as we wanted. Philip was great at leading our rehearsal and made my husband and I feel prepared and at ease for the ceremony. The wedding was perfect! Definitely recommend!
I can't recommend Asheville Marriages enough! Phillip took the time to speak with my husband and I over the phone to get to know us and what kind of ceremony we were looking for, and then he matched us with Vaughn as our officiant.
Vaughn was incredibly kind and wonderful to work with. He provided us with a beautiful ceremony draft several weeks before the wedding, allowing plenty of room for any changes we wanted to make.
Vaughn arrived in plenty of time before the ceremony, and was professional and friendly from start to finish. Even my father (who isn't easily impressed) commented on how beautifully written the ceremony was.
Many thanks to you, Vaughn and Asheville Marriages!
We had the wonderful opportunity to choose Asheville Marriages for our wedding. They were immediately warm and open to listening to learn who we were and what would help us make our perfect day. Our officiant, Michael Deserio was a perfect match for us! We had many different faiths and beliefs at our wedding and Michael was able to help us craft a perfect ceremony that resonated with both us and all our guests in a meaningful way.
We decided to go ahead and purchase the marriage enrichment package from Asheville Marriages. Both of us come from different upbringings, faiths, and lifestyles and it was really helpful to have a lot of the discussions included in the program, some of which we had never even thought to consider, but turned out to be important talking points about how we would share our life together. We were also able to solidify the parts of our relationship that anchor us and help us remember the most important parts of who we want to be as individuals and as a couple.
The program also gave us resources we can reference and look back on for years to come to remind us of the original reasons we wanted to be married and the dreams we want to share together going forward.
Taking part in the program was also a great chance to get to know Michael. He has a great energy; he's just such a warm, friendly, and open person and by the time we met the day-of, it felt like seeing a familiar face who we were so excited to share such an important moment with.
From early on we knew we wanted to write our own vows as well and say them to each other for the first time at the wedding. Michael was a great sounding board for us both to help get our vows the way we wanted and provided useful ideas and references for us to use in writing our own vows.
When it came to writing the ceremony, Michael had great suggestions and let us read over his beautifully written ceremony. During the process, he was so accommodating and entirely open to any suggestions we had. We could clearly tell that his main goal was to help create the ceremony we wanted.
During our ceremony Michael brought all his amazing energy and professionalism and captured exactly the feel we were hoping for. Even when one of our dogs started rolling in the grass by his feet or the cows at the farm mooed during the ceremony he handled it all like the pro he is!
I was nervous at first about hiring an officiant to perform our ceremony, but after my initial phone conversation with Philip I knew we had to go with this company. Philip paired us with Keith Norton, who we later found out had known both my parents and grandparents for over 20 years! Keith helped us customize our ceremony, including our vows and did an incredible job. He even helped my husband with vows that he said to my son during the ceremony, which were so beautiful they brought everyone there to tears. He also did a fantastic job working with the whole wedding party during the rehearsal and helped keep us (and by us I mostly mean me 😅) from stressing out. My son came down with mono the day before the wedding and was also the best man, and Keith helped me stay calm and worked out other alternatives to include him if he was unable to stand up there for the entire ceremony. Truly an amazing guy and an amazing experience with Asheville Marriages. You guys are awesome!
Asheville Marriages is the way to go!
Rodney was great! And speaking with Phillip in the beginning I knew that this was the way to go for my husband and I!
A Ceremony that was totally us!
Asheville Marriages was the perfect way to legally get married! We first talked with Philip Lingle after we filled out a questionnaire so he could direct us to the most fitting officiant. Michael DeSerio was the man for the job. We wanted an uplifting, slightly humorous, and personalized ceremony and we got just that! We also added in a beer blending ceremony instead of a candle lighting ceremony or sand blending ceremony. Our guests got a huge kick out of that! If you are looking for someone to officiate your wedding, then we highly recommend Asheville Marriages!
I cannot say enough wonderful things about Asheville Marriages, specifically Philip. He married my husband and I last weekend and he was absolutely incredible. We had completed the marriage enrichment program with him prior to our wedding which we felt really allowed us to get to know Philip (and him get to know us) even without meeting until the day before our wedding! He made our ceremony so special and so personal to us, it was as if he had known us for years. All of our guests raved about the ceremony and how well spoken Philip was. I would recommend him in a heartbeat. I am so sad we only spent a short time with him, but the memories will last for a lifetime.
Thank you Katherina, it was wonderful meeting you and Mark and I'm thrilled that we are neighbors! Looking forward to seeing y'all soon!
Can't imagine a better officiant!
I cannot recommend Philip Lingle and Asheville Marriages highly enough! They were recommended by our wedding venue (Hawkesdene). Asheville Marriages is a highly organized operation - we received regular emails and always felt they had everything completely under control. Before deciding to work with Philip, we had a skype call and my fiance and I both felt he was extremely competent, kind, and flexible. Philip shared many drafts of the ceremony with us, and we all worked together to create the perfect wedding ceremony. Our wedding had a surprise rainstorm in the middle, and Philip brilliantly handled it and the kept a smile on the entire time. I nicknamed him the "efficient officiant" because everything he did was so well planned and executed. HIGHLY recommend!
We had a wonderful experience with Rodney (and Phillip!) from Asheville Marriages. Rodney brought style, patience, creativity, and personality to our wedding ceremony. Our friends and family absolutely loved the message of the ceremony. Thank you so much! 10/10!
From the first phone call to the filing of the paperwork, Asheville Marriages provided great service taking care of every detail of our out of state elopement. But what inspires me to write today is the joy and happiness, the patience and compassion that was provided to us as a couple and as a family.
Jenn truly cared about our personal situation and preferences. She crafted the most beautiful wedding ceremony that included our favorite blessings and honored those we love. She went out of her way to scope out the river setting we chose even sending delightful videos for 'rain options'. She assisted our adult children in gifting us with the most wonderful surprise: their presence. Each and every time we interacted with her she brought sincere happiness and joyful anticipation for our special day. And on wedding day, she brought the sunshine!
We couldn't be more grateful, more thrilled, more in love with each other, with Jenn and with Asheville Marriages.
Every single star! All thumbs up!
Michael was amazing! He performed the perfect ceremony for us. It included our personalities and a little humor. We enjoyed meeting him and working together to make our wedding perfect!
The team at Asheville Marriages was simply amazing! We contacted them a little later than we should have and they didn’t even flinch. They immediately set up a time to talk about us and what we were looking for in the ceremony. We were paired with Sara Judy and it was perfect!! She guided us on creating a personal, humorous and moving ceremony. Her suggestions were spot on and she really made herself available to us for guidance the whole way. She was so sincere and made us feel like we were the most important couple she was working with. Highly recommend Asheville Marriages and Sara Judy for your ceremony!!