Wedding Ceremonies Performed to Meet Everyone's Needs

As an ordained reverend for more than 20 years and a certified professional coach working with couples, joining the two together was a natural move for Judith O'Connor.

O’Connor is ordained through the Universal Life Church in Washington and the Heartsong Interfaith Church in California. She is a non-denominational reverend but prefers to call herself "all-denominational" -- a phrase she made up herself, O'Connor said. She is also a clinical hypnotherapist, she said.

O’Connor said she was trained to incorporate all religions into a marriage ceremony. Many of the couples that come to her are of different religions and can’t get married in their own houses of worship, she said. She incorporates both religions into a ceremony, she said. Couples can have a religious, spiritual or non-denominational ceremony, she said -- "they are in charge," she said, adding that she is there to support, give suggestions or handle all of the details of the ceremony.

With her inviting smile and open attitude, O’Connor said she has no barriers to who she will marry -- any race, religion, nationality or sexual orientation. She has even performed ceremonies where dogs are a part of the wedding party, she said, and has never turned down a request.

 O’Connor said starts by meeting with couples and learns their personal love story.

“My experience as a professional life coach and clinical hypnotherapist allows me to get to the essence of my couple's personal story,” she said.  She uses their love story to personalize the wedding ceremony, she said. 

Meeting with the prospective spouses is revealing not only to O’Connor but to the couple, O'Connor said.

“Things come out during our meeting that one of the parties hasn’t heard before,” she said.

O’Connor meets with the couples several times before the wedding and the ceremony is finalized long before the wedding date approaches.  

Rather than just a traditional wedding, she makes second marriages a union of families, O'Connor said. Adult children might do a reading and younger children may be a part of the wedding, she said, while she offers a remembrance during the ceremony.  

“For those who passed they are sharing your special day in a different way,” she said. "No one is left out of the wedding ceremony."

Each ceremony lasts no longer than 30 minutes, she said, and she offers both pre-martial and post-martial counseling.

In addition to weddings, O’Connor has performed baby blessings and naming ceremonies for the last two years, including ceremonies welcoming children into a family for those not belonging to a traditional church.

“Such ceremonies further serve to deepen our awareness of the special gift and responsibility that children are in our lives," she said.

Doing this work is her passion, she said, and she doesn’t anticipating retiring any time soon.

For more information, visit www.judithoconnor.com, email her at info@judithoconnor.com or call 203-481-8773.