"The Ventura County Wedding Minister" - (805) 987-6252 - Anytime!

Elopement Ceremony...romantic and intimate
Want your special day to be just between the two of you? Or maybe you only want a few family members to witness your vows. Consider our elopement ceremony to make your intimate wedding a memory that you will treasure. This service is a delightful and affordable alterative to the County Courthouse wedding. If you live in another part of the country and considering a brief ceremony followed by a honeymoon at the beautiful Ventura County beach, then this option may be right for you.

Elopement Ceremony Includes:
Your choice of pre-written civil or nondenominational religious service in a casual setting (no wedding party, processional, etc.)
Arrival of The Ventura County Wedding Minister 10 minutes prior to start of ceremony
$150

Basic Ceremony...a simply beautiful ceremony for you and your guests
If you are looking for a pre-written, memorable wedding experience for you and your guests, consider the Basic Ceremony. The wording is similar to The Ventura County Wedding Minister's Elopement Ceremony, yet allows for a processional and recessional, guests and an earlier arrival time for The Ventura County Wedding Minister to facilitate pre-ceremony coordination. Affordably priced, simple and poignant.

Basic Ceremony Includes:
Your choice of pre-written civil or nondenominational religious ceremony in the setting of your choice
Unlimited number of guests
Pre-wedding email and brief phone consultation to determine your processional order
Written script of your ceremony, including processional with all of your wedding party members listed
Performing of ceremony by The Ventura County Wedding Minister
Arrival of The Ventura County Wedding Minister 20 minutes prior to start of ceremony to line up processional, coordinate with other wedding vendors, etc.
$250

Classic Custom Ceremony...personalized, creative, and attractively priced
A customized ceremony that allows your personalty to shine through! You'll meet with The Ventura County Wedding Minister to craft a ceremony that celebrates your unique story of love and commitment. The Ventura County Wedding Minister has a vast array of resources and ideas from which you can choose to compose a ceremony that you and your guests will look back on and smile about.

Classic Custom ceremony includes:
Getting to know you meeting (initial consultation) and one ceremony-writing meeting
Limited telephone and email consultations
Individually-written ceremony composed of choices from The Ventura County Wedding Minister's array of options
(Core components plus up to three additional component selections)
Written script of ceremony
Arrival of The Ventura County Wedding Minister 20 minutes prior to ceremony
Performing of ceremony
Filing of marriage license
$380

Premium Custom Ceremony...our premier choice for the couple desiring a ceremony that is the supreme culmination of their personal love story.
For the couple who wants the ultimate for their ceremony. The Ventura County Wedding Minister's exclusive Premium Ceremony allows unlimited customizing from our resources or yours (including as many of our additional options as you like, or if you want something not on The Ventura County Wedding Minister's list, we'll include that too), assistance with writing your personal vows, extra in-person meetings if you want them, facilitation of your rehearsal, arrival of The Ventura County Wedding Minister 60 minutes prior to the start of your ceremony, pre-wedding day ceremony vendor and ceremony-participant coordination and a free change of name kit for the bride.

Premium Custom Ceremony Includes: Getting to know you meeting (initial consultation)
Unlimited ceremony-writing/review meetings.
Unlimited telephone and email consultation
Access to The Ventura County Wedding Minister's vast resources for ceremony ideas, with unlimited number of additional options
Ability to add ceremonial elements that are not part of The Ventura County Wedding Minister's component offerings (especially useful if you want to include little-known cultural or religious features)
Individually written, creative ceremony that is uniquely yours
Individual consultation to write your own wedding vows
Prior consultation with ceremony participants (readers, speakers, singers, musicians, photographers, etc.)
Facilitation of rehearsal
On-site pre-ceremony coordination 60 minutes prior to ceremony
Performing of ceremony
Filing of License
$600

"Rev. Randy performs all ceremonies wearing a plain white cassock"

Want More Info?
YOUR ceremony needs to reflect YOUR personality, beliefs, and lifestyle. ALL philosophies, traditions, and beliefs are honored and included. If you want the most memorable, original, and meaningful ceremony, Opt out of a cookie-cutter ceremony, rather speak up as the Bride and Groom so The Ventura County Wedding Minister can best understand what you are trying to achieve. Is it fun, crazy and comical, or is it traditional and conservative? Perhaps it is unique with a sand ceremony on Ventura County beach? Whatever venue you choose and whatever your dream wedding ceremony consists of, The Ventura County Wedding Minister can make it happen!

The first and most important thing to keep in mind is that the wedding should not be treated as something which exists only for one of you — both people must be happy (or at least reasonably content) with the arrangements. You'll only get married once to each other and you can't really go back to "fix" things later, so you want to get it "right" now. If either party is upset with the arrangements, there is a good chance that resentment will fester and cause magnified problems sooner or later.

The second thing to consider is that if religion is becoming a very divisive factor in the wedding itself, matters might get much worse later. On the other hand, some people only make religion important during certain special occasions (like weddings or holidays) while ignoring it the rest of the time. If that is the case here, then the disagreement over the wedding isn't a foreshadowing of future arguments, and that's something to be happy about.

So what should the two of you do? You'll have to compromise — it isn't likely that you'll be able to have a completely religious or a completely irreligious wedding; instead, you'll have to find some happy medium where both of you feel comfortable but neither of you feels like you have been cheated.

The first thing to work on is what the two of you really want. Does the one person want a religious ceremony because they are trying to please their family but otherwise doesn't care? If so, then you will need to figure out what you have to do to make the religious family happy, but you will probably be able to have a much less religious wedding than would otherwise be necessary. Remember, the wedding is for you first and your families second. Rituals and ceremonies should be there because they have meaning for you.

Does the one person want a religious ceremony simply because they had always assumed that that is the sort of wedding one should have? It is difficult to overcome such assumptions, but this may be a good time to take a serious look at a whole host of religious beliefs which have long been assumed, but which perhaps deserve to be discarded. Once again, a much less religious ceremony may be possible in this situation.

A more difficult problem arises when one person genuinely believes that only religious weddings are proper or that certain religious rituals are necessary for a wedding to be valid in God's eyes. When a person wants a religious wedding out of religious conviction rather than habit or custom, then compromise becomes much more difficult — but no less important.

One means of avoiding arguments over trying to reach a compromise is to avoid being negative — instead of focusing on what you don't like, focus on what you can be happy with. The irreligious person should make suggestions of religious elements that would be acceptable. The religious person should suggest religious elements that can be readily dropped.

By focusing on the things which draw you closer together rather than the thing which divide you, there is a better chance not only of arriving at a solution, but doing so in a manner which is amicable and helps strengthen the bond between you. That is, after all, one of the points of a marriage ceremony in the first place.

Rev. Randall G. Gullickson, D.D.

Please Contact Via Email: super8v92@gmail.com or Call 805.987.6252