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Weddings

About

As a certified, licensed wedding officiant in the Province of Ontario, Shirley Kennedy specializes in creating unique and personalized wedding ceremonies for couples in Norfolk County and beyond. Shirley will create a ceremony that reflects who you are as a couple and the love you share together. Contact Shirley today to discuss your ceremony vision!

Services offered

Shirley offers the option of classic or elopement style ceremonies for all couples legally entitled to marry in Ontario, including same sex couples. Ceremonies can be contemporary or traditional, serious or light-hearted, lengthy or short and sweet, it’s entirely the couple’s choice. Each step along the way, Shirley includes you and your preferences in the process, allowing couples to select the content for their ceremony, allowing for friends and family to deliver portions of the ceremony and supporting couples that choose to craft their own vows. If you require a rehearsal, Shirley can assist you with that as well.

Other services

Shirley Kennedy also provides clients with other life celebrating services such as celebrations of life and vow renewals.

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Frequently asked questions

What types of weddings and events do you provide services for?

Single religion
Vow renewal
Ceremony rehearsal

What services do you provide?

Licensed
Allow couple' own vows

What religious affiliations do you serve?

Agnostic
Anglican
Baptist
Catholic
Lutheran
Methodist
Presbyterian
Earth-based
Jewish
Unitarian

On average, how long are wedding ceremonies you officiate?

Less than 30 mins.

What is the starting price for your wedding services?

$375

Does starting price include the ceremony rehearsal?

No

What is the starting price for ceremony rehearsals?

$150

If you offer pre-marital counseling, what is the starting price for (per session)?

$16
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Any other questions?

Reviews for Shirley Kennedy - Wedding Officiant

We're all about trust. Our community relies on honest reviews to help you make those big decisions with ease.
5.0 out of 5 rating
5.0 out of 5 rating
82 reviews
100% recommend it
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    5 out of 5 rating
  • Response time
    5 out of 5 rating
  • Professionalism
    5 out of 5 rating
  • Value
    5 out of 5 rating
  • Flexibility
    5 out of 5 rating
Jessie
Jessie R. Sent on 23/10/2024
5 out of 5 rating

Highly Recommend Shirley Kennedy!

Shirley went above and beyond for us in preparing and executing our wedding ceremony. Shirley is a very warm person and guided us through what is required in the ceremony and allowed us to customize to make it our own. Her professionalism and experience shone through from the first Zoom call through to the ceremony. We could not be happier with our ceremony, with big thanks to Shirley.
Jessica
Jessica S. Sent on 08/10/2024
5 out of 5 rating

Shirley is an incredible wedding officiant!

Shirley conducted our ceremony on Sept 27/2024. We are so glad we chose her to do so! She is knowledgeable, professional, and welcoming. She took the time to get to know us, and to curate a ceremony exactly to our preferences. The entire process was seamless. Thank-you Shirley, we are forever grateful.
Madison
Madison Sent on 06/10/2024
5 out of 5 rating

AMAZING! - Beautiful Ceremony & Experience Working With Shirley Kennedy

Shirley was an absolute joy to work with, the entire process was so smooth from our meet and greet, to detail meetings, and the preliminary questionnaires Shirley had us fill out to create such a beautiful personal ceremony for us. We are overjoyed with the outcome of our ceremony and our guests had nothing but amazing things to say about the service as well! Shirley did such an incredible job at capturing our love story and we would highly recommend her officiant services!
Jaclyn
Jaclyn V. Sent on 22/09/2024
5 out of 5 rating

Don't Pass Her Up!

Shirley was the absolutely the most vital component of our ceremony. She held us together like glue. She guided us with a calm, strong sense of purpose. She has an amazing formula for creating what one guest called, "the most beautiful ceremony she's ever seen." Her questionnaires were a great starting point for digging deep into those emotions, the why's of getting married. She created the most unique ceremony, fully customized to our love story. She helped us figure out all the legalities and was available to help us any time we needed. I promise you, you will not regret working with Shirley!
Tera
Tera W. Sent on 10/09/2024
5 out of 5 rating

Best Officiant Ever!!

Shirley was by far one of the most organized and reliable person that we had the pleasure of working with throughout all our wedding planning. Shirley ensured we were on top of all deadlines and guided us through every step. From obtaining our marriage license to the amazing ceremony rehearsal to the final steps of getting our marriage certificate. She really doesn’t miss a beat. Shirley is fun to work with but also so professional and it’s clear she takes pride in what she does. Shirley always responded so quickly to all my questions and was so informative in her emails. Our favourite part from our ceremony was the personalized story she put together from the questionnaires we answered about our spouses. We are so grateful you were a part of our special day!

- Tera and Ty
Emily
Emily H. Sent on 03/08/2024
5 out of 5 rating

Shirley Kennedy - 10/10 five stars!!!!!!!!

Shirley was AMAZING to work with! Her detailed planning for the ceremony was so helpful and she allowed us to tailor the ceremony to our needs! It was absolutely perfect and she was a delight to work with!
Brice
Brice P. Sent on 27/07/2024
5 out of 5 rating

Amazing officiant

Shirley was an amazing officiant super professional and helped with time management and made the day run as smoothly as possible couldn't have asked for a better day
Shannon
Shannon Sent on 15/07/2024
5 out of 5 rating

The BEST experience!

There are no words to express how amazing Shirley is! Our guests are still commenting about the ceremony and how personalized and beautiful it was! She put so much time and detail to ensure our ceremony reflected who we are and she encapsulated our relationship perfectly in her personalized message. The ceremony was my favourite part of the entire night. If you are looking for an officiant, my advice is to go with Shirley! you will be so happy you did.
Sydney
Sydney S. Sent on 03/07/2024
5 out of 5 rating

The Best Officiant

Right from the first time I met Shirley I knew I wanted her to be the officiant at our wedding and I could not have been more right. She helped us through so many questions and gave so much knowledge about things we did not know needed to be done for the wedding. The fact that you can almost completely customize your ceremony made things feel so personal and unique to us and the personal message she created from our questionnaires was perfect. I cannot recommend Shirley enough, she has to be one of the best officiants out there! Thank you so much for everything Shirley, you're amazing!
Liz
Liz M. Sent on 15/06/2024
5 out of 5 rating

Shirley is the best!

From start to finish working with Shirley was seamless, she captured exactly what we hoped for in our wedding ceremony. She is thorough, thoughtful and kind. She is very flexible and open, she was able to meet my (the bride) needs even when I changed some plans and made a surprise enterance for the groom. The amount of time and effort she put into narrating our love story left us in tears. She added little touches to the ceremony that made it unforgettable. We cannot recommend her enough, she’s the best !
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Awards

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Meet the team

Shirley  Kennedy
Shirley Kennedy
Wedding Officiant

Hi! I am Shirley Kennedy and I am the team!

After retiring from a lengthy and satisfying nursing career, I vowed to take time to do more of what I love, and officiating at weddings is high on that list! Having been married to the same good man for 44 years, I am very much a fan of marriage. I know the joy of having a good partner in life and it thrills me to be present when couples are starting on that same journey.

I am a wife, a mother, a grandmother, and a fur-mom. I’ve had the pleasure of seeing my own wonderful children unite with loving, supportive partners; sharing their lives and growing together. I’ve also had the good fortune of receiving the most wonderful gift; my smart and funny and amazing grandson.

I grew up in Welland, raised my own family in Wainfleet and now live in Norfolk County. I am passionate about life and I strive to live it to the fullest; no door unopened, no path unexplored. I love to travel and explore the world. 27 countries and counting! I love being in my kitchen; cooking and baking. I enjoy time near, and on, the water, especially kayaking. I love to golf, to cycle with my husband on our tandem bike, going to the theatre, live concerts, Toronto Rock games and watching NFL. My most favourite things are winery lunches, spa days, reading a good book, laughing with family and friends, and snuggling with my most loyal companion, Fergus... my 4-year-old Scottie-poo. And did I mention travel? I love it so much, it’s worth repeating!

I carried over some great assets from my nursing career that have made my transition to officiating very easy: professionalism, patience, great communication, empathy, flexibility, problem solving skills, and attention to detail. I have a great sense of humour, a calm personality, and I keep my commitments! I won’t be late and I won’t be overbooked!

I am supportive of every couple that is ready to make a life-long, loving commitment, ready to assist all couples, including those of other faiths and traditions and orientation. Whether I am officiating at the most elaborate celebration or a simple elopement, the intention is the same - to witness and to uphold a bond of love, bless it and solemnize it for the government. I will work with you to create a ceremony that reflects your values, style, and personality as a couple.

It is an honour to guide couples through a wedding ceremony, a pleasure to witness them exchange vows and rings, and a privilege to declare them to be married. I would love to be part of your special day too!

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Map

18 Trinity Lane N0E 1Y0 Waterford (Ontario)

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