Rev. Claire Goodman

Claire was amazing. She was able to pull together a ceremony filled with EXACTLY the right words and feelings for my new husband and I. I will never forget some of the things she said, and couldn't have found a better person to help us express how we felt about each other and our joining families. She is soft spoken and sweet, and was wonderful with helping to calm my nerves before walking down the aisle as well--that was an added bonus. :) We really appreciated everything she did and couldn't have chosen a better, more genuine person to officiate at our wedding. We felt almost as though she were a member of our family!

Claire made our ceremony special in so many ways. Everyone has been talking about what an amazing job she did at making it truly about us and our future together.

Claire was very easy to work with and gave us an abundance of options to choose from for our ceremony. She was very open to our ideas and made our ceremony as unique and individualized as possible. Her words were beautiful and moving and she took a minor mishap with the music with stride. She made use both feel at ease as soon as the ceremony started and allowed my husband and I to focus on each other throughout the ceremony. Danit and Jon Kent

I cannot recommend Rev. Claire enough. A beautiful person, Claire is eminently accessible, responsive, flexible, accommodating, personable, caring, reliable, supportive, and lovely. She was patient and accepting of me and my family, and she helped calm me in stressful moments. Her willingness and ability to personalize the service, regardless of religious preferences, was incredible. I am an agnostic with a Jewish parent and a non-denominational parent; my husband's family is deeply Catholic, and yet we were able to craft a ceremony that made everyone happy. Claire sent us MANY options for the ceremony, including vows, readings, declarations of intent, blessings, etc. She also helped by bringing supplies with her, including nice cards printed with our vows, so we didn't have to worry about remembering them. She also made suggestions when we were feeling equivocal--and she gave us some interesting ideas for photographs, including a shot of everyone who attended the wedding, a picture we are grateful to have but would never have thought of taking. Simply put, Claire is the best. No matter what your religion, your style of wedding, or your venue, Claire is the most wonderful officiant a couple could have to minister (!) to such an important day. You'll want to look back at wedding pictures, find one of Claire, and smile. That's what I do.

My husband and I wanted an outdoor wedding and someone who would appreciate my Catholic background. We found Claire through a referral and she was ideal. She understood the aspects we wanted to highlight and what we wanted out of our ceremony. She was easy to work with and she was incredibly helpful with quick answers, references for readings or suggestions of different things to add to our ceremony.The day of, we had a large raincloud that came and covered the sun, taking the heat away for a while. Claire asked my husband and I too take a look out at the audience and look to see all the love that was out there for us. It's one of my favorite moments in our ceremony because up until that point, and for the rest of the evening, we never really got the chance to look and see all of our loved ones who came together from all over the country and world for us. As the thunder started booming, big fat raindrops began to fall. Claire was very flexible and skipped over part of her address so that we could continue to get married outside, as we had wanted. The ceremony continued flawlessly, and I'm so glad that Claire was the one who married us. She's so approachable, understanding and easy to talk to.

We researched every officiant in the DC metro area and came up empty handed before expanding our search to other parts of virginia. My parents are of different religions and my husband was raised roman-catholic, although he isn't anywhere near as devout as his parents are. We knew that we needed to have a non-religious ceremony, though spiritual references were okay. When I came across Rev. Claire's website, I forwarded it on to my husband for his thoughts. We both got a very good vibe from her website, and contacted her to set up a meeting. We drove down to Charlottesville to meet with her and were very happy with her attention to detail and overall presence. As we drove back up to NoVa, we decided that although it would cost more to hire her because she would be coming from out of town, the comfort we felt after meeting with her was enough to win us over and that we wanted to work with her. Rev. Claire was always very accessible by email for any questions or concerns that we had, and her positive, calming spirit helped keep us cool and collected in the days leading up to our wedding. The ceremony was just right, not too long, not too short. It felt perfectly suited to our non-religious backgrounds, without swinging too far into religious contexts, which also kept our families happy. We were able to select the different components for our entire ceremony, which she then tailored into a beautiful experience that we (and all of our guests!) were all impressed by. We are so happy that we found her and can't imagine anyone else uniting us on our special day!!

We couldn't have asked for a more wonderful officiant. Claire captured our wedding perfectly, and eased our nerves on our rainy wedding evening. We couldn't have asked for anything more!

I absolutely loved the ceremony that Claire presented. She was very easy to talk to, and her ceremony wording suggestions based on our chats were perfect. The only problem we had was with regard to volume. It was extremely hard to hear her past the third row. I would HIGHLY recommend working with Claire, but make sure you work out in advance (and test the system!) with her how she will be amplified- we waited till the last minute and our solution (a little amp with a lapel mic that attached around the waist) was not sufficient.

Claire helped my husband and I craft an Interfaith ceremony that was everything that we could have possibly wanted. She was also a grounding and professional presence during the ceremony, which was, of course, an overwhelming and emotional experience for the two of us. We highly recommend her services.

The planning was a little chaotic, but when the day came, the ceremony was absolutely BEAUTIFUL. Rev. Claire had a calming, beautiful way of bringing myself (bride), the wedding party, and all of the guests into the very sacred moment of promising our lives to each other. The rest of day had been crazy, not to mention 100+ degree weather, but all of that faded away duing the ceremony because of her choice of words and how she spoke them. I tear up as I write these words, I feel very confident that I will remember that sacred moment in all its beauty because the ceremony she delivered had me present in mind, body, and spirit. Of all the things that happen on the day of my wedding, and of all the things that will become wonderful memories, I'm so glad this was one of the most special.

Claire was an amazing officiant, she created a custom heart felt ceremony. I will remember it forever. She is a little expensive, but for her no nonsense approach, it's worth it.