Meet Mary!
Your Wedding Officiant
Mary’s Vision
Inclusive Values
Why Choose Mary for Your Wedding or Vow Renewal?
Personalized Approach
Your love is unique and our wedding officiant services Delaware reflect that. Mary takes the time to understand your vision, crafting a ceremony that resonates with the local culture and your personal story.
Inclusivity
Love knows no bounds. Mary proudly supports and serves all couples, making her wedding officiant services Delaware the ideal choice for a diverse tapestry of love stories.
Expert Guidance
Mary Barneby is here to guide you through every step, ensuring a stress-free and joyful experience for couples.
Founded on Love in 2023
Vows to Cherish, founded in 2023, remains a trusted name in wedding officiant services in Delaware & Maryland’s Eastern Shore.
Our Coverage Area
Begin Your Journey
What my clients say
a very professional job….(she is) very nice to get along with….would not have wanted anyone else!
It was a joy to collaborate with Mary, creating a meaningful moment in time. Through her kindness and sincerity- her presence, a natural connection; our vows flowed beautifully. So grateful to have found Mary for our ceremony!
Our officiant, Mary was truly amazing from beginning to end. She is warm, kind, and friendly. Went out of her way to assist us in any matter that we needed, and I couldn’t be happier with the outcome. She made us feel relaxed and ourselves. Highly recommend her.
Mary was the best officiant ever! She was very communicative and asked all the right questions when discussing vows. Even the ones I would never remember to ask! She made them very personal and unique to us. She was on time and ready for the wedding! She took care of all of our signatures for the marriage license/certificate! She made my day special!
Mary was amazing from the minute we connected with her. She took the time to understand who we were and what was important to us. Her suggestions on how to craft the ceremony were extremely helpful. On the day of the wedding, she came prepared and she delivered the vows in a way that resonated with our guests. Highly recommend!
Mary was amazing, and we honestly now consider her a family friend! She was nothing but friendly, warm, accommodating and knowledgeable about getting married in DE. She made our ceremony fun and tailored it to our love story. Our wedding day wouldn’t have been the same without her! THANKS MARY!!
Mary was incredible!!! If you are looking for someone to officiate your ceremony, contact Mary! I spoke to several others about officiating the ceremony before I found Mary. She was more about the union of marriage verses greed of making a huge profit off of an “Out of state” wedding. After 22+ years I married my best friend and soul mate 🥰💍. Thank you Mary for everything you did for us!!!
Professionalism, communication, level of service and value – those are just the nuts and bolts of what Mary provides. The soft skills of emotional intelligence, sincerity, kindness and thoughtfulness are the ones that really make working with her a pleasure and a joy. Couldn’t recommend enough and you never leave reviews for anything.
We loved having Mary as our officiant! She was offered so much support and was very flexible, even with some of our last minutes changes to the ceremony. She was so wonderful to work with and definitely wanted to make the ceremony personalized and work however we wanted it. We would definitely recommend hiring Mary!
Mary was our wedding officiant for our beach ceremony in Rehoboth and she was a joy to work with for our wedding. Mary was responsive to all of our phone calls and emails and met with us multiple times ahead of our wedding day because she really cared about getting to know us and catered our wedding ceremony to meet our needs. She made the whole process very easy and took care of the paperwork responsibilities. We highly recommend hiring Mary as your wedding officiant.
Mary was absolutely wonderful and helpful every step of the way for our marriage renewal ceremony on the beach. She even brought flowers from her garden for me and my daughter!
Mary was great! I only gave her about a month’s notice and she was very happy to help us out with no issues. She got everything we needed done in a timely manner. She was very informative and helpful with how to get a marriage license and kept me updated with every step of the process. She then endured some insane 30 mph winds and colder temps on the beach with us. She was professional, polite, and personable. I would highly recommend Mary if you’re looking for a great officiant.
I can’t thank Mary enough for how wonderful she was. Our circumstances were far from traditional, but she approached everything with genuine care, patience, and warmth. She was attentive, responsive, and made the process feel simple and stress-free. Her calm and reassuring presence brought so much peace to a time that could have easily felt overwhelming. I’m truly grateful for her — she helped turn something unorthodox into a moment filled with love, meaning, and sincerity. Thank you so much!!!
Mary was a pleasure to work with from start to finish. She is kind, knowledgeable, perceptive, and easy to talk to. Mary is also quick to respond to questions and comments. Mary set out to get to know my husband and I early on in the planning process and used her impression of us (as individuals and as a couple) to craft a tailor-made ceremony. Not only were my husband and I blown away, our guests were also touched by Mary’s writing, and also her cadence and warm presence. As a secular couple, we wanted a ceremony that everyone would appreciate and enjoy, and Mary truly exceeded our expectations in doing so! In addition to the wedding itself, Mary was just as helpful at our rehearsal (for which she jumped through quite a few hoops to get to for us!) and throughout the marriage licensing process. We can’t recommend Mary enough. Thank you for helping us plan and host the wedding of our dreams!
Mary was extremely professional and did a beautiful ceremony. I wanted to surprise my husband, which worked, with a renewal after 6 years and the day of I asked if we could do another surprise renewal for my parents after 47 years and she made it happen! All were super surprised and it was absolutely lovely. Mary was very reasonably priced and provided 2 bouquets for the ceremony. She customized the vows and it was the best renewal we have had!
Mary went ABOVE AND BEYOND to make our wedding special! Mary is professional, sweet, caring, and absolutely LOVES doing this! This combination made for a perfect wedding day and I’ve now gained a friend from this process! Mary is the BEST! We originally had hired a wedding planning service to do a beach ceremony which included an officant. About six months prior the wedding we were going over details and she informed us she was unable to officate our wedding. Fourtunatly I found Mary’s contact information. She reached out right away and she was available the day of our wedding!! I am over the moon happy the other company couldn’t officate our wedding because Mary definitely made me feel like a person instead of feeling like a number from the other company. She took the time to get to know us as a couple, which ultimately made for the most special wedding ceremony I could’ve ever imagined! We weren’t sure what to say in our vows and how to plan out our ceremony. Mary wrote our vows for us and made it personal. She had our ceremony planned weeks before our wedding and we were able to proof read and adjust things. She also recommended that we add sand to our ceremony so we each(including our son) added sand to a vase. We now have a special keepsake from the ceremony. When Mary came out for the rehearsal she brought our son a gift to make him feel special and included him in our ceremony. She is the sweetest person, and this was by far the smoothest part of wedding planning. Thank you again Mary! We love you!
Mary was the best officiant ever! She was very communicative and asked all the right questions when discussing vows. Even the ones I would never remember to ask! She made them very personal and unique to us. She was on time and ready for the wedding! She took care of all of our signatures for the marriage license/certificate! She made my day special!
**Thank you soo much Mary!!**
Wedding planning can be really stressful, but Mary made everything so much easier and ended up providing us with the most perfect ceremony! She was professional, kind, and extremely thoughtful! We couldn’t have asked for a better officiant!
Mary was amazing and thorough she really captured our story. She was also very reasonable on budget. She also was very accommodating to my fiance now husband’s mobility restraints. Would 1000% recommend her.
Frequently Asked Questions
I generally work in Delaware and Maryland’s Eastern Shore. However, I am willing to travel farther if travel and lodging reimbursement can be factored into our agreement.
I am open to being your officiant whether your ceremony is on the beach, in your backyard, on a boat or in a grand wedding venue.
Once I understand a couple’s vision, I will tailor the vows and ceremony to meet their goals. I can provide traditional, modern, short or longer programs and I can include additional parts to the program, if requested by the couple, such as readings by friends or family, candle lightings, hand fasting, etc. Ceremonies can refer to God or a religious deity, or be secular, with no religious reference.
I offer my services joyfully to all regardless of their religious or spiritual beliefs, their sexual orientation, their race or ethnicity and am happy to work with interfaith couples.
My work with each couple is customized and unique to their wishes and goals. Here are the general areas I cover:
*Introductory conversation with the couple to understand their goals and details for the event.
*Helping them navigate the process for obtaining their license and filing their marriage certificate in the jurisdiction of the wedding.
*Preparing and receiving their feedback and input on the vows and the agenda for the ceremony. (The means including any specific ceremony additions such as readings, candle lightings, hand fasting, etc.)
*Being present at the rehearsal, if requested.
*Conducting the ceremony and filing the signed marriage license with the appropriate jurisdiction.
The couple can be as involved as they choose. Some couples prefer to write their own vows, while others prefer sharing their vision and having me draft vows that reflect their wishes. I do ask that each couple spend some “upfront” time with me via telephone, virtually or in person (if possible) to work together so I can gather the information necessary to create a customized plan.
The actual cost is based on the specific plan created for the couple. For example, a thirty minute ceremony within driving distance of my home generally costs about $250. Once I have a good sense of what a couple requires, I will provide a written proposal which will detail my services under an inclusive price.
