Today we’re interviewing Rev. Kevin Roberts of VOW, Columbia SC Wedding Officiant and Marriage Planning.
About VOW
Kevin was ordained in 1998 and him & his wife have enjoyed over 25 years of marriage! As a wedding photographer I only really spend an hour or so with Kevin, but even in that short time, it’s easy to see the bond he has with the couples- and the trust they have in him. Kevin offers wedding officiant services but even beyond that he offers marriage planning. What better way to spend your time before your big day than really putting some thought into how you will work together to spend all the rest of your days. I really enjoyed this quote from Kevin’s website.
The wedding is only one day. And your marriage is for all the days after that. Ask yourself how much time you have spent planning a one day event. Now ask yourself how much time and energy you have invested in planning and preparing your marriage. Really, it’s a notion of investment. What will get your best energy, your wedding or your marriage? Make no mistake, your wedding should be everything you want it to be. Enjoy it. But your marriage should be everything you need it to be even moreso.
Here’s a few more words about Kevin and VOW’s wedding services in his own words!
The word “officiant” means someone who is legally allowed to perform wedding ceremonies in the United States, and is often interchangeable with “minister,” although attorneys and Notary Publics can “officiate” a ceremony too. For me, I have very little to do with planning the wedding, but conversely, everything to do with planning the ceremony. A good officiant will work with a bride and a groom to help them achieve the ceremony of their wishes. I don’t mandate anything for my clients, nor do I require they have a specific or similar faith journey or spirituality as I do, if any at all. I want to be the custodian of my client’s ceremony, and by that I mean, I want to offer my experience and training to help them affirm what is important to them. It’s their wedding, not mine. I’m there to help, assist, and lead..and encourage joy.
I love the relationships that are formed. There is nothing I like more than to receive in the mail a birth announcement of a first child, or a change of address when clients purchase their first home. When clients share milestones from their lives with me I know my work has been meaningful and intentional.A service I offer called “Marriage Planning” allows me the grand opportunity to spend hours with clients who are intentional about the health and longevity of their marriage. When we spend that time together in my office preliminary to the wedding, we develop a great relationship, and it is not only enjoyed by the three of us standing at the altar, but it becomes visible to the guests as well. So, helping clients think purposefully about their marriage develops long lasting relationships. I cherish each one, long after the wedding.
Well, some remember me because I am tall, others from my easily assembled name mash-up “Rev. Kev.” But I would say, more importantly, I hear from clients and wedding guests that the ceremonies I conduct are absent of anxiety and full of joy and sentiment. I enter each ceremony with the desire to confer a blessing on my clients at their wedding altar, and thankfully, often that blessing spills over onto the attendants and guests. I am delighted when that happens.
Authenticity. I’ve been to so many ceremonies that seemed to be canned and antiseptic, devoid of feeling. I endeavor to offer the opposite. And, I truly enjoy what I do. Joy is contagious, ya know? And what better event in our lives to be joyful within than a wedding?
Value doesn’t have as much to do with price as it does with the experience in my opinion. I don’t endeavor to be the “cheapest’ in the market, but rather, to be the best. I tell my prospective clients that my fee includes many things, namely among them is not only what I will say during their ceremony, but what I WON’T say: I wont use a ceremony to espouse my own personal beliefs; I won’t hijack a ceremony to draw attention to myself or make grandiose pronouncements that are inappropriate; I won’t preach; I won’t be low energy and rush through; I won’t embarrass my clients at the altar. So, if it means paying a little more so that people don’t remember your boorish wedding officiant that does one or all of the above, pay the extra. It’s worth it. THAT is value.
When my clients are non-anxious at the altar because of the work we have done preliminary to the wedding day. When they are fully present to each other during the ceremony, and they look me in the eye, and they feel the same as I do, that being, I wouldn’t want anyone else to be officiating their wedding but me. And then, when it’s all over, and we are signing the license, they say, “that was awesome!” That finds a perch in my heart, and I am glad for them, and for myself, that a job was done well.
A “new bride” means the wedding is in the past, and she is currently not planning a wedding, but living a marriage. There is a big difference in the two. Talk to each other, take NOTHING for granted, and call a good conversation partner when you hit bumps in the road, say perhaps, a minister. I know a good one btw, he’s an authentic husband himself working on his twenty seventh year, his company is called VOW, and some people call him “Rev. Kev.” He loves that, btw.
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