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Meet Our Officiants
Meet Our Officiants
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Laura Ford: Greater Philadelphia Area, Montgomery and Bucks CountiesLaura loves listening to stories, whether whispered by the wind and trees in the Wissahickon woods just outside her door or told by couples who engage her to plan a personalized wedding, new parents celebrating a baby blessing ceremony or a family planning a funeral or memorial service for a loved one. That gift of deep listening allows her to hear what’s most important to people in these most vulnerable of times—even when they may not even have words for it—and prepare a ceremony that’s meaningful to them, their families and friends. Her gentle and caring presence lends just the right touch of solemnity, intimacy, and humor to rituals that mark life’s great transitions and milestones Read More | |
| Laura Ford |
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Renee Ford ConwayRenee Ford-Conway has a warm, inviting, joyful and loving presence.She has a vibrant personality yet, at the same time, brings a calm sense of peace to all she does. Renee’s love of learning and experiencing life to the fullest led her to Journeys of the Heart. She believes that every event of importance can be marked by meaningful ceremony which speaks to the essence of participants and guests. Read More | |
| Renee Ford Conway |
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Urbane Peachey: Lancaster, Harrisburg, York, Berks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery counties in Pennsylvania and northern Delaware.Urbane (pronounced “Urban”) has been an Officiant with Journeys of the Heart for more than seven years. He is adept at observing the special connections in the ordinary and extraordinary experiences of the bride and groom. He adapts readily to a variety of expectations for the wedding ceremony, whether the ceremony is religious, spiritual or secular. Read More |
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| Urbane Peachey |
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Diane Smith-Hoban, Administrator of Journeys of the Heart and Officiant: Greater Philadelphia and Delaware Valley Region In addition to officiating weddings, funerals and baby blessings, Diane is involved in the day-to-day administration of Journeys of the Heart and loves connecting with people about their weddings and other ceremony needs. Read More | |
| Diane Smith Hoban |
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Miki Young: Philadelphia Region Miki brings and energy and lighthearted humor to everything she does....including weddings. Inspired by the Buddhist tradition of equanimity, there is very little that flaps this unflappable spirit. She is a caring and compassionate minister who really opens her heart to the people she marries, those who are in need of spiritual creative healing rituals, babies being named, and young souls looking to honor their Jewish rite of passage by celebrating becoming a bar/bat mitzvah. Read More | |
| Miki Young |
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Maria Odilia Romeu: Philadelphia Metropolitan Area and Beyond Maria Odilia was born in Africa, the child of a Dutch mother and a Puerto Rican father. Regretfully, she speaks neither of her parents’ native languages, but enjoys a close relationship with her overseas relatives - who all speak English! She is intrigued and delighted by cultural diversity, and values the people she has met and the art she has explored during trips to the Pacific Northwest of the USA, Europe, Japan and Latin America. |
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| Maria Odilia Romeu |
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Jim Rosengarten: Philadelphia Delaware Valley Region Jim’s devotion to his family keeps him grounded and helps him to appreciate the opportunity to be with others as they prepare to celebrate life’s most significant moments. Born in Indiana, Jim moved to Newark, NJ, in the eighties to serve for two years as a Jesuit Volunteer. Read More | |
| Jim Rosengarten |
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Susanne Wilson: Serving the Poconos, Lehigh Valley, New Jersey (all of it), Metropolitan Philadelphia Susanne has a deep love of ritual and ceremony, from sharing coffee with her husband each morning to honoring and celebrating life’s major passages. She feels incredibly blessed with abundant opportunity to witness those passages as her work with Journeys of the Heart brings more than the usual amount one might see in a lifetime! Read More | |
| Susanne Wilson |
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Kelly Fuddy: Lancaster County, Chester County, Harrisburg, York Kelly is so fascinated by how much the world has to offer that she sometimes wishes she could live several concurrent lives to follow every path that interests her in this short life. She is a Fighting Irish fan and graduate of the University of Notre Dame, where she received a BA in Anthropology and took a course in almost every other department. Read More | |
| Kelly Fuddy |
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David Braneky: Philadelphia Metropolitan Area and Entire Delaware Valley David believes that all life is sacred and that working with couples to create a wedding ceremony that reflects their love, values, hopes and dreams is profoundly enriching to their life as well as his own. He seeks to create a joyous ceremony for them and all who celebrate with them and is grateful that Journeys of the Heart provides a place where he can provide that service to such a wide variety of couples. Read More | |
| David Braneky |
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Eileen McCafferty DiFranco: Philadelphia, Northern and Western suburbs, New Jersey. During her eighteen years of working as a school nurse at busy Philadelphia schools, Eileen has developed an appreciation for the many paths that bring people together as couples, families, and friends. Eileen has worked with students and families from places as diverse as Senegal and the Ivory Coast, Turkey, Palestine, Afghanistan, Nepal, and Laos. She discovered that love, care, and concern overcome language, cultural, and religious differences. Read More | |
| Eileen McCafferty DiFranco |
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Al Vernacchio: Philadelphia Metropolitan Area and BeyondAl has vast experience in public speaking as well as with ritual. Journeys of the Heart was fortunate to discover him in 2010 after being recommended to us from several unrelated sources. Immediately upon coming on board, the first couple to request Al as their wedding officiant was a former student who, upon finding his bio on our web site, could hardly believe his good fortune in discovering that one of his favorite teachers could serve as his wedding officiant. Read More | |
| Al Vernacchio |
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Gabrielle Kaplan-Mayer: Philadelphia Metropolitan Area and Beyond Gabrielle Kaplan-Mayer discovered her love of creating personal wedding ceremonies during her own engagement over ten years ago when she and her fiancé, Fred, explored creative ways to honor both her Jewish and his Buddhist faiths and traditions. Read More | |
| Gabrielle Kaplan-Mayer |
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Bob Pileggi: Philadelphia Metropolitan Area and Beyond Bob finds deep satisfaction in creating and facilitating space where couples, their families and friends can fully experience life’s most poignant and valuable moments. In addition to his work with Journeys of the Heart, he dedicates his life to working with people who seek to “experience the moment” through ceremony, yoga instruction, spiritual counseling, breath coaching and energy work. Bob offers individual sessions, workshops, and multi-day retreats to guide others toward a sense of unconditional acceptance, compassion, peace, joy, and gratitude for life. Read More | |
| Bob Pileggi |
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Anita Bondi: Pocono Region, Lehigh Valley Anita feels blessed to have such a special role in the lives of so many couples. One of the most beautiful, intriguing things to her is the love story between two people and finding a way to put that into a personalized ceremony that reflects the depth and the mystery of love. Her couples find her warmth, enthusiasm and lively spirit delightful. She makes sure that the guests feel included and engaged and that the couples feel present to the moment and relaxed. Read More | |
| Anita Bondi |
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Linda Noonan: Philadelphia Delaware Valley Whether teaching Shakespeare to Zulu-speaking teenagers in Africa, doing any project with her young teen daughters involving glitter or creating the perfect wedding or blessing ceremony or memorial service, Linda approaches life with freshness, passion and respect. Read More | |
| Linda Noonan |
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Wilson Kratz: Philadelphia Metropolitan Area including upper Bucks and Montgomery Counties, Lehigh and Northampton Counties of Pennsylvania; Hunterdon and Somerset Counties in New Jersey.Wilson admits to being an adventure junky who loves new and varied experiences, which may seem strange for a lad who was born and raised on a Mennonite dairy farm near Franconia, PA. After graduating from Albright College and teaching high school social studies for 3 years, Wilson and his bride, Anne Libbey, joined the Peace Corps and headed for India in 1966. Read More |
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| Wilson Kratz |
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Heidi Minich: Pocono Mountain Region and the Lehigh Valley Heidi resides in Henryville, Pennsylvania, in the Pocono Mountains with her husband and two children. The bucolic small-town nestled in the mountains provides an inspirational backdrop for her thoughtful and careful planning of ceremonies for Journeys of the Heart and she puts her whole heart into creating them. Read More | |
| Heidi Minich |
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Naila Francis: Eastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey, northern Delaware. Naila (pronounced Ny lah) is an unabashed romantic, which makes it no surprise that she tends to fall a little in love with every couple she marries, elevated as much by the depth and beauty of their connection as she is by the tremendous gratitude and sense of honor she feels to be present at such an occasion. She does admit, however, that one of her wedding highlights remains reciting the opening words of the Impressive Clergyman from the film “The Princess Bride” during one of her ceremonies at the request of the bride and groom, Read More | |
| Naila Francis |
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Irene Fulton: All Eastern Pennsylvania regions, Southern New Jersey from Princeton to Cape May. Irene’s eclectic spirituality ranges from traditional Christian to Native American to New Age as well as all interfaith traditions. Even as she honors current wedding tradition, she is also our Renaissance and Celtic ritual expert and enjoys creating ceremonies that honor ages past. Read More | |
| Irene Fulton |
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Timothy Ray Dalton – Philadelphia Metropolitan Area, Delaware Valley and South Jersey. Tim loves a good story. Serving as a pastor of a small church in Montgomery County and as a hospice chaplain in South Jersey, he has had many opportunities to witness the life stories of others in a very personal way. Tim holds that all the twists and turns of our lives’ stories (sometimes known as “drama”) have something to teach us and provide occasions for growth and healing. Whether working with a couple to create a spiritual or secular wedding ceremony, new parents who wish to celebrate the birth of a child or a family planning a funeral or memorial service for a loved one, Tim seeks to honor their values, dreams and unique stories. He believes that each of these life passage celebrations is a powerful symbol of our deep yearning for connection. Tim holds dear the values of authentic relationship, hospitality, hope, social justice, and good humor. He seeks to affirm the uniqueness and dignity of every person and couple and to walk with them in a journey to discover the sacred nature of their own story.Read More | ||
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Marguerite Sexton, Founder: Greater Philadelphia Region Marguerite founded Journeys of the Heart in 1995, incorporating it in 1996. Since then she has presided at many hundreds of ceremonies throughout the entire Delaware Valley, nurturing the ministry’s growth through the years from two officiants in the beginning (herself and Laura Ford) to the current almost two dozen. Marguerite personally oversees the training of all new officiants and wishes to remain accessible not just to them but to all clients served by Journeys of the Heart. She founded Journeys of the Heart based on a strong belief in the value of loving commitments and a desire to provide meaningful ceremonies to mark critically important milestones in people’s lives. Read More | |
| Marguerite Sexton Founder |
Call our toll-free or local number or use the contact form below to e-mail us directly.
Toll-Free
877-WE-MARRY
(877-936-2779)
Local
215-663-8980
journeys@journeysoftheheart.org
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