Hi! I’m Naomi. I’m a multi-award winning wedding officiant in Santa Cruz.

“Naomi is redefining what an officiant can and should be.” -Simone Anne Lang, Morcom Rose Garden

I’m a competent, caring, creative and charismatic wedding officiant who helps couples have a wedding ceremony that is authentically them. I take couples under my wing, guide them, and love on them on one of the most important days of their lives. I help couples stay grounded, present and connected when they get lost in the planning, and it all becomes a bit too much. I create magical ceremonies that set the tone for the rest of their wedding, and more importantly, for the rest of their marriage! I believe the officiant-couple connection is of utmost importance, and I prioritize working with couples where there is real resonance between us. Wedding guests always assume that I am a friend of the family who has known the couple since forever - which is a wonderful affirmation since my intention is to feel like that friend or family member, but who also has the wisdom, leadership and mastery of a professional presider.

“By far, our favorite part of our wedding was the beautiful ceremony Naomi created just for us.” -Amanda, Sand Rock Farm

Why I do the voodoo that I do.

I grew up in a very rigid and repressive religious community. As a teenager I started wondering why the messages I was receiving felt so out-dated, heavy-handed and hypocritical, and why my most innocent impulses elicited criticism and punishment. I wanted to see the world in color, not in black and white. So I asked a lot of questions and pushed back hard. I spent those years and the ones following wrestling with the big philosophical, religious, spiritual, and cultural questions, and challenged oppressive and dogmatic constructs that felt divisive and irrelevant. I became a divine disrupter, a rebel with a cause, poked holes in sacred cows, and pointed out cracks in faulty believe systems.

“A holy rascal is someone who loves religion too much to leave it in the hands of the professionals.” -Rabbi Rami Shapiro

“My wife and I considered having a close friend officiate for us, but after speaking to Naomi on the phone, we knew we had to have her officiate for us. Best decision we made, hands down!” -Melissa, Leal Vineyards

Then, in my 20s, I went on a life changing quest!

I spent 4+ years backpacking alone through Latin America and Asia searching in earnest. I spent time in Jewish synagogues, Buddhist monasteries, Hindu temples, jungle malkoas, tipis and sweat lodges. Wherever I traveled I saw the importance and necessity of rites of passage, of creating continuity between the generations, of marking big life milestones with intention and care, and of being witnessed, supported and celebrated by community. I learned that ceremony was an enduring, universal human impulse.

“Not only was the ceremony moving for my wife and myself but every single person in the space left the ceremony changed because of experiencing it.” -Alexa, Roaring Camp Railroads

Continuing education.

I returned to the United States and studied every type of alternative healing modality I could get my hands on, completed two years of earth-based ministerial training with the Center for Sacred Studies, became a Certified Life Cycle Celebrant with The Celebrant Foundation and Institute, and attended countless ceremonies with wisdom keepers, indigenous elders and medicine women from around the globe. I give thanks for all of those dedicated humans who’ve taught me so much about how to approach ceremony in a good way. Some of my deepest, most profound inspiration comes from mytho-poetry, botany, biology and bio-mimicry.

“It's almost as if the poets are offering a religion of noticing things, or a religion of paying attention…” -Ada Limón

“Thank you again for the amazing gift to us of that beautiful ceremony. It was art in action, and it was beyond meaningful.” -Erica, Seymour Marine Discovery Center

Ministering to the churchless.

“We live in a society which seems to give us a choice between secularism or a rigidly defined male God.” -Rev. Myke Johnson

With more and more people identifying as other-than-religious, I recognized that there was a big need for nontraditional ceremony leadership, for someone who would midwife couples through this major rite of passage, and help them express their spiritual and philosophical sovereignty. I often call myself a ‘minister to the churchless’ or ‘reverend gone rogue’ because I work with all of those unaffiliated, atheist, agnostic, secular, spiritual-but-not-religious, multi-faith, Jew-ish, neo-pagan, and god-squeamish couples who don’t have a priest, pastor or parish to go to, but who want a REAL ceremony nonetheless. Love is inherently sacred, so there’s no need to overlay it with a bunch of doctrine if that’s not what’s authentically true to you. There can absolutely be wonderment without worship, reverence without religion, devotion without dogma, and grandeur without God. Regardless of belief, when people come together with holy intentions, all kinds of beautiful things can happen! And, as Madeleine L'Engle wrote, “There is nothing so secular that it cannot be sacred.” In other words, the most nonreligious ceremony can still feel like a holy Sacrament. So, whether your sense of the sacred is a starry sky, the man on the cross, an Ayahuasca ceremony, an epic swell, Burning Man or EDM, there’s a place for you here.

“I do believe that if your culture or tradition doesn’t have the specific ritual you are craving, then you are absolutely permitted to make up a ceremony of your own devising, fixing your own broken-down emotional systems with all the do-it-yourself resourcefulness of a generous plumber/poet.” -Elizabeth Gilbert

“Working with Naomi to co-create our ceremony is the number one thing I will always cherish and never regret. I had so so many emotions and tensions going into this process and Naomi was the most grounded, intuitive, compassionate yet steadfast guide I could’ve ever asked for. -Kevin and Sarah, Sand Rock Farm

400+ wedding ceremonies and multiple awards.

So I took all of that experience, passion, training and talent and began offering creatively re-imagined, deliciously refreshing, entirely magical, life-affirming, one of a kind wedding ceremonies to couples who wanted to mark this wildly important life moment with an unforgettable ceremony that would be the emotional, communal and spiritual heartbeat of their wedding. I’ve since performed over 400 wedding ceremonies, became a founding board member of the Slow Weddings Network, and won multiple awards on the top wedding websites, including WeddingWire and The Knot.

“We spent the weekend basking in the glow of the actualization of our wedding ceremony. We're feeling downright effervescent!” -Dan and Sarah Jain, Sand Rock Farm

Woman on a mission!

I’m committed to “finding more insightful ways of comprehending the great human transitions, and reinventing meaningful ways of ritualizing them.” I’m committed to becoming one of those generous plumber/poets that Elizabeth Gilbert describes. I am committed to inclusivity, and I wholeheartedly welcome couples of all colors, cultures, creeds, genders, sexual orientations, neuro-types and degrees of ability. I am deeply committed to helping Jewish couples safely and soulfully honor their ethnic/religious/cultural roots through ceremony. I’m committed to being a potent force of female leadership in a realm that has historically been male dominated. I’m committed to disrupting an industry that’s become all about consumption and is absent of Soul, and to regenerating healthy wedding culture and rites of matrimony. Most of all, I’m committed to reanimating the sacred as a way of counteracting the spiritual bereftness of the western world, and to bringing more beauty into this world.

“Beauty is the means by which the Gods touch the senses, reach the heart, and attract us into life.” -James Hillman

“For as long as we’ve been evolving, Beauty has been a signal of the good.” -Janine Benyus

“We couldn’t be happier with the ceremony, it is both of our highlights to our wedding and to our life. We truly appreciate you and feel so blessed to have our paths connected. Thank you for pouring your energy into ceremony. It is a blessing to the world.” -Nathan and Alisha, Sequoia Retreat Center

My special sauce.

In addition to the extensive training I mentioned above, I have a degree in creative writing and a background in theater and public speaking, which greatly enhances my ceremony writing and performance skills. I’m a weaver and a synthesizer and a natural bridge between the ancient and the modern, the mystical and the practical, the secular and the sacred, tradition and innovation. I embody a sort of irreverent-reverence, and bring just the right balance of goofiness and gravitas to my work with couples.

“I like it much better than ‘religious’ or ‘spiritual’ - to be a seeker after the sacred or the holy, which ends up for me being the really real.” -Rev. Barbara Brown Taylor

“Your undeniable passion for what you do, undeniable finesse with words, and compassion for others makes our decision easy for who we want to marry us. We can't think of anything better than having your wisdom, empathy, expertise, and poetry as a part of our special day!” -Amber and Molly, Santa Cruz

Getting personal.

My first word was supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. For real. I love a good binge and some of my favorite shows include Reservation Dogs, Ramy, Transparent and Better Things. I used to be a professional Sign Language interpreter, but a wrist injury changed the direction of my work and life. Later I became a professional astrologer, so I guess you could say that I've long been an interpreter of signs. (I’m a Capricorn by the way.) I’m the oldest of five children, the aunt of ten, and the great aunt of one! I’m a native New Yorker, world traveler, and expat at heart. I’m a modern mystic, passionate poet, and word nerd who geeks-out on alliteration, etymology, and collective nouns. I’m a plant lover, and glamping is my preferred habitat. I am an avid student of aromatherapy and the ancient art of anointing. I’ve completed specialized training in end of life ceremony creation and facilitation, and in addition to weddings I officiate funerals, memorials and celebration of life ceremonies. You can follow me and my very imperfectly curated Instagram feed at @santacruzofficiant. Last, but certainly not least, I am the over-the-top, entirely smitten, seriously obsessed mama of a 4.5 year old cavapoo named Leela Grace.

Words I live by:

“Wisdom tells me I am nothing. Love tells me I am everything. Between these two my life flows.” —Nisargadatta Maharaj

“A bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song.” —Maya Angelou

“That was an INCREDIBLE ceremony!! You are an artist of emotion and truly gifted at creating one of a kind, love centered, spirit filled, authentic unions!” -Sarah, Sequoia Retreat Center

Coaching and consulting.

In addition to officiating wedding ceremonies, I offer 1:1 mentorship to novice officiants, newly ordained ministers and newly certified celebrants. I am available to teach at ministerial training programs, be a guest speaker at conferences and summits about ceremony and ritual in the “post religious era,” be interviewed on wedding and other ceremony-related podcasts, consult with clergy who are looking to be more inclusive, relevant and relatable, and coach people who are tasked with officiating their friend or family members wedding ceremonies. Finally, I offer spiritual counseling, guidance and direction to people who are navigating transitions, thresholds, initiations, dark nights of the soul and crossroads. (This includes death, divorce, fledgling children, career dissolution, etc.) I also mentor people who are in the early stages of their spiritual journey, and support people who are unpacking religious/spiritual trauma, and deconstructing fundamentalist religious conditioning.

“I remember our wedding day and how my life changed since then because of your ceremonial blessing. Our wedding ceremony was the most pivotal affirmation of our relationship, our identities and values, and it has strengthened the very core of my being.” -Lyza, Hyatt Carmel Highlands