Frequently Asked Questions

How do I find out more about your services?
What do your wedding services include?
How long will my wedding take?
Do I get to see a copy of my ceremony before the wedding?
What are your fees?
How do I guarantee that you are available for our date and time?
When is the balance of payment due?
Do you require premarital counseling?
How can we personalize our ceremony?
Can we write our own vows?
Do I invite my Celebrant to the reception?
Are you available for weddings or commitment ceremonies for same-sex couples?
What other ceremonies do you perform?
What makes you unique?
What is a Life-Cycle Celebrant?
Why choose a Celebrant for a wedding?
Is a wedding performed by a Celebrant legally recognized?

How do I find out more about your services?
Call 314-322-0906, email ruth@ruthellenhasser.com, or fill out the Contact form. I will respond to all contacts within twenty-four hours. After asking a few questions about your ceremony, I will give you an estimate of the fee. Then we can set up a complimentary interview which will allow me to learn more about your hopes and preferences for your wedding ceremony, and give you a chance to ask me any additional questions. Once we agree that I will be your officiant, we will begin the process of collaboration to create your personalized and customized wedding ceremony.

What do your wedding services include?
My wedding services include unlimited ceremony script consultations, revisions, and updates by phone and email; research and resource material; consultations with your musicians/DJ/videographer/wedding planner and venue staff as needed; officiating at your ceremony; and processing your marriage license and certificate following the ceremony.

How long will my wedding take?
The average length of a wedding ceremony is approximately 20 minutes, but we can make it as long or as short as you want.

Do I get to see a copy of my ceremony before the wedding?
Yes! In fact, I will send you each draft of the ceremony for your editing and final approval.

What are your fees?
The fees for my wedding services range from $200 - $550. The fee varies, based on the length and complexity of your ceremony, travel requirements, and the location and date of the ceremony. The pricing for your ceremony will reflect the time spent making sure that your wedding ceremony is customized, personalized, and just the way you want it. For more information, click on Services & Fees.

How do I guarantee that you are available for our date and time?
A non-refundable $100 deposit is required to reserve your special date and time on my calendar.

When is the balance of payment due?
The balance of the fee is due two weeks before the ceremony date. When circumstances require it, I will work with you to create another payment schedule to meet your needs.

Do you require premarital counseling?
No. As your wedding celebrant, my job is to work with you to create a beautiful and meaningful ceremony, and then to officiate at your wedding ceremony.

How can we personalize our ceremony?
You can choose your own readings, vows, rituals, music, and wedding choreography. You can incorporate traditions and customs from your ethnic or religious heritages, as well as borrow from other spiritual traditions that you find meaningful. As a romantic touch, we can even tell your story as a couple: how you met, fell in love, decided to be married, and your hopes and dreams for the future.

Can we write our own vows?
Absolutely! If needed, I can give you a few pointers and starter ideas.

Do I invite my Celebrant to the reception?
It is not expected or necessary to invite me to your reception. It is an honor and a privilege just to be a part of your wedding ceremony!

Are you available for weddings or commitment ceremonies for same-sex couples?
Yes, I am. Currently, however, neither Missouri nor Illinois legally recognize the basic civil right of same-sex couples to marry. The closest state which does so is Iowa. Road trip, anyone?
Meanwhile, I am happy to work with same-sex couples who would like to create a beautiful ceremony to celebrate their love and commitment to one another.

What other ceremonies do you perform?
I am available for Vow Renewals, Divorce Ceremonies, Funerals, Memorials, and Life Tributes. For more information, call 314-322-0906, email ruth@ruthellenhasser.com, or fill out the form on the Contact page.

What makes you unique?
As an ordained Wedding Officiant and Celebrant certified by the Celebrant Foundation & Institute, I am trained and experienced in creating personalized, customized, memorable, and beautiful ceremonies from the heart. With degrees in psychology, theology, and religious education, I have spent most of my professional life working in both high school and college settings teaching, writing, and doing campus ministry. Becoming a Celebrant has been an amazing opportunity to help people from a wide variety of backgrounds and traditions mark the milestones in their lives in meaningful ways. I truly love what I am doing and I’m having the time of my life!

What is a Life Celebrant?
Life-Cycle Celebrants are people in your community who are trained to officiate at, compose, and perform the highest quality personalized ceremonies for couples, individuals, and organizations. The Celebrant's mission is to create a ceremony that reflects your needs, beliefs, cultural background, values, and tastes.

Celebrancy is an established and flourishing movement that began in Australia and New Zealand in the 1970s, where over one million ceremonies have been officiated at by Celebrants. The Celebrant Foundation and Institute educates Certified Life-Cycle Celebrants© in the art of celebration, symbolism and tradition to offer personalized ceremonies to mark the milestones in people’s lives and reflect the needs, beliefs and values of the couple, individual or family. Celebrants are trained to officiate at virtually every life event, including: weddings, engagements, funerals and memorials and end-of life tributes, baby welcomings and blessings, parenting ceremonies, home and dwelling ceremonies, adoptions, dedications, anniversaries, birthdays, civic/community/non-profit ceremonies, survival-healing and transition ceremonies including divorce, recovery and job loss. The Celebrant Foundation & Institute has been featured in: NPR, CBS Nightly News, Wall Street Journal, NY Times, Wall Street Journal, BBC News and voted #3 for Top Ten Careers on CNN News & Money Magazine. For more information about the Celebrant Foundation visit: http://celebrantinstitute.org/.

Why choose a Celebrant for a wedding?
A couple may choose a Celebrant if they believe that the wedding ceremony is the heart of their wedding day. Whether you are secular, religious, spiritual, nondenominational, or part of an interfaith or multicultural family, a Celebrant can help you to create a ceremony that respects all that is meaningful to you.

Is a wedding performed by a Celebrant legally recognized?
Yes. Each Life Cycle Celebrant trained by the Celebrant Foundation in Weddings & Other Ceremonies for Couples has to meet the requirements of her or his state in order to received certification. I have met the requirements of all 50 states through my ordination with the Universal Brotherhood Movement, Inc.