Testimonials

Wonderful Wedding Officiants
My husband and I had our wedding ceremony at the Botanical Gardens in September of 2022. As part of the wedding package, Botanical Gardens provides recommended vendors and YellowBird Weddings was one of them – for good reason!
As two people who have gone to many weddings, we knew we wanted a very quick, non-religious ceremony. My husband and I have been together for close to ten years and really wanted a ceremony that was representative of the life we share together. Michelle, having only met with us a few times, was able to perfectly capture that.
Our experience with Michelle was wonderful – start to finish. Michelle first met with us to get to know us better. We knew we did not want to exchange our own personal vows and she provided several non-traditional options for readings, vows, and exchanging rings. We were able to customize the vows as we wanted.
On the day of, her ceremony was beautiful. We had several people approach us after and tell us how fitting it was for our relationship, and how refreshing her words were. People said they couldn’t stop nodding along with what she was saying because of how well it described the two of us.
I would absolutely recommend YellowBird Wedding, especially Michelle, to any couple. We can’t thank her enough for making our ceremony so special.
Noelle & P.J. SawickiThe best officiant ever!
Michelle was absolutely amazing! From the very start she was attentive, easy to work with, and a great listener. She answered all of our questions. We live out of state but got married back in my hometown. So I double-checked with her a couple of times to make sure we were doing things correct. When we asked if we could have our bridal party send her some stories about us to make the ceremony even more personal, she bring it on! There was not a dry eye in the house during our ceremony. I loved that she came and checked with us right before the whole thing started to make sure we didn’t need anything. We would give Michelle all the stars! She is just fantastic. Afterward we said “I Dos” and walked back down the aisle she made sure to track us down, had our witnesses sign the paperwork right away. If you need an officiant she is it!
Stacey & Kevin BradleyBrilliant!
Michelle was an absolutely perfect addition to our wedding day. I live out of town and was unfamiliar with what sort of officiants were available in Buffalo. My (now) husband and I aren’t religious but are spiritual and after sifting through many not quite right options, I came across Michelle and Yellowbird Weddings through several reviews online. Her website was welcoming, warm and full of love – the pictures of her with all of her couples is what I loved best about her. It showed she truly cared about the part she played in each ceremony and wasn’t in and out and on to the next one.
Meeting with Michelle was like talking to an old friend – her sense of humor and infectious smile made us like her immediately. Communicating with her between the first meeting and the ceremony was fun and easy and she always replied quickly!
Her words at our ceremony were personalized and heart warming. Everyone commented afterwards how well spoken she was (and how well they could hear her outside!) and many of them asked how long we had been friends! Her personalized delivery of our ceremony was so well done, everyone thought we had asked someone we already knew to perform it for us.
She provided help and guidance with writing our own vows and tailoring the ceremony the way we wanted. She gave us a ceremony that held a great sense of importance and unity, but was also fun and easy! Her openness to the world and the enjoyment she gets out of her job makes her the perfect person to perform your ceremony! Just look at her website – every couple is completely different from the next and she finds her own way to make their ceremonies about just them.
Bridget & Casey MillerHighly Recommend!
My husband and I were not having a church wedding, and finding an officiant really seemed to be one of our hardest tasks. It’s strange (for me) because how do you just find someone to marry you, who you don’t even know? That is what I really struggled with. I found Karen Younus online and we did a facetime session to break the ice. Karen was extremely flexible and easy going with us even after we changed our venue to our backyard which was 40 minutes away from our original location. When Karen arrived she was kind, helpful and professional. We got SO many compliments on her ceremony as a whole. It was short and sweet with very kind readings and Karen just is a sweet person which really helped make our ceremony special. I would never hesitate to book with her and highly recommend for your officiant needs!!
Jamey & Nolan Boice birds

More than we ever could have asked for!
My husband and I went back and forth about asking a family member to marry us or hiring an officiant. After lots of discussion, we decided we wanted to hire someone to take the officiant duties off our plate of things to worry about. We stumbled upon Megan from YellowBird, and I am so happy we did! Megan was so incredibly professional to work with from our very first meeting. She took time to get to know my husband and I, and she gave us so many options and ideas to customize our ceremony to us perfectly. Having only ever been to Catholic ceremonies, we didn’t have much of an idea of what we wanted for our non-religious ceremony. Megan gave us options for our readings, ring exchange, and vows to pick from and helped us as we edited them all to make them completely ours. Our ceremony went flawlessly, and we received so many compliments about how Megan captured our love so purely in our ceremony. I would recommend Megan to anyone!
Cali & Ryan Giering

Amazing officiant, super personal and beautiful ceremony!
Michelle Snyder with Yellow Bird Weddings was phenomenal. She met with us ahead of time to get to know us a bit to help make our ceremony more personal. She met with us free of charge, and was also available to us via email anytime leading up to the wedding. She was able to do a rehearsal with us for a small fee and was very easy going throughout the whole process. She helped make our wedding day so special and perfect, and we could not have asked for a better officiant. She helped us create a beautiful ceremony that was personal, endearing, and one-of-a-kind. As an interracial, lesbian couple, we wanted a wedding that was both traditional and non-traditional, and mixed different cultural aspects. Michelle was very knowledgeable and open, and was great with helping us to tailor our ceremony to be very “us.” I highly recommend her!!!
Alicia & September AllewayGreat job! So happy!
Karen did such an amazing job with every part of the process. We were hoping for a short and sweet ceremony and Karen was able to get to know us and narrate our love story in such a personal and special way on our wedding day. She sent us a bunch of examples to help us choose our vows which was so helpful because we really didn’t know where to start. So many of our friends and family commented after about how much they loved our ceremony & vows. We postponed our wedding due to COVID and then had to go with our ‘rain plan’ since the weather didn’t cooperate, but even with all of the craziness of our wedding day, Karen was so flexible and made our moment so special for us and our guests. I can’t recommend enough!
Erica & Mike McLainMegan was an amazing wedding officiant!
Megan was so easy to work with, super nice, and did an awesome job personalizing our wedding ceremony. She provided ideas for each part of the ceremony and we were able to have exactly what we wanted. Our family and friends were so moved by Megan’s kind and thoughtful words. I highly recommend Megan to be your wedding officiant!
Andrea & Zach MonellThe Ceremony of Our Dreams!
Michelle was absolutely amazing! After the first officiant we booked completely ghosted us we contacted Michelle at YellowBird Weddings and she responded immediately and saved the day. I am so glad she did because literally every guest at our wedding came and told me what an amazing job she did. Our ceremony was so beautiful and personal and had everyone in tears. My husband and I were most nervous for our ceremony but it turned into the most calm and beautiful part of our day thanks to Michelle. I can’t not recommend her enough.
Emaleigh & Eric NottinghamPersonalized our Wedding!
We loved Michelle, let’s just start there 🙂 My mother initially asked us to go with a priest and though we wanted to appease her, we couldn’t go through with exchanging vows that were religious and we just weren’t comfortable saying things to each other that we didn’t believe in. After we broke the news to mother-dear, I did research trying to find someone who would make our experience personal and one-of-a-kind. We wanted to find someone who wanted to get to know US, as individuals and as a couple, and could make something beautiful…..enter Michelle! She met with us via Zoom to get to know us and ask questions about our relationship and what we loved about each other. She also asked us to send a pic to help her remember….all these things told us she really cares about creating a unique and memorable moment. She was communicative throughout the time leading up to the wedding. On the day of, when we found ourselves in front of each other and our whole family…Michelle spoke the most beautiful words describing us, our story and love. I am so happy we listened to our hearts and went with Michelle, because she made our ceremony absolutely perfect and something we (and our family) will never forget!
Kelly & Chris

Megan made our day very personal and this meant a lot to us. She was warm, friendly, and responsive throughout the process. I could not recommend her services more. She was an amazing officiant. She was very helpful with readings and finding the best ones for our day. She embraced all of our ideas and helped us make them a pretty package. Thank you, Sincerely!!
Anne & Tommy Szczerbacki
Wonderful!
We were so happy that we chose to go with YellowBird Wedding for our ceremony! Our officiant, Karen Younus, was absolutely wonderful. She was so helpful throughout our whole engagement when it came to the planning of the ceremony. She was always extremely prompt in responding to all of our emails anytime we had a question, gave us ideas when we needed them, and took care of absolutely everything to make sure that our ceremony ran smoothly and that we felt prepared prior to the wedding day. When it came to the actual ceremony, Karen did such a beautiful job. The ceremony surpassed all of our expectations. It was thoughtful, unique to us as a couple, and didn’t leave very many dry eyes in the room! It was just perfect and we couldn’t be happier with how it went. We would definitely recommend Karen and YellowBird Wedding for anyone who is looking for a wedding officiant!
Maggie & Morgan Brower

birds Best Officiant Ever!
Michelle was truly amazing! She took every detail of how we are as a couple, put into her words and made our ceremony so special! I felt so comfortable “meeting” Michelle through Zoom at our first meeting as she gathered so much information about us and I felt we connected instantly! She is down to earth, genuine, humorous, and insanely nice! She kept in communication with us for over the year that we first had contact with her. It’s only been two weeks since our wedding but everyone still talks about how beautiful and meaningful our ceremony was and how perfect it was! I have to give all the props to Michelle! You made Our wedding an absolute fairytale with our love from our dog Peanut to the love for the Buffalo Bills! We can not thank you enough!!
Erin & Craig Sisson birds Incredible!
I can’t begin to explain how amazing Megan was as an officiant and person! My now husband and I met Megan for the first time via FaceTime and it felt so natural, she was so easy to talk to and explained our love story. When meeting Megan in person at our rehearsal it felt like we knew her for years- she was so sweet and all of our family and friends loved her. She made our ceremony exactly what we could ask for! I’m so happy she was able to marry us, and I couldn’t imagine another person to be part of our special day. Thanks again, Megan!
Jennifer & Steven Green birds Love YellowBird!
We initially hired Michelle back in 2018 after she officiated our friends wedding back in 2012. We had to reschedule twice with Covid, never had any issues getting into contact with Michelle/Karen through everything. After our second reschedule, Michelle was already booked and referred to her to sister Karen. Didn’t even bat an eye, she was available. We had a Facetime meeting back in the Summer of 2020. While we had plenty of distractions around us at our son’s baseball game, had a great meeting with Karen. Wedding finally in August of 2021. I was shocked at the length of Karen’s ceremony! I expected 5-10-15 minutes maybe, had no idea the extent of the notes she was taking over our Facetime call. She remember so many details we had told her, it was great. Everyone loved the ceremony, would HIGHLY recommend Karen and Yellowbird.
Christine & John VosburghComplete professional and understanding.
Our Officiant; Karen Younus was amazing for our wedding. We found her last minute when our original option fell short and we were so glad she was available for our date and venue. Karen was professional, heartfelt, understanding and helpful. We were a bit nervous and she walked us through what to expect and gave us options of speeches for the ring and vows. Karen made our day even more beautiful than we expected and we are so glad she was there with us to celebrate our union.
Thank You Karen for being a part of our big day and making everything possible.
Darlene & Sal MendolaAmazing covid wedding!!
During these crazy times we ended up having the most amazing day imaginable! Michelle was the perfect choice for us. The way she narrated our love story was so personal, as if she knew us for years. I’m so glad we didn’t wait to have a big wedding. Covid decided for us; to slow it down, make it more intimate and share the day with our closest people. Michelle was so eloquent with her words and she helped us be more creative with ours. We wrote our own vows and we got to personalize the “with this ring” section because of her guidance. I couldn’t be happier!!
Kristin & Kristopher KavanaughAmazing!
Megan was amazing! She went above and beyond! Megan knew how much I wanted my dog at the wedding but couldn’t, she talked about him in the ceremony to our surprise. She checked in on us to make sure everything was going smoothly sent me examples of vows , readings to help us choose the ones that matches perfectly to our love story. Megan is one of a kind when it comes to weddings she has a real passion for this and I would recommend her to any one!
Denise DavisA truly special experience
Michelle is absolutely incredible. She worked hard to create a ceremony that represented us and our story. From the very beginning, she worked to get to know us both as individuals and as a couple. She patiently answered our questions, and provided us with all of the information that we needed to feel comfortable. Our ceremony was so special. Many of our guests commented on how beautiful Michelle’s words were. She spoke on friendship, kindness, and love. My husband and I are anxiously awaiting our wedding videos, in part because we are just so excited to her Michelle’s words again. We would absolutely recommend Michelle to anyone. Having her by our side to lead us into married life was a true gift!
Joelle & Graham PattersonCould not have been a better match for our ceremony!!!
Although Covid has thrown my now husband and I through the ringer, Michelle was one aspect that could not have been more perfect. Michelle is SO personable and genuinely wanted to get to know us as a couple to make the experience as individualistic as possible. She is very quick to respond to emails and answers all your questions and concerns! We are forever thankful for her agreeing to freeze outside in the cold at Letchworth State Park with us at our elopement. As someone who is immunocompromised, Michelle made myself feel very comfortable and remained masked at all times throughout the ceremony. I can not recommend her enough!!! 10/10
Jessica & Jesse Dickinson

Thoughtful and Amazing!
Our wedding planner recommended YellowBird Officiants for our July 2021 wedding. We were nervous about hiring an officiant we knew nothing about, but as soon as we met Karen we instantly felt at ease! Karen was incredibly thoughtful, kind, and professional. She made sure to meet with us before the wedding and really get to know us, in order to make our ceremony as personal as possible. Karen has an incredible calm energy that made my husband and I feel comfortable, which was greatly appreciated on our wedding day! Our ceremony was so beautiful and we are so thankful to have found Karen!! If you are looking for an officiant look no further than YellowBird and Karen Younus!! 🙂
Skylar & Brian SchillingMichelle did a spectacular job officiating my wedding.
I actually found her through WeddingWire where she averaged very high reviews. My interest piqued, I went to her website to get a taste for her style. Something about the way she presented herself and the joy she emitted in the photographs and videos of others’ ceremonies made me immediately want to contact her. I’m so glad I did! Michelle really took the time to get to know my husband and me as a couple. She was extremely intuitive and insightful about the kind of vibe we wanted for our ceremony and even about our values–many of which we did not explicitly share with her. After the big moment, everyone raved about how heartfelt and genuine Michelle’s words were. My husband and I felt like we were having an intimate conversation with her even though there were 100 people watching. She really set the tone for our wedding with her huge smile and joyful delivery, and we remain eternally grateful to her for making our day so magical.
Genelle & Tim
Beautifully spoken!
Karen Younus was such a pleasure to work with! My husband and I initially had an officiant that was going to do our ceremony for us, but last minute they canceled. To say we were panicking was an understatement. We luckily came across Yellowbird Weddings and I’m so glad we did!
My husband and I were specifically looking to have our ceremony built around love and friendship. Karen knocked it out of the park! She guided us with direction on sayings, and provided some examples on things we could use. She even made the trip to our venue which was in Naples NY.
To this day we still get compliments on how beautiful the ceremony was, and how well Karen did. Thank you again so much Karen for everything!! We will always remember our beautiful day. 💗
Jade & Josh DeckerI Could Not Have Asked For Better Day on August 29th 2020
Let me start by saying from the moment I reached out to Michelle, the professionalism never stopped. My now husband and I were caught in a pickle because our initial officiant ghosted us about three weeks before the wedding. I know crazy right. Well I found Yellow Bird Wedding after searching on google. I sent Michelle an email and though she could not be part of our ceremony that day, she had another event that day, she had someone else in mind that works with her, her sister Karen Younus. Michelle sent me an email and talked to her sister before I believe even sending me an email. Before I knew it both Michelle and Karen emailed me. Michelle stated Karen would be wonderful and she was just that..WONDERFUL!!! Karen set up with my schedule a time that worked for Arthur and I to video chat. We did. Karen was very easy to talk to and calmed my nerves through that conversation. She sent has different vows we could use encase we didn’t write our own..we didnt. The ones she sent us fit like a glove after she learned about us through video chat. She also sent us ring vows to choose from and those also fit like a glove. The day of ceremony she was there in plenty of time. She came in to make sure I was doing well and found Arthur outside to make sure he was doing good as well. She was even patient with me as I was running a few minutes late because of last minute hair attention and a brief rain shower. Prior to the day of the ceremony, I emailed Karen and stated how nervous Arthur was to speak in front of everyone though it was just family and friends. He is a bit shy. She said tell Arthur don’t worry, I got him and this. She sure did. When it came to the start of the ceremony, She spoke with such grace. Everyone could understand every single word. When it came to exchanging of vows, Karen again didnt miss a beat. She spoke very clear so Arthur and I had no problems with repeating her for vow or ring exchange. I threw in a few extras to keep it light hearted and a little funny. Arthur and I love each other very much (before marriage we have been together 21 Years) but we were both trying not to be an emotional wreck that day. Karen was a true professional at all times, caring, compassionate, understanding and even accommodating person. If anyone needs an Officiant for their wedding, I Highly Recommend Karen to you. Don’t be afraid to reach out to her. Thank You Again Karen!!!!

Ben and I had a great experience working with YellowBird and specifically Karen. Given that we were planning our wedding from a different state, we weren’t able to meet face-to-face but had FaceTime meetings with Karen to go through the details of our ceremony. She was so pleasant to work with and made it seem like we knew her before we even met her in person. The day of the ceremony, Karen was there well before the ceremony to talk to both my husband and myself. Her words were beautiful during the ceremony and easily guided us through ever step (vow reading, ring exchange etc.) We received so many comments after the ceremony that it was one of the best that our guests had attended and that it was beautiful. We would definitely recommend Karen and YellowBird to anyone getting married in the Buffalo-area.
Sydney & Ben LassenMichelle was an absolutely AMAZING officiant for our wedding.
My husband and I planned our wedding from almost two hours away, so it was a little bit scary trying to plan everything from a distance…one thing that we had absolutely no anxiety about was the ability of Michelle to do a beautiful, non-religious wedding ceremony for us. One compliment that we have received over and over about our wedding was how wonderful Michelle was. She is extremely well-spoken, professional, and was able to hold the attention of our guests. Many guests asked us if Michelle was a personal friend of ours–she spoke about us as if she had known us for years! Everything that we could possibly need to customize our wedding ceremony was handled by Michelle–she had samples of reading/vows for everything–the ring ceremony, marital vows, and the wine box ceremony. We chose to write our own vows, so it was helpful to have those sample vows to go from. We weren’t able to meet with her in person because of weather (have to love Buffalo in the winter!), but she we had a Skype conference with her where she asked us questions about our relationship so that she could personalize our wedding ceremony. I would recommend Michelle for anyone’s wedding with absolutely no hesitation! She is extremely responsive, personable, and her services came at a reasonable price!
Lauren & Justin SkrzynskiI do not have enough words to express how wonderful Karen is! We were among the many COVID couples that required [multiple] wedding date changes due to the rapidly changing climate. From May, then to November, and eventually deciding on August (just 6 weeks before the date), Karen was flexible, gracious, and with us every step of the way. Our ceremony was intimate and personal. It was as if Karen had been with us our entire relationship. I would recommend Karen over and over again.
Meghan & Luke Graham
Michelle is amazing!
Michelle officiated our wedding in June of 2019 and I am still amazed at how perfect she was for our special day. When we initially met with her, she asked all the right questions and quickly got to know the two of us and picked up on a few things that we didn’t even realize until she mentioned them during our ceremony. She has a great eye for catching the special little things. We chose to do a very basic and non-traditional ceremony which we were worried would be too short and not have a lot of content. Michelle managed to make it perfect with not only her personalized words about us as a couple but amazingly beautiful words about our future together. We received many compliments about the ceremony and there was not a dry eye in that courtyard! She was extremely easy to work with (as we all know how hard it is to manage all of the vendors for a wedding). I highly recommend Michelle and we are so grateful and lucky that we found her!
Lisa & JillianFor our wedding we had Karen. She was great. She took our story and made it sound amazing during our ceremony. We kept changing our mind on having our ceremony inside or outside. It wa a chilly that day however I did not want to miss out on the view. Karen was flexible to whatever we wanted for our day. We also had 5 friends do readings during our ceremony and she was great at coordinating them so that it was flawless for the ceremony. We had a wonderful ceremony and received lots of compliments! Thanks Again!
Aurea & Chris BenbenekKaren was perfect!
We’re SO glad we found Karen. She was extremely easy to work with, answered all my questions, and made the ceremony so easy. Took all my stress away. She was totally fine with our non-religious ceremony. She was very professional but also added a sweet personal touch to the ceremony. She traveled to us about an hour away with no issues. I would highly recommend Karen for an officiant! I’m so happy we found her 🙂
Veronica & Chris SuchyGuests thought she was a close friend!
Michelle was an amazing officiant for our non-denominational ceremony. After meeting with her for the initial interview, we knew we had to have her officiate our wedding. She personalized the ceremony to us and included details we shared with her during our meeting. Our guests thought she was a close family friend that had known us for years. She handled sending in our marriage license, and getting the signatures from our witnesses. She was early for the ceremony and checked in with of both us, which we thought was a nice touch. She braved the wind and cold for our ceremony and made it so memorable and tailored to my husband and I. So glad we had her participate as such a big role for our day!
Ryan & MeganWhen my fiance and I first began the search for an Officiant, we were a little unsure where to start. My fiance’s family is very religious and I had no doubt they hadn’t even fathomed the thought of us getting married outside of a church. The problem is I am not a practicing Catholic and in addition to that, we both agreed that we wanted an outdoor ceremony. So, we knew we needed a non-denominational Officiant and just sort of accepted that we’d meet with a few until we found one that we clicked with. Thankfully, Michelle was the first one we met with because we knew as soon as we left our meeting with her, that we wanted her to officiate our ceremony. She is so down to earth, easy to talk to, and really helped put us at ease about what the ceremony would be like and how it would flow. She seemed genuinely interested in learning about our story, details about us personally and our journey that brought us to where we are today. She also gave us some helpful ring exchange and vow ideas to use or build off of as we saw fit – Both were extremely helpful! Our wedding ceremony turned out to be absolutely beautiful, and all of our guests agreed. Michelle put such a personal touch on the ceremony, there were several guests that thought we’d been friends with her for years! We received so many compliments on the ceremony, many of them complimenting her specifically. She really did such a wonderful job and it was exactly what my fiance and I had hoped for. Michelle, we can’t thank you enough! Thank you so much for making our ceremony truly beautiful. It was a pleasure to be able to work with you!
Stephanie & Michael Mroz
Karen Younus officiated our wedding and we could not have been happier with our experience with her and the services she provided. Karen met with us prior to the wedding to get to know us and so that she could add personal touches to our ceremony, which we greatly appreciated. She had plenty of vows and ring exchange options for us to choose from, which we could customize to our liking as well. I received numerous compliments from guests about just how beautiful the words Karen spoke at our ceremony were and we couldn’t agree more! I highly recommend Karen!
Carrie & Lucas SorrentinoI honestly don’t know where to begin… Michelle is just amazing and made our wedding day extra special. I’ll start off by saying if you’re looking for a personal, unique, beautiful ceremony about love and friendship, look no further than Michelle. She is not only a delightful and genuine individual who you will feel as though you’ve known her for years, but she put together an absolutely beautiful ceremony. My guests talked non stop about how great our ceremony was and it was my fiancé and I’s favorite part of our day. Whether you are religious or not, anyone can appreciate the depth of the ceremony Michelle delivers. If you’re looking for a personal ceremony that you can identify with, go with Michelle 🙂 She was cordial, reassuring, and just all around a wonderful person.
Rachel & Teddy Giovannini
My husband and I couldn’t imagine having had any other officiant for our ceremony. All night long, our guests expressed that it was the most meaningful, engaging, and beautiful wedding ceremony they’d ever attended and I couldn’t agree more. Michelle presented our marriage to our friends and family in a way that involved the perfect balance of personal narrative, humor, and carefully crafted expression of what marriage means to us. We especially appreciated the manner in which Michelle was speaking directly to US during the ceremony, not just our guests. Her delivery was so moving in fact, that my husband saw his brother tear up out of emotional impact for the first time (and then nervously try to disguise it as laughter, which didn’t go so well). If you’re looking for a truly unique, genuine, and intimate ceremony, please call YellowBird… you will not be disappointed. Aside from my satisfaction with Michelle’s services at my own wedding, I’ve been to several other ceremonies that she officiated (all of which were so personalized and unique from one another), and all were perfectly done. If you want lame and cookie cutter, call your grandma’s old bridge club buddy that used to officiate weddings in the 60s, not Michelle.
Chelsea & Andy MontroisWe were just married July 11, 2015 and could not be more pleased with having Michelle as our officiant. She is very professional, warm, and easy to work with. She was flexible enough to meet with us via Skype as we were not local initially, and then again when we were both in the city. While we were somewhat apprehensive about having someone who we had just met briefly lead our ceremony, we took a chance and it definitely far exceeded our expectations. Michelle gave great advice about how to keep the guests interested for the duration of the ceremony and not have it too drawn out. She works outside of doing weddings so could not attend our rehearsal (on a Friday afternoon), but to be honest it was not necessary to have her there. Michelle was open to making the ceremony work with our needs, we wanted to include a bible reading and she was up for that. She has a lovely demeanor and great speaking voice. All of these points are important, however, the most important fact that speaks to Michelle’s talent would be the numerous people we had who were blown away by the ceremony. We have had many people come to us and say they were so touched by her words, and point out specific moments that they enjoyed. My Mom, a tough critic, even said to me that we were so lucky to have found her because she made the ceremony so special. To be honest in my search for an officiant I wasn’t too focused on what they would say as long as in the end we were announced husband and wife but I am so happy to have such a beautiful memory of the ceremony and will cherish it. Thank you Michelle! I would recommend her to any of my own family and friends.
Martha & Dean LeongKaren was a joy to work with.
We met once for coffee one evening and exchanged a few emails and within that span of time, she had a great understanding of who we were as a couple. She incorporated our stories into her ceremony, sprinkled in a little humor and got the job done. Karen is an excellent public speaker – comfortable in front of a crowd, presentable in every single way and very responsible. Her rates are well within what the market demands and she did a great job. Highly recommend!
Jenn & Brian GollwitzerKaren is Wonderful!
Karen was SO great to work with from beginning to end. She was extremely timely in responding, so kind, so open minded, and offered suggestions and thoughts when we needed them. In addition to process, she was a wonderful officiant… well-spoken, and clear in articulation. I would highly recommend her to anyone looking for a professional, thoughtful, and nice person to work with! Thanks Karen!
Casey & Rafa Perez

Stop searching through officiants and hire Michelle right now!
She was absolutely fantastic! Michelle officiated our small, non-denominational wedding in May 2019. We knew she was the officiant for us from her very first email. Every step of the process from emailing, asking questions, meeting for coffee to talk about who we were as people and a couple, up until the day-of was met with extreme professionalism, compassion and care. Michelle’s ceremony was absolutely beautiful and all our guests complimented her work all night long. She wrote a beautiful, personalized ceremony that was honestly perfect and she talked as if we had been old friends. Her ability to include all the small things we wanted included as well as surprise us with some funny and heart warming pieces really made our ceremony special and has left us with lasting memories of that moment! Absolutely awesome!
Tianna & Robert Schaumloeffel
Simply Sincere & Memorable.
Without rambling on forever about how wonderful Michelle was, I can simply say that if you are looking for an officiant who wants to keep the ceremony about your values and beliefs and be flexible enough to add new traditions or nontraditional vows… Michelle is the one. After searching and sitting with multiple other officiants who claimed they were non-denominational etc. we were let down over and over… Michelle is exactly who she says she is. She really is in it for the couple to celebrate their love. It poured on our day, we had tree ceremony, and completely non-traditional vows, Michelle bared the rain with us, outside in the cold, and kept the ceremony personal, intimate and fulllll of joy. When we got a little too far off course, she roped us back in by putting our requests together in a way that was both memorable and meaningful. We couldn’t have asked for more, she was eloquent, sincere and amiable… when we met her for the first time, we just knew she was the one to do our ceremony, we had fun with her and just clicked. Meet with her and you see : ) Michelle, THANK YOU for a truly beautiful ceremony that we and our guests will never forget, it was truly memorable thanks to your openness to go with our vows and make them meaningful instead of a joke… I don’t know how you did it, but you made our sense of humor sweet, loving and made our day personal, about our love and friendship over all else. THANK YOU a thousand fold, till death do us part or the stars grow cold…
Kim & Joe NicosiaWe couldn’t have been happier with choosing Karen to officiate our wedding!
She was very friendly, super easy to communicate with and worked with us to make the ceremony what we wanted. We had some last minute changes to how we wanted to do our vows and she easily implemented them. We loved the words she spoke during the ceremony…very sweet and personalized to us. She even gave our dog a birthday shoutout 🙂 Thank you so so much Karen!! You are highly recommended by Sarah and Mike 🙂
Sarah & Mike BadzinskiMichelle was an absolute joy, I can not recommenced her services enough!
I found Michelle online, as we were not getting married in a religious ceremony and no one we knew could officiate a wedding. I was nervous about two things: 1) That she would be a crazy serial killer because you can never be too sure online.. & 2) That it would seem forced, considering she would only meet us a single time before the big day! Well, fortunately, neither of these concerns had any merit at all.
Michelle has an eloquent and beautiful way of telling a story, she talks with such kindness and serenity in her voice- it was as if we had known her our entire relationship. She included little tidbits about us that we had only mentioned in passing during our first meeting with her, as well as observations about our relationship that she felt spoke to our contentedness. I had people coming to me all night asking how we had met the officiant, thinking that she was an old friend!
I know this is getting lengthy, but I also wanted to include some praise for Michelle’s business practices, which only make working with her easier. She is prompt (she actually arrived to my rehearsal dinner before we did..), she corresponds quickly and with well thought out responses, she came prepared to our meeting and she was extremely flexible as to when we could meet and where. She also immediately made us feel at ease, so talking about ourselves was less awkward (even for my extremely shy husband).
I guess I will finish this up by saying, if you choose anyone else besides Michelle Snyder to be your wedding officiant, you’re wrong.
Rachael & Eric FryMichelle is such a wonderful officiant! She married my sister and her husband a year ago and after that I was so hopeful that Michelle could marry me and my husband! She made each ceremony so beautiful and meaningful. There were so many compliments from guests at both of our weddings about Michelle and what a sweet ceremony she provided. The time Michelle spent taking care of answering our questions, getting to know us beforehand, helping us have a rehearsal, and make our wedding day so special means so much to us! I can’t imagine my wedding ceremony being any different and would never want it to be! We are so grateful that we found Michelle to marry us!
Ellie & Brendon KellyWonderful Experience
Michelle was a pleasure to work with and was an absolutely wonderful officiant. Michelle took the time to get to know us, accommodated our change of date (due to COVID) and emailed us every so often to check in. Michelle was always very easy to get a hold of and was extremely helpful when we had random questions about officiating, our marriage license, and how the day would look.
Our guests all commented on how great of a job Michelle did at our wedding. The words she spoke were beautiful, well-crafted, and specific to us as a couple. Hearing Michelle bring up some of our special moments made my wife and I tear up and took us back to some of our first moments as a couple.
If you’re looking for an officiant, I would absolutely recommend Michelle and Yellowbird.
Catherine & Vincent Cervone

OMG… where do I begin??? Michelle was absolutely WONDERFUL!!!!! It was very obvious that she listened to everything we said when we met her, we told her to just have fun with the ceremony, giving her freedom to be as creative as she wanted and she hit every point perfectly!!! We could not have asked for a better person to marry us!! Thank you, Michelle, for making our special day absolutely perfect!!!!!!
Christine & Al PilarskiWe couldn’t have asked for a better officiant! We were confident that Michelle would do a good job based on other reviews and family personal reviews but we never expected her to make us feel like we were the only two people in the world and personalize her words to fit us so well. We are more spiritual than religious and we were worried that our families would be offended/ disappointed not having scriptures from the bible. Also, we were worried it would be too short since we though there wasn’t much to fill in the time without that kind of stuff. We had a wine ceremony which Michelle did wonderfully with the meaning and story of it. She went above and beyond with quotes and her own words to make a beautiful ceremony for us that we will never forget. She didn’t attend the rehearsal, which she states in her first meeting and on her website, unless it’s necessary. She didn’t need to come. She did a fabulous job and having never heard what she wrote before, we were genuinely stunned and it added so much to the authenticity of our ceremony and truly showed our love that day.
Trisha & Andrew WrobelI can’t say enough about working with Karen. She did a great job officiating our wedding and was always quick to respond to all my questions via email. I could tell from our first Skype that she was the one for our wedding! We loved how she added personal touches to our ceremony that made us laugh. Karen was very flexible and patient and even did rehearsal with us at our request. Thank you for making our ceremony so special!
Amanda & Taurean CumberbatchWhen my fiancé and I got engaged, we knew that we wanted to have a ceremony right at the reception hall. Neither of us are very religious people, so we didn’t have a minister in mind. My maid of honor went searching the internet for an officiant for us and she stumbled upon and contacted Michelle Snyder at Yellow Bird Wedding. She liked Michelle’s welcoming, laid back personality immediately and put us in contact with each other. When Andy and I met with Michelle, we knew right away that she was the perfect person to marry us. She asked us questions about ourselves and our relationship and took notes. She provided us with many choices of vows and ring exchanges to make everything easy (although, you can write your own if you want!). I asked Michelle to be at the rehearsal since the staff at the hall was not available. She did a great job managing a rather rowdy group of individuals. I wasn’t sure what to expect at the actual ceremony but I was so happy with the outcome. Michelle did an amazing sermon about love and added some personal touches from when she met Andy and I. Guests came up to me and raved about how perfect the ceremony was. Thank you Michelle for helping to make my wedding absolutely perfect!
Holly & Andy BatesIf you’re looking for a special, personal, unique ceremony – look no further. Michelle was fantastic from our first interaction – on Facetime about 6 months before our wedding. She asked questions to truly get to know us and why we’re marrying each other and didn’t miss a beat when she shared our story during the ceremony. She was extremely accommodating to everything we wanted to include and had great suggestions and executions including the blessing of the rings, which was unlike anything I (or many of our guests had seen before). On a hot, sunny day – with looming thunder in the background, Michelle kept pace, not rushing through the ceremony, but making every word thoughtful and meaningful. Thank you again for the most important part of our special day.
Jenna & Daniel SandkerMichelle was so wonderful to work with.
We used her for our wedding on April 7, 2018 and she really went above and beyond to make sure our ceremony was special. We are out of town so Michelle made time to skype with us and hear our story and learn about our big day. She shared a variety of options for our vows and exceeded all of my expectations. We had so many guests comment on what a wonderful and moving ceremony it was. She took the time to get to know us and added personal details to the vows and really made them so special. I will always cherish those moment and how wonderfully her words spoke to the day. Michelle was so easy to work with and offered a great price! I would highly recommend Michelle!
Erin & MikeMichelle is amazing!
We first met with Michelle after reading her fantastic online reviews. At our first meeting, she asked us to each give details about our relationship and our lives together, and we immediately felt comfortable. It was like talking to a friend. After this, we decided to have her conduct our ceremony and we are so so happy we did. She took what we told her and made a beautiful and personal ceremony that perfectly captured our relationship. It was sweet, and funny, and sincere, and we loved it. Our family has been going on about how perfect it was ever since. We can’t thank Michelle enough, and highly recommend her to anyone looking for a personal touch!
Lauren & Jeffrey Aldinger

Megan went above and beyond to make our day super special. I highly recommend. She very responsive and is very detailed in getting to know us to make sure she can make our moment grand. If you are looking for an officiant, I highly recommend Megan. Thanks so much Megan for making our special moment extra special.
Sharon & Bobby Washington

I cannot begin to express how pleased my husband and I are that we chose Michelle to be our officiant. Searching for an officiant can appear a daunting task- it is a bit intimidating finding someone through the internet, and not having seen a wedding they have performed. Michelle’s entire ceremony made our wedding everything we hoped for. She took the time to talk with us prior to the big day, and made notes on our personality, our relationship, our personal values, and hopes for our future. The ceremony was so personalized and well written. She provided multiple options for the wording during the exchanging of the rings. Michelle was flexible, and laid back- planning the ceremony with her was one of the easiest parts of wedding planning- it was simple to coordinate with her and our DJ and ceremony site for a flawlessly smooth wedding ceremony. It is truly one of the most special and cherished part of our day- she sent us the written ceremony so that we may reflect on it each year on our anniversary. We had many men and women who were guests approach us throughout our evening inquiring about Michelle, complimenting her, and complimenting our ceremony. We cannot recommend her services enough!
Shannon & Andrew Brazill
When my husband and I got engaged, we knew we wanted someone unique to match our style. We are so happy that we stumbled upon Yellowbird Wedding! Michelle was a spectacular addition to our June wedding. Michelle was such a breeze to work with from our first meeting to the wedding day. She was available if we had any random questions throughout the planning process as well. The ceremony -which we have received numerous compliments on from our guests- was sweet, thoughtful, and reflected our personalities. The ceremony was personalized, touching, and humorous too! We would highly recommend Michelle to anyone! Thank you for making our day extra special!
Kelly & Tim GulinoI was initially attracted to Michelle’s services when I saw that she officiated so many same sex marriages. That openness to love meant a lot to me. My husband and I are not religious, but after meeting Michelle, we knew she would be able to provide us a ceremony structure that worked perfectly for us. Michelle was a huge help at our rehearsal, as we were all wandering around like chickens with our heads cut off until she arrived and helped guide us through. The wedding itself was perfect. She helped calm us down about the potential rain that might keep us indoors from our hopeful outdoor ceremony. Michelle seems to truly love what she does, and made our special day even more special.
Jenna & Corey HartMichelle was fantastic!
We live in New Zealand, so she Skyped with us for our initial consultation. She took some time to get to know us and hear our love story. We felt so comfortable speaking to Michelle that we didn’t need to look any further to interview anyone else. On the wedding day, Michelle wove our stories into a beautiful ceremony. She talked about how our journey started and explained the tools of love and life that we will need going forward. During the reception we had many comments on the ceremony. Many gentlemen mentioned that they got a bit teary-eyed during it. My uncle said, “It was a beautiful ceremony. It wasn’t too long. It was personalized and it had just the right amount of humor. It was perfect.”
DeShea & Sam KennedyWe Would Recommend YellowBird Wedding a Million Times Over!
Michelle did an absolutely wonderful job as our wedding officiant. Not only did she meet with us beforehand to learn about our relationship, but she perfectly incorporated our story into the ceremony in a way that made it feel like she had known us for a very long time. We’re so grateful for the time and effort she put into crafting a ceremony that truly reflected who we are as a couple and the love we have for each other. Several of my family members even told me that it was the most beautiful wedding ceremony they had ever witnessed. We would recommend her and YellowBird Wedding a million times over.
Julie & Matt CascinoPerfect officiant!
Karen did such an amazing job officiating our wedding! We had an outdoor ceremony at our venue that we did not want to be focused on religion. Karen did a beautiful job giving us options to choose from for our vows and ring exchange. We were able to pick the option we felt best fit us. She spoke loud and clear and did a great job at guiding us so that the ceremony was smooth. We would 100% recommend Karen!
Emily & Cory ClancyMichelle is absolutely amazing!
She makes everything so simple and easy. We didn’t know exactly what she was going to say during the ceremony, but it was truly like she knew us and our relationships for years, just after meeting her twice! We got so many compliments from our guests that it was the most beautiful ceremony they have been to. Couldn’t have been happier!!
Michaela & Aaron LaJoieMichelle was wonderful.
From the very beginning when we had our little interview, Michelle immediately had us feeling comfortable and we were able to tell her our “boring” love story. I was amazed at how much information she retained from that small meeting, but four months later during the ceremony, she brought our “boring” love story to life and her words truly meant something special for our us in our special moment. We were very blessed to have found Michelle because I couldn’t have imagined that day without her. Thank you so much Michelle!
Christi & Jeremy ZolnowskiMy new husband and I were recently married by Michelle on October 11, 2014. I can not say enough about how amazing it was to work with her!! We live in Buffalo, but got married about 5 hours away in the Catskills, my hometown. We started to look for officiants in the area and came up with some pretty slim pickings…so I turned to BuffaloIndieWeddings to see who was available in Buffalo that would travel. From the moment we started looking for wedding officiants, Michelle from YellowBird Wedding stood out from all the rest, her webpage was full of photos of happy and loving couples of all kinds and that is what drew us to her…she obviously loved what she did and we knew we had to see if she could possibly make the journey to the Catskills for us. I sent an email explaining and asking if she would travel…her response was Yes! We set up a meeting and from there everything was smooth sailing. We conversed often through email and she was so helpful and reassuring when it came to creating a beautiful and meaningful ceremony for Randy and I. There was some worry from me because my mom had really wanted us to be married in a church…and she had difficulty accepting that we would not be. Michelle even set up a second meeting to discuss our concerns and reassure us. When the day finally came…Michelle was there to check in and reassure me that all was well. When I walked down the aisle she was standing there next to Randy and the words she said were perfect! Right down to small little details we had discussed at our first meeting nearly a year before!! Needless to say she had myself, Randy and all our friends and family in tears of joy and happiness!! Our guests raved about the ceremony, many said that they never cry at weddings and Michelle had them sobbing! Michelle helped to make our day so special and magical, beyond what we had even imagined…we can not praise her enough for the unforgettable moments she helped to create!
Kaitlin & Randy SheehanThank you for taking the time to make a ceremony that was unique to us. Your words mean the world to us and we will cherish that ceremony for the rest of our lives. We appreciate that you got to know our personalities and made the ceremony mostly serious; however, with those splashed of humor that made us breathe and remember the small moments that were actually quite big in our lives. I wish you only the best. I highly recommend you to anyone and everyone getting married. You are a wonderful spirit and you made our wedding day so special. So grateful for you!!!!! XOXOXOX
Sharifa & Chris MangMichelle is not only an amazing person but an amazing officiant as well! She puts you at ease from your first meeting & answers every question you could possibly have! She is truly interested in you & your love story. She conveys the love you & your other half share in the most eloquent & genuine way possible at your ceremony. Though I don’t remember every word she said at our ceremony, I remember it was beautiful enough to make me tear up a few times & I found myself nodding in agreement at a lot of what she said! She is AMAZING & we actually had a few guests tell us that if they ever got married, she would be a perfect addition to their plans (hope you like Calgary Michelle!). We can’t say enough good things about this wonderful woman! =)
Lauren & Darrin McKieChoosing Michelle as our officiant was one of the best decisions we made for our wedding! We liked her immediately when we met her and she far surpassed our expectations on our wedding day. She really paid attention to personal details about us as a couple and drew on that to create a beautiful ceremony that was personal to us, funny and very sweet. All night people kept complimenting us and telling us that it was the sweetest and sincerest ceremony they’d ever seen, and everyone thought she was one of our closest friends! People were shocked to find out that she had only recently met us…we still get people asking us about our friend that did our ceremony, and it is months later. I recommended Michelle to my sister for her wedding and she did end up also using her as an officiant and loved her too. I would highly recommend Michelle and YellowBird Wedding to anyone looking for an officiant!
Erin & Jim GuiffridaWe found Michelle through her website. From the beginning and throughout the entire process, we felt very comfortable working with her. About a month before the wedding, we met with her to have an informal discussion about us and the ceremony. We immediately knew she would be the right person. Simply from talking and getting to know us and our backgrounds, she was able to put everything together. In the weeks leading up to the wedding, we exchanged emails regarding vows and more specific details of the ceremony. Michelle was very helpful and was able to accommodate some special requests we had. She made our wedding day the special event it needed to be. The speech fit perfectly with our story and personalities. We are extremely fortunate to have found Michelle and would highly recommend her to anyone seeking an officiant. All the best!
Matt & FabianMichelle is an outstanding officiant!!!
Our guests – including my father, who was, initially, not thrilled about having a non-denominational wedding – were all thoroughly impressed with Michelle’s presentation. Her personality, public speaking skills and overall professionalism are top notch and were recognized/remarked on both at the wedding and afterward.
I even have close family friends who have requested information on Michelle as they may want her to preside over their wedding vow renewal!
I was sold even before meeting Michelle on Skype because of her wonderful, honest words on her website regarding her introduction into ministry and why she continues to be passionate about officiating and supporting love – in any form. I was more pleased when I spoke with her over the internet and had the chance to viewed her abilities in-person at my wedding. She is a warm, supportive, welcoming and professional officiant. I am getting married three times (same guy!) and I commissioned Michelle for my second wedding event — if costs didn’t prohibit bringing her to England for my third event, I would do it! Contact her, you will not be disappointed by your wedding day results!!!
Katie & Anthony WaldronAs soon as my husband and I began planning our wedding, we both knew that we would prefer a simple, non – religious ceremony that was still beautiful and full of love – and boy, did Michelle deliver! Michelle is one of those rare people that can make you feel like you’ve known her forever as soon as you start talking with her. Above and beyond listening to our story, she really “got” who we are as a couple and used her intuition to craft the most beautifully worded ceremony that made us both laugh and cry tears of joy. All night, our guests were quoting her jokes and telling us how touching they thought the ceremony was (a few of our engaged guests even asked for her contact information!) so if you’re reading this – I would, without hesitation, recommend that you include Michelle in the beginning of your happily ever after.
Christine & Timothy SugrueWhile as engaged couples we spend so much of our time on details, such as flowers, cake, venue, food, drinks really the whole reason that we are doing all that celebrating is the marriage ceremony, its the most important bit! As a couple on the most important day of your life to day, while standing up there you want it to feel magical and amazing because its so important….and more than likely you are ready to jump out of your skin with excitement. Michelle delivered on all aspects of this incredibly important job and she made it fun and easy for us to create our wedding ceremony. Firstly she is very responsive to email and it was easy to set a time to meet with her. She took notes on our story, we went for a stroll and chatted casually about things, she is a very easy person with whom to chat and be around (a nice trait given how intense the day can be!). She made some suggestions about things that could be in the ceremony (sand ceremony, wine ceremony, etc…) as well as a vow and ring exchange verbiage to get us started thinking; there are a lot of options and she guided us through everything with a nice light touch. We had a several email exchange about logistics, but in the end the ceremony was hers to create and she did a marvelous job, we were truly moved and touched. I actually had multiple comments about what a lovely job she did officiating. We were so pleased that she officiated our marriage and have only great things to say (or write in this case) and the highest recommendation.
Lara & Moray CampbellWe could have not asked for a better officiant for our wedding!
Michelle was absolutely wonderful and provided everything we were looking for. She was there to answer any questions we had and made sure to get back to us right away. Our ceremony was so personal and fit who we’re as a couple that everyone attending thought she had known us for years!! We highly recommend Michelle to any future couple that is getting married. She was fantastic!!
Lauren & Sean CurryLove her💜💚
Michelle did our wedding on 9/14/19 at the Hayloft in the Grove. She came highly recommended by them. We are so thankful they did! Michelle nailed it at our ceremony. She included everything that was important to us like our children our family dog and my husbands obsession with hockey. People who were at the wedding raved about our ceremony and Michelle and how she incorporated my husbands son into our family vows. Without a doubt I would recommend her to anyone getting married that wants originality and exceptional service!! Thank you again Michelle!
Ashley & Ryan HoffmanMichelle was great to work with!
Michelle was very responsive and helpful throughout the wedding ceremony process. Michelle provide us with templates and ideas for vows and other readings/ unity ceremonies. She was also a great sound board to bounce off ideas for the ceremony and helped us understanding how everything was going to flow. She was very willing to do any additional readings or wordings that we wanted to add to our ceremony to personalize it to us. I found Michelle online. My husband and I both knew that we did not want a religious ceremony, but we still wanted something about unity, love, and respect. Michelle did a great job doing just that. One of our guests came up to us during the rehearsal and commented on the atmosphere of the ceremony and how it changed his ideas on how a marriage ceremony had to go (i.e. not religious). She is located in Buffalo and we did the ceremony on Canandiaguia Lake , which she charged a fair price for mileage. We did not have Michelle attend the rehearsal dinner but she was still willing to provide us with a good outline of the ceremony since my husband and I were worried about how everything was ordered. She provided us the outline without hesitation but kept some parts out as a surprise for the wedding which was nice. During the ceremony Michelle did a great job speaking clearly and loudly with a calm and relax demeanor. I even got caught up in the moment and forgot a few of the lines and Michelle noticed and quickly helped me get back on track. We also kind of rushed in our tree unity ceremony but Michelle was paying attention and made sure to omit the command line as to not call out our small error. I would definitely recommend Michelle
Kristen & Ray StantonSimpy Amazing.
When my husband and I began looking for an officiant for our ceremony, we had no idea where to begin. We knew we wanted someone who would focus on love, friendship, and the spirit of the day, rather than religion. So we just started looking around and stumbled upon Yellow Bird. What a lucky and amazing find! Michelle is one of the most sincere people out there, and she understands the weight of what she does, yet treats it with a light and easy manner. She made us comfortable and excited throughout the planning process, rather than overwhelming us with the daunting task of planning the ceremony details. She really took the time to get to know us as a couple, and incorporated a few of the things she learned about us into her ceremony readings. And she did so in such a natural way; nothing felt forced. Michelle comes equipped with plenty of examples of ring exchanges, unity ceremonies, and vows (but was completely open to us writing our own) so that you can choose what best fits your style. She was focused on making our ceremony a completely organic and unique experience, and while we knew some of what would happen, she kept parts of the ceremony a secret until the moment. Because of that you could feel the glow of love in the room, and again, nothing seemed forced or rehearsed (though we did do a rehearsal, which was infinitely helpful in calming our nerves!). Michelle was easily reachable when we had questions or concerns, and she made sure we were taken care of on the wedding day. She brought copies of our vows for us (one less thing to remember on our end!) and they weren’t just on scraps – she had typed them up on pretty paper and cut them out in fancy, simple, shapes. I really appreciated that attention to even the smallest detail. Michelle thinks of everything, but most importantly, she thinks of you!
Jessica & Chris BuddeMichelle was the perfect officiant for our ceremony.
While researching possible officiants, I came across the YellowBird website and knew immediately Michelle would be the perfect fit for us. This was repeatedly validated throughout the process from our first correspondence to the day of our wedding. Michelle is easy to talk to, well organized, accommodating, and incredibly kind. The ceremony itself was wonderful. The words she prepared were funny, beautiful and personal. She really takes the time to get to know the couple, and tailors the ceremony accordingly. Numerous guests commented on how wonderful the ceremony was, and we couldn’t have agreed more. Thank you Michelle, for helping make our special day perfect!
Sara & Christopher WeindorfPraise for Michelle!
It all started with an internet search, looking for an officiant to perform our wedding ceremony in Niagara Falls. We came upon Michelle’s Yellowbird wedding link and were impressed by reviews that were posted. After having a couple of email correspondences and a skype meeting we were totally convinced that she was the one for us. Michelle has a great personality which we liked from the moment we began corresponding. We loved her style and sense of humor. She has a very relaxed, pleasant and fun personality while maintaining a sense of professionalism. She made herself available to us throughout the planning process and responded to our concerns and questions in a timely fashion. The ceremony was very heartfelt and warming with personal touches and references Michelle had obtained during our skype meeting. She spoke very clearly and in a relaxed fashion and truly seemed to value the love and commitment that my now wife and I share for one another.
Terri & TammyMichelle is simply amazing.
Planning a wedding can be stressful, but working with Michelle was truly as the easiest part of the process. She was a calming presence to my wife for the ceremony, which was a huge blessing. Michelle showed sincere concern about what was important to us as a couple and effortlessly blended that into a beautiful presentation at the ceremony. My wife and I have received countless compliments on how unique and thoughtful the ceremony was and we owe that to Michelle. Most importantly she’s just a really cool person and someone we are glad to have shared time with!
Amy & Patrick Donnelly birds My husband and I truly enjoyed working with Michelle. We met her at a coffee shop in North Buffalo and we knew as soon as we met her that she was the perfect choice for our wedding! We felt like Michelle took the time to listen and get to know us, answered all the questions we had throughout the wedding planning stages, and delivered a personal and fitting service for our ceremony. She provided us with vows, rings, and ceremony rituals/unity examples, which made it a lot easier to finalize the ceremony that captured what we were looking for. Our ceremony was beautiful and our guests complimented how nice it was. We loved all the nice words Michelle had to say, and especially her recommendation of having a wine box ceremony which went perfect with our theme and continues to be raved about from our guests. We would not hesitate in recommending Michelle to perform your wedding ceremony, she was memorable!
Sabrina & David DeFilippis
birds My wife and I had been together ten years when we decided to get married. We were looking to keep it simple with just the two of us. Michelle did an amazing job with everything. For only having met her once, there was a level of intimacy that truly reflected what we were looking for. We could not have been more moved and touched by the ceremony, After so much time together, we were both surprised at how overcome with emotion we were. Michelle not only performed a beautiful service, but she also provided our witness. This was a great relief to us, as we really did just want it to be the two of us. We would recommend Michelle to anyone.
Jill & Meg birds We had Michelle for our wedding 9-27-14. She was fantastic! She was so Professional and able to be contacted when we had questions during the planning phase. When we first met Michelle we knew she would be a perfect fit for what we were looking for. During the ceremony Michelle’s readings were perfect, her voice tone was perfect and everyone could here her and we were outside with no mics. We were able to tweek our Vows and ring readings to what fit us and Michelle was more then willing to work with us. If we were to do this all over again there would be no doubt in our minds that we would choose Michelle again to be our Officiant!
Traci & Kyle Schneider birds My partner, Patti, and I have been together for seven years. We finally decided to get married when my mom was a resident of the Niagara Hospice House since both sets of parents have been supportive of our relationship. When I first contacted Michelle to see if she was available to perform our wedding ceremony, I explained why time was of the essence. Michelle responded to my email immediately. She set up a Skype meeting with us right away and made us laugh as she asked us questions about how we met. Michelle explained that she is very flexible and gave us suggested vows to choose from. We ended up combining several of her suggestions to make the ceremony the most meaningful for our relationship. On the day of the ceremony, Michelle was able to put everyone at ease while remaining very professional. Our families commented on how thoughtful and meaningful Michelle’s service was. I highly recommend Michelle!
Tracey & Patricia birds We had an absolutely amazing experience and couldn’t be happier that we chose Michelle to officiate our August 2nd wedding. From the first time we met with her, we were so comfortable and felt immediately at ease. She made a real attempt to get to know us. The main thing we wanted when we were looking for an officiant was someone who would make our ceremony personal and special. Michelle did just that. We received compliments about her all night long; how well-spoken she was and how intimate and beautiful the words she chose were. She made us laugh and cry and we will hold her words in our hearts for many years to come!We had an absolutely amazing experience and couldn’t be happier that we chose Michelle to officiate our August 2nd wedding. From the first time we met with her, we were so comfortable and felt immediately at ease. She made a real attempt to get to know us. The main thing we wanted when we were looking for an officiant was someone who would make our ceremony personal and special. Michelle did just that. We received compliments about her all night long; how well-spoken she was and how intimate and beautiful the words she chose were. She made us laugh and cry and we will hold her words in our hearts for many years to come!
Kristin & Chris KacalaMichelle was amazing!
She was recommended to us by our wedding planner and from our initial Skype meeting with her we knew she was the one! She really got to know who we are as a couple and made our ceremony a reflection of us even incorporating our love for “The Princess Bride”. We received so many compliments about her from our many guests. My Father, who is a judge and has officiated many weddings himself, thought she did an amazing job and was blown away by her genuine nature and personal warmth. We are so happy to have found her and we highly recommend her!!! Thanks Michelle!!!
Halle & Brian EydtWe could not be happier with Michelle at YellowBird.
She was responsive, helpful and most importantly our wedding ceremony was amazing! We got multiple compliments on how much people enjoyed not only the ceremony but Michelle as well. I laughed and cried (not surprisingly) but loved how she made the ceremony personal to our story and personalities. It was absolutely perfect!
Angela & Patrick LarkinMichelle was absolutely wonderful!
My husband and I met with her and discussed what we wanted and how we would like the ceremony to go and she was just great to speak with. She made all of our guests laugh and cry at the same time! She did a wonderful job at our ceremony and I would recommend her to anyone! THANKS AGAIN MICHELLE!
Cassandra & Shawn SuarezWe just got married two weeks ago and Michelle was our officiant. Talk about not having to worry about anything! She met with my fiance and I to go over our story and how we met. And we booked her like, two weeks before our wedding because your other officiant dropped out! So, when I rate 5 stars for flexibility – I literally mean it in this case! She helped us with our vows, unity ceremonies, and ring exchange. She was absolutely amazing and helpful! Highly recommended!
Hayley & Virgilio Gonzalez From the moment we met her, we knew Michelle was right for us. My now-husband and I had been having trouble finding a non-religious officiant that really got who we are and what we were looking for (some wouldn’t even meet with us unless we placed a few-hundred dollar deposit first). We wanted a humanist ceremony that spoke to who we are as individuals, our relationship with each other, and our broader feelings about the meaning of love, equality and community. Michelle delivered in a big way. Yes, she is VERY reasonably priced, but more importantly she cares about finding out who her clients are and makes the ceremony about them. Our ceremony was everything I could have wanted — heartfelt, touching, and personalized. I’d recommend her to anyone looking for an officiant.
Jackie & Justin Amazing Ceremony!
My husband and I were a little unsure if we would be able to find someone that could perform our ceremony and make it feel intimate and also keep everything neutral and non-religious. I was SO happy to come across the great reviews on Michelle!! She met with us before hand to take some note all about how we met and our relationship, really making us feel at ease. The day of the wedding she showed up calm and collected, ready to go. I loved that so many friends commented later that our ceremony was so heartfelt and honest, and they weren’t dying to get through this long boring formality! Would absolutely recommend Michelle to any looking for an officiant.
Joey & Bruce DanielsMichelle was fantastic!
My wife and I both live out of town and didn’t know anyone in New York, so we relied on the beauty of the internet to make all our plans. I found Michelle on weddingwire and was overwhelmed by her glowing reviews. I emailed her, crossing my fingers and hoping like crazy that she would be available, with only about 2 months notice. She was (probably because we’d chosen the middle of the week) and was extremely flexible – she was not only able to marry us in the middle of the week, but also in the middle of the day. We emailed back and forth several times, and she was so helpful and happy to answer all of my questions. Since we were unable to meet in person, the 3 of us met via video chat so Michelle could get get to know us as a couple. It was easy and comfortable and she seemed to learn a lot in a little conversation!

Michelle was simply amazing!
My husband and I are not religious so it was hard to find someone who would do a complete non-religious ceremony. We met with her once and that was all it took for her to make a completely customized service for us. She made us laugh and cry, and was so wonderful. She always answered my questions right away and always made me so comfortable. We are so happy we picked Michelle and YellowBird Wedding! Thank you Michelle!
Rachael & Joe Picone

Michelle was amazing.
My husband and I met with our fair share of officiants but no one would ever come close to how great Michelle made us feel when we first met her. She just has a great ease about her and really cares about making the ceremony special and about the couple. Save yourself time and just book her right away – you’ll be so glad you did.
Laura & Kevin DawidowiczI couldn’t be happier with Michelle!
The ceremony was my favorite part of the day and that was because of how perfect and meaningful everything that Michelle said was. We received so many compliments. It was incredibly touching. She even integrated elements that I wanted but didn’t tell her about. She came to check on me beforehand which was so sweet. She is hands down the best in Buffalo. Adore her!
Jennifer & Adam StotzMichelle was amazing!
We were planning our wedding from out of town and she made it so easy! She incorporated all the right details from our initial meeting as well as the reading we requested. The whole thing was seamless! We received so many compliments from guests. There were laughs and tears, it was perfect!
Cindy & Barry BuchholzCeremony we dreamed of!
My husband and I can’t say enough good things about Michelle! When we initially met with Michelle she asked us to share the story of how my husband and I met, which she then worked into our ceremony to make it personalized just for us. The words that she spoke at our ceremony resonated with many of our guests; several later told me that her messages of love and friendship touched them after being married for years themselves. I can’t recommend her highly enough!
Kim & Jason LongAmazing!
The ceremony was so beautiful, and exactly what we wanted. Michelle did such a great job with the entire thing. Her words were so personal and touching, it brought us both to tears. Planning a wedding from out of state, and only meeting Michelle via Skype, I was worried it might not be intimate. I was so pleasantly surprised as I stood there and heard Michelle talk about small details we had mentioned to her in conversation. We received so many compliments from our guests about how amazing it was. I could not be happier with how beautiful it was.
Kim & Angelo LaGrecaMichelle was absolutely amazing in every way!
We were planning our wedding from a distance and she was able to meet with us while we were in town visiting family over Christmas. We did most of our chatting over emails and she was incredibly sensitive to work with (incredibly enthusiastic actually!) as a same-sex couple. She crafted a ceremony that was more meaningful and personalized than any other wedding ceremony I’ve heard, and many of our guests commented on this as well. She helped us figure out our vows, and worked in the readings that we wanted to flow perfectly with her ceremony. It felt like she had really known us and it made our wedding day absolutely perfect. We would recommend YellowBird Weddings to anyone looking for an officiant in the Buffalo, NY area.
Amber & KristenWe are a lesbian couple from out of state with little time to plan – 5 months – and no visit the area before our big day. We are so grateful that Michelle agreed to officiate for us. Every aspect of working with her was a true pleasure, from first Skype meeting to goodbye. She took time to get to know us as a couple and captured our personalities in beautiful prose. We received many compliments on her articulate and thoughtful delivery. During the ceremony, her confidence and gentle instruction put us at ease and helped us remain focused on the promises we made. Absolutely one of our favorite vendors. We highly recommend Michelle!
Alissa & JenniferMade our day!
Michelle made our wedding day so special!! She completely “got” us and was able to make our ceremony so personalized, sweet, relaxed, and beautiful. We don’t live in the Buffalo area so Michelle and I exchanged emails to talk about which elements we wanted in our ceremony, which we did not, things about my husband and I and how we met. Even through just email, I felt totally comfortable with Michelle- she was so flexible and open and really there to make our ceremony tailored for us.
We had spoken with some other officiants in the area but didn’t feel a connection with anyone- most were pretty religious and we were uncomfortable that the ceremony wouldn’t reflect us as much as it did the officiant.
We were so grateful to find Michelle!
I seriously cannot imagine having had someone else marry us! CONTACT HER!
…also she’s super affordable, even with travel 🙂
Samantha & Ben AeurbachSimply Perfect!
My husband and I found Michelle after searching tirelessly for an officiant for our outdoor wedding. With everything we had going on we kind of forgot that we actually needed someone to marry us! Haha! When we found her website we knew that she would be a perfect fit for what we wanted. After our first “meeting” on Skype all of our fears about finding the perfect officiant disappeared. She truly exceeded all of our expectations and performed the most beautiful ceremony that we could have ever imagined. We received so many compliments from our guests, they just raved about her, and we couldn’t agree more. She was simply fantastic! Thank you, again, Michelle!
Jeff & Kaycee McDougalI couldn’t have found a better officiant!
After searching and searching I found Michelle and knew I made the right decision! She is beautiful in heart and soul. Her spoken words at our ceremony were so remarkable, thoughtful and will always be a constant memory for me when I look back on our wedding day. Having her there made our day turn out even more fantastic! I HIGHLY recommend Michelle! Thank you for being there Michelle and being patient as I cried and stuttered/squeaked through my vows! lol!
Chris & ScottMichelle did a wonderful job for us. We traveled from Ohio to Niagara Falls to be married since same sex marriage is not legal in Ohio. We did everything via email we did not meet her in person til the day of the wedding. Michelle would be an asset to any wedding. She made our day even more special bringing 2 blue balloons that we let go over the water to remember my wife April’s mom who passed away. She even brought a witness for us her name was Alison. Alison took some great photos for us. Thanks again YellowBird weddings!

Michelle was awesome. We are a same sex couple who travelled from Ohio to have Michelle officiate our ceremony at Niagara Falls. We were unable to meet before the wedding , so everything was planned via email. Over the month of emails, Michelle got to know us and what we wanted. She nailed it ! The ceremony was beautiful and her words about us and our feelings were exactly how we felt.. She let us incorporate our own ring vows too. Michelle helped my wife with a special surprise for me and brought a witness who took pictures for us. She was as happy for us as we were for ourselves ! We would highly recommend Michelle and Yellowbird Weddings. Thank You Michelle !
Amy & AprilIt’s hard to say something about Michelle that’s not already echoed in dozens of glowing reviews. She crafted a unique and special ceremony, allowed us to be nitpicky and obsessive about the wording, and was so friendly and personable (even though we only met in person the day of the wedding). I highly recommend her.
Chelsea & Matt JohnsMy husband was a little weary of not getting married in a church, but I talked him into it. And I must say, it was one of the best decisions I have ever made, along with picking Michelle for our ceremony! Michelle knew all the right things to say. We have gotten compliments for everyone who was there how beautiful our ceremony was because of the words spoken by Michelle. More importantly, my husband Adam loved that she made the ceremony all about us and our love now and how it will grow in the future-instead of focusing on the religious aspect of marriage. After all, marriage should be celebrating a love of two people and I couldn’t have found a better officiant for us on our special day!
Angela & Adam PijanowskiMichelle was awesome!
She was flexible, caring, and truly wanted to make your day very special. What I love the most about her was that she wanted us to share our stories of how my husband and I met, and how it lead us to this moment. Most officiants just give you some sheets of paper and ask you to choose which sermon you want him/her to say. Not Michelle! She makes sure that each sermon she writes is unique, thoughtful and represents the couple she is marrying. If you are looking for an officiant that will truly make your day more beautiful, choose Michelle.
Melanie & Steve JaeckleTrying to find a non-denominational officiant in our price range seemed like it was going to be an impossible task. Found YellowBird Wedding after a bit of searching and contacted Michelle well in advance of our wedding. We met with her to discuss what we wanted our ceremony to be and before the meeting was over we both knew she was the one we wanted to oversee our special day. She did an amazing job. The words that she chose were perfect. She also gave us a list of vows and ring vows to choose from and offered ideas for unity ceremonies. Highly recommend Michelle, especially for those looking for a non-religious ceremony.
Danielle & Adam BattHighly Recommended!
Michelle was everything that we wanted in an officiant. She is extraordinarily sweet and her first priority was creating a ceremony that fit “us” as a couple. We received more compliments than we can count from our guests about the ceremony that she performed. It had the perfect tone, was the perfect length, and didn’t feel “cookie-cutter” – she added personal touches about our relationship. Prior to the wedding, my fiance and I got a bit of performance anxiety about our vows, and she was able to calm our fears and make sure that we were comfortable while also gently encouraging us to step out of our comfort zone. I don’t think we could have found a more perfect person to make our once-in-a-lifetime moment just what we wanted it to be. We give Michelle our highest possible recommendation.
Ian & Lisa DentonMy husband and I were married by Michelle from Yellow Bird weddings, and we couldn’t have picked a better officiant. She met with us a couple times before the big day to make sure readings and the flow of the ceremony was what we wanted. She wrote her own piece about how we met that was adorable and captured our personalities perfectly. I would recommend her to anyone looking to make their ceremony truly their own.
Erin & Joseph MoynihanWhen Joe and I were looking for a place and person to officiate our wedding, we found Michelle’s website and were greatly impressed. We emailed Michelle and receive a rapid response. Michelle was quick to answer our questions and to forward information that we requested. During our Skype time, we felt like we had known Michelle for a long time. The day of our wedding, sorry we made you cry, but we were so overwhelmed with how special you made us feel. We realized at the ceremony that after twenty years, we were truly achieving a dream of several decades. The ceremony was personalized and we felt very special. Michelle is truly a professional and one who makes the couple feel special.
Wayne & JoeA lovely personalized ceremony
Michelle was great from start to finish! I had seen her officiate a wedding before and knew I wanted her to do ours. Her ceremony was wonderful! She kept it non-religious, which was important to us, and focused on messages of love and finding your special someone. I especially appreciated the personal touches she put in. One of the first things she did when we booked her was she scheduled a meeting with us to get to know us as a couple so that she could personalize our ceremony and make our day special. We were planning our wedding long distance so I was worried about that part but she was super flexible and facetimed with us instead. We also ended up having a little fiasco with the marriage license on the day of but Michelle stayed cool, calm, and collected which definitely helped keep me from freaking out! I highly recommend her!
Lara & Luke FountaineI feel very lucky that I stumbled onto Michelle’s name while looking online at Buffalo wedding photographers. My husband and I were nervous about the ceremony and wanted something very low key. Michelle did an awesome job making us feel comfortable and the ceremony was so beautiful. All of our family and friends made a point to tell us what an awesome officiant we chose and how lovely the ceremony and her words were. She helped keep us at ease and made the start of our wedding day celebration truly special.
Naia & Joseph AllenMy husband and I used Michelle last year as the officiant at our wedding and could not be happier. She really did an amazing job. She spoke as if she had known us for years. She kept the ceremony short and sweet but still extremely personal. She really listened to what we wanted. Our families were hesitant about us not having a catholic priest perform the ceremony, but we got nothing but an outpouring of compliments for months following our wedding. Using Yellowbird was truly one of the best wedding decisions we made. Thank you Michelle, you made our ceremony PERFECT!!!
Beth & Edward Schultz

My husband and I loved Michelle and all she did for us. When we first met with her and she asked about “our story” we knew she was the person we needed. The service she wrote for us was beautiful and included everything that we could have ever wanted. I would recommend her to anyone who asked about having an officiant. Thank you Michelle for giving us one of the best days ever!
Jennifer & Jeffrey WilsonMichelle was absolutely fantastic!
From our first correspondence through our wedding day we could not be happier with the services she provided. My husband and I live out of town and she was more than willing to meet us over Skype so we could get to know each other. She asked such thoughtful questions about our relationship and incorporated our answers so nicely into the ceremony so it was personalized. We got numerous compliments from our guests about what a beautiful ceremony Michelle performed. We could not be happier and highly recommend her!
Jessica & Tom MittnerWe was recently married on 10/4/14 by Michelle Snyder as our officiant. She was absolutely wonderful. Her professionalism and the happiness she brought to our day are without words. Michelle made us feel relaxed and comfortable without those wedding day jitters lurking from within.. She was funny and serious at just the right moments. Thank you so much for being part of our special day…..
Tami & Art SieczkarekLoved her!
We knew the minute that we sat down with Michelle that she was the person we wanted to marry us. She was professional, friendly and especially easy to talk to. She listened to our requests and honored each one of them. After our ceremony, we received many compliments about her. Many guests stated that she made the ceremony very personal and spoke genuinely about Drew and I even though she had only met us a few months earlier. We are truly thankful that we found Michelle! She comes highly recommended from this pair of newlyweds. Thank you, Michelle!
Kristen & Drew MunzMichelle was a wonderful officiant for our ceremony. She took the time to get to know us and used all of that information brilliantly in our ceremony. She included my daughter in our vows, which was very important to us. The ceremony was heart-felt, funny, emotional; and I don’t think there was a dry eye in the room! I would highly recommend YellowBird Wedding to anyone looking for a truly personalized wedding ceremony that is a reflection of your love for each other!
Marissa & Scott GordonWe were truly lucky to have found Michelle!
Our wedding was beautiful and fit us perfectly. This is Michelle’s true calling. I wouldn’t change a thing about our ceremony and would highly recommend her as your wedding officiant.
Lindsay & Matt KaeferMichelle rules!
Oh, Michelle was perfect! We were organizing our wedding from out of town, and she was extremely responsive, helpful, and reassuring. We met her on Skype a couple of times, and then she came to our wedding rehearsal to meet us in person before the big day. She exuded professionalism and caring. Her prices were also extremely reasonable and she was more flexible than the other officiants we talked to in terms of being willing to incorporate our wishes for a customized ceremony. For us, she was absolutely the right fit. Highly recommended.
Joanna & Jeremy JamesMichelle was great!
I found Michelle online and was very impressed with her website and all the wonderful reviews. After a few emails and a Skype meeting we were so excited to include her in our special day. Our wedding ceremony was so beautiful especially with all the personal touches. We even received compliments on how lovely our ceremony was. I highly recommend Michelle!
Rebecca & Adam WorthMichelle was wonderful, she met with us early on asked us about our story. When it was closer to the date she emailed me back answers to any questions I had quickly. The day of was wonderful it was short and sweet but also personalized, even if I did have the giggles and couldn’t control my laughter she got us thru the ceremony. Highly recommended!
Christie & Jason KosiakI couldn’t be happier with Michelle.
My fiancé and I chose not to get married in a church, but we really wanted a personalized and meaningful ceremony. I found her based on previous great reviews and decided to meet with her. She was great to work with from the start and took the time to get to know us as a couple. It truly showed in the ceremony because everything she wrote for us was perfect. She also encouraged us to write our own vows and I have to say I am so glad we did. After the wedding, we had sooo many compliments on what a beautiful ceremony it was, even from family and friends that were very traditional. Thank you so much Michelle!!!
Sarah & Andrew ReidySimply said, Michelle did a great job.
We had a same-sex wedding at a private home that we rented, and the ceremony was just perfect. She really got to know us beforehand so that the service was personalized exactly just to fit us and our beliefs, which is a challenge in and of itself since this was a destination wedding, my husband and I live in different countries, and we came in from out of the country to have this performed. Michelle was very flexible. She worked around the time difference and set up a Skype date so that we could all sit down together and discuss what we wanted for the wedding. Even though it was all long distance, it felt like we got to know each other well, so much that when the day came for the ceremony and met each other in person for the first time, I felt very comfortable with her. The ceremony was perfect, and I couldn’t have asked for a better officiant. Thank you Michelle.
Roger & JoshuaMichelle was the most amazing officiant.
In my research for an officiant, I was looking for someone who would reflect our life of diversity and Michelle was a perfect fit. The ceremony she put together was so beautiful it made me cry (in a good way!). It was like having a close friend or family member was speaking for us. All of our guest said that the ceremony was perfect. Our special day would not have been the same without Michelle. I highly recommend her services!
Lisa & Jason HarrisMichelle made our ceremony special. She took the time to get to know us as a couple and understand what we wanted from an officiant. From the start, she was very accommodating and easy to work with, willing to tailor her script to our preferences and able to answer any questions that we had. We were very happy with her script and her presentation of it; we felt that she conveyed our relationship as something unique and important and did so in a way that was entertaining and easy to follow. We highly recommend Michelle as an officiant.
Kara & Chris
We are so grateful that we found Michelle – She was the perfect choice for an officiant! We met with her and she guided us through the entire process – She asked questions about us as a couple so that she could create something that was personalized to us. Several of our guests have commented on how they thought she was a personal friend of ours because the ceremony was so special! I would highly recommend YellowBird Wedding!
Gillian & SaraAn Amazing Day.
My husband and I are from Ohio and found Michelle through a Google search. I viewed a few different Web sites, but only Michelle’s truly gave me the feeling I was looking for. There was just something about the happiness and love in every photo of her performing a ceremony. Her story of how she became a minister was touching and without judgment she supports all individuals who love and know they are meant for each other. Michelle and I only had contact through email while planning the ceremony, but she was always quick with getting back to me. She truly made my wedding day beautiful and memorable with the words she spoke and the emotion she put into every word. I wouldn’t have wanted my ceremony any other way!
Tiffany & Butch EssingAmazingly Lovely.
Michelle is absolutely fantastic. For many of our friends and family, this was their first gay wedding experience, and in all honesty, there was not a dry eye in the house. People complimented us on how beautiful and heartfelt the ceremony was. A few people even asked how to get in touch with Michelle for when they decide to get married. From the first skype call which Michelle spent over an hour interviewing us, we knew we had made the right decision. The ceremony ended up being an honest and well-versed piece of poetry. It reminded me of why I love the man I married, which is exactly what it was intended to do. I highly recommend the service that Yellowbird provides.
Pauly & FrankyPut our feelings perfectly into words.
When we started looking for a wedding officiant, we came across Michelle’s website and thought she would be a perfect fit for our ceremony. After meeting with her once, we knew we were right! She made us so comfortable and allowed us to really customize the important details of our ceremony. We chose not to see the ceremony ahead of time, and we were so glad we did, it made it that much more exciting and organic. Michelle made us laugh, made us (almost!) cry, and put our feelings into eloquent, thoughtful words that truly expressed the love and happiness of the wedding day. I would definitely recommend Michelle to any bride-to-be that is looking for a professional and heartfelt wedding officiant!
Kelly & BrianCouldn’t have asked for better!
Michelle was awesome. She was very reliable and always quick to respond to e-mails and phone calls. We got SO many compliments on how beautiful our ceremony was, and what a great choice it was to have Michelle as our officiant. I thought that finding such a laid-back, open-minded officiant would be impossible, but we found one with Michelle. Highly recommended!
Emily & Brian EhrichEverything we could’ve asked for
We had the pleasure of Karen being our wedding officiant and we couldn’t be happier. Karen was very professional and great with communication. She made us feel comfortable and took the time to get to know us as a couple prior to the wedding. Our wedding ceremony was perfect thanks to Karen, we had so many compliments on how beautiful the ceremony was. We are so thankful to have came across Yellowbird Weddings🤍
Charlotte & Kole GilchristOur minister from YellowBird Wedding was amazing!
She was everything we looked for and needed in a wedding officiant. She was helpful, kind, attentive, and the perfect blend of casual and professional. The way she performed our ceremony was just breath-taking. On top of all of that, she was incredibly affordable! I urge you to contact YellowBird Wedding if you want the perfect day! Thank you Michelle for being so wonderful and making our day so special and unique! You’re the best!
Gina & Dave GoombaWe would recommend Michelle to anyone looking for an officiator!
My husband and I live in Philadelphia, but our wedding was on Lake Ontario in New York. We didn’t have an officiator in mind so we searched the internet and found Michelle. After meeting with her, we knew she was absolutely perfect! Michelle helped us plan the ceremony and she wrote in a personal story about how my husband and I met. Not only were we impressed by Michelle, but our family and friends could not say enough good things about her! Many of them asked if Michelle was a good friend of ours because the ceremony was so personal and thoughtful! And others stated that it was the most enjoyable ceremony they had ever attended! Michelle made our special day even more meaningful than we could have imagined!
Jennifer & Angelo WatersWe were lucky enough to have Michelle officiate our wedding on June 30, 2012 in Buffalo, NY at Samuel’s Grande Manor. Since I live out of state (Indianapolis), I found Michelle through a Google search. I had contacted other officiants, but she seemed to fit our style and she is very friendly, patient, and accommodating. We met with Michelle on a visit home to Buffalo almost a year prior to the wedding and we were instantly assured we had made a good decision. She took the time to get to know us, she was very personable, and very organized. Her main concern was getting to know my fiance and I as a couple so she could structure the ceremony around us and make it unique to our style and relationship.

After the ceremony, I received many compliments and comments on Michelle and the ceremony she performed. Her words were sweet, well spoken, and captured our style perfectly. I highly recommend Michelle to anyone in need of an officiant! We were lucky to find her and we’ll always remember the huge role she played in our special day.
Danielle & Andrew HeltonMichelle was wonderful to work with!
The customized ceremony she put together for us really made our ceremony special and unique to who Mike and I are as a couple. Michelle always responded promptly to e-mails, and accommodated us for our wedding rehearsal even though there was heavy traffic on that particular day. All in all, we both sincerely appreciate all that she did for us, and would highly recommend her services to anyone in the future!
Corey & Michael Bley
Michelle is amazing!
She returned our initial email promptly and was ready to speak with us via Skype. She is the kind of person who instantly makes you feel comfortable and relaxed. With one Skype conversation she created the most beautiful ceremony for our wedding. We wish we would have recorded her words because they we heart felt and so very kind. Thank you Michelle for helping make our wedding special and memorable. You have an amazing talent and we both wish you the best of luck!
Kim & Chris
Michelle was such a pleasure to work with.
From day one it felt like she was someone I had known for a long time. She encouraged us to customize our ceremony to the way we wanted it; offering suggestions when needed. Since we were not writing our own vows she provided us with some options; encouraging us to mix and match to make it personnel. The day of the wedding she arrived early. She is very attentive and kept asking if I needed anything or if she could help me with anything. She has a very calming nature to her which helped ease my nerves. Our ceremony was absolutely perfect. It was everything I had ever wanted. She was enthusiastic and loving, and looked like she was thoroughly excited and happy for us. So much so that I had guests coming up to me asking me if she was a friend of ours. I would recommend Michelle to anyone and I am honored to have had her be a part of our big day.
Kristen & Jonathan Bellomo Michelle did an exceptional job officiating our wedding. As she already comes highly recommended, I was not surprised, however, she did an amazing job! I am sure most who are looking to book Michelle are not having a “traditional” ceremony, so it is great to have someone so familiar with the process to guide you in creating a non-religious ceremony. I honestly would have been lost without her guidance in the structure of the ceremony and her (major) assistance with the rehearsal. She was efficient and guided us and our families in being comfortable with the timeline and nuisances of the ceremony. Honestly, the fact that we had a beautiful, smooth ceremony can be attributed to Michelle. We received so many compliments on her as an officiant after the wedding. Do yourself a favor and book Michelle, she is professional, knowledgeable, reasonable and kind 🙂
Danielle & Rick Schlehr
Michelle was amazing.
We planned our wedding in only two months and she was excited to be a part of our day, even though she had very short notice and had to travel to Williamsville for a 6 am start!! From our initial contact through now, after the wedding, she has been kind, energetic, professional, well spoken, flexible, and easy going. We truly could not have asked for anything more. We asked for our ceremony to be non-denominational, focusing on friendship and our theme of ‘a new beginning’.
My husband and I absolutely loved the ceremony. It was heartwarming, beautiful and true to our lives and love. Many of our guests took us aside that morning to tell us that Michelle was so well spoken and her words so beautiful; they considered our wedding to one of the nicest they had ever been to.
Jackie & Paul GalanteMichelle, I wanted to write to you and thank you so much for performing such an incredibly beautiful ceremony. We received so many compliments on the ceremony and you, and we truly felt that your personality and your words were a reflection of us. It was incredible. I couldn’t have said any of it better myself. I wasn’t expecting the words about distance and separation…it was perfect, meaningful and we could not keep it together! I saw your blog post and shared it on facebook, that was so sweet, thank you!!! I am so glad we found you and I REALLY hope you can make this a full-time gig for yourself…you truly “get it,” and you are completely comfortable, which is something that radiates and soothes the people around you. We couldn’t be happier. Thank you for contributing largely to what turned out to be a perfect day. We wouldn’t change a thing.
Katie & Corey CraftsMichelle was truly amazing.
From the planning stage, to the ceremony, she always made you feel that there was nothing to worry about and, if you’re looking for flexibility you couldn’t have a better officiant.
During the ceremony, she brought out a range of emotions, not only for Paul and I, but for all who were in attendance. I may be a little prejudice because I knew Michelle since she was a little girl, but the comments from our guests verified my opinions. They thought she was both inspirational and even entertaining at times.
It was a truly memorable experience. Thanks, michelle, you’re the best.
Paul & Bob Padwater
We received many many compliments on the ceremony you performed.
Susie and I really loved it. It was beautiful and very touching. Both our sisters cried during the ceremony. My sister was very moved, she said she didn’t even cry at her own wedding, but loved our entire ceremony! My cousin’s husband loved the ceremony. He said it was the best wedding ceremony he has been to. He said that words were perfect. My cousin’s son, who is only 11 years old, was very touched by the ceremony. He told his mom “he feels so much love.” Everyone at the wedding loved how the ceremony was done. Thanks for making our special day even more special!
Judy & Susie
Everything was ABSOLUTELY perfect ❤
I knew for my wedding, I did not want to get married by a priest or anyone that would make the ceremony seem more about God than my husband and I.
I searched and searched and I found Michelle. Not only was she exactly what I wanted, but she also worked for an amazing price that couldn’t be beat.
She met with me prior to the ceremony and was very friendly. I immediately felt comfortable with her, and I knew I wanted her to be part of my wedding.
She sent me the ceremony (for the most part) prior to the wedding. I was able to read it over and get a feel for it – and although she normally doesn’t do rehearsals, she came to mine just to help ease mine and my husband’s minds.
The ceremony was absolutely beautiful and I could not have asked for a better officiant. I highly recommend Michelle to anyone who actually wants their ceremony to be personalized and be about the two of you and the love you share.
Angel & James StetzkoExcellent choice!
Karen was amazing to have be apart of our day! Karen was very responsive leading up to the wedding. She took the time to get to know my husband and I so that she could really add a personal touch to our day. The day of the wedding she arrived early and checked in with both of us. Karen was awesome at designing a ceremony and adding in what we asked for. Many of our guests believed that Karen was a long time friend with how she was able to bring our story to life.
ShyAnne & Earl WilliamsonAmazing covid wedding!!
During these crazy times we ended up having the most amazing day imaginable! Michelle was the perfect choice for us. The way she narrated our love story was so personal, as if she knew us for years. I’m so glad we didn’t wait to have a big wedding. Covid decided for us; to slow it down, make it more intimate and share the day with our closest people. Michelle was so eloquent with her words and she helped us be more creative with ours. We wrote our own vows and we got to personalize the “with this ring” section because of her guidance. I couldn’t be happier!!
Kristin & Kristopher Kavanaugh
Could not have been a better match for our ceremony!!!
Although Covid has thrown my now husband and I through the ringer, Michelle was one aspect that could not have been more perfect. Michelle is SO personable and genuinely wanted to get to know us as a couple to make the experience as individualistic as possible. She is very quick to respond to emails and answers all your questions and concerns! We are forever thankful for her agreeing to freeze outside in the cold at Letchworth State Park with us at our elopement. As someone who is immunocompromised, Michelle made myself feel very comfortable and remained masked at all times throughout the ceremony. I can not recommend her enough!!! 10/10
Jessica & Jesse DickinsonBrilliant!
Michelle was an absolutely perfect addition to our wedding day. I live out of town and was unfamiliar with what sort of officiants were available in Buffalo. My (now) husband and I aren’t religious but are spiritual and after sifting through many not quite right options, I came across Michelle and Yellowbird Weddings through several reviews online. Her website was welcoming, warm and full of love – the pictures of her with all of her couples is what I loved best about her. It showed she truly cared about the part she played in each ceremony and wasn’t in and out and on to the next one.
Meeting with Michelle was like talking to an old friend – her sense of humor and infectious smile made us like her immediately. Communicating with her between the first meeting and the ceremony was fun and easy and she always replied quickly!
Her words at our ceremony were personalized and heart warming. Everyone commented afterwards how well spoken she was (and how well they could hear her outside!) and many of them asked how long we had been friends! Her personalized delivery of our ceremony was so well done, everyone thought we had asked someone we already knew to perform it for us.
She provided help and guidance with writing our own vows and tailoring the ceremony the way we wanted. She gave us a ceremony that held a great sense of importance and unity, but was also fun and easy! Her openness to the world and the enjoyment she gets out of her job makes her the perfect person to perform your ceremony! Just look at her website – every couple is completely different from the next and she finds her own way to make their ceremonies about just them.
Bridget & Casey MillerOne of the best decisions that we made for our wedding was to have Michelle be our officiant!
I could not imagine anyone else performing our ceremony and am so thankful that I found her. From the very first e-mail that I sent to Michelle to meeting with her and then to our wedding day, we could not have asked for a better experience. Michelle is so kind, down to earth and has a way of making you feel very comfortable around her and before you know it, you feel like you’ve known her forever. My now husband and I met with Michelle and immediately knew that we wanted her to be the one to perform our ceremony. We were looking for an intimate ceremony, a ceremony about love and friendship. A ceremony about us and who we are as a couple and my eyes water just thinking about it because Michelle’s ceremony truly captured us and then some! I remember smiling throughout the entire ceremony, I remember laughing, I remember getting choked up and I also remember ‘zoning out’ for a moment and Michelle was kind enough to reel me back in and did it in a way that was sweet. Everyone truly loved our ceremony and so many people have asked us for Michelle’s contact information. I will always smile when I think of Michelle, she provided a beautiful beginning to the rest of our lives!
Michelle & Matt TornatoreComplete professional and understanding.
Our Officiant; Karen Younus was amazing for our wedding. We found her last minute when our original option fell short and we were so glad she was available for our date and venue. Karen was professional, heartfelt, understanding and helpful. We were a bit nervous and she walked us through what to expect and gave us options of speeches for the ring and vows. Karen made our day even more beautiful than we expected and we are so glad she was there with us to celebrate our union.
Thank You Karen for being a part of our big day and making everything possible.
Darlene & Sal MendolaBest Decision Ever.
From the moment we met Michelle she was eager to get to know all about our love sorry and our passions as a couple. We knew instantly she would make our wedding ceremony unique and personalized to us, and we were not wrong! Michelle calmed our nerves the day of and made our wedding day absolutely incredible, sentimental and full of love. Our ceremony was our favorite part of the night and it meant so much to both of us to have her beautiful words, she really captured who we are as a couple. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for for making it the best day of our life. Michelle will take the time to get to know you and make your ceremony a reflection of your individual love story. Our guests laughed, cried and shared in our ceremony through Michelle’s beautiful words and we are so grateful.
Adara & Matthew SmithMichelle did a spectacular job officiating my wedding.
I actually found her through WeddingWire where she averaged very high reviews. My interest piqued, I went to her website to get a taste for her style. Something about the way she presented herself and the joy she emitted in the photographs and videos of others’ ceremonies made me immediately want to contact her. I’m so glad I did! Michelle really took the time to get to know my husband and me as a couple. She was extremely intuitive and insightful about the kind of vibe we wanted for our ceremony and even about our values–many of which we did not explicitly share with her. After the big moment, everyone raved about how heartfelt and genuine Michelle’s words were. My husband and I felt like we were having an intimate conversation with her even though there were 100 people watching. She really set the tone for our wedding with her huge smile and joyful delivery, and we remain eternally grateful to her for making our day so magical.
Genelle & TimI Could Not Have Asked For Better Day on August 29th 2020
Let me start by saying from the moment I reached out to Michelle, the professionalism never stopped. My now husband and I were caught in a pickle because our initial officiant ghosted us about three weeks before the wedding. I know crazy right. Well I found Yellow Bird Wedding after searching on google. I sent Michelle an email and though she could not be part of our ceremony that day, she had another event that day, she had someone else in mind that works with her, her sister Karen Younus. Michelle sent me an email and talked to her sister before I believe even sending me an email. Before I knew it both Michelle and Karen emailed me. Michelle stated Karen would be wonderful and she was just that..WONDERFUL!!! Karen set up with my schedule a time that worked for Arthur and I to video chat. We did. Karen was very easy to talk to and calmed my nerves through that conversation. She sent has different vows we could use encase we didn’t write our own..we didnt. The ones she sent us fit like a glove after she learned about us through video chat. She also sent us ring vows to choose from and those also fit like a glove. The day of ceremony she was there in plenty of time. She came in to make sure I was doing well and found Arthur outside to make sure he was doing good as well. She was even patient with me as I was running a few minutes late because of last minute hair attention and a brief rain shower. Prior to the day of the ceremony, I emailed Karen and stated how nervous Arthur was to speak in front of everyone though it was just family and friends. He is a bit shy. She said tell Arthur don’t worry, I got him and this. She sure did. When it came to the start of the ceremony, She spoke with such grace. Everyone could understand every single word. When it came to exchanging of vows, Karen again didnt miss a beat. She spoke very clear so Arthur and I had no problems with repeating her for vow or ring exchange. I threw in a few extras to keep it light hearted and a little funny. Arthur and I love each other very much (before marriage we have been together 21 Years) but we were both trying not to be an emotional wreck that day. Karen was a true professional at all times, caring, compassionate, understanding and even accommodating person. If anyone needs an Officiant for their wedding, I Highly Recommend Karen to you. Don’t be afraid to reach out to her. Thank You Again Karen!!!!

Ben and I had a great experience working with YellowBird and specifically Karen. Given that we were planning our wedding from a different state, we weren’t able to meet face-to-face but had FaceTime meetings with Karen to go through the details of our ceremony. She was so pleasant to work with and made it seem like we knew her before we even met her in person. The day of the ceremony, Karen was there well before the ceremony to talk to both my husband and myself. Her words were beautiful during the ceremony and easily guided us through ever step (vow reading, ring exchange etc.) We received so many comments after the ceremony that it was one of the best that our guests had attended and that it was beautiful. We would definitely recommend Karen and YellowBird to anyone getting married in the Buffalo-area.
Sydney & Ben LassenMichelle was an absolutely AMAZING officiant for our wedding.
My husband and I planned our wedding from almost two hours away, so it was a little bit scary trying to plan everything from a distance…one thing that we had absolutely no anxiety about was the ability of Michelle to do a beautiful, non-religious wedding ceremony for us. One compliment that we have received over and over about our wedding was how wonderful Michelle was. She is extremely well-spoken, professional, and was able to hold the attention of our guests. Many guests asked us if Michelle was a personal friend of ours–she spoke about us as if she had known us for years! Everything that we could possibly need to customize our wedding ceremony was handled by Michelle–she had samples of reading/vows for everything–the ring ceremony, marital vows, and the wine box ceremony. We chose to write our own vows, so it was helpful to have those sample vows to go from. We weren’t able to meet with her in person because of weather (have to love Buffalo in the winter!), but she we had a Skype conference with her where she asked us questions about our relationship so that she could personalize our wedding ceremony. I would recommend Michelle for anyone’s wedding with absolutely no hesitation! She is extremely responsive, personable, and her services came at a reasonable price!
Lauren & Justin SkrzynskiI do not have enough words to express how wonderful Karen is! We were among the many COVID couples that required [multiple] wedding date changes due to the rapidly changing climate. From May, then to November, and eventually deciding on August (just 6 weeks before the date), Karen was flexible, gracious, and with us every step of the way. Our ceremony was intimate and personal. It was as if Karen had been with us our entire relationship. I would recommend Karen over and over again.
Meghan & Luke Graham
Michelle is amazing!
Michelle officiated our wedding in June of 2019 and I am still amazed at how perfect she was for our special day. When we initially met with her, she asked all the right questions and quickly got to know the two of us and picked up on a few things that we didn’t even realize until she mentioned them during our ceremony. She has a great eye for catching the special little things. We chose to do a very basic and non-traditional ceremony which we were worried would be too short and not have a lot of content. Michelle managed to make it perfect with not only her personalized words about us as a couple but amazingly beautiful words about our future together. We received many compliments about the ceremony and there was not a dry eye in that courtyard! She was extremely easy to work with (as we all know how hard it is to manage all of the vendors for a wedding). I highly recommend Michelle and we are so grateful and lucky that we found her!
Lisa & JillianFor our wedding we had Karen. She was great. She took our story and made it sound amazing during our ceremony. We kept changing our mind on having our ceremony inside or outside. It wa a chilly that day however I did not want to miss out on the view. Karen was flexible to whatever we wanted for our day. We also had 5 friends do readings during our ceremony and she was great at coordinating them so that it was flawless for the ceremony. We had a wonderful ceremony and received lots of compliments! Thanks Again!
Aurea & Chris BenbenekWhen my fiance and I first began the search for an Officiant, we were a little unsure where to start. My fiance’s family is very religious and I had no doubt they hadn’t even fathomed the thought of us getting married outside of a church. The problem is I am not a practicing Catholic and in addition to that, we both agreed that we wanted an outdoor ceremony. So, we knew we needed a non-denominational Officiant and just sort of accepted that we’d meet with a few until we found one that we clicked with. Thankfully, Michelle was the first one we met with because we knew as soon as we left our meeting with her, that we wanted her to officiate our ceremony. She is so down to earth, easy to talk to, and really helped put us at ease about what the ceremony would be like and how it would flow. She seemed genuinely interested in learning about our story, details about us personally and our journey that brought us to where we are today. She also gave us some helpful ring exchange and vow ideas to use or build off of as we saw fit – Both were extremely helpful! Our wedding ceremony turned out to be absolutely beautiful, and all of our guests agreed. Michelle put such a personal touch on the ceremony, there were several guests that thought we’d been friends with her for years! We received so many compliments on the ceremony, many of them complimenting her specifically. She really did such a wonderful job and it was exactly what my fiance and I had hoped for. Michelle, we can’t thank you enough! Thank you so much for making our ceremony truly beautiful. It was a pleasure to be able to work with you!
Stephanie & Michael MrozThe Absolute Best!
Michelle was absolutely fantastic! She gave an amazing speech at our ceremony about love and friendship, all of my relatives keep complimenting her and wish they would have had her for their ceremony. Michelle was always very quick to respond to any of my crazy emails and we even asked her for a small change just 20 mins before the ceremony and she happily accommodated us. I would absolutely recommend her to anyone of any background.
Kate & James TickelKaren Younus officiated our wedding and we could not have been happier with our experience with her and the services she provided. Karen met with us prior to the wedding to get to know us and so that she could add personal touches to our ceremony, which we greatly appreciated. She had plenty of vows and ring exchange options for us to choose from, which we could customize to our liking as well. I received numerous compliments from guests about just how beautiful the words Karen spoke at our ceremony were and we couldn’t agree more! I highly recommend Karen!
Carrie & Lucas SorrentinoI honestly don’t know where to begin… Michelle is just amazing and made our wedding day extra special. I’ll start off by saying if you’re looking for a personal, unique, beautiful ceremony about love and friendship, look no further than Michelle. She is not only a delightful and genuine individual who you will feel as though you’ve known her for years, but she put together an absolutely beautiful ceremony. My guests talked non stop about how great our ceremony was and it was my fiancé and I’s favorite part of our day. Whether you are religious or not, anyone can appreciate the depth of the ceremony Michelle delivers. If you’re looking for a personal ceremony that you can identify with, go with Michelle 🙂 She was cordial, reassuring, and just all around a wonderful person.
Rachel & Teddy Giovannini
My husband and I couldn’t imagine having had any other officiant for our ceremony. All night long, our guests expressed that it was the most meaningful, engaging, and beautiful wedding ceremony they’d ever attended and I couldn’t agree more. Michelle presented our marriage to our friends and family in a way that involved the perfect balance of personal narrative, humor, and carefully crafted expression of what marriage means to us. We especially appreciated the manner in which Michelle was speaking directly to US during the ceremony, not just our guests. Her delivery was so moving in fact, that my husband saw his brother tear up out of emotional impact for the first time (and then nervously try to disguise it as laughter, which didn’t go so well). If you’re looking for a truly unique, genuine, and intimate ceremony, please call YellowBird… you will not be disappointed. Aside from my satisfaction with Michelle’s services at my own wedding, I’ve been to several other ceremonies that she officiated (all of which were so personalized and unique from one another), and all were perfectly done. If you want lame and cookie cutter, call your grandma’s old bridge club buddy that used to officiate weddings in the 60s, not Michelle.
Chelsea & Andy MontroisWe were just married July 11, 2015 and could not be more pleased with having Michelle as our officiant. She is very professional, warm, and easy to work with. She was flexible enough to meet with us via Skype as we were not local initially, and then again when we were both in the city. While we were somewhat apprehensive about having someone who we had just met briefly lead our ceremony, we took a chance and it definitely far exceeded our expectations. Michelle gave great advice about how to keep the guests interested for the duration of the ceremony and not have it too drawn out. She works outside of doing weddings so could not attend our rehearsal (on a Friday afternoon), but to be honest it was not necessary to have her there. Michelle was open to making the ceremony work with our needs, we wanted to include a bible reading and she was up for that. She has a lovely demeanor and great speaking voice. All of these points are important, however, the most important fact that speaks to Michelle’s talent would be the numerous people we had who were blown away by the ceremony. We have had many people come to us and say they were so touched by her words, and point out specific moments that they enjoyed. My Mom, a tough critic, even said to me that we were so lucky to have found her because she made the ceremony so special. To be honest in my search for an officiant I wasn’t too focused on what they would say as long as in the end we were announced husband and wife but I am so happy to have such a beautiful memory of the ceremony and will cherish it. Thank you Michelle! I would recommend her to any of my own family and friends.
Martha & Dean LeongKaren was a joy to work with.
We met once for coffee one evening and exchanged a few emails and within that span of time, she had a great understanding of who we were as a couple. She incorporated our stories into her ceremony, sprinkled in a little humor and got the job done. Karen is an excellent public speaker – comfortable in front of a crowd, presentable in every single way and very responsible. Her rates are well within what the market demands and she did a great job. Highly recommend!
Jenn & Brian GollwitzerStop searching through officiants and hire Michelle right now!
She was absolutely fantastic! Michelle officiated our small, non-denominational wedding in May 2019. We knew she was the officiant for us from her very first email. Every step of the process from emailing, asking questions, meeting for coffee to talk about who we were as people and a couple, up until the day-of was met with extreme professionalism, compassion and care. Michelle’s ceremony was absolutely beautiful and all our guests complimented her work all night long. She wrote a beautiful, personalized ceremony that was honestly perfect and she talked as if we had been old friends. Her ability to include all the small things we wanted included as well as surprise us with some funny and heart warming pieces really made our ceremony special and has left us with lasting memories of that moment! Absolutely awesome!
Tianna & Robert Schaumloeffel
Simply Sincere & Memorable.
Without rambling on forever about how wonderful Michelle was, I can simply say that if you are looking for an officiant who wants to keep the ceremony about your values and beliefs and be flexible enough to add new traditions or nontraditional vows… Michelle is the one. After searching and sitting with multiple other officiants who claimed they were non-denominational etc. we were let down over and over… Michelle is exactly who she says she is. She really is in it for the couple to celebrate their love. It poured on our day, we had tree ceremony, and completely non-traditional vows, Michelle bared the rain with us, outside in the cold, and kept the ceremony personal, intimate and fulllll of joy. When we got a little too far off course, she roped us back in by putting our requests together in a way that was both memorable and meaningful. We couldn’t have asked for more, she was eloquent, sincere and amiable… when we met her for the first time, we just knew she was the one to do our ceremony, we had fun with her and just clicked. Meet with her and you see : ) Michelle, THANK YOU for a truly beautiful ceremony that we and our guests will never forget, it was truly memorable thanks to your openness to go with our vows and make them meaningful instead of a joke… I don’t know how you did it, but you made our sense of humor sweet, loving and made our day personal, about our love and friendship over all else. THANK YOU a thousand fold, till death do us part or the stars grow cold…
Kim & Joe NicosiaWe couldn’t have been happier with choosing Karen to officiate our wedding!
She was very friendly, super easy to communicate with and worked with us to make the ceremony what we wanted. We had some last minute changes to how we wanted to do our vows and she easily implemented them. We loved the words she spoke during the ceremony…very sweet and personalized to us. She even gave our dog a birthday shoutout 🙂 Thank you so so much Karen!! You are highly recommended by Sarah and Mike 🙂
Sarah & Mike BadzinskiMichelle was an absolute joy, I can not recommenced her services enough!
I found Michelle online, as we were not getting married in a religious ceremony and no one we knew could officiate a wedding. I was nervous about two things: 1) That she would be a crazy serial killer because you can never be too sure online.. & 2) That it would seem forced, considering she would only meet us a single time before the big day! Well, fortunately, neither of these concerns had any merit at all.
Michelle has an eloquent and beautiful way of telling a story, she talks with such kindness and serenity in her voice- it was as if we had known her our entire relationship. She included little tidbits about us that we had only mentioned in passing during our first meeting with her, as well as observations about our relationship that she felt spoke to our contentedness. I had people coming to me all night asking how we had met the officiant, thinking that she was an old friend!
I know this is getting lengthy, but I also wanted to include some praise for Michelle’s business practices, which only make working with her easier. She is prompt (she actually arrived to my rehearsal dinner before we did..), she corresponds quickly and with well thought out responses, she came prepared to our meeting and she was extremely flexible as to when we could meet and where. She also immediately made us feel at ease, so talking about ourselves was less awkward (even for my extremely shy husband).
I guess I will finish this up by saying, if you choose anyone else besides Michelle Snyder to be your wedding officiant, you’re wrong.
Rachael & Eric FryMichelle is such a wonderful officiant! She married my sister and her husband a year ago and after that I was so hopeful that Michelle could marry me and my husband! She made each ceremony so beautiful and meaningful. There were so many compliments from guests at both of our weddings about Michelle and what a sweet ceremony she provided. The time Michelle spent taking care of answering our questions, getting to know us beforehand, helping us have a rehearsal, and make our wedding day so special means so much to us! I can’t imagine my wedding ceremony being any different and would never want it to be! We are so grateful that we found Michelle to marry us!
Ellie & Brendon Kelly

Wonderful Experience
Michelle was a pleasure to work with and was an absolutely wonderful officiant. Michelle took the time to get to know us, accommodated our change of date (due to COVID) and emailed us every so often to check in. Michelle was always very easy to get a hold of and was extremely helpful when we had random questions about officiating, our marriage license, and how the day would look.
Our guests all commented on how great of a job Michelle did at our wedding. The words she spoke were beautiful, well-crafted, and specific to us as a couple. Hearing Michelle bring up some of our special moments made my wife and I tear up and took us back to some of our first moments as a couple.
If you’re looking for an officiant, I would absolutely recommend Michelle and Yellowbird.
Catherine & Vincent Cervone

We had such a wonderful experience working with Karen. Right from the beginning she made sure to pay attention to our personal story and added it to our ceremony. Anything I needed, she was just an email away. She answered every question I had very promptly. She made me feel so comfortable to rely on her to make sure things ran smoothly. After the ceremony the guest kept saying what a beautiful ceremony it was and how great Karen was. Thanks again Karen!
Gina & Tony StefaniFor our intimate wedding there were two things we really cared about; keeping it down to earth and natural and making it personal to us. Right from the outset, I was confident that Michelle at YellowBird Wedding would help us to achieve this. Michelle takes pride in getting to know you as a couple which meant a hilarious skype session (we are based on the West Coast) where we told Michelle all about our relationship and what makes us tick a a couple! I felt like I had known Michelle for years, she just has the ability to make you feel so at ease and comfortable. I was thrilled that Michelle was able to weave some of our stories into the ceremony, it just made the whole day come to life for us and our guests…there was not a dry eye in the house when Michelle had finished talking (from every emotion going!). We can not recommend Michelle highly enough. A wonderful lady who will make your special day so very much more memorable, Thank you!
Laura & Drew CivelekMichelle officiated our wedding at the Buffalo History Museum on October 7th which exceeded our expectations. Not only were we touched by her words, our guests were equally impressed with our ceremony. We didn’t want a typical church wedding. Rather, we wanted something with a strong message about love and the tenants of marriage. Quite honestly, it was simply beautiful from start to finish. Thank you, Michelle….you even impressed my mother who was a little nervous that we chose to get married outside the church. We would not have changed a thing, and we look forward to opening our love box next October to reread our vows and our love letters to each other.
Angela & Tom CordaroThis was the most amazing day ever.
Everything went better than I could have imagined. Michelle, you were fantastic to work with! The ceremony you developed for us was so touching and perfect. It really reflected us well and stayed true to our wishes. I cannot believe how great your beer unity ceremony was. I had no idea how you were going to tie everything together and we were blown away at how creative and perfect it was. As the night went on, every one at the reception paid compliments to Eddie and I regarding you! Perfect, perfect, PERFECT!
Angie & Eddie HaskillMichelle was amazing!
She crafted a ceremony based on us and all the information we gave her about us. She was prompt, helped us get everything organized the day of, and made sure our ceremony was perfect. We are so lucky to have found her. When our first officiant cancelled on us, two months before the ceremony, we thought we would never find someone we liked. We were so wrong!! Couldn’t have asked for anyone more perfect for our ceremony. I would recommend Michelle to anyone looking for an officiant who will take the time to know who you are and make your ceremony about you!
Adrienne & Ethan LindellI cannot begin to express how pleased my husband and I are that we chose Michelle to be our officiant. Searching for an officiant can appear a daunting task- it is a bit intimidating finding someone through the internet, and not having seen a wedding they have performed. Michelle’s entire ceremony made our wedding everything we hoped for. She took the time to talk with us prior to the big day, and made notes on our personality, our relationship, our personal values, and hopes for our future. The ceremony was so personalized and well written. She provided multiple options for the wording during the exchanging of the rings. Michelle was flexible, and laid back- planning the ceremony with her was one of the easiest parts of wedding planning- it was simple to coordinate with her and our DJ and ceremony site for a flawlessly smooth wedding ceremony. It is truly one of the most special and cherished part of our day- she sent us the written ceremony so that we may reflect on it each year on our anniversary. We had many men and women who were guests approach us throughout our evening inquiring about Michelle, complimenting her, and complimenting our ceremony. We cannot recommend her services enough!
Shannon & Andrew Brazill
When my husband and I got engaged, we knew we wanted someone unique to match our style. We are so happy that we stumbled upon Yellowbird Wedding! Michelle was a spectacular addition to our June wedding. Michelle was such a breeze to work with from our first meeting to the wedding day. She was available if we had any random questions throughout the planning process as well. The ceremony -which we have received numerous compliments on from our guests- was sweet, thoughtful, and reflected our personalities. The ceremony was personalized, touching, and humorous too! We would highly recommend Michelle to anyone! Thank you for making our day extra special!
Kelly & Tim GulinoI was initially attracted to Michelle’s services when I saw that she officiated so many same sex marriages. That openness to love meant a lot to me. My husband and I are not religious, but after meeting Michelle, we knew she would be able to provide us a ceremony structure that worked perfectly for us. Michelle was a huge help at our rehearsal, as we were all wandering around like chickens with our heads cut off until she arrived and helped guide us through. The wedding itself was perfect. She helped calm us down about the potential rain that might keep us indoors from our hopeful outdoor ceremony. Michelle seems to truly love what she does, and made our special day even more special.
Jenna & Corey HartMichelle was fantastic!
We live in New Zealand, so she Skyped with us for our initial consultation. She took some time to get to know us and hear our love story. We felt so comfortable speaking to Michelle that we didn’t need to look any further to interview anyone else. On the wedding day, Michelle wove our stories into a beautiful ceremony. She talked about how our journey started and explained the tools of love and life that we will need going forward. During the reception we had many comments on the ceremony. Many gentlemen mentioned that they got a bit teary-eyed during it. My uncle said, “It was a beautiful ceremony. It wasn’t too long. It was personalized and it had just the right amount of humor. It was perfect.”
DeShea & Sam KennedyMichelle is absolutely amazing!
She makes everything so simple and easy. We didn’t know exactly what she was going to say during the ceremony, but it was truly like she knew us and our relationships for years, just after meeting her twice! We got so many compliments from our guests that it was the most beautiful ceremony they have been to. Couldn’t have been happier!!
Michaela & Aaron LaJoieMichelle was wonderful.
From the very beginning when we had our little interview, Michelle immediately had us feeling comfortable and we were able to tell her our “boring” love story. I was amazed at how much information she retained from that small meeting, but four months later during the ceremony, she brought our “boring” love story to life and her words truly meant something special for our us in our special moment. We were very blessed to have found Michelle because I couldn’t have imagined that day without her. Thank you so much Michelle!
Christi & Jeremy ZolnowskiMy new husband and I were recently married by Michelle on October 11, 2014. I can not say enough about how amazing it was to work with her!! We live in Buffalo, but got married about 5 hours away in the Catskills, my hometown. We started to look for officiants in the area and came up with some pretty slim pickings…so I turned to BuffaloIndieWeddings to see who was available in Buffalo that would travel. From the moment we started looking for wedding officiants, Michelle from YellowBird Wedding stood out from all the rest, her webpage was full of photos of happy and loving couples of all kinds and that is what drew us to her…she obviously loved what she did and we knew we had to see if she could possibly make the journey to the Catskills for us. I sent an email explaining and asking if she would travel…her response was Yes! We set up a meeting and from there everything was smooth sailing. We conversed often through email and she was so helpful and reassuring when it came to creating a beautiful and meaningful ceremony for Randy and I. There was some worry from me because my mom had really wanted us to be married in a church…and she had difficulty accepting that we would not be. Michelle even set up a second meeting to discuss our concerns and reassure us. When the day finally came…Michelle was there to check in and reassure me that all was well. When I walked down the aisle she was standing there next to Randy and the words she said were perfect! Right down to small little details we had discussed at our first meeting nearly a year before!! Needless to say she had myself, Randy and all our friends and family in tears of joy and happiness!! Our guests raved about the ceremony, many said that they never cry at weddings and Michelle had them sobbing! Michelle helped to make our day so special and magical, beyond what we had even imagined…we can not praise her enough for the unforgettable moments she helped to create!
Kaitlin & Randy SheehanThank you for taking the time to make a ceremony that was unique to us. Your words mean the world to us and we will cherish that ceremony for the rest of our lives. We appreciate that you got to know our personalities and made the ceremony mostly serious; however, with those splashed of humor that made us breathe and remember the small moments that were actually quite big in our lives. I wish you only the best. I highly recommend you to anyone and everyone getting married. You are a wonderful spirit and you made our wedding day so special. So grateful for you!!!!! XOXOXOX
Sharifa & Chris MangMichelle is not only an amazing person but an amazing officiant as well! She puts you at ease from your first meeting & answers every question you could possibly have! She is truly interested in you & your love story. She conveys the love you & your other half share in the most eloquent & genuine way possible at your ceremony. Though I don’t remember every word she said at our ceremony, I remember it was beautiful enough to make me tear up a few times & I found myself nodding in agreement at a lot of what she said! She is AMAZING & we actually had a few guests tell us that if they ever got married, she would be a perfect addition to their plans (hope you like Calgary Michelle!). We can’t say enough good things about this wonderful woman! =)
Lauren & Darrin McKieChoosing Michelle as our officiant was one of the best decisions we made for our wedding! We liked her immediately when we met her and she far surpassed our expectations on our wedding day. She really paid attention to personal details about us as a couple and drew on that to create a beautiful ceremony that was personal to us, funny and very sweet. All night people kept complimenting us and telling us that it was the sweetest and sincerest ceremony they’d ever seen, and everyone thought she was one of our closest friends! People were shocked to find out that she had only recently met us…we still get people asking us about our friend that did our ceremony, and it is months later. I recommended Michelle to my sister for her wedding and she did end up also using her as an officiant and loved her too. I would highly recommend Michelle and YellowBird Wedding to anyone looking for an officiant!
Erin & Jim GuiffridaYou’re not going to find a better officiant than Michelle. As an officiant, she is professional, but at the same time her ceremony is funny and personal. Michelle is a long-time friend of mine, but even if you aren’t close friends with her, your guests will think you have known Michelle your whole lives! I received many, many compliments on her ceremony.
Jennifer & Nick BoltonWe found Michelle through her website. From the beginning and throughout the entire process, we felt very comfortable working with her. About a month before the wedding, we met with her to have an informal discussion about us and the ceremony. We immediately knew she would be the right person. Simply from talking and getting to know us and our backgrounds, she was able to put everything together. In the weeks leading up to the wedding, we exchanged emails regarding vows and more specific details of the ceremony. Michelle was very helpful and was able to accommodate some special requests we had. She made our wedding day the special event it needed to be. The speech fit perfectly with our story and personalities. We are extremely fortunate to have found Michelle and would highly recommend her to anyone seeking an officiant. All the best!
Matt & FabianMichelle is an outstanding officiant!!!
Our guests – including my father, who was, initially, not thrilled about having a non-denominational wedding – were all thoroughly impressed with Michelle’s presentation. Her personality, public speaking skills and overall professionalism are top notch and were recognized/remarked on both at the wedding and afterward.
I even have close family friends who have requested information on Michelle as they may want her to preside over their wedding vow renewal!
I was sold even before meeting Michelle on Skype because of her wonderful, honest words on her website regarding her introduction into ministry and why she continues to be passionate about officiating and supporting love – in any form. I was more pleased when I spoke with her over the internet and had the chance to viewed her abilities in-person at my wedding. She is a warm, supportive, welcoming and professional officiant. I am getting married three times (same guy!) and I commissioned Michelle for my second wedding event — if costs didn’t prohibit bringing her to England for my third event, I would do it! Contact her, you will not be disappointed by your wedding day results!!!
Katie & Anthony WaldronAs soon as my husband and I began planning our wedding, we both knew that we would prefer a simple, non – religious ceremony that was still beautiful and full of love – and boy, did Michelle deliver! Michelle is one of those rare people that can make you feel like you’ve known her forever as soon as you start talking with her. Above and beyond listening to our story, she really “got” who we are as a couple and used her intuition to craft the most beautifully worded ceremony that made us both laugh and cry tears of joy. All night, our guests were quoting her jokes and telling us how touching they thought the ceremony was (a few of our engaged guests even asked for her contact information!) so if you’re reading this – I would, without hesitation, recommend that you include Michelle in the beginning of your happily ever after.
Christine & Timothy SugrueWhile as engaged couples we spend so much of our time on details, such as flowers, cake, venue, food, drinks really the whole reason that we are doing all that celebrating is the marriage ceremony, its the most important bit! As a couple on the most important day of your life to day, while standing up there you want it to feel magical and amazing because its so important….and more than likely you are ready to jump out of your skin with excitement. Michelle delivered on all aspects of this incredibly important job and she made it fun and easy for us to create our wedding ceremony. Firstly she is very responsive to email and it was easy to set a time to meet with her. She took notes on our story, we went for a stroll and chatted casually about things, she is a very easy person with whom to chat and be around (a nice trait given how intense the day can be!). She made some suggestions about things that could be in the ceremony (sand ceremony, wine ceremony, etc…) as well as a vow and ring exchange verbiage to get us started thinking; there are a lot of options and she guided us through everything with a nice light touch. We had a several email exchange about logistics, but in the end the ceremony was hers to create and she did a marvelous job, we were truly moved and touched. I actually had multiple comments about what a lovely job she did officiating. We were so pleased that she officiated our marriage and have only great things to say (or write in this case) and the highest recommendation.
Lara & Moray CampbellWe could have not asked for a better officiant for our wedding!
Michelle was absolutely wonderful and provided everything we were looking for. She was there to answer any questions we had and made sure to get back to us right away. Our ceremony was so personal and fit who we’re as a couple that everyone attending thought she had known us for years!! We highly recommend Michelle to any future couple that is getting married. She was fantastic!!
Lauren & Sean CurryLove her💜💚
Michelle did our wedding on 9/14/19 at the Hayloft in the Grove. She came highly recommended by them. We are so thankful they did! Michelle nailed it at our ceremony. She included everything that was important to us like our children our family dog and my husbands obsession with hockey. People who were at the wedding raved about our ceremony and Michelle and how she incorporated my husbands son into our family vows. Without a doubt I would recommend her to anyone getting married that wants originality and exceptional service!! Thank you again Michelle!
Ashley & Ryan HoffmanMichelle was great to work with!
Michelle was very responsive and helpful throughout the wedding ceremony process. Michelle provide us with templates and ideas for vows and other readings/ unity ceremonies. She was also a great sound board to bounce off ideas for the ceremony and helped us understanding how everything was going to flow. She was very willing to do any additional readings or wordings that we wanted to add to our ceremony to personalize it to us. I found Michelle online. My husband and I both knew that we did not want a religious ceremony, but we still wanted something about unity, love, and respect. Michelle did a great job doing just that. One of our guests came up to us during the rehearsal and commented on the atmosphere of the ceremony and how it changed his ideas on how a marriage ceremony had to go (i.e. not religious). She is located in Buffalo and we did the ceremony on Canandiaguia Lake , which she charged a fair price for mileage. We did not have Michelle attend the rehearsal dinner but she was still willing to provide us with a good outline of the ceremony since my husband and I were worried about how everything was ordered. She provided us the outline without hesitation but kept some parts out as a surprise for the wedding which was nice. During the ceremony Michelle did a great job speaking clearly and loudly with a calm and relax demeanor. I even got caught up in the moment and forgot a few of the lines and Michelle noticed and quickly helped me get back on track. We also kind of rushed in our tree unity ceremony but Michelle was paying attention and made sure to omit the command line as to not call out our small error. I would definitely recommend Michelle
Kristen & Ray StantonSimpy Amazing.
When my husband and I began looking for an officiant for our ceremony, we had no idea where to begin. We knew we wanted someone who would focus on love, friendship, and the spirit of the day, rather than religion. So we just started looking around and stumbled upon Yellow Bird. What a lucky and amazing find! Michelle is one of the most sincere people out there, and she understands the weight of what she does, yet treats it with a light and easy manner. She made us comfortable and excited throughout the planning process, rather than overwhelming us with the daunting task of planning the ceremony details. She really took the time to get to know us as a couple, and incorporated a few of the things she learned about us into her ceremony readings. And she did so in such a natural way; nothing felt forced. Michelle comes equipped with plenty of examples of ring exchanges, unity ceremonies, and vows (but was completely open to us writing our own) so that you can choose what best fits your style. She was focused on making our ceremony a completely organic and unique experience, and while we knew some of what would happen, she kept parts of the ceremony a secret until the moment. Because of that you could feel the glow of love in the room, and again, nothing seemed forced or rehearsed (though we did do a rehearsal, which was infinitely helpful in calming our nerves!). Michelle was easily reachable when we had questions or concerns, and she made sure we were taken care of on the wedding day. She brought copies of our vows for us (one less thing to remember on our end!) and they weren’t just on scraps – she had typed them up on pretty paper and cut them out in fancy, simple, shapes. I really appreciated that attention to even the smallest detail. Michelle thinks of everything, but most importantly, she thinks of you!
Jessica & Chris BuddeMichelle was the perfect officiant for our ceremony.
While researching possible officiants, I came across the YellowBird website and knew immediately Michelle would be the perfect fit for us. This was repeatedly validated throughout the process from our first correspondence to the day of our wedding. Michelle is easy to talk to, well organized, accommodating, and incredibly kind. The ceremony itself was wonderful. The words she prepared were funny, beautiful and personal. She really takes the time to get to know the couple, and tailors the ceremony accordingly. Numerous guests commented on how wonderful the ceremony was, and we couldn’t have agreed more. Thank you Michelle, for helping make our special day perfect!
Sara & Christopher WeindorfPraise for Michelle!
It all started with an internet search, looking for an officiant to perform our wedding ceremony in Niagara Falls. We came upon Michelle’s Yellowbird wedding link and were impressed by reviews that were posted. After having a couple of email correspondences and a skype meeting we were totally convinced that she was the one for us. Michelle has a great personality which we liked from the moment we began corresponding. We loved her style and sense of humor. She has a very relaxed, pleasant and fun personality while maintaining a sense of professionalism. She made herself available to us throughout the planning process and responded to our concerns and questions in a timely fashion. The ceremony was very heartfelt and warming with personal touches and references Michelle had obtained during our skype meeting. She spoke very clearly and in a relaxed fashion and truly seemed to value the love and commitment that my now wife and I share for one another.
Terri & TammyMichelle is simply amazing.
Planning a wedding can be stressful, but working with Michelle was truly as the easiest part of the process. She was a calming presence to my wife for the ceremony, which was a huge blessing. Michelle showed sincere concern about what was important to us as a couple and effortlessly blended that into a beautiful presentation at the ceremony. My wife and I have received countless compliments on how unique and thoughtful the ceremony was and we owe that to Michelle. Most importantly she’s just a really cool person and someone we are glad to have shared time with!
Amy & Patrick Donnelly birds My husband and I truly enjoyed working with Michelle. We met her at a coffee shop in North Buffalo and we knew as soon as we met her that she was the perfect choice for our wedding! We felt like Michelle took the time to listen and get to know us, answered all the questions we had throughout the wedding planning stages, and delivered a personal and fitting service for our ceremony. She provided us with vows, rings, and ceremony rituals/unity examples, which made it a lot easier to finalize the ceremony that captured what we were looking for. Our ceremony was beautiful and our guests complimented how nice it was. We loved all the nice words Michelle had to say, and especially her recommendation of having a wine box ceremony which went perfect with our theme and continues to be raved about from our guests. We would not hesitate in recommending Michelle to perform your wedding ceremony, she was memorable!
Sabrina & David DeFilippis
birds My wife and I had been together ten years when we decided to get married. We were looking to keep it simple with just the two of us. Michelle did an amazing job with everything. For only having met her once, there was a level of intimacy that truly reflected what we were looking for. We could not have been more moved and touched by the ceremony, After so much time together, we were both surprised at how overcome with emotion we were. Michelle not only performed a beautiful service, but she also provided our witness. This was a great relief to us, as we really did just want it to be the two of us. We would recommend Michelle to anyone.
Jill & Meg birds Michelle was the absolute best we could have ever asked for!! We were supposed to get married 6/25/2021 and she didn’t even hesitate to reschedule with us when we postponed due to Covid.
Michelle was so easy to get a hold of and so easy to talk to. We had only talked a handful of times and never even met in person until the day of the wedding. That didn’t stop her from talking to us over the phone and getting to know who we are as a couple on a personal level. She was able to make our ceremony so personal that people asked us how long she had been in our lives!!
She was the absolute best and I cannot recommend her enough!!
Krista & Luke Nearhoof
birds My partner, Patti, and I have been together for seven years. We finally decided to get married when my mom was a resident of the Niagara Hospice House since both sets of parents have been supportive of our relationship. When I first contacted Michelle to see if she was available to perform our wedding ceremony, I explained why time was of the essence. Michelle responded to my email immediately. She set up a Skype meeting with us right away and made us laugh as she asked us questions about how we met. Michelle explained that she is very flexible and gave us suggested vows to choose from. We ended up combining several of her suggestions to make the ceremony the most meaningful for our relationship. On the day of the ceremony, Michelle was able to put everyone at ease while remaining very professional. Our families commented on how thoughtful and meaningful Michelle’s service was. I highly recommend Michelle!
Tracey & Patricia birds We had an absolutely amazing experience and couldn’t be happier that we chose Michelle to officiate our August 2nd wedding. From the first time we met with her, we were so comfortable and felt immediately at ease. She made a real attempt to get to know us. The main thing we wanted when we were looking for an officiant was someone who would make our ceremony personal and special. Michelle did just that. We received compliments about her all night long; how well-spoken she was and how intimate and beautiful the words she chose were. She made us laugh and cry and we will hold her words in our hearts for many years to come!We had an absolutely amazing experience and couldn’t be happier that we chose Michelle to officiate our August 2nd wedding. From the first time we met with her, we were so comfortable and felt immediately at ease. She made a real attempt to get to know us. The main thing we wanted when we were looking for an officiant was someone who would make our ceremony personal and special. Michelle did just that. We received compliments about her all night long; how well-spoken she was and how intimate and beautiful the words she chose were. She made us laugh and cry and we will hold her words in our hearts for many years to come!
Kristin & Chris KacalaMichelle was amazing!
She was recommended to us by our wedding planner and from our initial Skype meeting with her we knew she was the one! She really got to know who we are as a couple and made our ceremony a reflection of us even incorporating our love for “The Princess Bride”. We received so many compliments about her from our many guests. My Father, who is a judge and has officiated many weddings himself, thought she did an amazing job and was blown away by her genuine nature and personal warmth. We are so happy to have found her and we highly recommend her!!! Thanks Michelle!!!
Halle & Brian Eydt

We just got married two weeks ago and Michelle was our officiant. Talk about not having to worry about anything! She met with my fiance and I to go over our story and how we met. And we booked her like, two weeks before our wedding because your other officiant dropped out! So, when I rate 5 stars for flexibility – I literally mean it in this case! She helped us with our vows, unity ceremonies, and ring exchange. She was absolutely amazing and helpful! Highly recommended!
Hayley & Virgilio Gonzalez From the moment we met her, we knew Michelle was right for us. My now-husband and I had been having trouble finding a non-religious officiant that really got who we are and what we were looking for (some wouldn’t even meet with us unless we placed a few-hundred dollar deposit first). We wanted a humanist ceremony that spoke to who we are as individuals, our relationship with each other, and our broader feelings about the meaning of love, equality and community. Michelle delivered in a big way. Yes, she is VERY reasonably priced, but more importantly she cares about finding out who her clients are and makes the ceremony about them. Our ceremony was everything I could have wanted — heartfelt, touching, and personalized. I’d recommend her to anyone looking for an officiant.
Jackie & Justin Wonderful ceremony that was unique for us!
Karen was very responsive and helped to make our wedding day special. We weren’t positive what to expect while looking for an officiant. Our venue recommended YellowBird and we had a call with Karen. She asked us questions particular to us as a couple and incorporated everything that was important to us in the ceremony. It was amazing how she turned our answers into a love story for friends and family to hear. She provided some vows and allowed us to tweak them to suit us personally. Communicating through email primarily after the initial call was very responsive and we felt very comfortable and happy that Karen was able to officiate this special day. Highly recommend!!
Rebecca & Scott RomanoMichelle was fantastic!
My wife and I both live out of town and didn’t know anyone in New York, so we relied on the beauty of the internet to make all our plans. I found Michelle on Wedding Wire and was overwhelmed by her glowing reviews. I emailed her, crossing my fingers and hoping like crazy that she would be available, with only about 2 months notice. She was (probably because we’d chosen the middle of the week) and was extremely flexible – she was not only able to marry us in the middle of the week, but also in the middle of the day. We emailed back and forth several times, and she was so helpful and happy to answer all of my questions. Since we were unable to meet in person, the 3 of us met via video chat so Michelle could get get to know us as a couple. It was easy and comfortable and she seemed to learn a lot in a little conversation!

The wedding ceremony itself was absolutely beautiful. Her sermon was so sweet and personal, and made us smile and laugh and just really made a perfect day even more perfect. My mom commented on how beautiful the sermon was, and it’s a shame we didn’t think to videotape it. My wife and I loved that we were able to choose our vows (Michelle had a wonderful selection!) so we had something non-traditional, unique, personal, and really lovely. We picked the words for our ring exchange as well, and Michelle was happy to let us tweak it a little so that it felt just right for us. The ceremony was really perfect, thanks Michelle!
Finding an officiant from out of town was one of the most daunting details of wedding planning, but it turned out to be so easy, and such a relief to find someone so amazing. I would recommend her to anyone, she does a fantastic job!
Melanie & AdeleI couldn’t be happier with Michelle!
The ceremony was my favorite part of the day and that was because of how perfect and meaningful everything that Michelle said was. We received so many compliments. It was incredibly touching. She even integrated elements that I wanted but didn’t tell her about. She came to check on me beforehand which was so sweet. She is hands down the best in Buffalo. Adore her!
Jennifer & Adam Stotz
Ceremony we dreamed of!
My husband and I can’t say enough good things about Michelle! When we initially met with Michelle she asked us to share the story of how my husband and I met, which she then worked into our ceremony to make it personalized just for us. The words that she spoke at our ceremony resonated with many of our guests; several later told me that her messages of love and friendship touched them after being married for years themselves. I can’t recommend her highly enough!
Kim & Jason LongAmazing!
The ceremony was so beautiful, and exactly what we wanted. Michelle did such a great job with the entire thing. Her words were so personal and touching, it brought us both to tears. Planning a wedding from out of state, and only meeting Michelle via Skype, I was worried it might not be intimate. I was so pleasantly surprised as I stood there and heard Michelle talk about small details we had mentioned to her in conversation. We received so many compliments from our guests about how amazing it was. I could not be happier with how beautiful it was.
Kim & Angelo LaGrecaMichelle was absolutely amazing in every way!
We were planning our wedding from a distance and she was able to meet with us while we were in town visiting family over Christmas. We did most of our chatting over emails and she was incredibly sensitive to work with (incredibly enthusiastic actually!) as a same-sex couple. She crafted a ceremony that was more meaningful and personalized than any other wedding ceremony I’ve heard, and many of our guests commented on this as well. She helped us figure out our vows, and worked in the readings that we wanted to flow perfectly with her ceremony. It felt like she had really known us and it made our wedding day absolutely perfect. We would recommend YellowBird Weddings to anyone looking for an officiant in the Buffalo, NY area.
Amber & KristenWe are a lesbian couple from out of state with little time to plan – 5 months – and no visit the area before our big day. We are so grateful that Michelle agreed to officiate for us. Every aspect of working with her was a true pleasure, from first Skype meeting to goodbye. She took time to get to know us as a couple and captured our personalities in beautiful prose. We received many compliments on her articulate and thoughtful delivery. During the ceremony, her confidence and gentle instruction put us at ease and helped us remain focused on the promises we made. Absolutely one of our favorite vendors. We highly recommend Michelle!
Alissa & JenniferMade our day!
Michelle made our wedding day so special!! She completely “got” us and was able to make our ceremony so personalized, sweet, relaxed, and beautiful. We don’t live in the Buffalo area so Michelle and I exchanged emails to talk about which elements we wanted in our ceremony, which we did not, things about my husband and I and how we met. Even through just email, I felt totally comfortable with Michelle- she was so flexible and open and really there to make our ceremony tailored for us.
We had spoken with some other officiants in the area but didn’t feel a connection with anyone- most were pretty religious and we were uncomfortable that the ceremony wouldn’t reflect us as much as it did the officiant.
We were so grateful to find Michelle!
I seriously cannot imagine having had someone else marry us! CONTACT HER!
…also she’s super affordable, even with travel 🙂
Samantha & Ben AeurbachSimply Perfect!
My husband and I found Michelle after searching tirelessly for an officiant for our outdoor wedding. With everything we had going on we kind of forgot that we actually needed someone to marry us! Haha! When we found her website we knew that she would be a perfect fit for what we wanted. After our first “meeting” on Skype all of our fears about finding the perfect officiant disappeared. She truly exceeded all of our expectations and performed the most beautiful ceremony that we could have ever imagined. We received so many compliments from our guests, they just raved about her, and we couldn’t agree more. She was simply fantastic! Thank you, again, Michelle!
Jeff & Kaycee McDougalI couldn’t have found a better officiant!
After searching and searching I found Michelle and knew I made the right decision! She is beautiful in heart and soul. Her spoken words at our ceremony were so remarkable, thoughtful and will always be a constant memory for me when I look back on our wedding day. Having her there made our day turn out even more fantastic! I HIGHLY recommend Michelle! Thank you for being there Michelle and being patient as I cried and stuttered/squeaked through my vows! lol!
Chris & ScottMichelle did a wonderful job for us. We traveled from Ohio to Niagara Falls to be married since same sex marriage is not legal in Ohio. We did everything via email we did not meet her in person til the day of the wedding. Michelle would be an asset to any wedding. She made our day even more special bringing 2 blue balloons that we let go over the water to remember my wife April’s mom who passed away. She even brought a witness for us her name was Alison. Alison took some great photos for us. Thanks again YellowBird weddings!

Put our feelings perfectly into words.
When we started looking for a wedding officiant, we came across Michelle’s website and thought she would be a perfect fit for our ceremony. After meeting with her once, we knew we were right! She made us so comfortable and allowed us to really customize the important details of our ceremony. We chose not to see the ceremony ahead of time, and we were so glad we did, it made it that much more exciting and organic. Michelle made us laugh, made us (almost!) cry, and put our feelings into eloquent, thoughtful words that truly expressed the love and happiness of the wedding day. I would definitely recommend Michelle to any bride-to-be that is looking for a professional and heartfelt wedding officiant!
Kelly & BrianCouldn’t have asked for better!
Michelle was awesome. She was very reliable and always quick to respond to e-mails and phone calls. We got SO many compliments on how beautiful our ceremony was, and what a great choice it was to have Michelle as our officiant. I thought that finding such a laid-back, open-minded officiant would be impossible, but we found one with Michelle. Highly recommended!
Emily & Brian Ehrich
Our minister from YellowBird Wedding was amazing!
She was everything we looked for and needed in a wedding officiant. She was helpful, kind, attentive, and the perfect blend of casual and professional. The way she performed our ceremony was just breath-taking. On top of all of that, she was incredibly affordable! I urge you to contact YellowBird Wedding if you want the perfect day! Thank you Michelle for being so wonderful and making our day so special and unique! You’re the best!
Gina & Dave GoombaWe would recommend Michelle to anyone looking for an officiator!
My husband and I live in Philadelphia, but our wedding was on Lake Ontario in New York. We didn’t have an officiator in mind so we searched the internet and found Michelle. After meeting with her, we knew she was absolutely perfect! Michelle helped us plan the ceremony and she wrote in a personal story about how my husband and I met. Not only were we impressed by Michelle, but our family and friends could not say enough good things about her! Many of them asked if Michelle was a good friend of ours because the ceremony was so personal and thoughtful! And others stated that it was the most enjoyable ceremony they had ever attended! Michelle made our special day even more meaningful than we could have imagined!
Jennifer & Angelo WatersWe were lucky enough to have Michelle officiate our wedding on June 30, 2012 in Buffalo, NY at Samuel’s Grande Manor. Since I live out of state (Indianapolis), I found Michelle through a Google search. I had contacted other officiants, but she seemed to fit our style and she is very friendly, patient, and accommodating. We met with Michelle on a visit home to Buffalo almost a year prior to the wedding and we were instantly assured we had made a good decision. She took the time to get to know us, she was very personable, and very organized. Her main concern was getting to know my fiance and I as a couple so she could structure the ceremony around us and make it unique to our style and relationship.

Amazing covid wedding!!
During these crazy times we ended up having the most amazing day imaginable! Michelle was the perfect choice for us. The way she narrated our love story was so personal, as if she knew us for years. I’m so glad we didn’t wait to have a big wedding. Covid decided for us; to slow it down, make it more intimate and share the day with our closest people. Michelle was so eloquent with her words and she helped us be more creative with ours. We wrote our own vows and we got to personalize the “with this ring” section because of her guidance. I couldn’t be happier!!
Kristin & Kristopher Kavanaugh
Could not have been a better match for our ceremony!!!
Although Covid has thrown my now husband and I through the ringer, Michelle was one aspect that could not have been more perfect. Michelle is SO personable and genuinely wanted to get to know us as a couple to make the experience as individualistic as possible. She is very quick to respond to emails and answers all your questions and concerns! We are forever thankful for her agreeing to freeze outside in the cold at Letchworth State Park with us at our elopement. As someone who is immunocompromised, Michelle made myself feel very comfortable and remained masked at all times throughout the ceremony. I can not recommend her enough!!! 10/10
Jessica & Jesse DickinsonBrilliant!
Michelle was an absolutely perfect addition to our wedding day. I live out of town and was unfamiliar with what sort of officiants were available in Buffalo. My (now) husband and I aren’t religious but are spiritual and after sifting through many not quite right options, I came across Michelle and Yellowbird Weddings through several reviews online. Her website was welcoming, warm and full of love – the pictures of her with all of her couples is what I loved best about her. It showed she truly cared about the part she played in each ceremony and wasn’t in and out and on to the next one.
Meeting with Michelle was like talking to an old friend – her sense of humor and infectious smile made us like her immediately. Communicating with her between the first meeting and the ceremony was fun and easy and she always replied quickly!
Her words at our ceremony were personalized and heart warming. Everyone commented afterwards how well spoken she was (and how well they could hear her outside!) and many of them asked how long we had been friends! Her personalized delivery of our ceremony was so well done, everyone thought we had asked someone we already knew to perform it for us.
She provided help and guidance with writing our own vows and tailoring the ceremony the way we wanted. She gave us a ceremony that held a great sense of importance and unity, but was also fun and easy! Her openness to the world and the enjoyment she gets out of her job makes her the perfect person to perform your ceremony! Just look at her website – every couple is completely different from the next and she finds her own way to make their ceremonies about just them.
Bridget & Casey MillerOne of the best decisions that we made for our wedding was to have Michelle be our officiant!
I could not imagine anyone else performing our ceremony and am so thankful that I found her. From the very first e-mail that I sent to Michelle to meeting with her and then to our wedding day, we could not have asked for a better experience. Michelle is so kind, down to earth and has a way of making you feel very comfortable around her and before you know it, you feel like you’ve known her forever. My now husband and I met with Michelle and immediately knew that we wanted her to be the one to perform our ceremony. We were looking for an intimate ceremony, a ceremony about love and friendship. A ceremony about us and who we are as a couple and my eyes water just thinking about it because Michelle’s ceremony truly captured us and then some! I remember smiling throughout the entire ceremony, I remember laughing, I remember getting choked up and I also remember ‘zoning out’ for a moment and Michelle was kind enough to reel me back in and did it in a way that was sweet. Everyone truly loved our ceremony and so many people have asked us for Michelle’s contact information. I will always smile when I think of Michelle, she provided a beautiful beginning to the rest of our lives!
Michelle & Matt TornatoreComplete professional and understanding.
Our Officiant; Karen Younus was amazing for our wedding. We found her last minute when our original option fell short and we were so glad she was available for our date and venue. Karen was professional, heartfelt, understanding and helpful. We were a bit nervous and she walked us through what to expect and gave us options of speeches for the ring and vows. Karen made our day even more beautiful than we expected and we are so glad she was there with us to celebrate our union.
Thank You Karen for being a part of our big day and making everything possible.
Darlene & Sal MendolaBest Decision Ever.
From the moment we met Michelle she was eager to get to know all about our love sorry and our passions as a couple. We knew instantly she would make our wedding ceremony unique and personalized to us, and we were not wrong! Michelle calmed our nerves the day of and made our wedding day absolutely incredible, sentimental and full of love. Our ceremony was our favorite part of the night and it meant so much to both of us to have her beautiful words, she really captured who we are as a couple. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for for making it the best day of our life. Michelle will take the time to get to know you and make your ceremony a reflection of your individual love story. Our guests laughed, cried and shared in our ceremony through Michelle’s beautiful words and we are so grateful.
Adara & Matthew SmithMichelle did a spectacular job officiating my wedding.
I actually found her through WeddingWire where she averaged very high reviews. My interest piqued, I went to her website to get a taste for her style. Something about the way she presented herself and the joy she emitted in the photographs and videos of others’ ceremonies made me immediately want to contact her. I’m so glad I did! Michelle really took the time to get to know my husband and me as a couple. She was extremely intuitive and insightful about the kind of vibe we wanted for our ceremony and even about our values–many of which we did not explicitly share with her. After the big moment, everyone raved about how heartfelt and genuine Michelle’s words were. My husband and I felt like we were having an intimate conversation with her even though there were 100 people watching. She really set the tone for our wedding with her huge smile and joyful delivery, and we remain eternally grateful to her for making our day so magical.
Genelle & TimI Could Not Have Asked For Better Day on August 29th 2020
Let me start by saying from the moment I reached out to Michelle, the professionalism never stopped. My now husband and I were caught in a pickle because our initial officiant ghosted us about three weeks before the wedding. I know crazy right. Well I found Yellow Bird Wedding after searching on google. I sent Michelle an email and though she could not be part of our ceremony that day, she had another event that day, she had someone else in mind that works with her, her sister Karen Younus. Michelle sent me an email and talked to her sister before I believe even sending me an email. Before I knew it both Michelle and Karen emailed me. Michelle stated Karen would be wonderful and she was just that..WONDERFUL!!! Karen set up with my schedule a time that worked for Arthur and I to video chat. We did. Karen was very easy to talk to and calmed my nerves through that conversation. She sent has different vows we could use encase we didn’t write our own..we didnt. The ones she sent us fit like a glove after she learned about us through video chat. She also sent us ring vows to choose from and those also fit like a glove. The day of ceremony she was there in plenty of time. She came in to make sure I was doing well and found Arthur outside to make sure he was doing good as well. She was even patient with me as I was running a few minutes late because of last minute hair attention and a brief rain shower. Prior to the day of the ceremony, I emailed Karen and stated how nervous Arthur was to speak in front of everyone though it was just family and friends. He is a bit shy. She said tell Arthur don’t worry, I got him and this. She sure did. When it came to the start of the ceremony, She spoke with such grace. Everyone could understand every single word. When it came to exchanging of vows, Karen again didnt miss a beat. She spoke very clear so Arthur and I had no problems with repeating her for vow or ring exchange. I threw in a few extras to keep it light hearted and a little funny. Arthur and I love each other very much (before marriage we have been together 21 Years) but we were both trying not to be an emotional wreck that day. Karen was a true professional at all times, caring, compassionate, understanding and even accommodating person. If anyone needs an Officiant for their wedding, I Highly Recommend Karen to you. Don’t be afraid to reach out to her. Thank You Again Karen!!!!

Ben and I had a great experience working with YellowBird and specifically Karen. Given that we were planning our wedding from a different state, we weren’t able to meet face-to-face but had FaceTime meetings with Karen to go through the details of our ceremony. She was so pleasant to work with and made it seem like we knew her before we even met her in person. The day of the ceremony, Karen was there well before the ceremony to talk to both my husband and myself. Her words were beautiful during the ceremony and easily guided us through ever step (vow reading, ring exchange etc.) We received so many comments after the ceremony that it was one of the best that our guests had attended and that it was beautiful. We would definitely recommend Karen and YellowBird to anyone getting married in the Buffalo-area.
Sydney & Ben LassenMichelle was an absolutely AMAZING officiant for our wedding.
My husband and I planned our wedding from almost two hours away, so it was a little bit scary trying to plan everything from a distance…one thing that we had absolutely no anxiety about was the ability of Michelle to do a beautiful, non-religious wedding ceremony for us. One compliment that we have received over and over about our wedding was how wonderful Michelle was. She is extremely well-spoken, professional, and was able to hold the attention of our guests. Many guests asked us if Michelle was a personal friend of ours–she spoke about us as if she had known us for years! Everything that we could possibly need to customize our wedding ceremony was handled by Michelle–she had samples of reading/vows for everything–the ring ceremony, marital vows, and the wine box ceremony. We chose to write our own vows, so it was helpful to have those sample vows to go from. We weren’t able to meet with her in person because of weather (have to love Buffalo in the winter!), but she we had a Skype conference with her where she asked us questions about our relationship so that she could personalize our wedding ceremony. I would recommend Michelle for anyone’s wedding with absolutely no hesitation! She is extremely responsive, personable, and her services came at a reasonable price!
Lauren & Justin SkrzynskiI do not have enough words to express how wonderful Karen is! We were among the many COVID couples that required [multiple] wedding date changes due to the rapidly changing climate. From May, then to November, and eventually deciding on August (just 6 weeks before the date), Karen was flexible, gracious, and with us every step of the way. Our ceremony was intimate and personal. It was as if Karen had been with us our entire relationship. I would recommend Karen over and over again.
Meghan & Luke Graham
Michelle is amazing!
Michelle officiated our wedding in June of 2019 and I am still amazed at how perfect she was for our special day. When we initially met with her, she asked all the right questions and quickly got to know the two of us and picked up on a few things that we didn’t even realize until she mentioned them during our ceremony. She has a great eye for catching the special little things. We chose to do a very basic and non-traditional ceremony which we were worried would be too short and not have a lot of content. Michelle managed to make it perfect with not only her personalized words about us as a couple but amazingly beautiful words about our future together. We received many compliments about the ceremony and there was not a dry eye in that courtyard! She was extremely easy to work with (as we all know how hard it is to manage all of the vendors for a wedding). I highly recommend Michelle and we are so grateful and lucky that we found her!
Lisa & JillianFor our wedding we had Karen. She was great. She took our story and made it sound amazing during our ceremony. We kept changing our mind on having our ceremony inside or outside. It wa a chilly that day however I did not want to miss out on the view. Karen was flexible to whatever we wanted for our day. We also had 5 friends do readings during our ceremony and she was great at coordinating them so that it was flawless for the ceremony. We had a wonderful ceremony and received lots of compliments! Thanks Again!
Aurea & Chris BenbenekWhen my fiance and I first began the search for an Officiant, we were a little unsure where to start. My fiance’s family is very religious and I had no doubt they hadn’t even fathomed the thought of us getting married outside of a church. The problem is I am not a practicing Catholic and in addition to that, we both agreed that we wanted an outdoor ceremony. So, we knew we needed a non-denominational Officiant and just sort of accepted that we’d meet with a few until we found one that we clicked with. Thankfully, Michelle was the first one we met with because we knew as soon as we left our meeting with her, that we wanted her to officiate our ceremony. She is so down to earth, easy to talk to, and really helped put us at ease about what the ceremony would be like and how it would flow. She seemed genuinely interested in learning about our story, details about us personally and our journey that brought us to where we are today. She also gave us some helpful ring exchange and vow ideas to use or build off of as we saw fit – Both were extremely helpful! Our wedding ceremony turned out to be absolutely beautiful, and all of our guests agreed. Michelle put such a personal touch on the ceremony, there were several guests that thought we’d been friends with her for years! We received so many compliments on the ceremony, many of them complimenting her specifically. She really did such a wonderful job and it was exactly what my fiance and I had hoped for. Michelle, we can’t thank you enough! Thank you so much for making our ceremony truly beautiful. It was a pleasure to be able to work with you!
Stephanie & Michael MrozThe Absolute Best!
Michelle was absolutely fantastic! She gave an amazing speech at our ceremony about love and friendship, all of my relatives keep complimenting her and wish they would have had her for their ceremony. Michelle was always very quick to respond to any of my crazy emails and we even asked her for a small change just 20 mins before the ceremony and she happily accommodated us. I would absolutely recommend her to anyone of any background.
Kate & James TickelKaren Younus officiated our wedding and we could not have been happier with our experience with her and the services she provided. Karen met with us prior to the wedding to get to know us and so that she could add personal touches to our ceremony, which we greatly appreciated. She had plenty of vows and ring exchange options for us to choose from, which we could customize to our liking as well. I received numerous compliments from guests about just how beautiful the words Karen spoke at our ceremony were and we couldn’t agree more! I highly recommend Karen!
Carrie & Lucas SorrentinoI honestly don’t know where to begin… Michelle is just amazing and made our wedding day extra special. I’ll start off by saying if you’re looking for a personal, unique, beautiful ceremony about love and friendship, look no further than Michelle. She is not only a delightful and genuine individual who you will feel as though you’ve known her for years, but she put together an absolutely beautiful ceremony. My guests talked non stop about how great our ceremony was and it was my fiancé and I’s favorite part of our day. Whether you are religious or not, anyone can appreciate the depth of the ceremony Michelle delivers. If you’re looking for a personal ceremony that you can identify with, go with Michelle 🙂 She was cordial, reassuring, and just all around a wonderful person.
Rachel & Teddy Giovannini
My husband and I couldn’t imagine having had any other officiant for our ceremony. All night long, our guests expressed that it was the most meaningful, engaging, and beautiful wedding ceremony they’d ever attended and I couldn’t agree more. Michelle presented our marriage to our friends and family in a way that involved the perfect balance of personal narrative, humor, and carefully crafted expression of what marriage means to us. We especially appreciated the manner in which Michelle was speaking directly to US during the ceremony, not just our guests. Her delivery was so moving in fact, that my husband saw his brother tear up out of emotional impact for the first time (and then nervously try to disguise it as laughter, which didn’t go so well). If you’re looking for a truly unique, genuine, and intimate ceremony, please call YellowBird… you will not be disappointed. Aside from my satisfaction with Michelle’s services at my own wedding, I’ve been to several other ceremonies that she officiated (all of which were so personalized and unique from one another), and all were perfectly done. If you want lame and cookie cutter, call your grandma’s old bridge club buddy that used to officiate weddings in the 60s, not Michelle.
Chelsea & Andy MontroisWe were just married July 11, 2015 and could not be more pleased with having Michelle as our officiant. She is very professional, warm, and easy to work with. She was flexible enough to meet with us via Skype as we were not local initially, and then again when we were both in the city. While we were somewhat apprehensive about having someone who we had just met briefly lead our ceremony, we took a chance and it definitely far exceeded our expectations. Michelle gave great advice about how to keep the guests interested for the duration of the ceremony and not have it too drawn out. She works outside of doing weddings so could not attend our rehearsal (on a Friday afternoon), but to be honest it was not necessary to have her there. Michelle was open to making the ceremony work with our needs, we wanted to include a bible reading and she was up for that. She has a lovely demeanor and great speaking voice. All of these points are important, however, the most important fact that speaks to Michelle’s talent would be the numerous people we had who were blown away by the ceremony. We have had many people come to us and say they were so touched by her words, and point out specific moments that they enjoyed. My Mom, a tough critic, even said to me that we were so lucky to have found her because she made the ceremony so special. To be honest in my search for an officiant I wasn’t too focused on what they would say as long as in the end we were announced husband and wife but I am so happy to have such a beautiful memory of the ceremony and will cherish it. Thank you Michelle! I would recommend her to any of my own family and friends.
Martha & Dean LeongKaren was a joy to work with.
We met once for coffee one evening and exchanged a few emails and within that span of time, she had a great understanding of who we were as a couple. She incorporated our stories into her ceremony, sprinkled in a little humor and got the job done. Karen is an excellent public speaker – comfortable in front of a crowd, presentable in every single way and very responsible. Her rates are well within what the market demands and she did a great job. Highly recommend!
Jenn & Brian GollwitzerStop searching through officiants and hire Michelle right now!
She was absolutely fantastic! Michelle officiated our small, non-denominational wedding in May 2019. We knew she was the officiant for us from her very first email. Every step of the process from emailing, asking questions, meeting for coffee to talk about who we were as people and a couple, up until the day-of was met with extreme professionalism, compassion and care. Michelle’s ceremony was absolutely beautiful and all our guests complimented her work all night long. She wrote a beautiful, personalized ceremony that was honestly perfect and she talked as if we had been old friends. Her ability to include all the small things we wanted included as well as surprise us with some funny and heart warming pieces really made our ceremony special and has left us with lasting memories of that moment! Absolutely awesome!
Tianna & Robert Schaumloeffel
Simply Sincere & Memorable.
Without rambling on forever about how wonderful Michelle was, I can simply say that if you are looking for an officiant who wants to keep the ceremony about your values and beliefs and be flexible enough to add new traditions or nontraditional vows… Michelle is the one. After searching and sitting with multiple other officiants who claimed they were non-denominational etc. we were let down over and over… Michelle is exactly who she says she is. She really is in it for the couple to celebrate their love. It poured on our day, we had tree ceremony, and completely non-traditional vows, Michelle bared the rain with us, outside in the cold, and kept the ceremony personal, intimate and fulllll of joy. When we got a little too far off course, she roped us back in by putting our requests together in a way that was both memorable and meaningful. We couldn’t have asked for more, she was eloquent, sincere and amiable… when we met her for the first time, we just knew she was the one to do our ceremony, we had fun with her and just clicked. Meet with her and you see : ) Michelle, THANK YOU for a truly beautiful ceremony that we and our guests will never forget, it was truly memorable thanks to your openness to go with our vows and make them meaningful instead of a joke… I don’t know how you did it, but you made our sense of humor sweet, loving and made our day personal, about our love and friendship over all else. THANK YOU a thousand fold, till death do us part or the stars grow cold…
Kim & Joe NicosiaWe couldn’t have been happier with choosing Karen to officiate our wedding!
She was very friendly, super easy to communicate with and worked with us to make the ceremony what we wanted. We had some last minute changes to how we wanted to do our vows and she easily implemented them. We loved the words she spoke during the ceremony…very sweet and personalized to us. She even gave our dog a birthday shoutout 🙂 Thank you so so much Karen!! You are highly recommended by Sarah and Mike 🙂
Sarah & Mike BadzinskiMichelle was an absolute joy, I can not recommenced her services enough!
I found Michelle online, as we were not getting married in a religious ceremony and no one we knew could officiate a wedding. I was nervous about two things: 1) That she would be a crazy serial killer because you can never be too sure online.. & 2) That it would seem forced, considering she would only meet us a single time before the big day! Well, fortunately, neither of these concerns had any merit at all.
Michelle has an eloquent and beautiful way of telling a story, she talks with such kindness and serenity in her voice- it was as if we had known her our entire relationship. She included little tidbits about us that we had only mentioned in passing during our first meeting with her, as well as observations about our relationship that she felt spoke to our contentedness. I had people coming to me all night asking how we had met the officiant, thinking that she was an old friend!
I know this is getting lengthy, but I also wanted to include some praise for Michelle’s business practices, which only make working with her easier. She is prompt (she actually arrived to my rehearsal dinner before we did..), she corresponds quickly and with well thought out responses, she came prepared to our meeting and she was extremely flexible as to when we could meet and where. She also immediately made us feel at ease, so talking about ourselves was less awkward (even for my extremely shy husband).
I guess I will finish this up by saying, if you choose anyone else besides Michelle Snyder to be your wedding officiant, you’re wrong.
Rachael & Eric FryMichelle is such a wonderful officiant! She married my sister and her husband a year ago and after that I was so hopeful that Michelle could marry me and my husband! She made each ceremony so beautiful and meaningful. There were so many compliments from guests at both of our weddings about Michelle and what a sweet ceremony she provided. The time Michelle spent taking care of answering our questions, getting to know us beforehand, helping us have a rehearsal, and make our wedding day so special means so much to us! I can’t imagine my wedding ceremony being any different and would never want it to be! We are so grateful that we found Michelle to marry us!
Ellie & Brendon Kelly

We had such a wonderful experience working with Karen. Right from the beginning she made sure to pay attention to our personal story and added it to our ceremony. Anything I needed, she was just an email away. She answered every question I had very promptly. She made me feel so comfortable to rely on her to make sure things ran smoothly. After the ceremony the guest kept saying what a beautiful ceremony it was and how great Karen was. Thanks again Karen!
Gina & Tony StefaniFor our intimate wedding there were two things we really cared about; keeping it down to earth and natural and making it personal to us. Right from the outset, I was confident that Michelle at YellowBird Wedding would help us to achieve this. Michelle takes pride in getting to know you as a couple which meant a hilarious skype session (we are based on the West Coast) where we told Michelle all about our relationship and what makes us tick a a couple! I felt like I had known Michelle for years, she just has the ability to make you feel so at ease and comfortable. I was thrilled that Michelle was able to weave some of our stories into the ceremony, it just made the whole day come to life for us and our guests…there was not a dry eye in the house when Michelle had finished talking (from every emotion going!). We can not recommend Michelle highly enough. A wonderful lady who will make your special day so very much more memorable, Thank you!
Laura & Drew CivelekMichelle officiated our wedding at the Buffalo History Museum on October 7th which exceeded our expectations. Not only were we touched by her words, our guests were equally impressed with our ceremony. We didn’t want a typical church wedding. Rather, we wanted something with a strong message about love and the tenants of marriage. Quite honestly, it was simply beautiful from start to finish. Thank you, Michelle….you even impressed my mother who was a little nervous that we chose to get married outside the church. We would not have changed a thing, and we look forward to opening our love box next October to reread our vows and our love letters to each other.
Angela & Tom CordaroThis was the most amazing day ever.
Everything went better than I could have imagined. Michelle, you were fantastic to work with! The ceremony you developed for us was so touching and perfect. It really reflected us well and stayed true to our wishes. I cannot believe how great your beer unity ceremony was. I had no idea how you were going to tie everything together and we were blown away at how creative and perfect it was. As the night went on, every one at the reception paid compliments to Eddie and I regarding you! Perfect, perfect, PERFECT!
Angie & Eddie HaskillMichelle was amazing!
She crafted a ceremony based on us and all the information we gave her about us. She was prompt, helped us get everything organized the day of, and made sure our ceremony was perfect. We are so lucky to have found her. When our first officiant cancelled on us, two months before the ceremony, we thought we would never find someone we liked. We were so wrong!! Couldn’t have asked for anyone more perfect for our ceremony. I would recommend Michelle to anyone looking for an officiant who will take the time to know who you are and make your ceremony about you!
Adrienne & Ethan LindellI cannot begin to express how pleased my husband and I are that we chose Michelle to be our officiant. Searching for an officiant can appear a daunting task- it is a bit intimidating finding someone through the internet, and not having seen a wedding they have performed. Michelle’s entire ceremony made our wedding everything we hoped for. She took the time to talk with us prior to the big day, and made notes on our personality, our relationship, our personal values, and hopes for our future. The ceremony was so personalized and well written. She provided multiple options for the wording during the exchanging of the rings. Michelle was flexible, and laid back- planning the ceremony with her was one of the easiest parts of wedding planning- it was simple to coordinate with her and our DJ and ceremony site for a flawlessly smooth wedding ceremony. It is truly one of the most special and cherished part of our day- she sent us the written ceremony so that we may reflect on it each year on our anniversary. We had many men and women who were guests approach us throughout our evening inquiring about Michelle, complimenting her, and complimenting our ceremony. We cannot recommend her services enough!
Shannon & Andrew Brazill
When my husband and I got engaged, we knew we wanted someone unique to match our style. We are so happy that we stumbled upon Yellowbird Wedding! Michelle was a spectacular addition to our June wedding. Michelle was such a breeze to work with from our first meeting to the wedding day. She was available if we had any random questions throughout the planning process as well. The ceremony -which we have received numerous compliments on from our guests- was sweet, thoughtful, and reflected our personalities. The ceremony was personalized, touching, and humorous too! We would highly recommend Michelle to anyone! Thank you for making our day extra special!
Kelly & Tim GulinoI was initially attracted to Michelle’s services when I saw that she officiated so many same sex marriages. That openness to love meant a lot to me. My husband and I are not religious, but after meeting Michelle, we knew she would be able to provide us a ceremony structure that worked perfectly for us. Michelle was a huge help at our rehearsal, as we were all wandering around like chickens with our heads cut off until she arrived and helped guide us through. The wedding itself was perfect. She helped calm us down about the potential rain that might keep us indoors from our hopeful outdoor ceremony. Michelle seems to truly love what she does, and made our special day even more special.
Jenna & Corey HartMichelle was fantastic!
We live in New Zealand, so she Skyped with us for our initial consultation. She took some time to get to know us and hear our love story. We felt so comfortable speaking to Michelle that we didn’t need to look any further to interview anyone else. On the wedding day, Michelle wove our stories into a beautiful ceremony. She talked about how our journey started and explained the tools of love and life that we will need going forward. During the reception we had many comments on the ceremony. Many gentlemen mentioned that they got a bit teary-eyed during it. My uncle said, “It was a beautiful ceremony. It wasn’t too long. It was personalized and it had just the right amount of humor. It was perfect.”
DeShea & Sam Kennedy
Michelle was wonderful.
From the very beginning when we had our little interview, Michelle immediately had us feeling comfortable and we were able to tell her our “boring” love story. I was amazed at how much information she retained from that small meeting, but four months later during the ceremony, she brought our “boring” love story to life and her words truly meant something special for our us in our special moment. We were very blessed to have found Michelle because I couldn’t have imagined that day without her. Thank you so much Michelle!
Christi & Jeremy ZolnowskiMy new husband and I were recently married by Michelle on October 11, 2014. I can not say enough about how amazing it was to work with her!! We live in Buffalo, but got married about 5 hours away in the Catskills, my hometown. We started to look for officiants in the area and came up with some pretty slim pickings…so I turned to BuffaloIndieWeddings to see who was available in Buffalo that would travel. From the moment we started looking for wedding officiants, Michelle from YellowBird Wedding stood out from all the rest, her webpage was full of photos of happy and loving couples of all kinds and that is what drew us to her…she obviously loved what she did and we knew we had to see if she could possibly make the journey to the Catskills for us. I sent an email explaining and asking if she would travel…her response was Yes! We set up a meeting and from there everything was smooth sailing. We conversed often through email and she was so helpful and reassuring when it came to creating a beautiful and meaningful ceremony for Randy and I. There was some worry from me because my mom had really wanted us to be married in a church…and she had difficulty accepting that we would not be. Michelle even set up a second meeting to discuss our concerns and reassure us. When the day finally came…Michelle was there to check in and reassure me that all was well. When I walked down the aisle she was standing there next to Randy and the words she said were perfect! Right down to small little details we had discussed at our first meeting nearly a year before!! Needless to say she had myself, Randy and all our friends and family in tears of joy and happiness!! Our guests raved about the ceremony, many said that they never cry at weddings and Michelle had them sobbing! Michelle helped to make our day so special and magical, beyond what we had even imagined…we can not praise her enough for the unforgettable moments she helped to create!
Kaitlin & Randy Sheehan
Michelle is not only an amazing person but an amazing officiant as well! She puts you at ease from your first meeting & answers every question you could possibly have! She is truly interested in you & your love story. She conveys the love you & your other half share in the most eloquent & genuine way possible at your ceremony. Though I don’t remember every word she said at our ceremony, I remember it was beautiful enough to make me tear up a few times & I found myself nodding in agreement at a lot of what she said! She is AMAZING & we actually had a few guests tell us that if they ever got married, she would be a perfect addition to their plans (hope you like Calgary Michelle!). We can’t say enough good things about this wonderful woman! =)
Lauren & Darrin McKieChoosing Michelle as our officiant was one of the best decisions we made for our wedding! We liked her immediately when we met her and she far surpassed our expectations on our wedding day. She really paid attention to personal details about us as a couple and drew on that to create a beautiful ceremony that was personal to us, funny and very sweet. All night people kept complimenting us and telling us that it was the sweetest and sincerest ceremony they’d ever seen, and everyone thought she was one of our closest friends! People were shocked to find out that she had only recently met us…we still get people asking us about our friend that did our ceremony, and it is months later. I recommended Michelle to my sister for her wedding and she did end up also using her as an officiant and loved her too. I would highly recommend Michelle and YellowBird Wedding to anyone looking for an officiant!
Erin & Jim Guiffrida
We found Michelle through her website. From the beginning and throughout the entire process, we felt very comfortable working with her. About a month before the wedding, we met with her to have an informal discussion about us and the ceremony. We immediately knew she would be the right person. Simply from talking and getting to know us and our backgrounds, she was able to put everything together. In the weeks leading up to the wedding, we exchanged emails regarding vows and more specific details of the ceremony. Michelle was very helpful and was able to accommodate some special requests we had. She made our wedding day the special event it needed to be. The speech fit perfectly with our story and personalities. We are extremely fortunate to have found Michelle and would highly recommend her to anyone seeking an officiant. All the best!
Matt & FabianMichelle is an outstanding officiant!!!
Our guests – including my father, who was, initially, not thrilled about having a non-denominational wedding – were all thoroughly impressed with Michelle’s presentation. Her personality, public speaking skills and overall professionalism are top notch and were recognized/remarked on both at the wedding and afterward.
I even have close family friends who have requested information on Michelle as they may want her to preside over their wedding vow renewal!
I was sold even before meeting Michelle on Skype because of her wonderful, honest words on her website regarding her introduction into ministry and why she continues to be passionate about officiating and supporting love – in any form. I was more pleased when I spoke with her over the internet and had the chance to viewed her abilities in-person at my wedding. She is a warm, supportive, welcoming and professional officiant. I am getting married three times (same guy!) and I commissioned Michelle for my second wedding event — if costs didn’t prohibit bringing her to England for my third event, I would do it! Contact her, you will not be disappointed by your wedding day results!!!
Katie & Anthony WaldronAs soon as my husband and I began planning our wedding, we both knew that we would prefer a simple, non – religious ceremony that was still beautiful and full of love – and boy, did Michelle deliver! Michelle is one of those rare people that can make you feel like you’ve known her forever as soon as you start talking with her. Above and beyond listening to our story, she really “got” who we are as a couple and used her intuition to craft the most beautifully worded ceremony that made us both laugh and cry tears of joy. All night, our guests were quoting her jokes and telling us how touching they thought the ceremony was (a few of our engaged guests even asked for her contact information!) so if you’re reading this – I would, without hesitation, recommend that you include Michelle in the beginning of your happily ever after.
Christine & Timothy SugrueWhile as engaged couples we spend so much of our time on details, such as flowers, cake, venue, food, drinks really the whole reason that we are doing all that celebrating is the marriage ceremony, its the most important bit! As a couple on the most important day of your life to day, while standing up there you want it to feel magical and amazing because its so important….and more than likely you are ready to jump out of your skin with excitement. Michelle delivered on all aspects of this incredibly important job and she made it fun and easy for us to create our wedding ceremony. Firstly she is very responsive to email and it was easy to set a time to meet with her. She took notes on our story, we went for a stroll and chatted casually about things, she is a very easy person with whom to chat and be around (a nice trait given how intense the day can be!). She made some suggestions about things that could be in the ceremony (sand ceremony, wine ceremony, etc…) as well as a vow and ring exchange verbiage to get us started thinking; there are a lot of options and she guided us through everything with a nice light touch. We had a several email exchange about logistics, but in the end the ceremony was hers to create and she did a marvelous job, we were truly moved and touched. I actually had multiple comments about what a lovely job she did officiating. We were so pleased that she officiated our marriage and have only great things to say (or write in this case) and the highest recommendation.
Lara & Moray Campbell
Love her💜💚
Michelle did our wedding on 9/14/19 at the Hayloft in the Grove. She came highly recommended by them. We are so thankful they did! Michelle nailed it at our ceremony. She included everything that was important to us like our children our family dog and my husbands obsession with hockey. People who were at the wedding raved about our ceremony and Michelle and how she incorporated my husbands son into our family vows. Without a doubt I would recommend her to anyone getting married that wants originality and exceptional service!! Thank you again Michelle!
Ashley & Ryan HoffmanMichelle was great to work with!
Michelle was very responsive and helpful throughout the wedding ceremony process. Michelle provide us with templates and ideas for vows and other readings/ unity ceremonies. She was also a great sound board to bounce off ideas for the ceremony and helped us understanding how everything was going to flow. She was very willing to do any additional readings or wordings that we wanted to add to our ceremony to personalize it to us. I found Michelle online. My husband and I both knew that we did not want a religious ceremony, but we still wanted something about unity, love, and respect. Michelle did a great job doing just that. One of our guests came up to us during the rehearsal and commented on the atmosphere of the ceremony and how it changed his ideas on how a marriage ceremony had to go (i.e. not religious). She is located in Buffalo and we did the ceremony on Canandiaguia Lake , which she charged a fair price for mileage. We did not have Michelle attend the rehearsal dinner but she was still willing to provide us with a good outline of the ceremony since my husband and I were worried about how everything was ordered. She provided us the outline without hesitation but kept some parts out as a surprise for the wedding which was nice. During the ceremony Michelle did a great job speaking clearly and loudly with a calm and relax demeanor. I even got caught up in the moment and forgot a few of the lines and Michelle noticed and quickly helped me get back on track. We also kind of rushed in our tree unity ceremony but Michelle was paying attention and made sure to omit the command line as to not call out our small error. I would definitely recommend Michelle
Kristen & Ray StantonSimpy Amazing.
When my husband and I began looking for an officiant for our ceremony, we had no idea where to begin. We knew we wanted someone who would focus on love, friendship, and the spirit of the day, rather than religion. So we just started looking around and stumbled upon Yellow Bird. What a lucky and amazing find! Michelle is one of the most sincere people out there, and she understands the weight of what she does, yet treats it with a light and easy manner. She made us comfortable and excited throughout the planning process, rather than overwhelming us with the daunting task of planning the ceremony details. She really took the time to get to know us as a couple, and incorporated a few of the things she learned about us into her ceremony readings. And she did so in such a natural way; nothing felt forced. Michelle comes equipped with plenty of examples of ring exchanges, unity ceremonies, and vows (but was completely open to us writing our own) so that you can choose what best fits your style. She was focused on making our ceremony a completely organic and unique experience, and while we knew some of what would happen, she kept parts of the ceremony a secret until the moment. Because of that you could feel the glow of love in the room, and again, nothing seemed forced or rehearsed (though we did do a rehearsal, which was infinitely helpful in calming our nerves!). Michelle was easily reachable when we had questions or concerns, and she made sure we were taken care of on the wedding day. She brought copies of our vows for us (one less thing to remember on our end!) and they weren’t just on scraps – she had typed them up on pretty paper and cut them out in fancy, simple, shapes. I really appreciated that attention to even the smallest detail. Michelle thinks of everything, but most importantly, she thinks of you!
Jessica & Chris Budde
Praise for Michelle!
It all started with an internet search, looking for an officiant to perform our wedding ceremony in Niagara Falls. We came upon Michelle’s Yellowbird wedding link and were impressed by reviews that were posted. After having a couple of email correspondences and a skype meeting we were totally convinced that she was the one for us. Michelle has a great personality which we liked from the moment we began corresponding. We loved her style and sense of humor. She has a very relaxed, pleasant and fun personality while maintaining a sense of professionalism. She made herself available to us throughout the planning process and responded to our concerns and questions in a timely fashion. The ceremony was very heartfelt and warming with personal touches and references Michelle had obtained during our skype meeting. She spoke very clearly and in a relaxed fashion and truly seemed to value the love and commitment that my now wife and I share for one another.
Terri & Tammy
birds My husband and I truly enjoyed working with Michelle. We met her at a coffee shop in North Buffalo and we knew as soon as we met her that she was the perfect choice for our wedding! We felt like Michelle took the time to listen and get to know us, answered all the questions we had throughout the wedding planning stages, and delivered a personal and fitting service for our ceremony. She provided us with vows, rings, and ceremony rituals/unity examples, which made it a lot easier to finalize the ceremony that captured what we were looking for. Our ceremony was beautiful and our guests complimented how nice it was. We loved all the nice words Michelle had to say, and especially her recommendation of having a wine box ceremony which went perfect with our theme and continues to be raved about from our guests. We would not hesitate in recommending Michelle to perform your wedding ceremony, she was memorable!
Sabrina & David DeFilippis
birds My wife and I had been together ten years when we decided to get married. We were looking to keep it simple with just the two of us. Michelle did an amazing job with everything. For only having met her once, there was a level of intimacy that truly reflected what we were looking for. We could not have been more moved and touched by the ceremony, After so much time together, we were both surprised at how overcome with emotion we were. Michelle not only performed a beautiful service, but she also provided our witness. This was a great relief to us, as we really did just want it to be the two of us. We would recommend Michelle to anyone.
Jill & Meg birds We had Michelle for our wedding 9-27-14. She was fantastic! She was so Professional and able to be contacted when we had questions during the planning phase. When we first met Michelle we knew she would be a perfect fit for what we were looking for. During the ceremony Michelle’s readings were perfect, her voice tone was perfect and everyone could here her and we were outside with no mics. We were able to tweek our Vows and ring readings to what fit us and Michelle was more then willing to work with us. If we were to do this all over again there would be no doubt in our minds that we would choose Michelle again to be our Officiant!
Traci & Kyle Schneider birds My partner, Patti, and I have been together for seven years. We finally decided to get married when my mom was a resident of the Niagara Hospice House since both sets of parents have been supportive of our relationship. When I first contacted Michelle to see if she was available to perform our wedding ceremony, I explained why time was of the essence. Michelle responded to my email immediately. She set up a Skype meeting with us right away and made us laugh as she asked us questions about how we met. Michelle explained that she is very flexible and gave us suggested vows to choose from. We ended up combining several of her suggestions to make the ceremony the most meaningful for our relationship. On the day of the ceremony, Michelle was able to put everyone at ease while remaining very professional. Our families commented on how thoughtful and meaningful Michelle’s service was. I highly recommend Michelle!
Tracey & Patricia birds We had an absolutely amazing experience and couldn’t be happier that we chose Michelle to officiate our August 2nd wedding. From the first time we met with her, we were so comfortable and felt immediately at ease. She made a real attempt to get to know us. The main thing we wanted when we were looking for an officiant was someone who would make our ceremony personal and special. Michelle did just that. We received compliments about her all night long; how well-spoken she was and how intimate and beautiful the words she chose were. She made us laugh and cry and we will hold her words in our hearts for many years to come! We had an absolutely amazing experience and couldn’t be happier that we chose Michelle to officiate our August 2nd wedding. From the first time we met with her, we were so comfortable and felt immediately at ease. She made a real attempt to get to know us. The main thing we wanted when we were looking for an officiant was someone who would make our ceremony personal and special. Michelle did just that. We received compliments about her all night long; how well-spoken she was and how intimate and beautiful the words she chose were. She made us laugh and cry and we will hold her words in our hearts for many years to come!
Kristin & Chris KacalaMichelle was amazing!
She was recommended to us by our wedding planner and from our initial Skype meeting with her we knew she was the one! She really got to know who we are as a couple and made our ceremony a reflection of us even incorporating our love for “The Princess Bride”. We received so many compliments about her from our many guests. My Father, who is a judge and has officiated many weddings himself, thought she did an amazing job and was blown away by her genuine nature and personal warmth. We are so happy to have found her and we highly recommend her!!! Thanks Michelle!!!
Halle & Brian EydtWe could not be happier with Michelle at YellowBird.
She was responsive, helpful and most importantly our wedding ceremony was amazing! We got multiple compliments on how much people enjoyed not only the ceremony but Michelle as well. I laughed and cried (not surprisingly) but loved how she made the ceremony personal to our story and personalities. It was absolutely perfect!
Angela & Patrick LarkinMichelle was absolutely wonderful!
My husband and I met with her and discussed what we wanted and how we would like the ceremony to go and she was just great to speak with. She made all of our guests laugh and cry at the same time! She did a wonderful job at our ceremony and I would recommend her to anyone! THANKS AGAIN MICHELLE!
Cassandra & Shawn Suarez
From the moment we met her, we knew Michelle was right for us. My now-husband and I had been having trouble finding a non-religious officiant that really got who we are and what we were looking for (some wouldn’t even meet with us unless we placed a few-hundred dollar deposit first). We wanted a humanist ceremony that spoke to who we are as individuals, our relationship with each other, and our broader feelings about the meaning of love, equality and community. Michelle delivered in a big way. Yes, she is VERY reasonably priced, but more importantly she cares about finding out who her clients are and makes the ceremony about them. Our ceremony was everything I could have wanted — heartfelt, touching, and personalized. I’d recommend her to anyone looking for an officiant.
Jackie & Justin
Michelle was fantastic!
My wife and I both live out of town and didn’t know anyone in New York, so we relied on the beauty of the internet to make all our plans. I found Michelle on weddingwire and was overwhelmed by her glowing reviews. I emailed her, crossing my fingers and hoping like crazy that she would be available, with only about 2 months notice. She was (probably because we’d chosen the middle of the week) and was extremely flexible – she was not only able to marry us in the middle of the week, but also in the middle of the day. We emailed back and forth several times, and she was so helpful and happy to answer all of my questions. Since we were unable to meet in person, the 3 of us met via video chat so Michelle could get get to know us as a couple. It was easy and comfortable and she seemed to learn a lot in a little conversation!

I couldn’t be happier with Michelle!
The ceremony was my favorite part of the day and that was because of how perfect and meaningful everything that Michelle said was. We received so many compliments. It was incredibly touching. She even integrated elements that I wanted but didn’t tell her about. She came to check on me beforehand which was so sweet. She is hands down the best in Buffalo. Adore her!
Jennifer & Adam Stotz
Ceremony we dreamed of!
My husband and I can’t say enough good things about Michelle! When we initially met with Michelle she asked us to share the story of how my husband and I met, which she then worked into our ceremony to make it personalized just for us. The words that she spoke at our ceremony resonated with many of our guests; several later told me that her messages of love and friendship touched them after being married for years themselves. I can’t recommend her highly enough!
Kim & Jason LongAmazing!
The ceremony was so beautiful, and exactly what we wanted. Michelle did such a great job with the entire thing. Her words were so personal and touching, it brought us both to tears. Planning a wedding from out of state, and only meeting Michelle via Skype, I was worried it might not be intimate. I was so pleasantly surprised as I stood there and heard Michelle talk about small details we had mentioned to her in conversation. We received so many compliments from our guests about how amazing it was. I could not be happier with how beautiful it was.
Kim & Angelo LaGrecaMichelle was absolutely amazing in every way!
We were planning our wedding from a distance and she was able to meet with us while we were in town visiting family over Christmas. We did most of our chatting over emails and she was incredibly sensitive to work with (incredibly enthusiastic actually!) as a same-sex couple. She crafted a ceremony that was more meaningful and personalized than any other wedding ceremony I’ve heard, and many of our guests commented on this as well. She helped us figure out our vows, and worked in the readings that we wanted to flow perfectly with her ceremony. It felt like she had really known us and it made our wedding day absolutely perfect. We would recommend YellowBird Weddings to anyone looking for an officiant in the Buffalo, NY area.
Amber & KristenWe are a lesbian couple from out of state with little time to plan – 5 months – and no visit the area before our big day. We are so grateful that Michelle agreed to officiate for us. Every aspect of working with her was a true pleasure, from first Skype meeting to goodbye. She took time to get to know us as a couple and captured our personalities in beautiful prose. We received many compliments on her articulate and thoughtful delivery. During the ceremony, her confidence and gentle instruction put us at ease and helped us remain focused on the promises we made. Absolutely one of our favorite vendors. We highly recommend Michelle!
Alissa & JenniferMade our day!
Michelle made our wedding day so special!! She completely “got” us and was able to make our ceremony so personalized, sweet, relaxed, and beautiful. We don’t live in the Buffalo area so Michelle and I exchanged emails to talk about which elements we wanted in our ceremony, which we did not, things about my husband and I and how we met. Even through just email, I felt totally comfortable with Michelle- she was so flexible and open and really there to make our ceremony tailored for us.
We had spoken with some other officiants in the area but didn’t feel a connection with anyone- most were pretty religious and we were uncomfortable that the ceremony wouldn’t reflect us as much as it did the officiant.
We were so grateful to find Michelle!
I seriously cannot imagine having had someone else marry us! CONTACT HER!
…also she’s super affordable, even with travel 🙂
Samantha & Ben AeurbachSimply Perfect!
My husband and I found Michelle after searching tirelessly for an officiant for our outdoor wedding. With everything we had going on we kind of forgot that we actually needed someone to marry us! Haha! When we found her website we knew that she would be a perfect fit for what we wanted. After our first “meeting” on Skype all of our fears about finding the perfect officiant disappeared. She truly exceeded all of our expectations and performed the most beautiful ceremony that we could have ever imagined. We received so many compliments from our guests, they just raved about her, and we couldn’t agree more. She was simply fantastic! Thank you, again, Michelle!
Jeff & Kaycee McDougal
Michelle did a wonderful job for us. We traveled from Ohio to Niagara Falls to be married since same sex marriage is not legal in Ohio. We did everything via email we did not meet her in person til the day of the wedding. Michelle would be an asset to any wedding. She made our day even more special bringing 2 blue balloons that we let go over the water to remember my wife April’s mom who passed away. She even brought a witness for us her name was Alison. Alison took some great photos for us. Thanks again YellowBird weddings!

Michelle was awesome. We are a same sex couple who travelled from Ohio to have Michelle officiate our ceremony at Niagara Falls. We were unable to meet before the wedding , so everything was planned via email. Over the month of emails, Michelle got to know us and what we wanted. She nailed it ! The ceremony was beautiful and her words about us and our feelings were exactly how we felt.. She let us incorporate our own ring vows too. Michelle helped my wife with a special surprise for me and brought a witness who took pictures for us. She was as happy for us as we were for ourselves ! We would highly recommend Michelle and Yellowbird Weddings. Thank You Michelle !
Amy & AprilIt’s hard to say something about Michelle that’s not already echoed in dozens of glowing reviews. She crafted a unique and special ceremony, allowed us to be nitpicky and obsessive about the wording, and was so friendly and personable (even though we only met in person the day of the wedding). I highly recommend her.
Chelsea & Matt JohnsMy husband was a little weary of not getting married in a church, but I talked him into it. And I must say, it was one of the best decisions I have ever made, along with picking Michelle for our ceremony! Michelle knew all the right things to say. We have gotten compliments for everyone who was there how beautiful our ceremony was because of the words spoken by Michelle. More importantly, my husband Adam loved that she made the ceremony all about us and our love now and how it will grow in the future-instead of focusing on the religious aspect of marriage. After all, marriage should be celebrating a love of two people and I couldn’t have found a better officiant for us on our special day!
Angela & Adam Pijanowski
Trying to find a non-denominational officiant in our price range seemed like it was going to be an impossible task. Found YellowBird Wedding after a bit of searching and contacted Michelle well in advance of our wedding. We met with her to discuss what we wanted our ceremony to be and before the meeting was over we both knew she was the one we wanted to oversee our special day. She did an amazing job. The words that she chose were perfect. She also gave us a list of vows and ring vows to choose from and offered ideas for unity ceremonies. Highly recommend Michelle, especially for those looking for a non-religious ceremony.
Danielle & Adam BattHighly Recommended!
Michelle was everything that we wanted in an officiant. She is extraordinarily sweet and her first priority was creating a ceremony that fit “us” as a couple. We received more compliments than we can count from our guests about the ceremony that she performed. It had the perfect tone, was the perfect length, and didn’t feel “cookie-cutter” – she added personal touches about our relationship. Prior to the wedding, my fiance and I got a bit of performance anxiety about our vows, and she was able to calm our fears and make sure that we were comfortable while also gently encouraging us to step out of our comfort zone. I don’t think we could have found a more perfect person to make our once-in-a-lifetime moment just what we wanted it to be. We give Michelle our highest possible recommendation.
Ian & Lisa Denton
When Joe and I were looking for a place and person to officiate our wedding, we found Michelle’s website and were greatly impressed. We emailed Michelle and receive a rapid response. Michelle was quick to answer our questions and to forward information that we requested. During our Skype time, we felt like we had known Michelle for a long time. The day of our wedding, sorry we made you cry, but we were so overwhelmed with how special you made us feel. We realized at the ceremony that after twenty years, we were truly achieving a dream of several decades. The ceremony was personalized and we felt very special. Michelle is truly a professional and one who makes the couple feel special.
Wayne & JoeA lovely personalized ceremony
Michelle was great from start to finish! I had seen her officiate a wedding before and knew I wanted her to do ours. Her ceremony was wonderful! She kept it non-religious, which was important to us, and focused on messages of love and finding your special someone. I especially appreciated the personal touches she put in. One of the first things she did when we booked her was she scheduled a meeting with us to get to know us as a couple so that she could personalize our ceremony and make our day special. We were planning our wedding long distance so I was worried about that part but she was super flexible and facetimed with us instead. We also ended up having a little fiasco with the marriage license on the day of but Michelle stayed cool, calm, and collected which definitely helped keep me from freaking out! I highly recommend her!
Lara & Luke Fountaine
My husband and I used Michelle last year as the officiant at our wedding and could not be happier. She really did an amazing job. She spoke as if she had known us for years. She kept the ceremony short and sweet but still extremely personal. She really listened to what we wanted. Our families were hesitant about us not having a catholic priest perform the ceremony, but we got nothing but an outpouring of compliments for months following our wedding. Using Yellowbird was truly one of the best wedding decisions we made. Thank you Michelle, you made our ceremony PERFECT!!!
Beth & Edward Schultz

Michelle was absolutely fantastic!
From our first correspondence through our wedding day we could not be happier with the services she provided. My husband and I live out of town and she was more than willing to meet us over Skype so we could get to know each other. She asked such thoughtful questions about our relationship and incorporated our answers so nicely into the ceremony so it was personalized. We got numerous compliments from our guests about what a beautiful ceremony Michelle performed. We could not be happier and highly recommend her!
Jessica & Tom MittnerWe was recently married on 10/4/14 by Michelle Snyder as our officiant. She was absolutely wonderful. Her professionalism and the happiness she brought to our day are without words. Michelle made us feel relaxed and comfortable without those wedding day jitters lurking from within.. She was funny and serious at just the right moments. Thank you so much for being part of our special day…..
Tami & Art Sieczkarek
Michelle rules!
Oh, Michelle was perfect! We were organizing our wedding from out of town, and she was extremely responsive, helpful, and reassuring. We met her on Skype a couple of times, and then she came to our wedding rehearsal to meet us in person before the big day. She exuded professionalism and caring. Her prices were also extremely reasonable and she was more flexible than the other officiants we talked to in terms of being willing to incorporate our wishes for a customized ceremony. For us, she was absolutely the right fit. Highly recommended.
Joanna & Jeremy James
I couldn’t be happier with Michelle.
My fiancé and I chose not to get married in a church, but we really wanted a personalized and meaningful ceremony. I found her based on previous great reviews and decided to meet with her. She was great to work with from the start and took the time to get to know us as a couple. It truly showed in the ceremony because everything she wrote for us was perfect. She also encouraged us to write our own vows and I have to say I am so glad we did. After the wedding, we had sooo many compliments on what a beautiful ceremony it was, even from family and friends that were very traditional. Thank you so much Michelle!!!
Sarah & Andrew ReidySimply said, Michelle did a great job.
We had a same-sex wedding at a private home that we rented, and the ceremony was just perfect. She really got to know us beforehand so that the service was personalized exactly just to fit us and our beliefs, which is a challenge in and of itself since this was a destination wedding, my husband and I live in different countries, and we came in from out of the country to have this performed. Michelle was very flexible. She worked around the time difference and set up a Skype date so that we could all sit down together and discuss what we wanted for the wedding. Even though it was all long distance, it felt like we got to know each other well, so much that when the day came for the ceremony and met each other in person for the first time, I felt very comfortable with her. The ceremony was perfect, and I couldn’t have asked for a better officiant. Thank you Michelle.
Roger & Joshua
Michelle made our ceremony special. She took the time to get to know us as a couple and understand what we wanted from an officiant. From the start, she was very accommodating and easy to work with, willing to tailor her script to our preferences and able to answer any questions that we had. We were very happy with her script and her presentation of it; we felt that she conveyed our relationship as something unique and important and did so in a way that was entertaining and easy to follow. We highly recommend Michelle as an officiant.
Kara & Chris
Amazingly Lovely.
Michelle is absolutely fantastic. For many of our friends and family, this was their first gay wedding experience, and in all honesty, there was not a dry eye in the house. People complimented us on how beautiful and heartfelt the ceremony was. A few people even asked how to get in touch with Michelle for when they decide to get married. From the first skype call which Michelle spent over an hour interviewing us, we knew we had made the right decision. The ceremony ended up being an honest and well-versed piece of poetry. It reminded me of why I love the man I married, which is exactly what it was intended to do. I highly recommend the service that Yellowbird provides.
Pauly & FrankyPut our feelings perfectly into words.
When we started looking for a wedding officiant, we came across Michelle’s website and thought she would be a perfect fit for our ceremony. After meeting with her once, we knew we were right! She made us so comfortable and allowed us to really customize the important details of our ceremony. We chose not to see the ceremony ahead of time, and we were so glad we did, it made it that much more exciting and organic. Michelle made us laugh, made us (almost!) cry, and put our feelings into eloquent, thoughtful words that truly expressed the love and happiness of the wedding day. I would definitely recommend Michelle to any bride-to-be that is looking for a professional and heartfelt wedding officiant!
Kelly & BrianCouldn’t have asked for better!
Michelle was awesome. She was very reliable and always quick to respond to e-mails and phone calls. We got SO many compliments on how beautiful our ceremony was, and what a great choice it was to have Michelle as our officiant. I thought that finding such a laid-back, open-minded officiant would be impossible, but we found one with Michelle. Highly recommended!
Emily & Brian Ehrich
We would recommend Michelle to anyone looking for an officiator!
My husband and I live in Philadelphia, but our wedding was on Lake Ontario in New York. We didn’t have an officiator in mind so we searched the internet and found Michelle. After meeting with her, we knew she was absolutely perfect! Michelle helped us plan the ceremony and she wrote in a personal story about how my husband and I met. Not only were we impressed by Michelle, but our family and friends could not say enough good things about her! Many of them asked if Michelle was a good friend of ours because the ceremony was so personal and thoughtful! And others stated that it was the most enjoyable ceremony they had ever attended! Michelle made our special day even more meaningful than we could have imagined!
Jennifer & Angelo WatersWe were lucky enough to have Michelle officiate our wedding on June 30, 2012 in Buffalo, NY at Samuel’s Grande Manor. Since I live out of state (Indianapolis), I found Michelle through a Google search. I had contacted other officiants, but she seemed to fit our style and she is very friendly, patient, and accommodating. We met with Michelle on a visit home to Buffalo almost a year prior to the wedding and we were instantly assured we had made a good decision. She took the time to get to know us, she was very personable, and very organized. Her main concern was getting to know my fiance and I as a couple so she could structure the ceremony around us and make it unique to our style and relationship.

One thought on “Testimonials”

Sharifa & Christopher Mang says:

December 7, 2015 at 12:36 PM

Michelle is absolutely wonderful!!!

Thank you for taking the time to make a ceremony that was unique to us. Your words mean the world to us and we will cherish that ceremony for the rest of our lives. We appreciate that you got to know our personalities and made the ceremony mostly serious; however, with those splashed of humor that made us breathe and remember the small moments that were actually quite big in our lives. I wish you only the best. I highly recommend you to anyone and everyone getting married. You are a wonderful spirit and you made our wedding day so special. So grateful for you!!!!! XOXOXOX