Stephanie + Justin Chateau La Mer Wedding ceremonyWe felt like we were talking to a friend, and she made our ceremony one to remember.
A wedding ceremony, written for who you actually are
Robyn officiating a Black couple's wedding ceremony Black wedding officiant in NYC.
A wedding ceremony written by a Black officiant who has officiated 300+ ceremonies for couples across NYC.
Act 02 What it feels like
Nia & Julian · Fort Greene Park
What one of these scripts sounds like
This is how I write a ceremony that greets the ancestors first and ends with a broom on the grass.
[to the room]
Before Zora and Malik make a single promise to each other, we are going to greet the people who made them possible.
[the libation]
I pour for Mama Ruth, Malik's grandmother, who fed half of Queens out of one kitchen and never once measured a thing. I pour for the ones whose names we carry, and for the ones whose names were taken from us.
[the room answers]
Ase. Amen.
[to Malik]
Malik, you told me that at your first Sunday dinner at Zora's mother's table you went so quiet that she thought you hated the oxtail. You told me later you were busy memorizing the room, because you already knew you would be coming back to it for the rest of your life.
[to Zora]
Zora, you told me he prays over the car before every long drive, the same way your grandfather did, and that you waited a whole year before you told him why watching him do it undid you.
[the vows]
Zora, do you take Malik as your husband? Will you pray over him the way he prays over that car, and will you stay when staying costs you something?
[Zora]
I do.
[to Malik]
Malik, do you take Zora as your wife? Will you keep learning her the way you memorized that dining room, and will you promise me you will never decide you are finished?
[Malik]
I do.
[pronounced]
Then by the authority the State of New York gives me, and before every generation in this room, seen and unseen, I pronounce you husband and wife. Go on and kiss her, man.
[the broom comes out]
One more thing before these two walk back up that aisle. In the 1840s, people who loved the way these two love were barred from legal marriage, so they laid a broom on the ground and jumped over it in front of their witnesses, and everyone watching understood that a wedding had taken place.
[the broom is laid]
Zora's grandmother is going to set it down herself. She jumped one at her own wedding, and she has been waiting forty minutes for this part.
[the count]
Hold hands and keep your eyes on each other, and when I say three, you lift off together. One, two, three... jump.
Act 03 Architecture
The work itself
What I bring to a Black couple's ceremony.
Every ritual gets named correctly and handed to the right person to carry, both families hear themselves in the script, and the license work stays clean underneath all of it.
- Chapter 01
The tradition conversation comes first.
Before I write a word we sit down and talk lineage: which rituals actually belong to your families, and whose grandmother is watching for what. Then we choose the one or two moments that carry real weight, because a ceremony that tries to perform every custom it can find ends up honoring none of them well. A single broom means more when the room knows your grandmother jumped one herself.
- Chapter 02
A script both families recognize.
When one side grew up Baptist in Georgia and the other flew in from Lagos or Kingston, I write so each grandmother hears her own inheritance in the ceremony. That means naming things correctly: aso ebi is Yoruba, tassa drumming is Indo-Caribbean, and the black cake belongs to the islands. Nothing gets blurred into one generic cultural moment.
- Chapter 03
An officiant you never have to brief.
I was born in Jamaica. The fruit for the black cake soaked in a covered jar in our cupboard, rum topped up like something alive. I have poured libations with named grandparents and stood quiet while an elder poured in a language I do not speak, so our first conversation can be about your story rather than a lesson in your culture.
- Chapter 04
The history gets told without a lecture.
A ritual needs one short piece of framing, and then I get out of its way. I can give the room the real history of the broom in about the time it takes to lay it down, and the libation goes to the elder who knew the people being named. When the room goes quiet between pours, I leave that silence alone.
- Chapter 05
Vows written in your own cadence.
Some of my couples send me drafts at midnight, and others sit with me separately so the vows stay a surprise until the aisle. If you grew up on call-and-response, your vows can carry that music, and if you want them plain and quiet, that works too. I will never ask you to say a sentence you would not say across your own kitchen table.
- Chapter 06
The license, signed in front of everybody.
Haitian couples often sign the marriage license right on the altar so the whole room witnesses it, and I am happy to borrow that move for any couple who wants it. Either way the legal side stays clean: you apply through the City Clerk, I sign on the day with your witness, and I follow up until the filing is confirmed.
Act 03 Investment
From $1,500. Custom quotes after our first conversation.
Act 04 The places
Where the broom goes downI have set the broom down all over this city.
I have poured libations on DUMBO rooftops and at Wagner Cove, and both worked. What matters is knowing which spots give a ceremony room to breathe, which ones swallow sound, and where your aunties will get a clear view of the jump.
Act 05 The voices
A handful of voices.
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Millie + Rick THC The Hops Company, CT Wedding ceremonyRobyn, working with you has been a wonderful experience for us!!! . We truly value the time you took to get to know us, to personally select words and passages that you knew would be meaningful for our ceremony. You really made our day special by making it special and as equally important to you as well. We truly appreciate the caring and love that went into your work! ♥️ THANK YOU!!
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Hygdrea + Alex East Hampton, CT Wedding ceremonyRobyn was a great officiant! She arrived early and was there to smooth over a lot of the obstacles I had on my wedding day! The ceremony was short and beautiful and I enjoyed every moment of it! She was amazing! Couldn’t have asked for a better person to help my husband and I start our new lives together!
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Erika + Willie The Elan, Lodi, NJ Wedding ceremonyRobyn was absolutely amazinggggggg!! She made such a stressful day run smoothly and helped me keep calm before walking into the ceremony room. I highly recommend anyone hiring her for their big day, she’s the biggest sweetheart and truly cares for her clients and making their special day even better!
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Gina + Matt Tim McLoone's Supper Club, Asbury Park NJ Wedding ceremonyWe feel as though we've gained a friend, and the ceremony was really special and beautiful.
Act 06 Questions
Asked on inquiry callsFour questions I answer nearly every week.
- Can we jump the broom, and how does it work on the day?
Yes, and it is the ritual I handle with the most care. It goes at the very end, after the vows and the pronouncement: I tell your guests why the broom is there, someone you love lays it down, and you join hands and jump together on a calm count. We rehearse it once so the timing is clean, and afterward the broom goes home with you as an heirloom.
- Our families come from different places. Can you blend Caribbean, African-American, and Nigerian traditions?
All the time, and the specifics decide whether it works. The Nigerian money spray and the pin-money dollar dance are two different traditions that get called the same thing, Queh Queh belongs to Guyana, and the kola nut is broken by the eldest man present, with the blessing spoken in Igbo rather than English. We map which threads belong to which family, then pick the one or two that matter most and hand each ritual to the right person to carry.
- Do you officiate church-rooted ceremonies, or spiritual-but-not-religious ones?
Both, and the wide middle where most of my couples live. Libation, the tasting of the four elements, and the broom are cultural rather than denominational, so they sit comfortably next to scripture or next to fully secular vows. And if you want the ceremony to feel like the Black church, with call-and-response and an officiant who testifies rather than reads, I grew up inside that cadence and I love writing it.
- What does working with you actually look like?
It starts with one long conversation about your families and the traditions you refuse to lose. I write the ceremony from scratch, you get the whole script early enough to sit with it, and any line that feels borrowed comes out. On the day I arrive early, keep the room steady, and handle the license signing and filing so the paperwork never becomes your problem.
Act 07 The invitation
Tell me about your day.
I will write back the same week.
Available 2026 + 2027 · NYC and destination · Bookings limited