Joining hearts for 25 years

St. Vital

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This article was published 24/01/2024 (668 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Marriage commissioner Sheri Rehill loves being a big part of many couples’ special day, and she’s played that role since 1999.

Rehill, who lives in St. Boniface, said she first heard of marriage commissioners through a co-worker who planned to become provincially certified as one when she retired. Soon after, Rehill attended a wedding officiated by a commissioner and decided it would be a fulfilling part-time job to complement her full-time work in real estate, and she launched Joining Hearts Ceremonies.

In the past two and a half decades, Rehill has performed approximately 1,500 wedding ceremonies in venues across southern Manitoba.

“I don’t limit to times of the day or times of the year,” she said. However, she said weekends in the summer months are always booked far in advance. “I have bookings for 2025.”

Fortunately, not everyone picks a summer Saturday for their wedding.

“In recent years more and more people get married on weekdays,” she said.

Rehill said she’s been able to drive quickly enough to officiate at four or five weddings in one day, a feat which requires considerable planning.

As well as overseeing the exchange of wedding vows, Rehill offers her services as a ceremony planner and enjoys helping people design a service that reflects their personalities, faith, and cultural backgrounds. This includes combining elements from diverse faiths.

“I love to do the planning as each couple is unique so I feel their ceremony should be unique, too,” she said.

She starts by having the couple fill out a questionnaire, then uses the information to create a draft ceremony. When she meets with the couple in-person, they can use the draft as a base.

One ceremony that stands out is a winter wedding on an island in Falcon Lake. She, the bride and groom, the wedding party and guests rode snowmobiles across the frozen lake to the island.

She became a media star when she performed the first wedding ever held in the newly opened Investors Group Field. “There were cameras everywhere and the wedding party and guests came out of the players’ entrance onto the field. It was fun,” she recalled.

Rehill said she’s been quite lucky with avoiding severe weather but sometimes ends up with mosquito bites despite always bringing repellent along.

She said she’s noticed a trend of couples having their legal ceremonies in Manitoba before flying off to a destination-wedding event.

Vow renewals and commitment ceremonies are also popular. Rehill said she recently performed a vow renewal for a couple whose wedding she’d officiated 15 years earlier at the same Kildonan Park site.

While gathering restrictions which applied during the pandemic affected the weddings she performed at the time, Rehill said couples still married, even there have been just the three of them and two witnesses.

She’s very happy that life has returned to normal and looks forward to joining more loving couples in wedded bliss.

For more information on Joining Hearts Ceremonies, see www.joininghearts.ca