Jewish & Interfaith Weddings by Cantor Debbi Ballard

I searched the web looking for someone that would be able to do a interfaith wedding ceremony. Luckily I found Cantor Debbi Ballard! I viewed her website and watched her youtube videos. One is always nervous about using someone online whom they have never met. We spoke with Debbi and also used skype to talk face to face since we are not local to her. The ketubah ceremony was fantastic she really made everyone feel comfortable and the ceremony was just amazing. I can't wait to get my video back so that I may watch her in action again! I would reccomend her to anyone!

I cannot say enough good things about Cantor Debbi....as an interfaith couple, she was able to make both sides of our families feel incredibly comfortable and included in all parts of our ceremony. The day truly would not have been as warm, memorable, or magical if it was not for Cantor Debbi! She is a wonderful officiant!

For our interfaith wedding, my (now) husband and I were so unsure of what to do. We at first thought that we would have a "combination" rabbi and pastor, but we could not decide if that was really what we wanted. The first time I talked to Cantor Debbi, she immediately made me feel so comfortable, but besides that, she absolutely "got" us and our situation. She had been through it before, and knew that we wanted to bring our faiths together instead of show how different they were. She said that her goal was to show, by having one officiant that incorporated both faiths, that our faiths were coming together, instead of having two separate officiants that showed the clear differences between us. Our guests have not stopped raving about our ceremony - they say that it was the perfect amount of traditions of both faiths, while being beautiful, romantic, and intimate. Cantor Debbi feels like a friend, and my husband and I feel that our wedding was so special because of her!

Debbi was really awesome! From the moment we spoke she made us feel very comfortable. Having a destination wedding was a lot of planning but Debbi made the process so smooth! I highly reccomend her she was fantastic! Best Regards, Suzanna

Debbi was wonderful! We were having our wedding out of town so we interviewed 4 officiates over the phone and Debbi was the most pleasant, responsive and enthusiastic. This was a second marriage so Debbi made special accommodations for a few things we wanted to do differently because we wanted to have our children involved in the service. Our service was amazing! Thank you Debbi – you were just wonderful. Donna Burick

Debbi was AMAZING! My husband and I are an interfaith couple and we were initially concerned if we would be able to find an officiant who met our different religious expectations. I was so lucky to find Cantor Debbi :) She was a valuable source of support and information throughout our engagement. On our wedding day, she truly brought people of different backgrounds together - as witnesses to our love and with respect to our Judeo-Christian traditions. Our guests were so impressed with her warm voice and depth of soul during our ceremony, they were moved to tears. If you are an interfaith couple in the South Florida (or SW Florida) area, look no further - Debbi is the answer for you.

What can I say about Cantor Deborah Ballard, too many good things and not enough words….Cantor Debbi recently officiate our wedding ceremony in Aruba on May 17th, 2011. The personal touch she added to our ceremony was appreciated and at times surprising. While she requires a profile completed of all brides and grooms, we never expected such attention to detail regarding our individual personalities or history together. All these details and information was mentioned and incorporated into our ceremony components. Prior to our ceremony we had only “met” Cantor Debbi via Skype or through phone or email communications, yet she had the natural ability to become part of the group soon after her arrival in Aruba. I felt like I had met her before and known her for some time, after only a few short hours. Cantor Debbi offers a level of comfort, security and confidence in her handling of the ceremony. The day of our ceremony, we ran into some issues with the wedding provider at the resort we were staying. Cantor Debbi not only showed genuine concern, but she also resolved some of the issues and put everyone in our wedding party at ease. We are blessed to have had Cantor Debbi be part of our wedding ceremony and cannot say thank you enough.

We were fortunate to meet Cantor Debbi Ballard over the internet way back in September while we began to plan our May 2011 wedding. As we got to planning so many details and trying to please all our families, we lost touch with Cantor Debbi. Over the course of several months we found our way back to her and, miraculously, she had our date available! We honestly think it was the most moving, intimate and special ceremony ever performed...and ALL of our guests agree. Cantor Debbi was involved with our planning right away, keeping in touch over the phone, (SKYPE if I could've ever figured it out!) the internet, and personal meetings once we got to Florida with us and my parents. She was like a member of our family by the time the wedding day came, and was such a calming influence on all of us. We had Jewish traditions in the ceremony and some more universal spiritual elements that, my now husband, felt important to him. It all blended beautifully, on the beach...feet in the sand...under an exquisite chuppah constructed of bamboo and flowers. We cannot say thank you enough to Cantor Debbi Ballard for being there on the journey to our marriage ceremony. She is extraordinary and lovely!

Cantor Debbi was extremely helpful with our wedding. Even though she was not the officiant due to previous plans she had, she did supply us with a back up, Ellari who was more than amazing! We had a Buddhist type ceremony with mixed religious vows, mostly Buddhist with some Gibran and Celtic thrown in. Ellari did an amazing job with everything even though the ceremony was postponed an hour due to severe rain. Debbi was extremely helpful before and during until she handed it over to Ellari. Both of these women are amazing and extremely helpful. You will not be disappointed1

We live in New York but, wanted to get married in Fort Lauderdale. We found Cantor Debbi Ballard on Wedding Wire and called her. Immediately, we had a bond with her. It's hard not to love such a generous soul. We had a few Skype/phone meetings with her and eventually filled out a form for her reference. But, she wasn't all about a cookie cutter, fill-in the blanks approach. Debbi quickly became a part of our lives. We included her in our reception. Our guests all thought we knew her for a long time. Everybody was so impressed and touched by her ceremony. They all said it reflected who each of us is perfectly. Now, she's pretty much a member of the family. We love Debbi very much and are so pleased to have had her as our celebrant!

Cantor Debbi Ballard is fantastic! As a previous wedding planner, I have seen and experienced it all. There is no one that comes close to her. Debbi delivered an intimate, moving and personal ceremony that will continue to be talked about for years and years to come! The compliments from friends & family were endless! The wonderful experience of marrying your soulmate will be that much more amazing with Debbi as your officiant!

Cantor Ballard made a ceremony into an experience of a lifetime. Her care and concern for our event always showed in every detail. We can't say enough about how great she was!

The wedding was planned for March. Cantor Debbi was to be the officiant. Then, out of nowhere, my grandmother was rushed to the hospital and needed a triple bypass with aortic valve replacement. The doctors told us that she would not survive the operation, but without it, she would die. We had no other choice but to do it asap. BUT...her dream was to be at my wedding. I called Cantor Debbi and told her about the situation. She married me and Ryan in the ICU at Aventura Hospital the next morning. My grandmother's dream was fulfilled. Cantor Debbi said many wonderful prayers over her and they worked. She survived the operation and the doctors called her a miracle. She is now in rehab and doing great! I will always believe that Cantor Debbi had something to do with her miracle. Thanks for everything. You are truly a special person.

Debbi was absolutely fantastic! We were worried about finding an officiant who would be able to combine our dynamic religious paths, as DH is Jewish and I'm Pagan, but all our worries flew out the window when we found Debbi. She instantly put us at ease, helped me feel like my spirituality was accepted and even celebrated, and created a beautiful experience for the both of us that put our faiths and our families at the forefront. She was also wonderful with her responsiveness and communication. DH and I moved to Maryland not long after getting engaged, and while we were concerned with the distance during wedding planning, we didn't have to worry about Debbi! She responded to emails and phone calls quickly and professionally, answered all our questions (and, um, we had a LOT), and even managed to make us feel like we were right there in south Florida with her during the entire process -- a daunting task! I would recommend Debbi for absolutely any interfaith wedding ceremony. I know she had combined several different faiths with Judaism before, but I think she mentioned that this was the first Jewish-Pagan ceremony she's done (I might be wrong on that, haha), but she did an absolutely INCREDIBLE job. :) Thank you so much, Debbi, for creating and officiating such a beautiful, memorable, and all-encompassing wedding ceremony. We entirely credit you for the amazing day we had! ----- You can check out our wedding ceremony and some of our planning at my blog, The Coexist Cafe. I recommend checking out the pictures, as they show exactly what she was able to do! http://thecoexistcafe.blogspot.com/search/label/Foxy%20Wedding

Cantor Debbi Ballard was AMAZING through the entire process. From our first phone conversation I knew she was the only person I wanted to officiate at our wedding. I would HIGHLY recommend her.

I love Cantor Debbi Ballard!! Garrett and I had an inter-faith wedding so we were looking for a rabbi and a reverend. After setting up a few appointments, Cantor Debbi was our first interview. She explained to us that she specializes in inter-faith and after 2 hours of chit-chat…we walked out of Starbucks and Garrett told me to cancel the other appointments because he wanted Cantor Debbi to officiate our wedding! No Reverend needed! We kept in constant communication with her all year and met with her a handful of times to ‘check-in’ and have her get to know us more. She customizes each wedding so her seeing us often helped her to write her personalized words about us at the ceremony. The entire ceremony was customized to what we wanted. She catered to both our religions and it was perfect! We are forever grateful that she was ‘the one’ to marry us and I would recommend her 1,000 times over to any bride.

It was a pleasure working with Cantor Deb Ballard. She was always delightful, flexible and understanding. She, together with our daughter-in-law's minister, who was a long time family friend, provided our families with a wonderful interfaith ceremony. She was even a good sport about the unusual travel arrangements!

I loved how personalized my ceremony was and how well we got to know Debbi before our ceremony. It was so special to be married by such a loving person. All my guests were impressed with her beautiful words and singing!

When we first began planning our wedding in December, we were looking for an officiant who expressed both our unique views about faith. From our first meeting with Cantor Ballard, we knew we had found that person. She made our wedding day truly special. She is a truly unique person that puts love in everything she does. The ceremony was more beautiful than I ever imagined. We are married now and I feel like we got not only a great Officiant, we also now have a great friend.

Finding and working with Debbi was one of the best things we did when we got married. Josh (my husband) is Jewish, and I was raised Catholic but am not practicing any religion/consider myself spiritual. It was very hard finding someone who knew all of the Jewish traditions firsthand and could carry them out flawlessly, but who would also be lenient enough to let us make (a lot!) of changes to accommodate our shared spirituality. The result was an awesomely unique ceremony that Debbi carried out superbly - both of our parents and many of our guests have commented numerous times on how memorable and unique our ceremony was, thanks to all of the love and support Debbi put into it. We would highly recommend her!