Monterey Wedding Officiant Maureen Thomson

Shortly thereafter, I obtained my ordination through the Universal Life Church and began performing the ceremonies myself. As word spread of the innovative and creative ceremonies I was putting together, I began to receive requests to perform wedding ceremonies in locations other than my Victorian. I was only too happy to comply!

When my daughter was in kindergarten, she completed a project that was entitled "The Most Important Thing About Me". It was a great idea, because it taught the kids to really sift through the many facets of their lives and produce one "best" thing. I guess if I had to tell you the "most important thing about me" in regard to my role as the owner of Lyssabeth's Colorado Wedding Officiants, it would be that I am passionate about my work. I love what I do and it shows in the quality of the work that Lyssabeth's offers. I love the creativity that our officiants get to express through a wonderful and innovative ceremony; I love getting to know new people, learning about them and their "stories" and how those can be incorporated into a memorable ceremony.

I take particular delight in trying new things for ceremonies and sharing ideas that have worked for other couples. There is simply no better "job" than working with a couple to create an intimate, unique and memorable wedding day experience.

The development of Lyssabeth's Monterey Wedding Officiants is a continual evolving story. In 2001, with a degree in Social Work and a background in fundraising, marketing and event coordination, I became passionate about self-employment (my own and other people's!). So, I took my talents for writing, public speaking, organizing, creativity, and event coordination. and began looking for a new direction in which to channel them. As usually happens when I go looking for opportunity, it found me in the form of a gorgeous, but somewhat dilapidated old Victorian house in Denver, Colorado. I bought the house, restored the downstairs to its glorious 1892 splendor and opened our doors to host small weddings.

In the second year of my business as a wedding officiant, I began receiving more requests than I could handle. I decided to hire and train others in our unique and creative method of putting together memorable wedding ceremonies. We also began offering noncustomized ceremonies to serve those who wanted a short and sweet service. This then allowed us to serve brides and grooms with a large variety of wedding budgets.
We expanded into Colorado Springs in 2004, followed by the Rocky Mountains, Fort Collins, San Francisco & Monterey, CA, then the beautiful Oregon Coast in 2009.

My spiritual philosophy is to respect all beliefs and religious values as long as they do no harm to others. I am most fortunate to have met so many individuals with diverse beliefs and I have learned much along the way!

Other things about me that are also "most important" are that I grew up in Rhode Island, but have managed to lose most of the accent. I moved to Colorado in 1995 and then to the Oregon Coast in 2009. I have two daughters--after whom the business is named--Bethany (28) and Alyssa (24), and a stepdaughter, Ariela (23) My girls, including granddaughter Kaydi (5 going on 30), never cease to amaze me. I have been blessed to find the love of my life, my husband, Jeremy, who enthusiastically supports me in everything I do.

In addition to my friends and family, my other passions include reading, hiking, cooking, entrepreneurship, biking, enjoying the ocean, traveling, and anything to do with the written or spoken expression of the English language (which lends itself to a very annoying insistence on proper grammar, punctuation and spelling in written ceremonies, so I'll beg your indulgence in advance).As Lyssabeth's has grown, I have had the privilege of adding delightful and creative staff to write, perform and photograph ceremonies. I couldn't manage without their wonderful talent and enthusiasm. We now serve California, Oregon and Colorado.

Maureen's Crew: Jason, Bethany, Alyssa, Joel, Maureen & Jeremy. Kaydi is in front. My beautiful stepdaughter, Ariela could not make it to Alyssa's wedding, above, as she is stationed in Iraq. That's her photo, below.)

Monterey Bay Officiants About Maureen Thomson