The following are recent comments from my clients.
Weddings:
J&M (December 2013): “William was the absolute BEST part of our planning process. We met with him several times in person to create our ceremony from the ground up. He has a very peaceful presence about him that eased my mind in the times we met which was very needed since planning can be extremely stressful. He reminded us of what’s truly important… love, and being in the moment. I’ve already recommended him to several people and will continue to do so.”
E&P (October 2013): “Rev. Mies is wonderful. My husband and I liked him the first time we met him. You will have several meetings with him, but parts of the meetings are optional. My husband and I chose to participate (to get our money’s worth BUT more so because we really valued what Bill offered). I would have chosen Bill 100 times over again. He and his wife are a warm, friendly and down to earth couple. We are very thankful that we met Bill and had him officiate our ceremony. The only downside was for us driving out to his home was about a 2.5 hour drive total for our meetings.”
L&R (September 2013): “Rev. Bill Mies was the most positive, memorable part of our entire wedding journey! I cannot say enough wonderful things about Bill.
My husband and I met with Bill four times before the big day. Initially we thought we were just getting to know each other…but each visit became more and more meaningful. Not only did we get to learn about Bill, but I learned more about myself as an individual, I learned about my husband, and I learned what is needed in order to build a solid marriage/relationship.
To us, it was important to know what was going to be said at our ceremony. And this is one of the reasons why Bill was so wonderful to work with. He helped us create and design our own ceremony. He provided us with the basic guidelines and we were able to pick our readings and each piece of the ceremony ourselves. During the third and fourth visit, we went through the entire ceremony. As a bride, this helped me feel at ease during the big day. I walked down the aisle feeling amazingly comfortable and I owe this to Rev. Bill!
We received and are still receiving countless positive comments on our ceremony and vows. Everyone feels our ceremony was unique and so meaningful, not your average wedding ceremony.
I am so fortunate to have crossed paths with Rev. Bill and cannot thank him enough for being part of our special day!”
K&H (August 2013): “Bill guided us through the steps to create our wedding. Over the times we met he came to know us well, had us participate in exercises that were meaningful and of value, and helped us connect at a deeper level.”
(June 2013): “It was an awesome experience! I was not expecting to enjoy the process as much as I did. Everything was really organized, and we felt that no one else could take care of us in such a great way for our special day.”
(June 2013): “Bill was wonderful to work with. He really got to know us over our 4 sessions and wanted the ceremony to be 100% about us, not just taken out of a book. We chose almost the whole ceremony with his help, and were able to customize everything. We met his wife, Joanne, a couple of times as well and with both of them they really made our ceremony great.”
E&S (March 2013): “Mindful Ministries was such a meaningful and memorable experience for my husband and me. We really learned so much about ourselves and each other. I would recommend and urge every engaged coule to use Rev. Mies as he just makes the process of engagement through marraige so special.
You will get a unique experience here. You learn how to stop, pause and breathe. You are reminded to appreciate who you are, how you add to your partner’s life and how you work together as a couple. You honestly get even new ways to appreicate your partner for just who they are, no matter how long you’ve been togehter. It is just a totally simple yet imperative view of you, your fiance and life in general.”
M&K (October 2012): “Words cannot express the amazing ceremony that Rev. William Mies brought to our wedding day. His spirituality and loving nature was evident throughout the entire process of preparing each and every word. Bill and Joanne worked with us along the way making sure that our ceremony was a true reflection of us on the most important day of our lives. They made us feel so comfortable and prepared for our special day. We did not have an ounce of anxiety and we were able to enjoy each and every moment.
It is a day that we will never forget and we couldn’t imagine it being as wonderful without them there to express the emotion and spirituality that we wanted to portray on that day. The words and memories from that day are hung in our home to remind us of the deep love that we share each day and forever. We will always remember to “breathe in, breathe out, and move on.” Thank you guys for touching our lives forever! With love and appreciation!”
B&C (Sept. 2012): “My fiance and I are so grateful we found Rev. Bill a few weeks before our wedding. He spent as much tme with us as possible to get to know both of us. We shared stories and ideas. After a couple of meetings, it felt like we’ve known him our entire lives. He is so caring and patient. He was perfect for us. His wife also helped significantly. They made sure our ceremony was personal and meaningful. Together, we all built a great ceremony. We rehearsed it together, as well as during the rehearsal dinner.
I don’t know what we would have done without him. Rev. Mies is absolutely amazing.”
S&J (August 2012): “In all honesty, the preparation we did with Bill and Joanne was the best part of our wedding. Although it is always stressful to commit to after-work sessions, every night we got to sit down with Bill we were instantly relaxed, happy and content. Bill has a great way of having you focus on the moment and the love between us. He takes his time to get to know each of you individually as well as a couple. Although we work through questions, it always flows naturally and as part of the conversation.
The second meeting with Bill is when you start developing your ceremony based on his knowledge of the two of you as well as your wants and preferences. We wanted to appease my religious family with my husband’s non-religious family while making our ceremony unique, special and fun. We wanted the ceremony to be very realistic and commitment focused, as opposed to any fluffy, “meant to be”, higher power language. Bill was very adept in choosing readings and ceremonies that helped speak to our individual preferences. Then we read them together and changed wordings and sentences we didn’t like. We literally created our own ceremony based on his and our suggested readings and rituals.
Our wedding day was small with only immediate family on the eastern shore. Bill and Joanne joined and fit right in with everyone. They were great company and a welcome addition to our day. My family laughed and cried throughout the ceremony and I have never been a part of a more warm, special and individual ceremony. It truly was all about us, but tailored specifically to us. My wedding wouldn’t have been the same or as wonderful if I hadn’t made the decision to work with Bill. We continue to keep in touch with Bill and Joanne every other month or so. They are a wonderful, giving and thoughtful couple that we truly were blessed to meet.”
MS (June 2012): “Bill is amazing– I cannot even describe how thrilled we are with the beautiful, personal, intimate wedding ceremony he helped us create. We got compliments about so many things on our wedding day, but the thing I heard the most was, “That was the most beautiful ceremony I have ever seen.
Bill invests a lot of time in creating the perfect ceremony and expects his couples to do the same– it is well worth the time and monetary investment. We did not get married in a church, but my family is Catholic so I know that the fact that Bill used to be a priest was important to many of my family members. And the fact that he is married was important to us! This ceremony was so important to us that it is the only part of the day we paid to have a vidographer record, and I cannot wait to see the video!!
I highly recommend Rev. William Mies to anyone who wants a personal, unique wedding ceremony!”
B&W (May 2012): “Rev. Bill was the perfect fit for our wedding! He was reverent, inviting, and offered stoic presence for our ceremony. We enjoyed our wedding preparatory meetings with Bill. We live in Richmond, VA and so planning our ceremony as well as preparing as a couple was more challenging due to the distance, but Bill was so helpful and flexible and aided in a seamless “big day”. He made our ceremony unique and let us customize our ceremony to fit our relationship. He tailored our ceremony to our style and crafted a beautiful message prior to our vows that was perfect for our personalities and our setting. We look forward to celebrating many years if happy marriage thanks to Rev. Bill’s coaching, guidance, and nuptials.”
W&J (May 2012): “Rev. Bill helped to make our wedding ceremony everything we were hoping for. Bill has a peaceful presence that is so beneficial during the hectic planning of a wedding and helped my wife and me to take a deep breath and truly appreciate the meaningfulness of the important step we were making.
A good number of our guests commented on how great a job Rev. Bill did. I gladly recommend him.”
M&S (Sept. 2011): “My husband grew up Catholic and wanted a priest to officiate at our wedding. I did not grow up Catholic and did not want a priest to officiate. We were so lucky to find Revered Mies who was a Catholic priest at one time but left the priesthood many years ago. He now focuses on spirituality and mindfulness.
We contacted many people about officiating at our wedding but he is the only one we really wanted to meet. We knew at the end of our meeting (without even needing to discuss it) that we wanted to work with him.
Reverend Mies is open to incorporating any and all feelings, thoughts and beliefs into the ceremony as he believes each ceremony is personal to the couple and should be entirely theirs. He really came through with that – the first thing most of our guests said to us after the wedding was that the ceremony was amazing – very personal and touching. We thought so too.
If you are looking for someone to work with you on a personal ceremony who will take a genuine interest in who you are as individuals and a couple, then get in touch with Reverend Mies!!”
W&B (July 2011): “With less than three months to go before our wedding, our original officiant fell gravely ill, and was going to be unable to perform our ceremony. We were quickly referred to Reverend Mies by our wedding coordinator.
During our first meeting, we were initially impressed with his attention to detail. We discussed with him the ceremony our original officiant had prepared, and after answering some probing questions he posed to us about our faith, we realized that the traditional Roman Catholic ceremony we had laid out was not one that was indicative of who we are as individuals. We set out a course to completely revamp our wedding ceremony, and we were so glad that we did.
Over the next three months, we met with Reverend Mies several times to discuss topics such as spirituality, mindfulness, and most importantly, love. During these meetings, we constructed the framework for a non-traditional wedding ceremony, eschewing the marriage ceremony traditions of our faith, yet remaining very spiritual. More importantly, the ceremony was a much more accurate reflection of us and the values that we hold.
As part of these meetings, we were separately tasked with answering questions about why we love each other and why we were choosing each other as life partners. Reverend Mies used our exact words during the ceremony in his reflection on marriage, and many of our guests told us that it was one of the most special moments they had ever witnessed as part of a wedding ceremony.
Reverend Mies was a pleasure to work with, and we would wholeheartedly recommend him to anyone that desires to create a beautiful, personalized wedding ceremony.”
“Enlightening/informative and I’ve learned a lot about myself and how to make improvements. … Definitely learning to be more in the moment and letting go of the past and not worryhing as much about the future. More laid back and accepting. Stopping to think before reacting so I can respond. Also assessing what is and what is not important. … I always leave [the class] feeling more optimistic, positive, and energetic.”
“The course has opened some new doors and new ways of looking at and experiencing the world. Understanding and experiencing the role of the mind and connection to the body has been insightful and one tht I appreciate.”
“I learned how to be more at peace and accepting. I can be with who I am today — I do not have to judge myself or anything or anyone throughout each day, week, month, year, etc. I have more compassion for myself.”
“Pleasant, helpful, getting insights into what will be a life-long change in habits. … Learned that I really can find more than one interpretation of many different events and reduce the stress I’ve become accustomed to having.”
“I learned that, if I step back, breathe and focus, the world of now comes in and my perception of external surroundings is enhanced. Also, I am finding that in stressful situations, stepping back to breathe and do a “mini” meditation has been effective in dealing with the situation.”
“I am grateful to you for this extroardinary gift of your MBSR course. I’ve benefited from your teachings and other’s responses to these teachings. I certainly did not anticipate that I’d have this depth of experience.”
“Your Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program had a profound impact on my behavior. As a result of the techniques that you taught, on most occasions when a stressful situation occurs I am less reactive, pause and try to act calmly. I know that I am making progress. My wife gives me a lot of encouragement and has stated many times that she is pleasantly surprised by the significant change in my behavior. Maintaining a disciplined meditation program has been difficult. However I try to spend a few minutes every day praying and meditating. I’m a calmer person because of this process. Thanks!”
“I have leanred that I can and do notice my sensatinos, emotions, and thoughts before reacting. While I knew this intellectually before, I can now sense it more easily and then respond appropriately. This is very important for me to not feel so “locked into reacting” and to be able to respond more mindfully in lots of situations.”
“Bill, your presence with your own life challenges and experiences seems key to your effectiveness as a teacher. Your teaching style is very warm, open, and accepting; and this allows me to learn and become more mindful.”
“I love the body scan! When I practice it first thing in the morning, it has an amazing impact: relaxation, letting go, experience of wholeness and acceptance. Afterwards, my day is transformed.”
“Your MBSR class has been valuable. It has given me useful tools for dealing with the stresses of life and I appreciate that. It feels like the beginning of a road, not an end in itself.”
Mindful Ministry 