Naila (pronounced Ny-lah) is an unabashed romantic, which makes it no surprise that she tends to fall a little in love with every couple she marries — seriously! A dear friend would crack up whenever he asked how a consultation went, and her inevitable response was a slow and dreamy “I looove them,” to which he would reply, “You say that every time!”
But who wouldn’t swoon at the chance to bask in the beauty and sweetness of a couple’s connection as they plan one of the most meaningful days of their life together? It is this mix of reverence and joy that Naila brings to officiating, as well as an easy warmth rooted in her Caribbean upbringing.
Raised on the islands of St. Lucia, Barbados and Antigua, she remains an island girl at heart. (She has in fact been dubbed with the nickname Juicy Fruit by her best friend, given her sunniness and exuberant approach to life.)
It may seem a stark contrast to her inherent joyful nature that Naila is a grief coach and death midwife as well, holding space for people at some of the most challenging and tender passages of life. But it is her attunement to the sorrows and suffering of being human that allow her to embrace joy so fully. Naila is also an ordained interfaith minister and a writer, whose career has included profiling the famous and not-so-famous (from Brandi Carlile and Pink to Amos Lee and Laura Mvula) and providing greeting card copy for American Greetings (yes, that’s a real job!).
She enjoys reading and writing poetry, and has been venturing out to share more of her works publicly (you may not guess it from meeting her, but she is more introvert than extrovert). Though the list is long and keeps getting longer, treasured poets include Mary Oliver, Pablo Neruda, Ross Gay, Ada Limón, Ellen Bass and Rainer Maria Rilke.
When she’s not grief-tending or performing weddings, Naila also enjoys rich conversation and laughter with family and friends, goobering over dogs, nurturing community, dancing and communing with the trees in the beautiful Wissahickon. She’s also just as likely to be found savoring a chocolate mug cake or telling stories about that time she kissed a whale.
While Naila’s writing and poetry talents make her a natural at crafting a unique wedding ceremony, her favorite part of the wedding day are the spontaneous moments of humor and joy that make a couple’s personality shine and draw everyone present deeper into the love story they’ve come to celebrate.
Naila created the perfect wedding ceremony for us. We had the best time working with her and telling her our story. She made the ceremony so personal and the perfect vibe and theme for what we wanted and who we are. Everyone could not stop complimenting us all night on how beautiful the ceremony was!
We can’t wait to keep looking back on videos and revisiting the perfect start to our marriage.
Good Morning Naila,
We hope your New Year is off to a great start! Over the holidays we visited with friends and family, which allowed us all to reminisce on our wedding day. When asking what their favorite parts of the wedding were, it’s no surprise to us that almost every single person said, you. 😊 They all adored you and loved the beautiful ceremony you helped us create. We truly thank you for making our day so memorable and special. Attached are some photos we wanted to share, as promised.
May your 2024 be filled with joy and more amazing weddings!
Thank you,
Naila, our officiant, was absolutely wonderful!
During the wedding planning process, we met with her in person to ensure we were a good fit, ask questions, receive more information about how our ceremony script would be crafted. From there, Naila made sure to keep in touch in the months leading up to the wedding, and collaborated with us to made a script for the ceremony. We ended up creating a gorgeous ceremony script that really reflected us as a couple. Naila could not have been more of a superstar on the wedding day. Her calming presence and poise helped us stay grounded before the ceremony, and during the ceremony she really shined and her years of experience were evident. We received so many compliments on how beautiful our ceremony was and how much everyone loved Naila.
If you want to work with a professional team of officiants who will knock your ceremony out of the park, chose Journeys of the Heart!
Naila,
We are so overwhelming grateful that we were able to connect with you and have you as the officiant for our wedding. The day was more incredible than we ever imagined, and you played such a pivotal role. We still tear up rewatching the ceremony video, and we have collectively rewatched it 30+ times, and I suspect we will hit 50 by the end of this week! So many of our friends and family members commented on the ceremony and said that it was authentic and beautiful. Words cannot express how truly appreciative we are for crafting and delivering such a perfect story. We feel so fortunate and blessed to have had you as a part of our special day. Any couple will be lucky to have you as their officiant!
All our love,
Dear Naila,
We wanted to say THANK YOU from the bottom of our hearts for the beautiful ceremony you officiated for us last weekend. It was so cool to hear how you weaved our Love Stories together (and a nice surprise!). Everything felt so warm and personal, from start to finish. We received endless compliments from our guests about how much they loved the ceremony- an amazing testament to our collaboration and the incredible job you did officiating!!
Your patience throughout our time together was so appreciated- especially how you talked through every detail in our back-and-forth emails. You are such a calming presence! And we loved seeing the card you left for us as well as the binder with our ceremony script- these are both such sweet mementos!
Thank you again for everything, Naila. We wish you all the best!
Sincerely,
Naila,
I can’t believe it’s almost been a month since our ceremony! I wanted to thank you and let you know that your words were just as beautiful as the first wedding ten years ago! And thank you for the sweet card, that was so thoughtful.
Thank you for everything and I hope you will be able to celebrate with us on our 25th anniversary!
Love,
We wanted to say thank you so much for being a part of our ceremony. The ceremony was so important to me (Virginia) and it went perfectly, George Michael included. People kept coming up to us all night (and afterward) to say how amazing you were and that they wanted you to read audiobooks. Many said that you created an overwhelming sense of calm, and you really brought out the love between me and Max. It truly was the ceremony of our dreams! Thanks so so much again.
We could not have asked for a more perfect ceremony. We chose Naila from Journey’s of the Heart, and she was an absolute treasure. She was a pleasure to work with from start to finish. Very warm and kind and open to hearing our ideas. She understood us and captured our love and our story so eloquently. We received many compliments on how unique and personalized our ceremony. We cannot thank her and Journey’s of the Heart enough for this gift that we will cherish for forever!
I’m still so overwhelmed with emotion! Naila, the ceremony was perfect and raw and spoke to us and our union so eloquently. Thank you for marrying us and making our day so special.
We are so happy we reached out to you to be our wedding officiant. The ceremony came off beautifully and exactly as we all envisioned it together. We received many comments and compliments about you and how the ceremony had a little bit of everything: storytelling, spirituality, humor, soul, artistry, and a beautiful setting. You were obviously instrumental in designing and developing the ceremony, but also, your preparation, delivery, and style as officiant was crucial for bringing it all off. There are no words for how much we appreciate your role except to just say thank you for being you. You killed it!
Naila Francis did a beautiful job for me and my husband for our wedding ceremony. We met for coffee beforehand to talk everything out. She was therefore able to create a personalized, thoughtful ceremony. Multiple guests were very impressed by how well she did. I would not hesitate to hire her!
One of the best decisions we made for our wedding was choosing to work with Naila Francis. Naila is truly an incredible human with a beautiful, bright soul… and she crafted the loveliest of words to share for our ceremony. We initially met with Naila at a local coffee shop, where we connected in a way that felt more like we were old friends. She worked with us over the next few months to learn more about our love story, and provide support as we navigated the difficulties of planning a wedding during COVID. We were married on 9/6/20, our original wedding date, and through the constant changes and difficulties, Naila’s care and compassion was obvious through her calming presence before the ceremony and her moving words throughout. To this day, we still receive compliments on how unique and beautiful the ceremony was. Even months after our celebration, my husband and I keep in touch with Naila. We simply can not recommend her highly enough!
I can’t say enough wonderful things about Journeys of the Heart and our officiant, Naila Francis. My husband and I met with Naila a few months before our wedding and absolutely loved her energy and spirit. We worked with Naila to create a beautiful ceremony for our wedding through a few questionnaires and emails. Naila was very flexible and offered great suggestions. In the end, we created a ceremony that spoke so clearly of our partnership and us as a couple. I could not have been happier. So many people complimented us on our lovely ceremony during our wedding – they found it to be very thoughtful, moving, and very personal. Guests said that they really felt like they knew us as a couple and our whole story, which is exactly what I wanted. Further, we got so many compliments about Naila’s lovely, calming voice and her entire demeanor. I am so glad we had the opportunity to work with her and I would recommend her to any couple!
Dear Naila –
You did an amazing job with our ceremony! It truly was unique as if you’ve known us our entire life! We received countless compliments about our ceremony and how it brought tears to everyone’s eyes and we have you to thank for that!! Attached is a photo but when I receive the professional shots I will send you all that include you! Thanks again for making our day so special!
Hi Naila,
We wanted to tell you again how much EVERYONE has been raving about our ceremony. Grown men say they have never cried and it was so moving to them. Funny, short, non religious and touching…fit us and our day to a T. Thank you.
We chose this vendor since they are a group, and if anything were to happen with our officiant, there would be automatic back up. We chose Naila Francis, she exudes warmth and made our ceremony so personal. We got so many compliments on what an amazing job she did, which was unexpected considering we went with a non denominational officiant, which was unexpected. She did a beautiful job and i am so happy with our decision
Naila –
I’d like to thank you again for the AMAZING work you did with our ceremony; our families haven’t stopped raving about how wonderful the entire ceremony was start to finish! Kev and I couldn’t have been happier with how your words represented our relationship – our past and future growth together, the big and little reasons we’re so crazy about each other and our hopes and dreams for our life together. It was truly perfect.
Wishing You the Best of Luck and Love,
Our officiant was Naila Francis and she did a fantastic job officiating our wedding on April 7th! We received so many compliments on the personalized ceremony and Naila’s warm touch! She did the perfect job blending our faiths and making the ceremony about us! We HIGHLY recommend Naila for anyone looking for a unique, personalized ceremony that people will remember!
Dearest Naila,
Wow! You made our wedding ceremony exactly what we’d hoped it would be. It was just perfect. Everyone at the wedding has been raving about how lovely and warm you are, and how personal and interesting our ceremony was. In fact, it was hands down my favorite part of this entire experience. From the start, Steve and I knew that we wanted our ceremony to matter most, and once we met you, we were sure you’d be the person to make it just right. All of the suggestions you made, and the meaningful material you provided, were really in line with who we are as a couple and as individuals. Communicating with you throughout the process was easy and delightful. You went above and beyond your call of duty, and we will never forget the wonderful gift you’ve given us. I’ve copied Journeys of the Heart on this message, so that they would know just how pleased we were with you, and how lucky they are to have you on board.
Thank you from the bottom of our happy hearts.
Dear Naila,
We would like to thank you for the wonderful ceremony on Sunday. We were both moved by its simplicity and beauty, which was enhanced by the romantic setting. Our families and friends were all enthusiastic about the ceremony which was felt to be unique, probably because it was a bit unconventional. The flower sharing ritual, with its involvement of the community in the celebration rendered the ceremony intimate and touching. Both of us and our loved ones appreciated your way of officiating as well as your calm, personable and clear voice. …And you were right, the audience thought that you knew us for years! It was truly the wedding I had dreamed of! Thank you again and all the best.
From Naila:
What I really appreciate about this note is that when I met the couple for our consultation, the bride was concerned about my ability to make the ceremony seem personal after sitting down with them for only an hour and not meeting again until the wedding.
I think this so speaks to the heart of what we do. It is never “business as usual” or a routine when we meet these couples but a genuine interest in who they are and the love they share and how we can best help them express that on their wedding day!
My husband and I come from different faith backgrounds, so we wanted to find an officiant who could make our ceremony non-religious but still personal and meaningful. Previewing the officiants availabe, I immediately connected with Naila’s background as a writer, and we couldn’t have been happier with our choice! Naila was a warm, personable guide as we thought through each step of our ceremony. She provided us with helpful resources that helped us hone in on what we wanted to include/exclude. Planning weddings can be stressful, as anyone can tell you. But, throughout the process, Naila was the calm, collected presence we needed to make sure everything was going to be ok. After some collaboration, our ceremony ended up being exactly what we wanted. Everyone at the wedding loved it, which is sometimes not the most memorable part of a wedding! If I were to do it all over again, I would most certainly go with Naila again! Thank you for helping us put together the most beautiful ceremony we could have imagined!
