Dr. Kimber Lee Wilkes

As a young girl, Dr. Kimber Lee Wilkes knew she wanted to participate in people’s lives in a profound way. Wisely she followed the yearnings of her youthful heart and graduated from seminary school—one of only two women in her class to be ordained as a minister—and then went on to get her PhD in Theology. Warm and sensitive by nature, she sees the exchanging of vows as a deeply personal statement. 

Creating beautiful weddings since 1985, Kimber Lee genuinely loves her work, considering it her joyful calling. For her, the ceremony is the centerpiece of a wedding celebration. She feels it should be meaningful to all who attend, and be as well planned as other wedding arrangements. Kimber has officiated for thousands of couples whose collective success rate for marital longevity is amazing. Her motto is, “I tie double knots!”

Nondenominational and nonsectarian, Dr. Wilkes welcomes all religions. “Couples find this approach refreshing,” says Kimber Lee. “They want someone who will be neutral. They appreciate that I’m not going to try to convert or preach to them.”

Through the years she has performed every kind of service imaginable—including Catholic, Jewish, Methodist and Buddhist—and has co-officiated with priests, rabbis and ministers of differing faiths. Her extensive knowledge of the world’s religions and traditions enables her to develop ceremonies appropriate for all beliefs.

In the month prior to the wedding, Kimber meets with a couple numerous times to get to know them on an intimate level. During their first meeting, she covers a lot of ground—discussing the practical matter of a marriage license (which she can provide), offering the option of premarital counseling, and familiarizing them with her extensive library of ceremony selections and nuptial literature. She also enjoys uncovering those special stories about each person, their relationship, families and hopes for the future. When writing the couple’s vows, Kimber draws on her extensive background in theology and literature to create a ceremony exclusively for them. She incorporates both their similarities and differences, and because the process is such a personal one, no two of Kimber’s ceremonies are ever alike.

On the wedding day Kimber Lee has her finger on the pulse of the entire celebration. She makes a special point of contacting everybody—the videographer, the caterer, the photographer—and apprising them of the sequence of events. “We all work together to make this day meaningful and memorable,” she says.

Kimber Lee strives to have everyone feel included in the wedding. She achieves this intimacy in subtle ways. She’ll position the bride and groom facing each other instead of facing her, so that the ceremony is opened up to the guests. She also develops eye contact with everyone in the congregation. “I am not just reading a script,” she says. “I’m connecting with people, with the love and caring that is in them.” The tone of the ceremony is so moving, guests frequently comment, “Dr. Wilkes must have known the bride and groom for years!” Inevitably after the vows, guests approach her exclaiming how wonderful the service was, and how much it truly reflected the couple. They often say it was the first ceremony they actually remembered listening to, and that it inspired them to renew their own vows.