REV ANDREW MURPHY ~ SEDONA WEDDING OFFICIANT
Hello and welcome to Heart of Sedona Weddings!
My name is Rev. Andrew Murphy, your Sedona Wedding Officiant. Together with my lovely wife, gifted Event Planner Laura Marolakos, we make up the Heart of Sedona Wedding team.
It would be a great joy and privilege for us to work with you to create an intimate and personal wedding ceremony that opens the heart to Love! Please call us for a free consultation.
Visit our “Packages” section for more info on services offered as well as the “Ceremony” section for more info on creating your wedding ceremony.
Blessings always,
My ministerial background
My interest in ministry began many years ago. After being trained at Jesuit School of Theology in Chicago and ordained a Jesuit Catholic priest in my hometown of New Orleans, I was assigned to work cross-culturally in India and Mexico and later was relocated to the southwest region of the U.S.
It was during that time that I discovered the power of ceremony to transform lives. I also came to recognize my own strong interest in performing liturgical celebrations, particularly wedding celebrations, with the added dimension of preparing couples for marriage through directed retreats and counseling in English as well as Spanish.
© R.Gonzalez Photography
A deep devotion to life, love, nature and God
A deep devotion to life, love, nature and God, which defines my spirituality, was what gave impetus and direction to my ministry. Upon leaving the Jesuit Order after 23 years to pursue other interests, I made my way back to Mumbai, India. There I studied Eastern philosophy and spirituality which helped me to understand my life-experience from different perspectives. At the same time it gave me the opportunity to understand more clearly the common threads and deep currents of wisdom, beauty and truth that run through all major spiritual traditions.
New beginnings
Upon returning to the U.S., at the invitation of a friend, I visited Sedona, Arizona and was captivated by its breathtaking natural beauty. An enchanted land of mountains, forests, canyons and streams, the area called to me like no other. Sedona to me was like an outdoor cathedral, a high-desert oasis where the soul could flourish, where the subtle energies of nature relaxed and quieted the mind, allowing access into the heart. Needing to recreate my life and career, I decided to settle here. At the time, I had no idea that Sedona was one of the nation’s premiere destination wedding centers. So, of course, I was surprised and also quite fortunate to be given the opportunity to redirect my ministerial talents in a new and more personal way… simply by combining the beauty of nature, each couple’s unique love story along with the values and beliefs that inspire them, into ceremonies that touch and open the heart to Love.
That same year, 1996, Heart of Sedona Weddings was born. Since my first wedding ceremony in the red rock mountains of Sedona it’s been an exciting and transformative journey. After all these years, I continue with the same enthusiasm, inspired by the love reflected through the endearing couples who choose Sedona for their wedding. For me, to stand before two people and witness the love between them, is to feel at one with one of life’s most precious gifts. We very much look forward to the opportunity of working with you to make your wedding day a dream come true!
Visit Sedona Wedding Ceremony for more info.