Joy helped our family plan and acted as MC for our mother’s funeral when she died suddenly after a stroke. The family really appreciated Joy’s sincere and professional approach, and the effort she made to learn about Mum’s life and to get to know the family. This effort was reflected in the personal touches that she used during the service which were very much appreciated by the family.

Joy was also able to offer advice and guidance on the funeral process, as well as working with the funeral home directors on the day. She also provided some useful suggestions that would have been really helpful prior to Mum’s death.

We all were very pleased to have Joy as part of Mum’s funeral planning and service.  M, J & G

It was an absolute blast to have Joy (and her husband Ian) be our celebrant and MC at our wedding. She is amazing, and we knew from the first meeting with her that she would be our celebrant.

She has a wonderful spirit about her, and we clicked the moment we met. Joy listened to us and what we wanted our wedding to be. She gave advice and insight in to how we could do things.

We had many laughs along the wedding planning process. She even helped my husband write his vows, when he couldn’t put the words on to paper. (At the pub even!) She really understood us. Our wedding day was brilliant with so many laughs and lots of light-hearted fun. Which is exactly the way we wanted it to be. Joy really got to know our personalities and made us feel so comfortable at each of our meetings and especially on our big day. She is a wonderful person, and it was an absolute pleasure for us to have her do our ceremony. T&M

Thank you, thank you, thank you! I so appreciate all you did for us to make the ceremony so special. Joy put so much time into this to make it perfect, and it was.

I thought it was great, speaking with families, the feedback was superb – families said it was hard, but very moving and just right. This worked so well because of all Joy’s hard work and planning. 

But also because she obviously has a natural warmth and openness which makes people feel at ease.  Heartkids NZ

I came across Joy when searching for a Marriage Celebrant. Joy’s profile exuded warmth and she felt right for us. Joy’s communication was faultless, keeping in touch and explaining to me everything I needed to know.

My now husband and I had been together 18 years, and felt it was time to make it official. We wanted a no frills occasion, yet something memorable for us and our closest loved ones.

Joy was amazing at keeping ‘our secret’; as we planned to surprise our family. I still remember feeling frazzled, knowing what we had planned. When we arrived at the venue for a few drinks and seeing Joy sitting there quietly reading a book, made me feel calm. Joy came over and told my family and friends that she had been asked to take a group photo, then led our small group to the spot we had discussed for the ceremony.

I will never forget the look on our loved ones faces when Joy declared that Scott and I were to be married.

For any occasion that requires a person who is the very definition of their name. I could not think of anyone else but Joy Gottermeyer. C&S

Margaret’s Farewell

Joy was the celebrant for my mum’s funeral.  We were so grateful to Joy for the wonderful job she did, and we would highly recommend her to others.

Joy went above and beyond to make sure everything was perfect for the day.  She paid wonderful attention to detail and took the stress away from us.

Joy is lovely and empathetic, and was so respectful of mum’s wishes. But what we also appreciated was she brought a host of very appropriate ideas and suggestions to make the service run smoothly.

Joy has a super personality and is great to work with.

We would highly recommend her to anyone for either a wedding or a funeral. J&C

Joy was our celebrant on the Marae in Akaroa.

She was just so helpful in pointing us in the right direction and giving us all the information we needed for the ceremony.

She wrote a story for us and gave us guidance for our vows. She also helped out with selecting other services for the wedding.

She has a nice bubbly personality which is great for a wedding day. We had loads of fun and really appreciated everything you did for us. She comes very highly recommended from us. D&D

We couldn’t be happier with our choice to have Joy as our celebrant. 

You made us feel so comfortable, and had the wedding ceremony flow so nicely.  Always easy to make contact with, and I love the way you made it all feel personal to us. 

Thank you for the time and effort you put into our day.  We couldn’t recommend Joy highly enough! A&E

Joy was both our celebrant and MC for our wedding in Hanmer Springs.  She did a fantastic job and is passionate about what she does.  She has a lot of original ideas and was instrumental in the smooth running of our day ….  10/10 from us newly weds!  Thanks Joy! X C&B

Joy … I would just like to say …

Thankyou so much for making our wedding day in February, a definite day to remember …

Your sense of humour made it so relaxing.

You would have to be one of the best in the business!

… big Thankyou and X from G&M.

Our first impression of Joy was very good and we both knew that she would be our wedding celebrant before we left her home office for our 1^st meeting.

As we are a Japanese/Kiwi couple, it wasn’t an easy task to blend two cultures into one ceremony, that both parties would understand and enjoy.  Joy totally respected and understood two completely different cultures, our ideas, and who we are as a couple.  Then she added her special touch to create such a beautiful and memorable ceremony that we both are very happy with. 

Joy was above our expectation of what a wedding celebrant can be and incredibly supportive throughout.  Together with our Japanese interpreter, Joy created a heart-warming and very engaging ceremony that everyone loved so much.

We also appreciated that she didn’t mind travelling out of town and extra help from her husband as a sound man as well as Joy’s righthand man.  We feel Joy wasn’t just a wedding celebrant for us, but she has become a part of our life. 

We can’t thank her enough for what she has done for us and her beautiful personality.  I would highly recommend Joy for anyone as their wedding celebrant.  A&D