Ceremony
The Signing
$125
A simple, elegant ceremony for couples who primarily need an officiant.
Ministry & Ceremonial Services
The Sacred House
Your Ceremony. Your Story. Your Way.
Personalized ceremonies for people who want something more meaningful than a standard ceremony.
The practice
Ceremony, built around the people in it.
The Sacred House creates personalized ceremonies from each couple’s story, beliefs, traditions, values, and wishes.
Some people want a rite their families will recognize. Some want language that has never been used in a ceremony before. Many want both, and do not want to be told which half is allowed.
The work is meaning, personalization, careful writing, and a day conducted with respect. You will not be handed someone else’s script and asked to pretend it is yours.
Religious, spiritual, secular, interfaith, and entirely individual ceremonies are welcome. Secular couples are not visitors in someone else’s service. Couples of faith are not asked to thin their beliefs to fit a template.
The Sacred House is the ministry and ceremonial-services practice operated by Matthew James. It is not a government agency, a state licensing authority, or an ordaining organization. His ordination is held through American Marriage Ministries.
The officiant
Matthew James
Ordained Minister & Wedding Officiant
He writes and conducts the ceremonies of The Sacred House. What follows is the ordination he holds. No other credential is claimed here.
View the ministerial record- Ordaining organization
- American Marriage Ministries
- Minister ID
- 862073
- Ordained
- November 24, 2021
- Serving
- South Carolina
Services
What the house will conduct.
01
Weddings
A wedding ceremony written for the two of you and conducted with care.
02
Elopements
A private ceremony for two, given the same seriousness as a larger wedding.
03
Micro-Weddings
A smaller gathering, shaped around the people actually in the room.
04
Vow Renewals
A return to promises, in language that fits the life you have already made.
05
Commitment Ceremonies
A ceremony of promise, including when a marriage license is not the aim.
06
Spiritual Ceremonies
Space for spiritual language, blessing, and ritual, without assigning you a tradition.
07
Secular Ceremonies
Story, vows, and meaning, with no religious content.
08
Interfaith Ceremonies
Respectful room for more than one faith, without forcing them into a single script.
09
LGBTQ+ Ceremonies
Every couple welcomed, with the same dignity, attention, and craft.
10
Fully Customized Ceremonies
Built from the ground up around your story, not trimmed from a template.
Ceremony styles
The ceremony can be built around you.
You do not have to fit yourselves into a standard ceremony.
Traditional
A familiar shape, written so it still sounds like you.
Religious
Faith in the ceremony, in the form you ask for.
Spiritual
Sacred language without requiring one religion.
Secular
Meaning, with no religious content.
Interfaith
Room for more than one tradition, side by side.
Modern
Plain, current language. No borrowed pomp.
Romantic
Warmth and devotion as the tone, not as decoration.
Intimate
Written for the scale of the room you are actually in.
Unconventional
A structure that does not pretend to be ordinary.
Fully Customized
Built from your story, rather than adapted from a sample.
Packages & pricing
Four ways to begin.
Ceremony
The Intimate Ceremony
$225
A personalized ceremony for elopements and smaller weddings.
Signature
The Sacred Ceremony
$350
The signature ceremony experience.
Ceremony
The Grand Ceremony
$500
An extensively customized ceremony experience for couples who want a highly personalized service.
Pricing may vary depending on location, travel, date, guest count, timing, and level of customization.
Additional services
Listed separately. Not folded silently into a package.
- Rehearsal
- $125
- Rush Ceremony
- $75
- Additional Consultation
- $50
- Vow Renewal
- Starting at $225
- Commitment Ceremony
- Starting at $225
- Custom Ceremonial Service
- Consultation required
- Extended Travel
- Quoted by location
The Sacred House special offerings
Occasionally, a rate is set apart.
Matthew sometimes conducts a ceremony at a rate he chooses for that occasion. It is a limited and intentional offering. It is not a discount program, and it is not an invitation to negotiate the prices on this site.
A special rate may be considered for the circumstances below. It is never automatic. Asking does not change a published price. The decision belongs to him, and it depends on the ceremony and on availability.
- Community ceremonies
- Small intimate ceremonies
- Certain weekday ceremonies
- Select nonprofit or community-related ceremonies
- Portfolio-building opportunities
- Special circumstances
- Limited seasonal offerings
- Other ceremonies personally approved by Matthew
How it works
From the first note to the day itself.
- 1
Tell us about your ceremony.
Share who you are, what the day is for, and what you want it to hold.
- 2
Request a consultation.
The form on this site prepares an email to The Sacred House. Nothing is booked by the form alone.
- 3
Choose your service.
Select the package or service that fits. Anything unclear is settled before you commit.
- 4
Complete your ceremony questionnaire.
Your answers — story, vows, readings, rituals, and wishes — guide the writing.
- 5
Your ceremony is written and prepared.
The ceremony is prepared for you. It is not pulled from a generic script.
- 6
Review and finalize the details.
You review the ceremony and the plan. Changes are settled before the day.
- 7
The Sacred House performs your ceremony.
Matthew James conducts the ceremony you have agreed upon.
Ceremony development
What a ceremony can hold.
A ceremony can draw on what you bring to it. You do not need a finished script. You do need to say what matters.
- Personal stories
- Vows
- Readings
- Rituals
- Religious elements
- Spiritual elements
- Secular elements
- Family traditions
- Cultural traditions
- Personalized language
The Sacred House does not claim specialized expertise in every religion or culture. What is included is what you ask for, written with respect and without assumption.
Where the work is
Serving South Carolina.
The Sacred House serves South Carolina. Matthew James is an ordained minister through American Marriage Ministries — Minister ID 862073, ordained November 24, 2021 — and conducts ceremonies in connection with that ordination.
The Sacred House is his ministry and ceremonial practice. It is not the State of South Carolina, a county office, a probate court, or a licensing agency. It does not issue marriage licenses.
Extended travel is quoted by location. Share where the ceremony will be held when you write, so travel can be discussed plainly.
Questions
Before you write.
Credentials
The record, stated plainly.
Matthew James, Ordained Minister & Wedding Officiant. Ordained through American Marriage Ministries. The document below is this practice’s presentation of that record. It is not a state license and not a replacement for the ordaining body’s own certificate.
The Sacred House
Ministerial Record
A public record of the ordination held by the officiant of this practice. It is not a government license, and it is not a certificate issued by the ordaining organization.
Be it recorded
that Matthew James was ordained on November 24, 2021 by American Marriage Ministries, and is entered on that body’s roll as Minister ID 862073.
- Name
- Matthew James
- Office
- Ordained Minister & Wedding Officiant
- Ordaining organization
- American Marriage Ministries
- Minister ID
- 862073
- Date of ordination
- November 24, 2021
- Service jurisdiction
- South Carolina
Matthew James
Operator, The Sacred House
Ordination is held through American Marriage Ministries. The Sacred House did not confer it. The Sacred House is the ministry and ceremonial practice operated by Matthew James. This mark is a practice seal, not a seal of any government.
Contact The Sacred House
Write, and the conversation can begin.
For consultations, bookings, ceremony inquiries, and general questions, contact The Sacred House by email.
[email protected]