About Rev. Steven Reid

Trusted ♥ Experienced ♥ Inclusive

I am ordained in the United Church of Christ, have served as pastor to five congregations and as a chaplain for two social service organizations. I received my Master of Divinity Degree from Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary on Northwestern’s campus in Evanston Il and my Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from the University of Illinois in Champaign.

For the past 17 years, my work as a chaplain to teenagers and then to seniors has been tremendously rewarding. It has been challenging as well - first helping teens overcome the trauma they endured in foster care and then sharing the journey with nursing home residents facing the end of life. To help achieve balance and perspective, I began officiating weddings as well.

I love working with couples, getting to know them, and helping them celebrate the happiest day of their lives. Over the years, I have officiated over 150 weddings for couples from diverse faith and cultural backgrounds in a wide variety of settings. A portion of my wedding fees also helps support The Silver Fork program Hosted by The Center on Halsted. It is a short-term culinary arts and job readiness program for low- income members or allies of the LGBTQ community which is free of charge to all participants.

Happy couple My husband has been my soulmate for 15 years.

I would love to have the chance to honor and celebrate your special day with you.

♥ Contact Me for a Free Consultation ♥

Recognition

He Was Such a Pleasure to Work With

Abby W., married on 07/08/2023

We could not have been more pleased to work with Reverend Steve. He was such a pleasure to work with, from the first initial meetings all the way until our rehearsal and wedding day. He really understood and told our love story so beautifully during the ceremony. My family had so many compliments about his speech as well. I would recommend him to anyone who wants a professional and confident officiant for their big day.

Reverend Steven was Absolutely Wonderful to Work With!

Alex, married on 08/13/2022

If I could give Reverend Steven 10 stars on here, I would - he was that great! We are so happy with our decision to have Reverend Steven officiate our ceremony and to tell our love story to our families. He met with us multiple times before our ceremony, took the time to understand our story, and pulled out the best details from us to understand what brought us to our wedding day. His style is very flexible (integrating as much or as little faith as we desired into our ceremony) and was extremely helpful throughout the entire process by guiding us and providing many options to make our ceremony a breeze. He even made a few day before updates for us, as COVID had impacted some guests' ability to join. Overall we are so pleased with Reverend Steven's professionalism and highly highly recommend booking him for your ceremony!

Caring, Fun Professional

Kate F., married on 08/04/2007

Reverend Reid helped make our wedding celebration a day for everyone. He helped us put together a ceremony that reflected our personal values while also providing his expert guidance and knowledge. Throughout the planning he made sure we were comfortable with the structure and content of the script, organization of the ceremony and our vows and we ended up with a ceremony that was tailored exactly to us and set the tone for the overall vibe of our modern casual elegant wedding. Our ceremony was personal to us, and also included our family who is so important in our lives, and Reverend Reid’s contribution to our ceremony and celebration made our day truly wonderful for everyone present.

So Thankful We Found Him!

Brenda W., married on 06/23/2001

I simply can't say enough about Rev. Reid!
With pre-wedding counsel and ceremony guidance, he helped us create the ceremony of our dreams. His soothing voice and calming demeanor along with his intelligent sense of humor were greatly appreciated by a nervous Bride and Groom!! He cares deeply and you can feel it. Rev. Reid has an amazing way of making everyone he meets feel special and welcome. We very highly recommend Rev. Reid!!

The Best Officiant

Bryce H., married on 08/06/2022

We had Pastor Steve officiate our ceremony at St. Paul's United Church of Christ in Lincoln Park. We had an amazing experience with Pastor Steve from start to finish. He met with us twice to get to know us and our story as a couple. We were out of town for some time and he was very flexible about being virtual or in-person based on our needs. Pastor Steve created a ceremony that perfectly captured what we wanted. He had some great suggestions after getting to know us and was very open to little changes we wanted to make. He made us feel very comfortable and totally ready for the big day when it came around! We loved our ceremony and felt that it was very special, and so did our guests. So many guests of all ages and backgrounds came up to us to tell us how wonderful the ceremony was. Overall, I absolutely recommend you go with Pastor Steve as your officiant.

Truly Loves What He Does!

Alyssa S., married on 10/15/2023

Rev. Steve Reid truly made our day BEYOND special! When my husband and I were looking for officiants, we honestly did not know what to expect. Secretly, we were often doubting that there was no way our ceremony would be close to "personal" having just met our officiant within months leading up to the wedding; however, that could not have been farther from the truth with Rev. Reid. From the initial consultation call, to our in-person meeting about the processional/ceremony, to the continuous email exchanges leading up to the rehearsal and the rehearsal ceremony itself, we truly felt so supported by Rev. Reid every step of the way. You can feel and see his passion for what he does, which spoke volumes to my husband and I. He not only genuinely wanted to get to know us and our story, but he truly wanted to get to know us as people and who we are. If you are looking for an officiant, we HIGHLY recommend Rev. Steve Reid. He is professional, genuine, personable and truly LOVES what he does.