Meet Jonathan Brooker,
aka “The Hipster Minister”

I’ve been married to my wife Madeline now for over 9 years and can still vividly remember what it was like to get ready for our big day. You have so many decisions to make—some of which obviously matter a whole lot, and others that you’re not sure if they’ll end up surprising you with how much they actually mattered.

In my 18-year experience of officiating weddings I’ve come to appreciate just how important of a choice it is who you have as your officiant.

After all, this is the single most significant ceremony of your life. No couple should have to have it officiated by someone who doesn’t really know them from a stranger. You shouldn’t have to wonder if they’re reliable or experienced. Or if their ceremony will be boring, or awkward; if they’ll arrive late or be anxious to “get the job done” and run off.

The most important choice that a couple makes is that one person they’ve chosen to make their exclusive vows to that day. Picking your future spouse is still the most important choice!

But I think every couple deserves to have the person who’s walking them through this deeply significant moment be someone who has gotten to know them, and has invested into the success of their marriage.

It has been the joy of my life to be that person for so many couples over the years!

So how’d you get the name
“The Hipster Minister”?

Much like my legal name, it’s not one that I came up with but one that was actually given to me.

It’s not terribly surprising, really. Being a pastor as my full-time job, with hobbies like gardening, woodworking, hiking and reading, combined with passions for gardening, sourdough baking, and then the fact that I wear dark-rimmed glasses, it was practically bound to happen.

But a number of years ago one of the brides of a couple that I was working with out of nowhere looked at me, smiled, and said, “You’re basically The Hipster Minister.” And it just stuck.