Vonetta Hill

Becoming an ordained minister through the Universal Life Church is a natural extension of my spiritual journey and a lifetime of serving and caring for others. My experiences as an Army medic, healthcare worker, mother, grandmother, leader, caregiver, and someone who has personally experienced love, loss, grief, healing, and transformation have given me a deep appreciation for the sacred moments and transitions of life. I believe ministry can extend beyond the walls of a traditional church and meet people wherever they are spiritually and personally. Becoming ordained gives me another way to serve by helping people celebrate marriage, commitment, new beginnings, remembrance, and other meaningful life events in ways that honor who they truly are.

I was born and raised in North Bay Shore, New York, on Long Island. Throughout my life, I have had the opportunity to live in many different parts of the country, including Denver, Colorado; Port Charlotte, Florida; San Antonio, Texas; Springfield, Missouri; and Voluntown, Connecticut. I currently reside in Middletown, Connecticut. Living in different communities and experiencing different cultures, people, and ways of life has broadened my perspective and contributed to the person I am today.

I hope to use my ordination to specialize in personalized, non-traditional, and themed wedding ceremonies and other meaningful life celebrations. I am especially interested in creating ceremonies for couples who want something beyond the traditional wedding experience. This could include Hip Hop weddings, music-inspired ceremonies representing all genres, cultural and ancestral ceremonies, spiritual and interfaith unions, themed weddings, vow renewals, commitment ceremonies, and completely original concepts created around the couple. I want to combine storytelling, music, culture, spirituality, creativity, and tradition in ways that allow each couple to celebrate their relationship authentically. I also hope to use my ordination to support families through celebrations of life, memorials, and other important life transitions.

I was raised in the Protestant Christian faith, which provided the foundation for my earliest understanding of spirituality and religion. As I grew older, my spiritual journey expanded beyond the tradition in which I was raised. I have studied Buddhism, Taoism, Paganism, Wicca, and the Quran, and I am currently studying Hinduism.

My exploration of different religious and spiritual traditions has given me a deep appreciation for the many ways people understand God, the Divine, spirituality, nature, ancestry, and our connection to one another. Rather than limiting myself to one perspective, I value learning from different traditions while respecting each one on its own terms.

As an ordained minister and future celebrant, this background helps me approach people without assuming that their beliefs, relationships, or ceremonies should look a certain way. I want to create meaningful ceremonies that honor each couple's individual beliefs, cultures, traditions, personalities, and personal journey.

What would make my wedding ceremonies special is that I would not approach them as one-size-fits-all events. I want to learn each couple’s story—their personalities, culture, spirituality, favorite music, traditions, sense of humor, interests, and the experiences that brought them together—and use those details to help create their ceremony.

I especially want to embrace themed and non-traditional weddings. Whether a couple dreams of a Hip Hop wedding, an elegant traditional ceremony, a particular musical era or genre, a cultural or ancestral celebration, a spiritual ceremony, a fantasy or Gothic theme, a vintage celebration, a destination wedding, or something completely original, I want to help bring that vision to life.

Couples would be encouraged to incorporate music from any genre, meaningful readings, original vows, jumping the broom, handfasting, ancestral traditions, spiritual rituals, family participation, and other elements that represent them.

My goal is not simply to officiate a wedding. I want to help create an experience that celebrates the couple’s love story so authentically that when it is over, they can say, “That ceremony was completely us.”

As an officiant, I believe every couple deserves a ceremony where they can show up fully as themselves. I want to specialize in personalized, non-traditional, and themed weddings that transform a ceremony into an experience built around the couple’s love story.

Couples would have the freedom to create a ceremony inspired by virtually any theme that represents them—from Hip Hop and different eras or decades to fantasy, Gothic, vintage, cultural, spiritual, nature-inspired, holiday, movie-inspired, music-inspired, destination, or completely original themes. I would embrace the creativity of the theme and, when appropriate, incorporate it into my own presentation and officiating style so that I become part of the experience rather than simply the person performing the ceremony.

Music would also be welcome in all its forms, including Hip Hop, R&B, Soul, Gospel, Jazz, Blues, Rock, Country, Reggae, Afrobeats, Latin, Pop, Classical, House, and any other genre meaningful to the couple. Ceremonies could also incorporate ancestral and cultural traditions, jumping the broom, handfasting, spiritual rituals, family participation, original vows, meaningful readings, and other personalized elements.

Most importantly, I want to learn who each couple is and create something specifically for them instead of using a standard wedding script. Whether the ceremony is elegant and intimate, spiritual and ancestral, fun and unconventional, or an all-out themed production, my goal is for the couple and their guests to walk away saying, “That ceremony was completely us.”