Meet Tirzah Stein | Officiant, Wedding and Premarital Coach, Inclusivity Consultant

We had the good fortune of connecting with Tirzah Stein and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Tirzah, is your business focused on helping the community? If so, how?
I started NearlyWed Coaching after a decade long career as a Social Worker supporting folks experiencing domestic violence and homelessness. I knew I wanted to still help people, but just from different vantage point. And as a Queer-owned business, it is our mission to help change the heteronormative wedding industry to be a more welcoming, accepting, affirming and inclusive space for Queer NearlyWeds planning their weddings.

When I navigated the wedding industry with my wife back in 2019, we did not always feel seen and accepted for who we are and at times were misgendered. Now that I am a vendor in the wedding industry, I have taken the opportunity to encourage and support my fellow wedding vendors to increase their inclusivity efforts by providing inclusivity consulting, education, and staff trainings.

At NearlyWed Coaching, we are carving out space within the wedding industry for Queer couples to have the experience of planning the wedding they deserve, to feel they can be exactly who they are, and celebrated as a couple!

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
We provide 3 services for couples navigating the wedding industry.

1. Wedding Coaching: Wedding Coaching is an unbiased support system to help you navigate the wedding planning process, with a special focus on the emotional dynamics that often show up throughout the process (stress, anxiety, opinions of other’s etc.) Wedding Coaching helps you get clear on what you want, how to make intentional decisions and create a wedding that is authentic to your love and relationship.

2. Premarital Coaching:Premarital Coaching is short-term goal oriented coaching to help you strengthen and LEVEL-UP your relationship as you enter into marriage. Session are completely guided by your personal goals and the areas you would like to focus on.

3. Officiating Service: Officiating service for your wedding or elopement plus ceremony creation sessions. I believe in the importance of getting to know you as a couple and what makes your relationship and love unlike any other. We will work together in collaboration to create an intentional ceremony that is aligned with your belief system and is authentic to who you are as a couple.

We also provide inclusivity consulting for wedding professionals to help them increase their inclusivity efforts to authentically welcome, affirm and celebrate queer couples.

What sets me apart from other vendors in the wedding industry is I am one of very few people who are offering Wedding Coaching to couples navigating the wedding industry. This is a service that most couples could benefit from because getting married and planning a wedding can be a very overwhelming experience.

I also consider myself an Officiant who is unique in the sense that my packages include multiple ceremony creation sessions with the couple. This approach is to build genuine connections so that I can really know the couple I am officiating for and they get to know me and feel comfortable with me so I am not a stranger on their day. We work together to create an intentional and authentic ceremony. It is a true collaboration between the three of us! I help couples really put intention into the ceremony, instead of it being an after thought or quickly thrown together. The ceremony is the heart and soul of a wedding and help couples think through their options and explore outside of the traditional confines of what society says a ceremony “should be.”

I am most proud of providing premarital coaching to couples who do not feel comfortable receiving this support from a religious institution. What I offer, is non-judgmental, unbiased and a supportive space for them to strengthen their relationship without pushing any kind of agenda.

I am also proud to be bringing something new to the wedding industry and to remind couples that they have the freedom to make their wedding whatever they want it to be, outside of the traditional blueprint that society says a wedding should loo like . Lastly, I am very proud to be a Queer owned business in an industry that has a very long history of exclusion and has room to grow to be more inclusive of couples who do not fit into the heteronormative box. I am honored to support and create a safe and affirming space for queer couples who want to work with someone who is also within the queer community and has an understanding of the different challenges they have to navigate.

Getting where I am today, was a journey I could have never predicted. I started with one idea (Wedding Coaching) and my business grew into 4 services total! All providing me with so much joy, motivation and purpose! It was not easy and there were a lot of bumps along the way overcoming imposter syndrome and the fear of failure. But with two years in business now, I am so excited and proud about what I am doing, and can’t wait to see what comes next!

I want folks looking at my business to know that what I am offering is worth the investment because it will help them create the wedding they actually want, strengthen their relationship before marriage and create a ceremony that is a true reflection of their one of a kind love. These supportive services will help couples look back on their wedding and have no regrets, knowing they did not sacrifice making this special day their own, and can say, “Our wedding was exactly what we wanted! We loved every moment!”

I want the world to know the the NearlyWed Coaching brand is making the wedding industry a more inclusive space and we can’t wait to support more couples to come!

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I would take a friend visiting to the tea house in Boulder for brunch and then up flagstaff to the overlook, that looks out over the back of the mountain range. And then maybe to a few fun spots in Denver, like Tennyson, The highlands and Rino.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Great question! A few people come to mind. First and foremost my family, especially my wife for encouraging my career jump and massive leap of faith into starting my own business. I would also love to shout out Erica Hanlon, who I hired as my career coach when I knew I was ready to hang up my social work hat, but didn’t know what my next step would be yet. Her guidance and support and much needed accountability partner was exactly what I needed to discovery my next purpose in this life. I would also like to shoutout Michele Thibodeau who worked with me as my wedding business coach. She was instrumental in helping me transition into entrepreneurship, helping to set up all the backend logistics of owning a business as well as believing in what I wanted to offer to the world.

Website: www.nearlywedcoaching.com

Instagram: instagram/nearlywecaoching

Facebook: facebook/nearywedcoaching

Image Credits
Kate Merrill Photo Jas K Productions Yellow Apricot Photo Jay Begay Photo Indy Pop Photo