Today we’d like to introduce you to Mathew DeBlanc.
Mathew, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Long story short, I was a pastor at a massive church in the DFW metroplex and was fortunate enough to experience a lot of success doing some pretty cool things. In 2016 my tenure at this specific church came to an abrupt end. The icing on the cake was a two-year non-compete agreement that I signed which stated I wasn’t allowed to work at another church within a 50-mile radius of any of this church’s locations which are many. So, after 18 years of being a pastor I found myself on the sidelines of vocational church ministry — at least if I wanted to continue living in Dallas. Moving wasn’t an option. My family and I love Dallas. My wife and I have lived here for 18+ years. We’re raising our kids here. It’s home. With all of that on the table, I had to figure out what was next. I had a choice to make. I could either let that situation make me bitter or make me better. I chose better. Insert HIREAMINISTER.com.
I’ve always been an entrepreneur at heart and knew I wanted to do something different but something that would still have a significant impact on people’s lives. I looked at my life experiences, my passions, my gifts, etc. and had an idea — officiating weddings. I did some market research, talked to some of my mentors, and simply put myself in the shoes of a couple getting married today of which 85% are millennials. If I were getting married today and didn’t have someone to officiate my wedding (for whatever the reason may be) what would I do? I’d jump online and start looking! Suffice to say that’s what I did and what I found, in my opinion, just wasn’t good. I would never have someone from my search results officiate my wedding. I knew in that moment there was plenty of room for a guy like me to step into a saturated market and stand out. I wanted to give today’s bride and groom a relevant choice when choosing someone to represent them on one of the biggest days of their lives!
So I invested my own money into everything it takes to start a business from the ground up, pulled together a small team of diverse people that were relevant, sharp, fashionable, confident, articulate, professional, relational (and a ton of other qualities I believe are important) and we launched! It was the best decision I’ve ever made. We were quickly welcomed into the Dallas Wedding Industry with open arms. Many wedding professionals say we’re a breath of fresh air which is a huge compliment. As our reputation continues to grow we have quickly become known as the relevant choice for today’s bride and groom and that is exactly what we were aiming for!
Since launching we have officiated hundreds and hundreds of weddings across North Texas and have been fortunate enough to officiate destination weddings in Malibu, California and London, England plus other amazing places in between. That’s one of the perks of being based in Dallas — two major airports!
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Being a business owner is definitely not a smooth road nor for the faint of heart. I learned that very quickly! If someone says the opposite of that they’re probably too prideful to admit it. The biggest struggle we had, in the beginning, was stepping into a saturated market and standing out. We didn’t know anyone and no one knew us. Even though we’ve been going very strong for a couple of years that’s still true today — there are a lot of people who have never heard of us. It takes a lot of hard work and relational equity to gain the trust and confidence of wedding professionals and, most importantly, the couples we have the privilege of working with. I’m not sure it will ever be a smooth road. Actually, I hope it’s not because growth always comes from struggles if you’re willing to crash through the quitting points. There’s always something better on the other side of the struggle!
We’d love to hear more about your business.
Simply put we officiate weddings. But, it’s so much greater than that. We’re not poorly dressed robots officiating cookie cutter ceremonies. We’re all about raising the bar of wedding officiating for today’s bride and groom! We specialize in crafting and creating ceremonies for couples that perfectly reflect their tastes and preferences + wants and desires. We pride ourselves on excellence and details. They are found in everything we do from our communication to our sense of fashion, to our preparation, to every detail leading up to each couple’s big day. We genuinely care about every couple we represent and want their big day to be everything they’ve ever dreamed it would be.
There are many things that set us apart but the most noticeable is relevancy. Couples spend a ton of money on their wedding and the last thing they should be concerned with is their officiant standing out like a sore thumb on their wedding day — hijacking the ceremony by showing up poorly dressed, unprepared, telling a corny wedding joke off the cuff, ungroomed, etc. We’ve all experienced the pain of a poorly officiated ceremony. We can guarantee that will never happen! Everyone on our team is accustomed to speaking in front of hundreds and often thousands of people on a regular basis. We love what we do and it shows!
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
I’m an identical twin and my brother and I grew up in a small town in Southeast Texas. Life was slow and the days were long because there wasn’t much to do so we always had to be creative. That’s probably where I get a lot of my creative instincts from today. We grew up playing baseball and had a lot of fun and success doing it. One of my favorite memories, among many, was driving from that small town to Houston and seeing the Astrodome for the first time. Seeing that iconic stadium and watching the Houston Astros play for the first time was something I’ll never forget. It was a larger than life experience for me at the time!
Pricing:
- Weekend Wedding Ceremony Fee — $395
- Weekday Wedding Ceremony Fee — $350
- Private Ceremony Fee — $300
- Elopement Ceremony Fee — $250
Contact Info:
- Website: www.hireaminister.com
- Phone: 214-529-5413
- Email: hello@hireaminister.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hireaminister
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hireaministerdfw
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/hireaminister
Image Credit:
Taylor Salerno, Trish Dove, Julia Sharapova, Allen Tsai
Getting in touch: VoyageDallas is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
