Today we’d like to introduce you to Jennifer Luu.
Hi Jennifer, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Well, I was born in the 1900’s during a cold winter in Alexandria, VA just outside Washington, DC. Haha, just kidding…
I’m a shy person but I do like to talk.
And growing up, I was always the person everyone said was a good listener, and then it became “great storyteller.” So, I became a life coach, and then started telling true stories about myself live on stage. The very first story I told on stage was about how I threw my sister an impromptu surprise “wedding” in my parents’ living room when my family was in town for the holidays. I “officiated” wearing my little brother’s high school graduation gown, and my big brother made a tiered heart-shaped chocolate wedding cake covered in a gloopy ganache. So when my cousin got married in 2010, he asked me to officiate his wedding, partly because he thought I already had the official credentials! (I did not, my sister’s surprise “wedding” was just for show, and she had already been married for more than a decade.) But with my storytelling experience, I pitched the idea of incorporating his and his fianceé’s love story into the ceremony. They were on board.
And I absolutely knocked it out of the park! My cousin and his wife loved it, my whole family was effusive in their praise, and to quote my little brother after he saw me tell my first story on stage, “I knew [I was] good, but I didn’t know [I was] THAT good.” We were all feeling the love, and kicking off the whole event with such warmth and connection made the party that much better. We were all so ready to celebrate the love birds with dancing, good food, good drink, and cake!
And the thing about being a life coach, is that when my literal job is to call people to their highest potential, when I felt something excite my soul the way officiating my cousin’s wedding did, I knew I had to listen to that tapping on my shoulder and explore what could be there. I thought, “I wonder if strangers would pay me to do this,” and 15 years later, I’m happy to report that they do! And I’m still going strong. Also, I have definitely thanked them many times over the years but I’d love to give an official “thank you” in print to Nhan and Cancan for taking a chance on me all those years ago.
These days, when I officiate, I don’t wear hand-me-down/up costume robes anymore (only tailored suits from my parents’ hometown in Viet Nam for me!) but those same feelings from the humble beginnings of my very first wedding ceremonies–togetherness, family (by blood or by choice), inclusion, shared connection, love; intimacy–all remain.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I love what I do, and I am good at it. I don’t question my ability to officiate an incredible wedding ceremony for the exceptional couples I get to work with, tell a compelling story, or coach my badass clients toward progress. What I do struggle with, is the business aspect of it. Very little of the business side of running a business comes naturally to me, so at times, it is a real slog. Dealing with the slow summer season when I wonder whether I will ever officiate/book a wedding again; figuring out how to optimize social media for exposure; maximizing search engine optimization (SEO), and now with the rise of people using artificial intelligence (AI) to search for my services truly feels like “lions and tigers and bears, oh my!” So, figuring out how to tame these beasts is something I am constantly chipping away at. Here’s to an ever-smoother yellow brick road!
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am a storyteller, wedding officiant, and life coach.
I am a Moth slam-winning storyteller who got the idea to tell my cousin’s love story during his wedding ceremony, which would eventually set my business in motion. “The storytelling wedding officiant” is something I have heard people refer to me as before, and I can get behind that.
I am authentic, genuine, and sincere, and I honestly don’t really know how to be otherwise. Growing up as a lesbian in a family who would rather I wasn’t, never ever made me want to deny who I am. It was never an inkling of a possibility to me that I would pretend to be or fake anything. I always knew that I was going to be who I was going to be, and the question was whether or not my family was going to accept me and decide to be in my life or not. Thankfully, they are.
Living life with my beautiful wife who is so exceptional, I often question whether she is even a human or some kind of superior being from another planet, has only made me more confident, proud, and unapologetic to be me.
Adding onto my authenticity, genuineness, and sincerity, that I am earnest, loving, and romantic, truly makes telling people’s love stories for a living, the perfect fit for me.
As a life coach, I coach people toward making their lives the story they actually want to tell, versus taking a backseat to the story of their life dictating what they are or aren’t capable of.
Who else deserves credit in your story?
My wife, Cait, and our son, Rafferty, who literally and figuratively, give me life. Nothing is possible without them, everything is possible with them; they are a literal dream come true that I get to live every single day.
My brothers, Binh and Scott, who always supported me and listened to me.
My cousin, Nhan, and his wife, Cancan, who gave me my first wedding officiating gig, and started it all.
My friend from college, Katie, and her wife, Jess, who asked me to officiate their wedding the year after my cousin’s, and really put the idea into my head to possibly officiate strangers’ weddings! (Even life coaches sometimes need more than one push to follow their dreams! 🤪.)
My OG life coaching client, Audrey, who inspires me continually with the way she lives the hell out of her life.
Thank you to anyone who has ever referred me, believed in me, and picked up what I was puttin’ down!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.jenniferluu.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/jenniferluuofficiant
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/weddingcoachstories
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/thejenniferluu
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/jennifer-luu-houston
- Other: <https://maps.app.goo.gl/sp2nHec1GVWmt2ZP6> <https://www.theknot.com/marketplace/jennifer-luu-houston-tx-878256>
Image Credits
Laura Sponaugle Photography Kattch Wedding Photography Cassidy DuHon Photography Dana Fernandez Photography Biyani Photography Glynn Hagley Rachelle Rawlings Raetay Photography Bonnie and Lauren Photography
