Nico Raineau, a Los Angeles-based wedding officiant, has carved out a unique niche by blending his background in screenwriting and film directing with the art of marriage ceremonies. Founder of RomCom Weddings, Raineau infuses his officiations with humor, personalized storytelling, and unconventional touches, aiming to create memorable experiences that stray from traditional wedding scripts.
With nearly 20 years in the entertainment industry, including work with Universal Pictures, Netflix, and Hulu, Raineau transitioned into wedding officiating after growing disillusioned with the evolving studio landscape following the COVID-19 pandemic and writers’ strike. A 2019 opportunity officiating a friend’s wedding sparked his interest, leading to the formal establishment of RomCom Weddings in 2022.
Since then, Raineau has officiated close to 100 ceremonies nationwide, charging fees ranging from $999 to over $2,000 depending on travel and event specifics. Starting in 2027, he plans to extend his services to the New York tristate area and New England during the summer months. He is a certified professional officiant through the International Association of Professional Wedding Officiants.
Raineau approaches wedding ceremonies much like filmmaking, emphasizing character development and narrative arcs. He conducts pre-wedding interviews with couples to uncover their unique stories, inside jokes, and different perspectives on their relationship. These details often find their way into his ceremonies, creating a personalized and engaging experience for the couple and their guests. “I traded telling made-up love stories for sharing real-life rom-coms," he said, “and I get to perform original stories in front of a live and interactive audience.”
His ability to meld humor with heartfelt moments is evident in a wide variety of weddings he has officiated. At a ceremony in July 2023 at Stone Acres Farm in Stonington, Connecticut—where Raineau and his wife had been married six years earlier—he officiated Grace Ferguson-Pell and Alex Waciega’s wedding, calling it a “full circle moment.” In another notable wedding in Los Angeles last October, Raineau officiated a ceremony inside a haunted house chapel built by a couple known for their elaborate family-run Halloween attraction. Dubbing himself the “minister of macabre,” he infused the event with spooky fun, blending the couple’s Halloween affinity with their marriage vows.
Raineau encourages couples to experiment with format and presentation, recommending they incorporate surprises to reflect their personalities. For instance, during the June 2025 wedding of Nicole Fischer and Sakibul Huq in Palos Verdes, California, he playfully mirrored an ongoing prank within their relationship by pretending to drop the wedding rings and presenting a bottle cap instead—an unexpected moment that delighted guests.
According to Raineau, the appeal of his approach lies in its authenticity and avoidance of clichés. “Traditional ceremonies often focus on the clichés of love, but I find that audiences enjoy the messiness of love,” he said. His blend of storytelling and ceremony has resonated widely, leading many newlyweds to ask how long they have known him—a question he usually answers with, “I’m not, but I am now!”
For Raineau, officiating weddings represents a fulfilling shift from the entertainment industry’s challenges. “It’s literally a dream job,” he said, finding joy in helping couples celebrate their real-life romantic comedies.