Cardoza Notary Services LLC

were short and dry. She requested a deposit, which was fine, but after I sent it through Zelle, she asked me the next day to cancel it and resend it to the correct phone number. Before sending it, I had specifically confirmed that the number was correct, and she replied “yes.” She asked us to pay the remaining balance seven days before the ceremony. After I sent the final payment, she stopped responding to my messages. It took about four days to receive the final receipt, and she explained that she had been out of town. She eventually sent us a form to choose our ceremony script. We explained how we met, requested a bilingual ceremony, and stated that we did not want to read our vows in front of family and friends. However, we never had a proper conversation about how the ceremony would proceed. When I asked if she needed anything, she requested two chairs and a small table, but I later told her I preferred to have the ceremony standing up. On our wedding day, she arrived late. Although we were also about five minutes late, when we arrived, she was sitting at the bar instead of being ready and waiting for us. During the ceremony, she appeared to be reading directly from the script we had sent her. She got confused in some parts and did not include the paragraph we had written about how we met and we specifically said that we wanted it to be bilingual, which made it seem like she had not properly prepared for our ceremony. After the ceremony, we were distracted by family and friends congratulating us. When I turned around, Cardoza was already walking out the door. We called her shortly afterward to confirm she had our marriage license. She said she had it, would drop it off in person, and that we would receive confirmation. A few days later, I texted her to confirm it had been submitted, and she said yes. By Friday, nothing had been filed with the courthouse. I contacted her again the following Tuesday because we only had 10 days to turn in the license. I specifically asked whether she had gone in person and which location she visited, but she only confirmed that she went in person and that it was going to take about three weeks to be recorded. I called the courthouse, including the downtown location, and was told that nothing had been dropped off and that it is not true that it takes three weeks to be recorded. The courthouse advised us to complete an affidavit. I sent it to Cardoza and asked her to sign her section so I could handle the rest. She agreed but did not respond until the following morning, when she sent a screenshot saying the license had been recorded and asked whether I had called the correct number. When I received the recorded license by mail, the recording date matched the day she sent the screenshot. Based on this timeline, it appeared the license was submitted that morning, not when she had originally told us it was submitted. Overall, this was a very disappointing experience. We expected better communication, preparation, professionalism, and follow-through, especially for something as important as our wedding ceremony and marriage license. Instead, we were left worried and had to follow up ourselves to ensure our paperwork was handled. Unfortunately, based on our experience, I would not recommend Cardoza.