How To Plan Your Ceremony
After you’ve clarified the legal requirements to make your marriage official, the rest of your ceremony is up to you. Sit down with your officiant and work with them to decide how you want your ceremony to go. This is where you might want to pick out a wedding reading, tell your officiant stories of your relationship and guide them on themes or styles. Heck, you can even write their part for them if you’d like. It’s your wedding after all.
A typical ceremony order of events often includes a processional, welcome, declaration of intent, readings, vows, ring exchange, pronouncement and recessional.
Guide To Having A Friend Officiate Your Wedding
Getting a friend or family member to officiate weddings has proved to be a growing trend in the last few years. Not only is a great way to incorporate someone close to you, but it creates a deeply intimate setting. An officiant who you havent known for years will only have a few meetings to get to know you and your fiancé, but a friend or family member knows you individually and as a couple inside and out.
For those of you planning on asking a friend or family member, who isnt already ordained, to officiate your wedding, here is everything you need to know.
Dont Forget To Plan A Rehearsal
Rehearsals are a must-have. You wouldnt dare going in blind when officiating your best friends wedding.
Traditionally, the officiant heads the rehearsal. Sometimes the wedding planner leads everything. Be sure to talk with the couple to figure out whether a wedding planning play might come into play.
And if you are assigned to plan the rehearsal, plan the ceremony to a tight perfection. Is it an overwhelming job? Yes. Humbling and touching? Of course. So you really dont want to blow it. Thankfully, rehearsals help every party know what is required of them and when.
You need to be a legal officiant to officiate your best friends wedding, but it will be well worth the effort. Rancho Palos Verdes from The Brandon Kidd Photography.
Who knows? Maybe you will also get a nice bottle of Jacks when the couple proposes to you.
As a friend of the couple you may wear tartan kilts if the wedding you are officiating is Scottish.
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How Do You Become Ordained To Officiate Your Best Friends Wedding
Definitely, you need to be a legal officiant to officiate your best friends wedding. Each state has its own say on who can and cannot officiate marriage ceremonies even legalities in individual municipalities within states vary as well.
Overall, its a simple process that can take place online. But most states do require marriage officiants to be over 18 years old.
Next, call the registrar in the township hosting the wedding and find out the criteria for legality. The internet is your buddy. Check online to get the rules and policies that apply to your state.
Be creative when officiating a friends wedding. This alternative unity ceremony will help love grow.
Have the officiant wear a GoPro during the wedding and get a whole new perspective on the ceremony.
The Declaration Of Intent
This is the I Do! part of a wedding. The couple faces one another, takes hands, and answers some very important questions about marriage. If you are planning on writing your own vows, it is nice to include more traditional vows here, or you can even write your own I Do’s!
We already know lots of ways to write your wedding vows and to get over your vow writer’s block, so we’re going to focus on… Read more
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From A Close Friend Or Family Member
Knowing your audience well gives you a bit more wiggle room when putting together a creative wedding officiant speech. If youre a parent, sibling or close friend you can always opt for a slightly comedic or playful tone since friends and family will be more receptive to inside jokes or childhood stories. As long as you remember to keep it about them, youre sure to set yourself up for success.
Get The Marriage License
The marriage license is issued by the county where the ceremony will take place. and is typically picked up by the couple. Your job is simply to know how it works. Id suggest taking the marriage licenses off their hands and being in charge of it. That means keeping it safe, bringing it to the ceremony, making sure they set aside time after the ceremony to sign it with their witnesses, and then ensuring it gets sent back to the correct office.
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Who Can Officiate A Wedding
Its not only official clergymen who can officiate weddings. Any friend or family member is chosen by the couple for this role can actually officiate the wedding. While you can pick just about anyone, you would want someone of legal age, well-rounded, and able to give a good speech. This person should know the bride and groom well to a level where he/she is comfortable talking about their relationship.
Consider the speech you want them to give, the location, their availability, and also how welcome they would be to the idea of officiating at the wedding. It might not seem like much of a responsibility, but when wondering, how to ask a friend to officiate your wedding, I think theres another question to ponder. So, who can officiate a wedding?
Does It Cost Money To Be Ordained
Again, this depends on the organization you go through. Some, like the Universal Life Church, ordain for free but charge a small fee for certificates of credentials. Others, like the American Fellowship Church, do charge varying prices for the ordination, based on what type of package or certificate you’d like to have. A quick tip: Before getting ordained, find out whether the ordination will be for life or for a limited time. If it’s for a limited time, find out if it costs anything to renew the ordination.
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Will They Take The Job Seriously
Its also important to choose someone who understands you and the type of ceremony you envision. For example, lets say your friend is a great speaker and has an awesome sense of humor. Youre not opposed to having a few jokes sprinkled in, but you also want the ceremony to be sincere and meaningful. If that person doesnt view the marriage with the same importance you do, perhaps theyre not the right person to choose.
The 7 Ingredients Ceremony
Officiant Two:While neither Mike nor Megan may yet be a master in the kitchen, they do know that a great meal, like a great relationship, requires the right ingredients.
Officiant One: Jewish weddings include a traditional prayer known as the Seven Blessings. But Mike and Megan, never ones to be conventional, have asked friends and family to bless them with 7 ingredients instead. Theyre Kosher, right Mike?!?
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Here’s What You Need To Know If You’re Having A Loved One Perform Your Ceremony
Some couples choose to have a close friend or family member become ordained in order to officiate the ceremony. Find out what you need to know if you’re planning on going this direction.
Wedding receptions have seen an influx of creativity and personalization in the past couple of decades, and wedding ceremonies have seen a personal touch as well. Some personalize their wedding ceremony by writing their own vows or incorporating a unique unity ritual, while other couples especially those without a religious affiliation or in interfaith relationships choose to have a close friend or family member become ordained in order to officiate the wedding ceremony.
Some say that the television show Friends popularized this idea, as Joey led the wedding of Monica and Chandler , but regardless of the trends beginnings, it seems to be here to stay. While having a friend officiate can make for a lovely ceremony, there are some things everyone needs to know both for the legal aspect and to make sure you arent taking your friend for granted.
Photo by Mallory Dawn Photography Planning & Design by Mindy Weiss Party Consultants From Real Wedding: Outdoor Jewish Ceremony & Luxe Reception at Vibiana in Downtown LA
What To Wear To Officiate A Wedding
Depending on the theme for the wedding you will be officiating, sometimes what you will wear to officiate would not be up to you. For this, it is a good idea to ask the couple what they might prefer you wear. If they are flexible about this, you can take your cue from the wedding. If there is no theme and no rules set in stone, then play it safe and wear formal black or something dark. In any case, here are some options for what to wear to officiate a wedding.
- If youre picking safe, then wear something formal that wouldnt upstage the couple. Whether youre a male or female officiant, a subdued color like grey, deep blue, or even black official attire would do. Definitely not white, which might clash with the bride especially in all the pictures.
- If the wedding has a theme and you decide to match it, then definitely consult with the couple. They should have some interesting ideas. Whether its a cosplay wedding, a bohemian-themed wedding, go with the flow and find what would suit the day.
- Accessorize. If you are going with the theme, for a boho wedding you could choose to accessorize with ribbons, flowers, or comfy footwear. If you are dressing formal and in subdued colors, you could decide to wear sparkly shoes and some other little bright accessories perhaps a tie pin?
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Playful And Humorous Wedding Ceremony Template
INTRODUCTION
Welcome everyone! On this beautiful day, _______ and _______ have brought us together to celebrate their love and union in matrimony. Thank you all for joining us and being a part of their love story. _______ and _______ also wanted to thank _______ and _______, who are sitting in the front row, for blessing this union and always being an example of unconditional, pure love.
After years of nurturing a beautiful, strong relationship, its great to see these two tying the knot and taking the next step towards building a family. If youve had the fortune that I have, you have witnessed _______ and _______ meet, from a rom-com worthy friendship to falling deeply in love.
I remember the day _______ told me about their first date. There was a light in her eyes that Id never seen before. She was excited and nervous. She worried that ______ didnt feel the same connection she felt. Little did she know that _______ was already calling her the one.
It warms my heart to see the way _______ looks at _______. He looks at her as if shes the last and only woman on Earth, and to him, I know she is. Ive seen these two be there for each other through lifes unexpected twists and turns, only growing closer and stronger from each setback. Ive seen them share laughs, collect a library of inside jokes and most shocking of all, Ive seen _______ share her desserts with _______, which is when I knew this was serious.
We have.
We do.
This I promise you.
This I promise you.
How To Ask A Friend To Officiate Your Wedding
Asking someone to officiate your wedding is a big deal. When its your friend its that much more special. But how can go about this touching question? And what are some things you are going to need to consider before you do? This is what you are going to need to know.
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Asking your friend to officiate your wedding can be a really special, well-planned in-person moment or as simple as a casual conversation over the phone. There is no black and white rule to how you have to ask but there are a few different tips and tricks to making it a great experience for both of you.
Lets talk about the pros and cons of having a friend officiate your wedding and the best way to go about it.
Well be looking at the exact things you can do so be sure to keep on reading!
Contents
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Wedding Ceremony : How To Write A Wedding Ceremony From Scratch
In my first meeting with a couple, I take out this outline, talk through it, and explain the significance and meaning behind the various elements and traditions, answer lots of questions, and ask some of my own. From the basic outline, we dive into the whole world of wedding ceremonies but having that nice firm diving board of the ceremony structure really helps to prepare and better understand where we are going.
As I like to say, we can add anything in, we can take anything out. But I do find that sticking with this basic structure helps your guests follow along a little more easily during the ceremony, and not get lost in a non-traditional setting.
When you are writing your own wedding ceremony, you need to check with your local government to see if there are any legal requirements that must be included in the ceremony itself. But, other than that, the ceremony is up to you. Take what you need, leave the rest out, this is your wedding, after all.
I don’t do a lot of weddings that include all of these elements three rituals, multiple readings but I wanted to be sure to include all of them here, so you can see where they go.
The elements of this ceremony are ordered based on ritual theory. Basically, a wedding is a rite of passage, an event that marks a person’s transition from one life status to another .
Wouldnt It Be Amazing To Have Someone You Love A Family Member Or A Friend Officiate Your Wedding
Having a loved one perform your wedding is becoming more and more popular and we are fully behind this trend! It creates a more intimate feel and adds something extra special with a whole new level of personalization to the ceremony. So, what do you say?! Want to have a friend officiate your wedding!?
Here are the Ins and Outs to successfully have a friend officiate your wedding
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