How to fully prepare your friend/ family member turned officiant to deliver an engaging and memorable wedding ceremony.

Pop Quiz! Have you ever been to a wedding ceremony where you were bored out of your mind? You couldn’t hear the officiant? All of the wedding vendors seemed stressed out?Your favorite part of the ceremony was when it was over? If you answered yes to any (or all) of the above, keep reading.

There is a growing trend among newly engaged couples to ask a friend or family member to officiate their wedding, especially for couples wanting a personalized wedding experience. This growing trend has a lot of potential – but here’s the hard truth: there are many facets to developing a personalized ceremony, and oftentimes friends and family members fall short on delivering the quality of service that you want.

The Huffington Post released an article not long ago encouraging you NOT to ask a friend or family member to officiate your ceremony. They point out that “most couples and the friends and/or family member they choose to officiate are clueless about what goes into designing a ceremony, running a wedding rehearsal, or officiating at the ceremony. Think about it – would you hire a band for your reception that had never played together before? Would you want your wedding to be their first gig?”

What’s their recommendation? Hire a professional. As a ceremony designer & officiant, you might think this is music to my ears – more work for me, right? While yes, that’s partially true,  I see another option that I am very excited about. Ask that close family friend to officiate your wedding, but also offer to send them through a customized coaching experience.

Photo By: Kevin Ouellette

By working with an experienced officiant & coach, your friend/ family member will have the opportunity to fully prepare for all the components that go into designing and performing an authentic, engaging and memorable wedding ceremony.  This process will include an evaluation of their current skills, a realistic overview of the their responsibilities, tips for writing and performing an amazing ceremony, coordinating with vendors and more. 

Imagine this: you’re walking down the aisle. Your friend/ family member turned officiant is smiling as you walk towards them, comfortable and at ease. Everything they say fully resonates with you are your sweetheart, and reflects why you’ve chosen to get married. Your guests are fully engaged. You are beaming as you walk back down the aisle, newly married. Afterwards, everyone approaches you to tell you how much they loved your ceremony.

This is your wedding day! This is YOUR moment! Make sure it’s the best it can be.

Photo By: Wedding Guest