Finalize Your Wedding Officiant, Plan Your Ceremony

9 Months Before The Wedding

So you’ve done your research and interviewed your potential officiants. Now’s the time to hire one and get the details for your ceremony finalized. You will breathe much better once you have this part of the festivities finalized. As the ceremony flow is such an important part of the big day, it can be stressful but you will feel so relieved when it’s all set. First things first—it’s time to finalize your wedding officiant and discuss the roles and flow of the ceremony itself.

If you are planning a religious ceremony, the flow of it may already be determined for you. There may be parts in which you have a little bit of flexibility and have the ability to insert some of your creative input, but the bulk of the ceremony will be decided upon for you. This makes planning much easier, but the only downfall is that you can’t really get too creative with the vows, prayers or music. This is when the personality of the officiant becomes especially important. You want to rely on their personality to keep the ceremony running smoothly and for them to keep things interesting and easy for guests to understand.

If you are planning your own unique ceremony, then you not only want to ensure you hire an officiant that you can work well with but determine the order of events and how it all flows. This is when you can get a bit more creative with the words and the music, but it will be on you to decide what the important elements will be. If you are selecting an officiant that is close to you but doesn’t perform weddings often, then you may very well have to walk them through the flow and discuss up front what is important to you as a couple. You are in the driver’s seat and you want to be sure that the ceremony is everything you envision it to be—after all this is what will make you officially a married couple!

The focal point of every wedding ceremony should certainly be the vows. This is the foundation of every ceremony and it is these words that bind you together as a couple forever. You can use some of the traditional vows or perhaps add in some words of your own. Just be sure that you are on the same page as the officiant for how these will play out and when they will be incorporated into the ceremony. Plotting out your ceremony well in advance can be helpful to you, the officiant, and everyone involved. Once this task is complete, you can relax a bit knowing that the ceremony is well handled.

One more thing, don’t forget to ask your wedding officiant, what will happen if they are sick or unable to make your ceremony. Do they have a backup, that can fill in for them on a moment’s notice. Do they recommend speaking with a second officiant that could serve as backup? Unexpected things happen and you don’t want to be in scramble mode the day before your wedding trying to find a replacement officiant due to circumstances beyond anyone’s control.