Your wedding day is probably one of the most complex social events you’ll ever need to plan, and being in love and getting engaged doesn’t automatically provide the skills or contacts you need to do it well. One of the people you’ll need to hire is the person who will legally marry you – generically known as your officiant. If you’re not associated with a religious community that provides this person, maybe you’ll be lucky enough to have seen a good officiant in action at a friend or relative’s wedding, or maybe you’ll get a referral from a colleague or neighbor. But if those personal recommendations don’t happen, like most couples, you’ll turn to the internet and use Google or similar services to find local officiants.
Once you’ve located a few officiants that look promising, you’ll need to initiate contact. So what’s the best way to do that, and how do you open the conversation? E-mail or a phone call, depending on your personal preference and schedule, works best for initial contact. Personally, I like e-mail – you can send your query when it is convenient for you, and pick up the response in the same manner. You can having a longer, more informative exchange than texting allows. It may also be more comfortable for you to compose your query as a note, rather than conversing on the phone with a stranger. However, if you’re working on a tight schedule, phone contact can be the quickest way to find your officiant.
So what do you ask in your initial phone call or e-mail? The first thing to determine is if the person is still offering wedding officiant services. Some websites are out of date, or the officiant from your cousin’s wedding 3 years ago may not be in business anymore. Next, ask if s/he is available on your wedding date. You’ll want to share your ceremony location and time as well, as some officiants are willing to schedule more than one ceremony per day, if the timing and locations allow.
Once you’ve determined the officiant’s availability, you’ll want to begin to evaluate if this person’s services match your needs. I suggest covering some basics in this area before meeting with the officiant, so you can save everyone’s time if you don’t match in this area. You’ll want to share, at a high level, what you’re looking for in your ceremony. For example, in your first e-mail after providing ceremony date, time and location information, you might write, “We are looking for a non-religious ceremony of about 30 minutes. We would like to write our own vows and have a reading and unity ritual included in the ceremony.” If the officiant is comfortable providing a ceremony that matches this description, scheduling time for a more indepth discussion is a good next step.
Next time I’ll talk about questions to ask the officiant at that initial meeting.