Officiate Pre-Planning Part 1

Every officiate has a different way of collecting the information they use to write your ceremony. That is, if they write a different ceremony for different couples. Not everyone does.

Our opinion is that wedding ceremonies should not be “one size fits all.” Our mission is to provide you with a ceremony which is Beautiful to hear or read, Meaningful to the bride, groom and their guests, and Memorable to all who participate or witness it.

I am dividing the questions into two parts… Part 1 is this week. I’m told all the time that I have to keep things short on the net because many folks have short attention spans.

Our preferred method of planning your wedding and determining the cost, is talking with you as we can get a more clear “feeling” of what you want your wedding to be, by hearing you talk about it. This has been prepared for helping you think about the answers to these questions so that you get the kind of wedding you are looking for… if you have chosen the right officiate.

After all, in those critical minutes of your ceremony all eyes will be on three people, the bride, the groom and the wedding officiate.

Basic Info:

What Is the name of the bride?
What is the name of the groom?
What is the address of the bride?
What is the address of the groom?
What is the phone number to be used for contact?
What is the email that is to be used for contact?
Is this first marriage for the bride?
Is this first marriage for the groom?
What is the time, date of and day of the wedding?
What is the location of the wedding?
If the location is outside what is the backup plan if the weather is bad?
What is the age of the bride?
What is the age of the groom?

Ceremony Information:

Is there going to be a rehearsal for the ceremony?

Unless your wedding party is experienced at being in wedding ceremonies we recommend a rehearsal. All weddings go smoother when there has been a rehearsal. Note: Mon-Thurs rehearsals are more inexpensive than Fri-Sun.

If there is going to be a rehearsal, what is the day, date, and location?
What is the anticipated number of guests that will attend the wedding ceremony?

Procession/Recession

Do you have anything particular in mind special for the procession? Bridal party performance, musicians, jugglers, or anything other than a traditional procession in mind?
Will the bridesmaids accompany the groomsman down the aisle or will the groomsman enter from the side and the bridesmaids come down the aisle by themselves?
Is anyone walking the bride down the aisle?
Is this person “giving the bride away?”
Who is this person and what is their relationship to you?

Let’s talk about the type of service that you’re looking for…

The first type of service is the Traditional religious ceremony. This type of wedding has readings and quotes from the principal text of the religion of the couple . In a traditional Christian wedding this is the Bible. The ceremony follows closely to the rituals of the denomination. As an example, a traditional Catholic ceremony follows closely the Rite of Marriage of the Catholic Church.

The second type of ceremony is the Nondenominational. This ceremony is still primarily religious but does include some nonreligious quotes or readings. Also this ceremony is not focused on a particular denomination.

Next type of ceremony is the Spiritual. This is a very pretty, and the most romantic ceremony with readings and quotations from famous poets, great writers and philosophers. Although it does talk about higher power is not heavily religious in nature.

A Civil Ceremony is short and pretty dry. It gets the job done but is not as meaningful or pretty as the other types of services.

Last we have the Custom ceremony. If you want to get married to Limp Bizkit lyrics, if you want a service that encompasses two different religions (Buddhist and Christian for example,) or want a themed wedding, e.g. “60”s”, “Cowboy,” “Knights of the Round Table,” etc. . These are custom ceremonies. A custom ceremony generally will cost more because it requires more time to research and write it. If costuming is required for a themed wedding this cost will be added.

Blended A blended ceremony mixes a Non Denominational or Traditional Religious Ceremony with quotes and readings blended in from poets, philosophers and great writers from a Spiritual Ceremony. This gives a religious ceremony that is a little lighter in tone and mood.

  • Which type of ceremony are you most interested in?
  • What tone would you like overall for the ceremony text? Traditional Serious / Lighter tone – Pretty / Humorous and Fun.

Next week we’ll complete the rest of the questions. Have a good week.

Call us if you have any questions.

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