Watch: What does an officiant have to say to make a wedding ceremony legal?

Writing a custom wedding ceremony script? This is what to include. 

 

Writing a custom ceremony script is one of the best ways to make a wedding celebration unique. Custom scripts give an engaged couple and their wedding officiant the chance to describe how the couple met and fell in love, share their values and dreams for the future with guests, and exchange meaningful vows that reflect their personalities and styles.  

 

As you write your wedding script, keep these two things in mind to ensure the ceremony is legally binding: a Declaration of Intent and the officiant’s Pronouncement. 

 

A wedding ceremony must include: 

 

• Couples must make/ exchange a Declaration of Intent
• The wedding officiant must make the Pronouncement

 

You can choose how you want to word each of these parts of the ceremony, as long as you include them. 

 

Not sure what each of these are? Don’t worry! We describe them in detail in the short video below, along with simple examples of what to say for each part.

 

 

 

 

After the ceremony, the marriage license must be signed and completed by the couple, the wedding officiant, and any required witnesses, and returned to your local government office.

 

 

• Sign, complete, and file the marriage license

 

 

As long as these 3 things are taken care of, you can get creative as you want! 

 

Get ordained with AMM and learn how to officiate weddings for friends and family. 

 

Visit Wedding Officiant Training for more tips on how to marry people. 

…

 

 

Want to read about this topic instead?

 

• Are there legal wording requirements in a wedding ceremony?

 

• ¿Existen requerimientos legales de redacción para una ceremonia de bodas?

 

---

 

You might also like: