American Weddings Blog

Summer - and the height of wedding season - always leads to an influx of questions from first-time officiants. While we have answered these questions on our website and in various articles, we thought it would be helpful for our newly-ordained ministers to have some of our most popular questions answered in detail in one place as a starting point.

 ...

A virtual wedding can’t truly replace a ceremony and reception with all of your loved ones (and vendors!) fully present. But even in the grand scheme of wedding planning, there are always going to have to be compromises. So ask yourself: in five or ten years, what will I want to look back on? What am I looking forward to the most about my wedding? What kind of wedding memories...

Sean Kelley recently got ordained and performed a special, socially distant ceremony for his father outside of an assisted living center - all so that his 92-year-old grandmother could be physically...

Altering wedding plans can be overwhelming, but the good news is that it’s still possible to get married right now, and being able to establish some security in a time of crisis can be comforting. Even if your ceremony won’t be what you envisioned, you still have options that are legal and meaningful. Here’s our action plan, which is comprised of three ma...

A wedding industry survey of engaged couples across the country discovered that an overwhelming majority of couples are not cancelling their weddings, despite the obstacles and uncertainty generated by COVID-19 and the subsequent shutdowns. Instead, couples are switching to intimate elopements to comply with CDC recommendations and regulations, or postponing their wedding date....

We’ve scoured our most popular guidance articles and compiled a helpful list of officiant pointers that are frequently overlooked in the hustle and bustle of wedding preparations. Without further ado -

Wedding Officiant Do's & Don't's

 ...

When we were asked if we had any tips on “planning a cemetery wedding ceremony,” it raised a few eyebrows. But the more we thought about it, the more it made sense. For many cultures, celebration of the afterlife is a big part of their spiritual practice, and graveyards are places where the living can connect with their history and ancestors. ...

Working closely with your wedding officiant is a must, but a lot of couples don’t quite know how to navigate or coordinate their timeline with their wedding officiant’s. We’re here to give you some pointers so that you know what to expect, and how to get a head start on your ceremony planning.

 ...