American Weddings Blog

COVID-19 (aka Coronavirus) is dominating headlines and rapidly changing everyday life across the globe.

For those with obligations to officiate an upcoming wedding, you may find yourself amongst some very frantic and stressed individuals. While some cancellations are inevitable, many couples will choose to move forward with their wedding plans – either by delaying the wedding, or simply cutting down the guest list to meet compliance with current crowd restrictions.

Whether you’re facing a postponed wedding, an intimate ceremony, or a bare-minimum elopement: officiants must keep calm, and officiate on!

Now that the masses are getting ready to hunker down in self-quarantine or isolation, we present to you a positive and constructive way to occupy your time: by utilizing the many resources AMM has to offer, making headway on your (eventual) ceremony, and learning how to provide comfort and assistance to couples in this trying time....(continued)

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

● Do make sure you’ve satisfied any local registration requirements in the state (and/or county) where the ceremony is taking place, if applicable.

● Do attend the rehearsal!

● Do have the venue address(es) and a prepared route ready to go prior to the rehearsal and ceremony. (If you’re unfamiliar with the area, this is even more important.)...(continued)

Ordination / Ordained

To become a Minister and have the authority to perform ceremonies. American Marriage Ministries is the entity with the power to ordain you - that is, grant you the authority - to perform marriage.

Officiate

To perform a service or ceremony.

Officiant / Minister 

A person authorized to perform or officiate a service or ceremony. Once you are ordained with AMM, your official title is Minister.

 ...(continued)

Wedding officiants devote countless hours to thoughtfully crafting the perfect wedding ceremony. They strive to tell meaningful stories of love and commitment, and they pour their own hearts and souls into the wedding ceremonies they perform.

Yet they tend to be the last vendors to get booked, and some of the least appreciated at the end of the big day. (Because they just have to ask the couple say to “I do,” then sign the license to get onto the partying, right?)

In an effort to recognize how significant – and involved – the role of the wedding officiant is, we'd like to share with everyone what an officiant really does.

 ...(continued)

...the officiant? The bride? The groom?

Siri?

Short answer: it depends. There’s no right or wrong answer when it comes to who should write the wedding ceremony. Every couple, every situation, and every ceremony is different.  Since we’re particularly close to the officiating side of the wedding world, we used to assume that the ceremony was almost always written by the friend or family member who was being asked to perform the ceremony: the officiant. 

However, what we have found over the years is that the couple often wants to write their own ceremony....(continued)