American Weddings Blog

Every wedding planner has a story about the minister showing up late – or not at all. And every couple worries about their officiant backing out at the last minute, getting sick, or not finding the venue. Sh*t happens, and quite often it’s not even the officiant's fault - but at the end of the day, it’s always smart to have a backup plan.

That’s why every wedding planner should get ordained.

At this year’s Wedding MBA conference in Las Vegas, Renee Dalo, Owner and Lead Planner at Moxie Bright Events told a panel of professional wedding planners that “every wedding planner should be ordained.” With a background in theater production, Renee knows a thing or two about putting on a show - and making sure everybody knows their lines. ...(continued)

Officiating demands a substantial amount of your personal time, effort, thought, consideration - and almost always, love.

So it’s only fair when a new officiant wonders, “How much should I charge for my services?”

The answer in short is this: Officiant fees vary drastically across the country, so you will have to do a bit of research to determine this magical number.

If you are considering performing ceremonies in a professional capacity, you will want to start by looking into what others are charging locally, and proceeding from there.

We recommend doing an online search along the lines of, “Wedding Officiant in [City Name]”. You can also use vendor searches for your area - like looking up Officiants in Wedding Wire's Vendor Search based on location.

 ...(continued)

Bonnie Sanchez wasn’t a fan of her government job. She wasn’t happy. First of all, she didn’t like sitting in her office all day, and the tedium was wearing her down. But even more, she wanted a job that held meaning, where she could make a difference in people’s lives.

That’s when Bonnie learned about becoming a wedding officiant. 

We’ve all been to weddings before, and perhaps you’ve wondered, “what is a wedding officiant, and how does somebody get into a profession like that?” 

Maybe it was a particularly memorable wedding and you wanted to be a part of something like it. Or maybe it was a boring one and you thought to yourself, “I could do it better.”

 ...(continued)

We’re at Wedding MBA in Las Vegas this week, meeting with wedding professionals from across the country and preaching our gospel of online-ordination and wedding ceremony planning. One topic that has come up enough times to warrant a response is the following: are first-time wedding officiants a threat to professional wedding officiants? 

Put another way, when couples ask “Uncle Bob” to officiate their wedding ceremony, does that put professional officiants out of a job? 

The answer is a bit more complex than just yes or no. ...(continued)

The key to a great wedding ceremony is to make it flow. And when we talk about “flow,” we’re referring to the words and the emotion of the ceremony, and that magical combination of saying the right thing at the right time. 

When planning a wedding ceremony, consider what traditions or readings will resonate with the couple and audience. Perhaps there’s a prayer, or a reading, or a traditional blessing that speaks to the couple's values or emotional state. Then, decide where to fit these parts into the ceremony. 

Think about the ceremony as a story, with each piece fitting into a logical order. Consider which pieces fit best leading into or following one another. I often write short transitions between pieces. Not only do the transitions help with the flow, they also give me an idea of whether one piece works well following another, based on how easy it is to write the transitional wording....(continued)