Becoming a wedding officiant is really a matter of pride, but do you know the role and responsibilities of an officiant. It is a legal duty ordained by the state and the church. You are made a minister to officiate a wedding and give it a legal touch.
Your friend can make you her wedding officiant. The trend of couples choosing a friend or a family member to be their wedding officiant is becoming popular. And there are advantages of choosing a friend or a close family member to officiate a wedding. A friend or a close family member can give the personal touch missing by a professional wedding officiant.
Let’s start your training to become a wedding officiant
First, you should know who a wedding officiant is. The answer is a wedding officiant is a person who leads a marriage ceremony. Starting from the pre-wedding ceremonies to completing the necessary paperwork to finalize the union, you will stand by the couple. Also, you will play a crucial role in celebrations like photoshoots, singing, and dancing.
Are you ready for the big role in your friend’s wedding?
The good thing is that anyone can become a wedding officiant and your chances of becoming the officiant of your friend’s wedding are quite high. You only need ordainment from the right authority and you can get it through a simple online process.
Become a wedding officiant
You can’t officiate a wedding until you are authorized by the state or church your friend lives. You need to fulfill the eligibility criteria for a wedding officiant and the requirements different one state to another. So, you need to do some research on how to become a wedding officiant so you get the legal authority to officiate and announce a wedding. Focus your search on the following points.
• Eligibility criteria to become a wedding officiant
• Process of becoming a wedding officiant
• The fee associated with the process
• Principles the church or the organization that will ordain you
Once you have the information about how to become a wedding officiant, you can start preparing to become the officiant of the wedding of your friend or close relative. And it should be a matter of pride for you.
Get ordained
The time has come when you should get ordained and prepare for the next big role. Approach the government authorities, organization, or church that can ordain you to become a wedding officiant. Since the ordainment process has become online, you can get your ordainment without physically accessing the organization.
Google “Online Ordination” to find the organizations that can help get ordainment. Start the process early so that you get ordainment before the wedding. Once you are ordained, you can go ahead to prepare the necessary documents and get ready to officiate the wedding.
Perform the ceremony after you become a wedding officiant
Grab the wedding script and go through it to imbibe the content. At the wedding, you need to make the script public. You should be audible to the guests so they know how you are leading and managing the wedding. Try memorizing the script, but don’t forget to keep a copy of it, in case you forget important parts.
As a wedding officiant, your job is to legalize the marriage by reading the Declaration of Intent to the guests. Or you can officially make the Pronouncement about pronouncing the couple as officially married. But the task doesn’t end here.
Post-wedding tasks
Pronouncing marriage is half responsibility fulfilled as the couple has to sign the marriage license. Here you need to be careful about signing of the license as some states require witnesses to the wedding to sign the license. And it is your responsibility to complete the paperwork according to the established procedure.
The signing of license by the married couple and witnesses would take little time but the job has to be completed under your supervision. The wedding becomes official with the signing of the paperwork. Now you need to submit the license to the organization you got it from.
But there are more important things to take care of in addition to the legal formalities. While legal formalities are more technical in nature, other responsibilities are creative in nature. They require your creativity to make the event memorable for the couple and guests.
Could you write a script that is memorable?
It is a tough task as it requires creativity. Also, it involves high expectations. The couple will expect that you will make their wedding memorable with your words. If you want, you can take the help of a copywriter for the job, but it will be better if you do the job on your own. And you will be surprised to know that you can write a better script with little creativity.
Important factors to consider while writing a wedding script
Welcome: Begin your speech with a short and crisp welcome note for everyone including family, friends, and guests. Thank the guests for being a part of the wedding and making the ceremony memorable with their presence. If you want, you can even call the names of important guests.
Introduction: Introduce the couple to the guests. Here you can narrate their story like their family background, life, and love story if it is a love marriage. Since you are close to the couple, you should be able to give the best introduction of the couple. If you want, you can even read a religious text.
Vows exchange: Ask the couple to exchange vows and make their promises public before the guests. Your words could make the vows memorable for the couple.
Blessing: When the vows are exchanged, you can bless the couple with a happy married life.
Conclusion: When the paperwork is complete and vows are exchanged, you can pronounce the couple as an officially married couple. But you can make the pronouncement memorable by using poetry.
Officiating the wedding of a close friend or family member is a huge honor hence you should be ready to officiate the wedding. You should know the role and responsibility of a wedding officiant. Also, you should how to officiate a wedding.
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