One of the most important decisions you’ll make for your wedding is who will perform your wedding ceremony. We work with some really fantastic professional wedding officiants, and more and more, we are seeing couples ask friends or family members to perform their wedding ceremony. After making sure they have been legally ordained to do so, here are three helpful reminders, to make sure your wedding ceremony is perfect!
Announce for everyone to be seated: Your officiant may say “Everyone please stand for the bride” and many guest will do it even if not asked. It might seem obvious that they can sit down once you’re at the front of the ceremony site, but surprisingly, after attending hundreds of weddings, we often see wedding guests remain standing if not asked to sit. Who wants their guests to stand for their whole ceremony?
And, in most cases, standing guests are blocking the view of the photographers and/or videographers.
Explain what an “unplugged ceremony” means: We’ve all seen the pictures of a bride coming down the aisle, blocked from view by the phones sticking out to snap her picture. So, to avoid this, you go and buy a sign from Etsy reminding everyone to be fully present and put their phones and cameras away for the ceremony.
Repetition is key here. So ask you officiant to announce it, too. At first, this might seem redundant, but we’ve seen people ignore the sign, many times unintentionally. Everyone gets excited, understandably, to see you walking down the aisle, but that excitement can cause people to forget and stick their hands out into the aisle and block what could have been a beautiful photo or video. So a reminder at the beginning of the ceremony will really make a difference.
And it’s not just about our photos and video; we want you to see your guests’ faces, not their phones. Without distractions, your family and friends can fully be present with you and for you.
Move aside for the first kiss: One last thing that we will help make your wedding ceremony photos and video perfect is for the officiant to step aside before the first kiss. Photographers would prefer it if we didn’t have to edit out your officiant’s head (or microphone stand) emerging from your groom’s shoulder. Instead, how much nicer if they’re off to the side, cheering for you!
And bonus points if they take the mic stand with them!
Having a loved one or family friend officiate your wedding can be a really personal touch to your wedding day. It can be very intimate, and it’s a beautiful way to include someone else special in your big day.
Early planning will help your wedding succeed, no matter who performs the ceremony. So figure out who that is going to be soon, and if you need help finding a professional to marry you, please reach out to some of the people we recommend at the bottom of our Contact page.
