FAQs
- What education and/or training do you have that relates to your work?
I share ideas as part of online communities of officiants and take advantage of webinars offered through Wedding Wire. I also keep good association with wedding planners. They stay up to date much more than many officiants, so staying apart of their communities is the best way to get great ideas about what is popular or unique.
- How did you get started doing this type of work?
It was an accident. I was ordained so I could work as a spiritual teacher and counselor and I thought it was "cool" that I could get a license in Ohio to solemnize marriages, so I got one. Right after that a good friend needed a minister for a quick, legal ceremony and I stepped in. A couple weeks later my minister called me to do another emergency wedding. This was a big ceremony with 250 guests. I was scared to death, but I loved it. I started shadowing my minister and the certified wedding planner at my church and I learned so much from them. I started my own wedding business, because I like doing a more custom ceremony than my church offers and I like doing civil ceremonies just as much as spiritual ones. Non-religious and "spiritual, not religious type" people generally do not seek out churches and so I wanted get away from the church affiliation.
- What types of customers have you worked with?
I help couples decide what is important to them and how to create their ceremony around that. I guide them through the entire ceremony, so they can be present to the experience and not have to think about what they need to do next. I free them to create something special without stress. When I travel I often guide them through rehearsals when there is not a venue manager, and sometimes I write a unique ceremony completely from scratch. In the chapel I will often create the ceremony intuitively, from what they have explained is important to them.