Having a friend be your wedding officiant adds a unique and personal touch to your marriage ceremony. Unless your friend is an ordained member of the clergy, though, yours will likely be their first wedding -- and they might not be entirely sure what to do. If you're going to have a friend be your officiant and marry you, here are four tips to help make sure the ceremony goes smoothly.
Practice with Your Friend Before Rehearsal
First and foremost, you'll need to practice with your friend -- and you should do this before the wedding rehearsal. Make sure they know where to stand, what order the ceremony goes in and when to say their lines. Because there's a lot to go over, it should be reviewed before other wedding participants are present so that no one's time is wasted.
Review What Will Be Said
Second, you should review what will be said during the ceremony. How much detail you go into it will depend on how comfortable you are with your friend's preparation. You may want to go over precisely what your friend will say as the wedding officiant, or you might want to only conduct a cursory overview of who will say what.
Either way, you should conduct some type of review of what's going to be said. Even clergy who regularly serve as wedding officiants frequently review what each person will say during the ceremony when they're conducting a wedding.
This review may take some time, especially if your friend isn't exactly sure what they should say. For this reason, this review ought to be done well before the wedding rehearsal. No one should be standing around while you and your friend figure out what's going to be said.
Let Your Friend Add Their Own Flair
Third, leave space in the ceremony for your friend to add their own flair and style. While you may want to provide guidelines on what your friend says as the officiant, you ought to also leave them freedom to be themselves during the ceremony. After all, you undoubtedly like them. Offer them enough freedom to show the traits that you like during the ceremony so all guests can enjoy a little of your friend's personality.
Share What the Wedding Party Will Be Wearing
Finally, let your friend know what the wedding party will be wearing. They can then base their clothing choices on this information so they aren't overdressed or under-dressed for the occasion.
For more information, contact a service like Stephen Palmer Weddings.
Share