How to Make Your Wedding Legally Binding
Not gunna lie. Amy's voice is rather soothing. Also, she is SO knowledgeable and is about to lay down the law as it pertains to making a marriage legal and binding.
WHAT DOES AN OFFICIANT DO?
An officiant makes your marriage legal. An amazing officiant will also
- run your rehearsal
- make announcements to guests
- step out of the way during your first kiss
- ensure that guests can hear your vows
WHY HAVE A REHEARSAL?
Here's the deal. Your wedding party does not want to mess up, they'd like to be told what to do and they want to do it they way you want it done. It's simple. Without a run through, directions or a choreographer, your wedding party has no clue of what to do. Particularly if this is their first wedding that they've been in.
When you have your officiant or wedding planner run a rehearsal it establishes who is in charge and whom they can go to with questions. It also keeps you from being the one to shout and scream and wrangle and herd. Let someone else wear the bossy pants.
WHAT THINGS CAN THE OFFICIANT ANNOUNCE?
IF there is a receiving line, a dismissing line or if guests should just immediately vacate their seats in search of libations and mini morsels of food
WHERE immediate or extended family photos will take place and when
WHAT is happening during cocktail hour, what time dinner is, where they should go for all of that joyfulness
IF there is a processional hurrah (petals or bubbles or kabuki streamers), the officiant may want to alert your guests to get them ready (and to not aim for your newly married faces as you recess down the aisle)
CEREMONY OUTLINE
Are you planning on writing your own vows and ceremony? Here's a sample outline:
Guest arrival
Prelude music playing
Processional
Welcome
Invocation or prayer
Readings/song/poem
Questions of intent/declaration of intent
Affirmations
Message
Vows
Rings
Announcement
Pronouncement
Kiss
Recessional
#WIN
PRO TIP
Be mindful of how willing your readers are to read. Don't force it upon them if they have stage fright or just seem completely uninterested.
FYI: you as a couple are responsible for getting your marriage license. Your officiant is responsible for getting certified (applicable for MN) and mailing it in once signed.
RESOURCES:
P.S. I grew up near the Tulalip Indian reservation, so that's the word I used in the episode, Indian and not Native American or Indigenous persons. No offense meant.