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Ministers & Civil Officiants
Local in 25 Metro Areas
All Religions - Non-Religious - Interfaith - Spiritual
Non-denominational - Multi Cultural - Ethnic
COMMON Q&A ABOUT US
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Q: WHAT DOES THE WORD "OFFICIANT" MEAN?
A: The word "officiant" is a wedding marriage industry catch-all word for anyone legally-able to officiate a wedding ceremony including any clergy, minister, reverend, chaplain, official, officiate, priest, pastor, rabbi or civil officiant. From what I've seen, "legally-able" is determined by state law and in some cases further defined by sub-jurisdictions with the state, sometimes the city.
Q: WHAT OFFICIANT TYPES DO YOU HAVE?
A: All and every, basically, from traditional and modern non-denominational clergy, ministers, pastors, officials,officiates and civil non religious officiants. Large metro areas on the coasts can have rabbis, priests and notaries.
Q: WHAT CEREMONY TYPES DO YOU OFFER?
A: We serve virtually every type of couple from purely civil to very religious and everything in between including non-denominational, interfaith, commitment, holy union, sacred, spiritual, ethnic, multicultural renewal of vows.. Note: Beyond their title, most of our ministers, rabbis and priests regularly officiate civil/non-religious ceremonies and most of our civil officiants also serve non-denominational and interfaith couples.
Q: WHAT SETS YOU APART FROM OTHER OFFICIANT SITES?
A: Really, it's that we want the "officiant selection process" for couples to be as simple and as relaxed as possible. We contribute to this by knowing a lot of details about our officiant minister associates and by knowing about a couple's ceremony and then looking for an officiant or clergy minister who matches (and having any matches call the couple to introduce themselves). This is huge because couples will not have to do this sometimes time consuming arduous legwork; they will not have to deal with or have their precious time taken up by talking to--or playing phone with-- unmatched, unavailable or otherwise unqualified officiants, ministers.
Q: WHAT SETS A WEDDINGOFFICIANTS.COM-TYPE OFFICIANT MINISTER APART FROM OTHER OFFICIANTS MINISTERS?
A: Most officiants ministers want their couple to have the best ceremony for them. Only a WeddingOfficiants.com-type though would insist that the word "best" (or whatever word the couple would have for this: fantastic, cool, hip, beautiful, amazing, great. etc.) should be defined by them--that they are the sole deciders of what this means. Sadly, many officiants ministers think they know --or that their denomination knows-- what is right or wrong and best for a couple. We see it differently. We see that only a couple can really know this and therefore no one can fairly define it for them. [Some couples, though, can feel overwhelmed with the idea of "sole" decider, which is the subject of the next question.]
Q: WE DON'T UNDERSTAND ALL OF WHAT "SOLE-DECIDERS" MEANS. THIS MAKES US FEEL OVERWHELMED.
A: A WeddingOfficiants.com--type officiant's job is to make this an unoverwhelming relaxed experience for a couple;to guide them. He/she will assist you to know what you want. You do not have to know anything at all right now. It's perfectly fine if you've never been to a wedding marriage ceremony before. While you may not have a clue what you want now, rest assured that when you see a ceremony part, vow or creative option, you will have some sense if you like it or not. When you like something, obviously it is likely to be in your ceremony. When you don't like something, it will likely not be in your ceremony (unless it is modified to meet your need, which we assist you with as well). "Sole deciders" simply means that--with us-- you have the right to make the choices and decisions (the right to approve or disapprove) about what is proposed to be said and done during your ceremony. Some couples may tell their officiant minister to make choices for them, which is fine. They might say, "We trust you to do what you see is best". This is a perfectly valid powerful choice that a sole decider has made.
Q: WHY DON'T YOU LIST OFFICIANTS AT YOUR SITE?
A: Because this would involve some form of advertising and we don't want associate selection influenced by advertising agreements. When publisher and minister Paul Michael first started using associates (initially in 1995), he knew that to achieve the quality of matching couples and officiants that he believed in, he couldn't just list anyone because they were an "officiant" or even a "minister". We're all equal of course, but we're not necessarily equal in how we do things, how we follow through; in this case, how we view a couple's ceremony and what would be truly best for them (as the couple would define it).
Q: IS THE GENDER OR BACKGROUND OF THE OFFICIANT IMPORTANT?
A: Only to the extent that it is important to you both. We would support you to look at such decisions being made only by you because, really (unless the others are going to live with you after the ceremony, I often joke), this is about you two and what would most support you. While we certainly have men and women officiants and ministers from diverse ordinations, travels, heritages, backgrounds, persuasions and disciplines, and they each typically have a title, really, there are many essential aspects of being a wedding officiant or minister that a title doesn't tell you ("don't judge a book by its cover" sort of thing). It's about "who" the officiant is, inside. We have ministers, pastors, priests, rabbis who do civil non religious well. We have officiants specializing in civil only and civil officiants who regularly do non-denominational and interfaith ceremonies well. Clearly the "cover" of these officiants ministers does not tell what the book does well. Having said all that, it is important to include this reminder: that those with an ordination in a particular denomination have the wonderful gift of being able to perform fully authentic and legal ceremonies (per the denomination) which others not ordained in the denomination can NOT do authentically and legally (per the denomination).
Q: WHAT'S THE BOTTOM LINE IF WE USE ONE OF YOU?
A. Freedom. While we have many associates and each is unique and has their own style, the flavor of all of us, the spirit, is that couples know what's best for them and rightfully so are the sole-deciders of what's in their ceremony. You should not have to walk on egg shells with your officiant. You should not have to ask for permission to do/have something in your ceremony. You should not have to hear talk or attitude from anyone who thinks they know what is best for you.
WeddingOfficiants.com--type officiants are more modern in this way. They are couple-oriented, not clergy oriented. Their job, their ministry, is to interact with a couple such that it all results in the way they want.
Of course we did not originate this concept nor are we the only ones who think this way, but we are a very spirited like-minded group of professional wedding officiants who take this concept a great distance.
For any sincerely interested officiant, always, more than fee received or anything, the happiest feeling return is when the bride and groom says: "We absolutely loved it. It was just what we wanted. We could have asked for more."
Now you know why we're here. We enjoy being officiants. We can serve you well.
THAT'S WHAT'S SPECIAL ABOUT
A WEDDINGOFFICIANTS.COM-
QUALITY OFFICIANT !
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