Met with two wedding officiants today. Both were celebrants- celebrants are like JPs but they have training in a bunch of different religious and cultural traditions. I thought that it might be good for us so that we can create a hybrid Hindu/Western ceremony.
I think the idea of the celebrant is perfect, now that I've really talked to them. I think I would want one even if we weren't incorporating Hindu elements. They create these beautiful, personalized ceremonies for you that tell your whole love story. It just seems really special and we both became super excited talking about the ceremony.
I liked both of them, but I think we may go with the first celebrant. While both of them have training in Hindu religion, the first celebrant had done homework before she met with us and brought a bunch of ideas about how we could start to create our ceremony. She just seemed more organized in general. Since the ceremony has been a huge source of complication (with FI's family), it's important for us to find someone who can take control of things!
My only concern now is my FI's parents. They had said that they wanted to pay for the officiant, but were not happy when we said we wanted a celebrant instead of a Hindu priest. They expressed a lot of concern that the ceremony wouldn't be what they wanted and now I'm not sure if they still want to pay... That conversation makes me anxious...
May 2013 February Siggy: Invitations