jholbel

jlthomps0848

I was looking for and officiant for my July 23, 2011 wedding and it seemed like you really liked yours.  I e-mailed Carl and asked for some information and he said we would meet for coffee and then the next step would be the rehearsal.  So how does he go about planning the ceremony with you? Is it all planned at the first meeting or by e-mails?  I am just trying to get some more information on him before I schedule and apt.  Thanks for any help you can give me because I am not sure how to go about getting the right officiant.

Julz629

My FI and I met Rev. Carl for coffee and talked about our ceremony in general and what we wanted.  i.e. did we want it to be completely non-religious, what readings did we want, vows, sand/unity candle, etc etc.  Basically, it's whatever you want to make of it.  He'll write the whole ceremony for you if you want, but he'll also include as much of your input as you want.

Basically, I selected the readings that I wanted and let him go from there.  He sent me his rough draft of the ceremony and I made a few changes -- i.e. we are doing a modified reading of the Hands of Brides & Groom, changed the wording so that both parents are giving us their permission (versus just my parents), and a few other minor tweaks.  Then I sent him my changes and he adjusted it and that was it.

Basically, you can be as involved (or as uninvolved) as you would like to be.

One thing about Rev. Carl is that sometimes when things are busy, he could come across a bit scattered.  He doesn't really do well with the computer so if I would send him something, he would often call to follow up since he was faster at that.  Also, he was very busy this spring and he kept telling me he'd get me my final ceremony soon, but it took like a month.  But that is partially my fault because we were so far out, I told him it was no rush at all.  Overall though, FI and I both felt very comfortable with him.  Also, he married my sister and her husband last year and he did a good job.

Let me know if you have any other questions.