Earn cash as you plan. Get a $20 gift card for every 200 points with The Knot Rewards
November 2014 Weddings
April192002
member
Finding an Officiant?
How are you finding yours? I've looked at TK and other wedding websites but not finding the perfect person. The Google searches I've been doing are bringing up the same handful of people. My local board has a post with vendors used but all of the officiants are the ones that keep coming up, and I'm not totally in love with any of them. Maybe we're just being too picky wanting a male who's older than us that has little to no accent.
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Finding an Officiant?
I finally emailed the JOP for the district of the city that we will be getting married in and found out he's available and it's only $200. Since FI has said over and over that he would feel a little weird having my dad perform the ceremony I figured we should hire someone. I exchanged a few emails with the secretary and don't have much information. All I know is that this JOP is available and the cost. When do I have to pay? Do we have to provide our own vows or does he provide them (we don't want to write our own)? Do we ever meet/talk to him prior so we know what to expect the day of? When do I need to let them know the exact time of our ceremony? How early will he arrive? Does he take attire requests (I don't expect anything crazy - just a suit and tie and I prefer it to be in black or gray but who really cares)? Do I need to feed him or does just jet after the ceremony? I hate not knowing!
We both believe in God, though neither of us are active in a church, and are Protestant (I was born and raised Southern Baptist and he's fond of Catholic & Methodist) so we believe that God should be mentioned somewhere at some point in the vows/ceremony, but aren't looking for a sermon. I just wish FI knew how complicated/stressful this has become for me, but all it would take is another email to figure out the answers.
I do have to say that the secretary was a little - meh! In my original email I signed my name and phone number, in case they needed to call instead of email. She responded that he is available, it's $200, she needs a contact number and the groom's name, and she'll put us on the calendar. Ummm...didn't I already give you my phone number? Whatever! I gave her my phone number again but in the body of the email. I'm surprised that she didn't ask me the location, which I also put in the original email - and that makes me wonder if she actually understands that I want him to come to our venue (but it's on a Saturday right after Thanksgiving so the courts would normally be closed).