It is so easy to get wrapped up in the little details surrounding a wedding – things like centerpieces, what to use for a card box, what the invitations are going to look like, what is our flower girl going to carry and can I make it?
And, if you are like me, you probably spent countless hours pouring over pictures of venues, reading catering menus, and looking at the portfolios of different photographers and florists. How much do they charge and is it above or below the average? How does it rank on a scale of importance for us?
In all of the searching for the details and the right vendor it may be easy to overlook quite possibly the most important vendor of the day that you will hire – the person who will perform your marriage ceremony. After all, the main purpose for the day is to marry the person you love and the rest is just the party to celebrate that marriage. If you are getting married in your church then this decision is probably pretty easy. If you are looking for a marriage commissioner then not so much.
To find that right person for the ceremony I started the search off with Google. Luckily everyone in British Columbia (the province we are getting married in) who is legally allowed to perform a civil marriage ceremony can be found through a search on the BC Vital Statistics Agency page. I perused forums online looking for recommendations and searched to see if our venue recommended anyone. A few names kept popping up. I picked one that our photographer liked and we started e-mailing back and forth.
Mr. Gazelle and I met her at her home on our trip to Vancouver in October. It was raining outside and we sat down on comfy couches in her living room. Right away we felt at ease with her. She was like the long lost aunt we didn’t know we had! We talked about the rehearsal, then about how the ceremony would go. She asked us about how we met, where we grew up, and about our families. It is important to her that our marriage ceremony reflect us as a couple and that it is a memorable part of the day even though it will take less than 30 minutes. Mr. Gazelle is very keen to craft the ceremony and we will be writing our own vows. Just as long as we say the phrases that legally need to be said, we can personalize our ceremony as we wish. It was obvious from talking to her that she really enjoys what she does.
As we stepped back out into the rain Mr. Gazelle and I looked at each other with big smiles on our faces. We both loved her and she was exactly the person we had in mind to perform our marriage ceremony.
How did you decide who was going to perform your marriage ceremony?
4 comments:
We are having my FI uncle preform the ceremony. Ours will be a spiritual ceremony since we will be legally married before we go to mexico. I think it will be so cool and much more personal than a random person we dont know.
We actually could have been married by Elvis! I guess the commissioner we had also does Elvis ceremonies because we noticed the white jump suit hanging in the back of his car as he drove away. I guess that's what you get when you marry in Vegas!
We chose the same way you did-online recommendations. It worked out well for us!
Glad you found someone who you like! :)
Since we're getting married in my home church, the pastor will marry us. I'd like my mom to speak, though. She's a lay speaker for the UMC and would do a beautiful job!
Post a Comment