What questions should you ask an officiant?

Officiants should have packages offered in a folder to choose what you want your ceremony to have said and poems to read of your choice.

Though this may not be offered by some, you would want to know what their cost is for rehearsal if its separate from the ceremony itself. It will make a difference to adjust your budget.

Another factor is how they do their services, religious or non religious to know better what is allowed to be said and what isn't allowed part of the service.

You two feel to write your vows as a personal touch, this would be good to know if its permitted by the Officiant or the actual vows have to be followed.

We had a civil marriage by an Officiant who did say the word GOD wasn't allowed part of the service in which everything around it would have to be changed.

Hey! I obviously asked about cost, etc and then also what was included.

Do we have a meeting to go over details closer to the wedding?

Is there an extra cost for rehearsal?

Average length of time for ceremonies?

Ask about any specific cultural, religious spiritual considerations (in our case we wanted an officiant that was non-denominational and no religious aspect to the ceremony)

As if you can write your own vows, how much you can customize the ceremony (believe it or not, some people charge more for that or want you to stick to a specific layout)

I would just try to really think about what you are looking for, what your vision is and communicate that. Make sure this person can accommodate your needs and as simple as it sounds, make sure you vibe with them. We met with 3 awesome officiants and they made it really tough to choose, but ultimately we went with the one we felt most comfortable with. She kept saying how big of an honour it is for her to perform weddings and it felt really genuine.

Hi Tanya! Here's a great list of questions you can check out to help you prepare:

10 Questions to Ask a Wedding Officiant

Find out if they offer a rehearsal (if you want one) and find out how much it is. We learned that rehearsals aren't as common as we thought and officiants that we've spoken to all offer rehearsals at an additional cost to the fees listed.

Ask about the ceremony procedure - some officiants can be very strict on how things play out during the ceremony so it's good to know if you're looking for some flexibility. Find out how he can make your ceremony unique (if it's something that matters to you). If he's performing a ceremony that's not his own denomination (ie if he's a pastor but you're having a secular ceremony), ask how often he does it and what he does to to tailor the ceremony to that audience. You should also watch his body language and his tone of voice to get a sense on how he'll perform on the day of.