#105 Life and Officiants

So, I know I haven't posted in a while, but I needed to recover. Last Wednesday, my Grandma W passed away. Mr. P has been here for me the entire time. I'm very lucky to have him around. I don't know what I'd do without him.

Personal photo, Grandma W, MOH P, and myself, circa June 1991

*Deep Breath*

Ok, so I've been working on a lot of stuff lately. A couple weeks ago I set up 2 appointments to meet with officiants. I met with 1 of them. She was a bit pricey. I was not put off completely. Then the second one I was going to meet with on Friday, but I cancelled it. She told me her prices which were astronomical. I thought it may have been for travel, but she lives less than a mile from my house. Our ceremony is less that 10 miles from our house. $700. Nope, no way.

She was completely nice about it, but weird. She offered to lower her rates to $600 (if we could manage) and send names of other officiants that may be less expensive. Then in her e-mail with the names she said something really strange. I quote:

"Remember to let [Mr. P] know that you'll be getting a lot of money at your wedding and you can always use that to put toward your bills after the big day."

What the literal F---. I'm just like no and no. We're done with you now. I didn't even e-mail her back to respond to her $600 offer or thank her for the names of the officiants.

So, anyhow. On the way home from hometown after Grandma W's funeral, I was chatting with Mr. P about our wedding. I was letting him know I was getting a bit of anxiety about choosing our officiant. Then I mentioned we should just find someone we like and get them ordained and officiate our wedding.

So, he asked me who I wanted. I'm like I know exactly who I want. Cousin J. He's the person for the job in my humble opinion. We've always been close when we were growing up and I knew he'd be perfect for the job. So, I don't need to go into the questions I'd ask him, because I only asked him if he wanted to do it. Although, I did have a list for the other people I was going to ask.

Personal picture of Cousin J and I circa 1990(ish). I'm the shrimp here!

So, I will share that with you. I used a combination of 4 different sites to compose a list of questions. Of course, that was after going through a long Google search of help. My sources are:
Center for Richer Living, Martha Stewart, Huffpost Weddings, and Great Officiants

1. What was the most moving wedding you celebrated?
2. What was the biggest wedding mistake you ever made and "vowed" never to repeat?
3. Have you ever turned down a couple's invitation to perform their ceremony and why?
4. What do you think is your main responsibility as an officiant?
5. What's the best compliment a wedding guest ever gave you?
6. What is your biggest challenge when officiating a wedding?
7. What is the funniest or oddest moment in a wedding you celebrated?
8. What is your rock bottom wish for every couple?
9. What do you love about celebrating weddings?
10. Can you customize the ceremony?
11. What type of unity ceremony do you use?
12. Does the Officiant have sample wording/ceremonies/readings to show you?
13. Do you require Counseling?
14. Do you have back up in case you are sick?
15. Are you strictly spiritual or do you include religion in your ceremonies?
16. Will you marry us if we are of different faiths?
17. Can we choose special readings or music?
18. Will you give a sermon during the ceremony?
19. Will you participate in the rehearsal?
20. Would you like to come to the wedding reception with your spouse?
21. How long have you been officiating?
22. What do you wear?
23. Can we write our own vows? 

So, how did you find you officiant? I did a Google search. Weddingwire.com search. Weddingbee.com search. I was losing my mind trying to find an officiant. Am I a crazy wack-a-doodle because I think $700 is astronomical for officiant fees?