A Very Unboring Blog

Write Your Own Wedding Officiating Contract and Terms of Service (Today!)

One of the most daunting tasks to starting up our own officiating practice is putting together a Contract and Terms of Service. After all, we wedding officiants have enough to worry about - we're doing the actual wedding ceremony work stuff! We're putting together the script, the officiant speech, the rehearsal, and all the other elements of a wedding ceremony. So maybe we let the contract part slide. It's not that big a deal, right? What could go wrong? It's time to change that today. Over...

How to Officiate a Wedding with (or without) a Microphone

As wedding officiants, we have so many ceremony details to prepare and fuss over: the script, the rehearsal, the processional, our outfit, our speech, the license.... And a lot of the time, we can totally forget about this one major item until the moment we arrive at the wedding venue: the microphone. And chances are, our wedding couple hasn't thought about it either. That's our job. This is where we wedding officiants can come in at the top of our game. Let's not leave the mics as an...

3 Risks to Consider when Officiating a Wedding with a Tablet

As iPads and Surface Pros become more common, it's a question that's more pervasive among wedding officiants: "Should I keep reading the ceremony out of a binder in the wedding, or should I get with the times and use a tablet?" I've tried both. My verdict: I do prefer to use my tablet in the wedding rehearsal, hands down. But for the ceremony, I'm sticking with my trusty binder. There are pros and cons to each option. But in a nutshell, when I apply the question "What could go wrong?" to my...

The Most Common Mistake Wedding Officiants Make

It happens all the time to wedding officiants, and it's the most common and preventable mistake we make. Especially we professional wedding officiants who serve new couples every weekend. It might be a small slip of the tongue or memory, but it can lead to a disproportionately big embarrassment. What's the mistake? The wedding officiant gets the bride or groom's name wrong. If it's just a slip of the tongue or a brief mispronunciation, no big deal. But if it's saying the wrong name, or drawing...

How to Add a Toast to the Couple in the Wedding Ceremony

A toast to the happy newlyweds isn't just for the wedding reception. Often, couples ask if they can include a wedding toast in the ceremony. I love it! But what to say in the wedding toast? What should be the order of the toast in the wedding ceremony? What about the logistics of getting everyone a drink in their hands? I've thought it all through so you don't have to. And I've done it many times. Here's what works best when the happy couple want a toast right in their ceremony. Make the toast...

How to Add a Handfasting to the Wedding Ceremony

"Tying the knot." Yep, it's the euphemism for marriage that comes right from the handfasting ritual in a wedding ceremony. The first time I was asked by one of my wedding couples if I would do a handfasting in their ceremony, I said yes, of course. But I was pretty intimidated by it. Handfasting sounds very formal. And there are actual logistics to consider! How do you tie the knot? What do you say? And most importantly, how can handfasting possibly not seem out of place in a fun,...