Finding An Officiate

For some people, finding the officiant is one of the easier parts of wedding planning. They go with the family priest, the aunt who’s a justice of the peace, the guy who did their cousin’s wedding.

But if you don’t know off the top of your head who your officiant will be then this can be pretty tricky. I was actually dreading this part but thankfully our venue had some recommendations and then I left this task in Shawn’s hands.

Those recommendations were the two ministers over at Metropolitan United, a church located just down the street from the Berkeley. While we originally planned to go with a justice of the peace, we decided to give these guys a shot since they often do weddings at the Berkeley and we were told they were pretty open minded and flexible when it comes to conducting ceremonies.

While one minister was already booked for our wedding day, the other, John Joseph, was available so we met with him back in March. He was a perfectly nice, friendly guy who asked us plenty of questions in order to get to know us. He also told us about himself and by the end of our meeting we both felt quite comfortable with him.

While we did discuss a bit about the ceremony and what we pictured, that first meeting was really just to get to know each and see if this could be a good match. Since it was, we booked him.

We then met him a couple weeks ago and talked a bit more about the ceremony (something short and sweet with no readings) and looked over the vows we’re going to say. We also figured out the rehearsal time.

I thought this would be a fairly quite meeting but it probably took close to an hour because the minister did spend some time asking Shawn and I about ourselves and our relationship. While it was unexpected at the time, it kind of makes sense now that I think about it. I mean, this guy is a minister after all and I’m sure he wants to check and see for himself that we’re not some couple that’s going to end up in divorce court in a couple of years. And since none of the questions were overly probing or personal (they mostly focused on our communication styles and personalities), this part was less weird than it sounds.

I don’t know if trying to get a good sense of your relationship is something more officiants try to get but hey, it’s something to be aware of.

Anyway, if you’re on the hunt for an officiant, definitely start with your venue because they can likely recommend someone who they’ve worked with before.

If your venue can’t help you out, you might want to check out Kettle Creek Weddings, a company that hooks couples up with Toronto officiants. While they aren’t cheap (the basic package is $400), they are quite reliable and professional (or so I’m told).

There’s also always Google, if you’re looking for someone with a particular background (certain language, religion, etc.). Google actually led me to this site, TorontoOfficiants.com, that allows you to pump in a few basic details and then get a list of suitable officiants back. They aren’t reviewed or anything like that, but you can always turn to the bridal boards if you’re hoping to get more details on a particular person.