The Wedding Officiant Agreement

Vows and Kisses Minister’s Manual: The Wedding Officiant Agreement

The purpose of this document is three-fold;

1) As a written agreement to be provided to the couple clearly defining the relationship and expectations of the couple and minister.

2) Page 2 printed by the minister serves as a supporting document for “Day Of”. (“Day Of” is wedding lingo for the day of the ceremony.)

3) To be used as a guideline for the “Complimentary Consultation”

The Wedding Officiant Agreement

The agreement is broken out into three sections:

SECTION ONE: WEDDING CEREMONY DETAILS

The intention of the Agreement is stated in the opening paragraph:

I am honored that you have chosen me to be your Officiant and it is my joy to partner with you to create a ceremony that will truly honor the commitment you are making. In order for me to provide you with the very best service possible, it is helpful to have a clear understanding of our roles. The Agreement below is intended to be a clarification of our understanding with regards to creating the most harmonious and beautiful wedding ceremony possible. ~ Many blessings on your lives and on your love~

In addition to the blessing and stated intention in the opening paragraph this section includes contact information of the bridal couple.

Includes day, date time location of the ceremony and rehearsal information. It also outlines the Wedding Party information and Wedding Ceremony Details; elements of the ceremony they may want to consider to be included in their ceremony.

TIP:Important data can be easily printed from Page 2, the address then programmend into the GPS, and the minister has a convenient check list allowing for review upon arrival. This brings a meaningful personal touch when addressing the couples parents by

1Rev 1-12-13 name and knowing the names of the witnesses when it is time to summon them for signature of the license.

SECTION TWO: TERMS OF THE AGREEMENT

Outlines fees, deposit, payment method, responsibility of the minister, and arbitration.

The “Wedding Couples Responsibilities” provides reminders for obtaining their marriage license, microphone and suggestions in the event of an emergency and the minister is unable to attend the ceremony.

TIP: It is very important to capture all of this information not only about the couple and wedding details, but to obtain names and numbers of the wedding professionals the couple has selected. If the couple does not complete these details within the Agreement, (often this is the case as they have not selected all vendors, yet) having this printed section with you will assist in remembering to obtain vendor information.

You will be networking with the vendors, obtaining photos for the Vows and Kisses website, meeting them at trade shows, referring leads and receiving leads from them. If the vendor agrees, we can add them to our Vows and Kisses Vendors page. In addition, it is nice to show up a wedding and rememberthe DJ or Florist by name because you have kept track of this – easily.

The Complimentary Consultation & Agreement

Utilizing this Wedding Officiant Agreement for the consultation will help in facilitating the co- creative process with your couples. This is so important as you begin booking weddings a year in advance, then two or three months prior to “day of” you begin writing the ceremony. You will have so many couples it is challenging to remember these important elements.

It also serves as a Guideline helping you to remember to ask some detailed questions while engaging in conversations about how the couple met, how long they have been together, any fun stories they might want to include in the Minister’s Address, family dynamics, religious backgrounds and preferences. It’s easy to become so engaged in conversation it is helpful to have a checklist and ensure details are noted for creating the custom ceremony.

TIP: Sometimes it’s easier to hand write or type the notes and information into a plain word doc then after the consultation neatly type the information into the “Wedding Officiant Agreement” to be emailed to the couple.

To illustrate the importance of completing the agreement carefully, I want to share a recent experience, wherein I wrote a ceremony for a couple (without reviewing the agreement carefully) and forgot to leave the “G” word out (God). The couple’s email response containing their request for modifications was polite but I sensed they were irritated by the G word. To

2Rev 1-12-13 ensure they maintained trust in me I communicated that I did have that information from our consultation (8 months ago) and apologized for missing it in the first draft.

It is also helpful to ask couples if they have a “Wedding Website” (many directories we advertise on, provide this feature). If not, I ask if they could email their engagement photo or a photo. (Often they send one of their dogs too – I love that! And a few have been the ring bearers.)

When working with short notice weddings or a couple enduring a lot of stress, I might not ask for this if it feels it would be adding pressure; one more thing on their “to do list”.

contains an outline of the elements of a wedding ceremony (all are optional except the intent and vows, as required by law.) This is very helpful as it allows you to write a first rough draft that is very, very close to their expectation. Often I receive messages from couples how they cried when they read the first draft and were amazed at how “I got it! (them).

In addition, some of the elements Vows & Kisses include, a couple may have never witnessed at other weddings, such as special ceremony ritual, “Group Vow” or “Remembering Loved Ones”. It is wonderful to see how they light up upon sharing these meaningful options to be included in a custom ceremony. You can practically hear the light click on as they realize why they contracted a Vows and Kisses Officiant!

Section Two containing Fee Information is captured and the cancelation policy cleary defined. It is nice to have fee info on it’s own page so when entering into on online invoicing system, it is readily on hand.

For couples not paying online with a credit card, it easy to edit the agreement upon receiving the deposit;

 File Save As: Name of Agreement with new date  Type in date/check # amount receive  Email copy to the couple for their files

Again, they witness the professionalism of a Vows and Kisses Officiant creating trust and confidence. It’s so Divine!

3Rev 1-12-13