Advice for how to officiate a friends wedding – complete with 10 wedding scripts! #Ceremony Advice#ceremony#ceremony script#officiant#readings#wedding vows Updated Dec 7 2020 (Posted Nov 2 2020) Offbeat Editors Darth Vader officiated this Seattle wedding. Photos by Lavendar Bouquet Photography. So you've been asked to officiate a friend's wedding. Congratulations! Even if you're someone used to exciting things happening all over the universe, someone like, say, Darth Vader — that's still pretty excited! That said, unless you've done this before, you're probably a little overwhelmed… never fear! We've got step by step advice for how to officiate a friend's wedding — complete with links to TONS of wedding ceremony scripts. Step 1: Know the laws in your region [clicylink slug=officiating-your-friends-wedding]Every city and state has different laws when it comes to who can officiate a wedding. Our Offbeat Bride City Guides: the nitty-gritty of how to get married in your city: Atlanta • Chicago • Dallas • DC • Houston • LA • NYC • Philly • SF • Seattle Step 2: Make sure you're legally ordained American Marriage Ministries offers online ordinations that are quick to complete, free, and last a lifetime. If you're in California, we've super got your back there: How to have a friend legally officiate your California wedding Step 3: Build your ceremony So the first thing you need to figure out is how to order the different aspects of the ceremony. You need to make sure you've gotten a lot of input from the couple you're marrying — they may have a LOT of ideas for you. If they don't, here are some questions to ask them: What are your priorities? Do you want the ceremony to have a theme? How long you want your ceremony to be? (Tell them they don't feel pressured to have a long ceremony if they're not into being the center of attention!) Are you interested in traditional elements? How much humor do you want? Ask the couple to save every snippet! If they see a song lyric, a line in a poem, an excerpt from a short story, or even a quote on Instagram (we all fall for them), tell them to save it! This can help your friends shape their ideas and even give you some highlights to fill in your general structure. You might even want to ask them to check out our ceremony scripts, and ceremony advice and wedding planning basics if they seem super lost. Now, what if your couple is like "Meh, you can do whatever you want," and you're like "Oh shit, I have no idea, where is Admiral Motti when I need him"?? We've got great posts to get you started: Related Post Wedding Ceremony 101: How to write a wedding ceremony from scratch This is basically the best post ever written about how to build a wedding ceremony from the ground up. While there's a bit of ritual theory, but mostly it's expert… Read More Related Post How do you have a wedding ceremony without a Bible? We're ALL for Christian couples having religious ceremonies, but find it disrespectful for non-Christians to smile and nod through a religious service they don't actually believe in. So, how do… Read More Step 3: Help the couple select some readings Ooh boy, do couples LOVE them some readings. First, read this post on how to find and include readings in your wedding ceremony. Here are a few of our favorite posts where you're sure to find the perfect readings for your peeps: Related Post 14 wedding readings from songs (from David Bowie to Metallica!) When it comes to wedding readings, sometimes the best sentiments come from the hands of musical wordsmiths. From David Bowie to Paul Simon and the... Read more Awesome wedding readings for bad-ass couples Sweet and silly wedding readings from children's books Lighthearted wedding readings that'll make you laugh AND cry Wedding ceremony readings for polyamorous couples Sweet, serious, and non-gaggy: a few of y'all's very favorite wedding readings OVER 50 MORE READINGS RIGHT HERE! Step 4: look at ceremony scripts This is where things get really fun. You can peruse or straight-up steal from our every-growing tag full of ceremony scripts. That said, here are some of our very favorites for you to borrow from: Related Post Our personal ceremony script featuring Star Wars, Johnny Cash, & Obergefell v. Hodges Be inspired by this personal ceremony script with so many sweet details (like vowing unlimited pet adoption, unlimited Star Wars, and unlimited chill-as-hell wedding readings!). Don't miss Johnny Cash, Bruce… Read More Related Post The non-religious two officiant wedding ceremony script you've been looking for Almost everything you'll find when you search for a "two officiant wedding ceremony" will be religious. But if you're not inviting any of The Gods to your wedding, you might… Read More Related Post Two rings to rule them all: Our short Tolkien-inspired ceremony script This is our short and sweet Tolkien-inspired ceremony script that even included a Pokémon reference. It's non-denominational and gender-neutral, which gives it a lot of flexibility. We included an introduction,… Read More Related Post Egalitarian feminist pluralistic ceremony script for your equality-focused ceremony (includes READINGS!) When you want to focus on equality and feminism, it can be hard to find a wedding ceremony script that holds water. This one ROCKS our egalitarian socks. This feminist… Read More Related Post Our super sweet and silly gender-neutral atheistic Pagan ceremony script With a bit of help from the internet (Offbeat Bride especially!), a few books, and my personal experience writing atheistic pagan sabbat rituals, we wrote our ceremony script ourselves. It… Read More Related Post Ceremony script with unicorns and space travel Our officiant wrote most of our ceremony, and really knocked it out of the park. But my partner and I each picked out a reading, and I took a bunch… Read More Related Post A non-traditional, non-religious, non-boring wedding ceremony script (that involves alcohol!) We twisted some traditions and added our own flair (champagne toast! unity box full of letters! serenade!) to create a beautiful ceremony that I am happy to share with others. Read More Related Post Steal this super-simple wedding ceremony script We got married a few months ago, and we wrote the ceremony and vows ourselves. I wanted to share them with you guys in case any of you were looking… Read More Related Post Genuinely touching zombie wedding vows and ceremony Family members can get concerned when you say things like, "We're going to have zombies in our wedding vows!" But here's solid proof that your vows can include zombies and… Read More Step 5: Sign and returns the marriage license! After the wedding, it's YOUR JOB to send the signed marriage license and return it to the state within the required timeline. Don't forget this very important part of your responsibilities or else your friends' marriage won't be legal. Photos by Lavender Bouquet Photography PREVIOUS Wedding vows about CHOICE NEXT GROOM CROWN: for when your groom is a king Show/Hide comments [ 1 ] Great ideas! Waiting for the wedding of a friend of mine! Reply Join the conversation Cancel ReplyYour email address will not be published. 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