Wedding Tips
3 Reasons Why You Need to Book Your Wedding Officiant Early
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A Lil Intro
Have you ever been to a ceremony where you either fell asleep during the ceremony, raised your eyebrow in confusion, or had your eyes open wiiiiide in shock because of something the officiant said? Because I HAVE. I don’t officiate every wedding I’ve attended, so I’ve seen the good and the bad side of wedding ceremonies.
A wedding ceremony can seriously make or break a wedding. If you don’t think that’s true, do you remember the last wedding ceremony you went to? Probably not, and that’s not a good thing. The last thing you want at your wedding is grandma snoring (my grandmother has snored during a wedding) or Uncle Bon cracking inappropriate jokes about you peeing in public as a child during your ceremony (I have also heard this story at a wedding….). Your flowers and photos and food choices are certainly important, but this day is about your commitment, right?
As wedding ceremonies become more and more personal and non-traditional, professional officiants are booking real fast. Whether you use a pro or enlist your friend, here are X reasons why you should find an officiant first.
Popular officiants have their weekends booked far in advance
I’ll bet that my schedule one year from whenever you contact me is already booked. If you want to marry a weekday, well that’s a whole different story. But a really popular officiant is going to be booked months or years in advance, and if you want to snag them to kick off your wedding, don’t wait.
The ceremony is the most time consuming part of your wedding
An officiant who writes ceremonies from scratch will dedicate anywhere from 20-30 hours working on just the ceremony alone. That’s not even including the time spent in meetings. I average around six hours of meetings in person because I want to get to know my couples. If I don’t get to know them, I’m basically writing a fictional ceremony, and nobody wants that. The process can be sped up, but if you really want to enjoy the process (and grab beers with your officiant!), you’ll need to book them as soon as you’ve set a date.
Officiants have fantastic vendor recommendations
Officiants are usually great listeners and naturally curious about other people, so you can bet that they have their eyes and ears towards everything happening on a wedding day. Many officiants have an unbiased lists of vendors they’ve loved working with and can easily vouch for how that vendor works and communicates. I can distinctly remember vendors who go out of their way to introduce themselves to me, and you can bet those are the vendors I’ll recommend. Additionally, some officiants have discounted partnerships with vendors they’ve established relationships with, so be sure to ask after booking! (We have a discount list, too.)
Below is an example timeline of an ideal wedding plan:
12:30 PM – Bride puts on dress and bride individual photos
12:45 PM – Groom heads to first look location
1:00 PM – First look, letter reading, couple photos
2:00 PM – Bridal party photos
2:45 PM – Family Photos
3:30 PM – Family Photos done
4:00 PM – Hide away for Ceremony (eat something, drink water, have time alone together)
4:30 PM – Ceremony Starts
5:00 PM – Ceremony ends – cocktail hour begins
6:00 PM – Grand entrance with bridal party
6:15 PM – Dinner starts
6:30 PM – Speeches
7:00 PM – Cake cutting and dessert served
7:30 PM – Start Dances (couple’s first dance, father daughter, mother son, then open dance)
8:30 PM – Sneak away for golden hour photos
8:45 PM – Sunset time
9:00 PM – Return to dance floor
10:30 PM – Sparkler Send Off
Here is an example timeline for a wedding in the winter where the sun sets at 4:00 pm, and the couple wants to do their first look down the aisle.
12:00 PM – Groom and groomsmen group and individual photos
12:30 PM – Bride and bridesmaid group and individual photos
1:00 PM – hide before ceremony starts
1:30 PM – Ceremony begins
2:30 PM – Ceremony ends, guests head to cocktail hour
2:30 PM – Family group portraits
3:00 PM – Bridal party group photos
3:30 PM – Couple portraits heading into sunset
4:00 PM Sunset time, head to reception
4:30 PM – Cocktail hour ends, guests get seasted
4:45 PM – Grand March
5:00 PM – Dinner served
5:30 PM – Speeches
6:00 PM – Cake Cutting
6:30 PM – First dances
7:00 PM – Photography coverage done
The Bottom Line
Hopefully this list has inspired you to get searching online for your favorite person to ring in your marriage. And hey, they might save you a few dollars and time with their experienced recommendations, too!
Photos by: Laurelyn Savannah Photography
Meet your
Officiants
Liz
(she/her)
Founder/Officiant
Liz founded Liz Rae & Co in 2015 during her best friend Maranda’s engagement. Her friend, Timmie, at the time also struggled with finding an LGBTQ-friendly officiant who custom-wrote ceremonies. Liz believes the ceremony is the best part of the wedding day and wanted to change the industry by emphasizing not only the importance of marriage ceremonies but inclusivity as well.
When she isn’t writing ceremonies, she’s working on editing her first novel and second fictional novels. She’s been writing her whole life, but gained her storytelling knowledge through Faber Academy’s novel program and UCLA’s TV and Film Writing degree. You can read some of her writing on her website, Liz Rae and more notably, on Thought Catalog. She also writes terrible Instagram poetry at @iamlizrae, but wouldn’t recommend reading it.
She speaks Spanish, some French, and some Italian, and she’s lived in France, Italy, Spain, Peru, the United Kingdom. She’s traveled to every continent except Antarctica.
She loves writing weddings of all kinds — her favorite part about the job is figuring out how to tell each and every story! She can’t wait to get to know you and be part of your wedding.
Liz founded Liz Rae & Co in 2015 during her best friend Maranda’s engagement. Her friend, Timmie, at the time also struggled with finding an LGBTQ-friendly officiant who custom-wrote ceremonies. Liz believes the ceremony is the best part of the wedding day and wanted to change the industry by emphasizing not only the importance of marriage ceremonies but inclusivity as well.
When she isn’t writing ceremonies, she’s working on editing her first novel and second fictional novels. She’s been writing her whole life, but gained her storytelling knowledge through Faber Academy’s novel program and UCLA’s TV and Film Writing degree. You can read some of her writing on her website, Liz Rae and more notably, on Thought Catalog. She also writes terrible Instagram poetry at @iamlizrae, but wouldn’t recommend reading it.
She speaks Spanish, some French, and some Italian, and she’s lived in France, Italy, Spain, Peru, the United Kingdom. She’s traveled to every continent except Antarctica.
She loves writing weddings of all kinds — her favorite part about the job is figuring out how to tell each and every story! She can’t wait to get to know you and be part of your wedding.
Ready to make your moment,
your moment?
Wedding Tips
Four Elements to Consider When Planning Your Wedding Ceremony Around Lighting
When planning your wedding, the first element on your mind probably isn’t the sun’s position at every hour. However, as you embark further on the planning process, considering lighting is especially important if great photos are one of your top priorities. While there are some typicalities behind wedding timelines, don’t overlook lighting when creating that schedule, as it can affect various photos throughout your wedding day.
Choosing a photographer that knows lighting makesallthe difference, so I teamed up with Lulle Photo to give you some pointers on how to structure your wedding ceremony around lighting so you look good while tying the knot.
Here are four elements to consider when planning your wedding ceremony around lighting.
Wedding Tips
4 Elements to Consider When Choosing Your Wedding Ceremony Photographer
So, you’re engaged and ready to start planning your wedding. Yay! Congrats! How exciting and…terrifying, at the same time. Two of the biggest (and usually most expensive) vendors you’ll choose for your day are your venue and your photographer.
Though, narrowing down which photographer to hire in a sea of photographers can be tricky, especially if this is your first time booking a professional. Even if you have previously worked with someone trained in photography, wedding photography is a whole new field, and it’s definitely not a vendor you want to skimp on.
If you’re wondering what the most important traits you should consider when selecting your photographer, Michelle from Wandermore Photography and me (Liz) compiled five elements to consider when browsing wedding photographers.
When Should You Book Your Wedding Officiant?
So, you’re engaged! Yay!
You probably know the venue and have already selected the photographer – you’ve got your main priorities covered!
But then what? You’ve got a laundry list of vendors to contact, meet with, and choose, And all this hassle on top of working at your day job while juggling every other priority in life.
And there are all these websites that give you conflicting, and often unrealistic, information about when to book your wedding vendors.