Wedding Officiants

I am trying to get back to the idea of posting some (hopefully) helpful information for brides and grooms for their weddings.

This topic is about wedding officiants. While there are so many types, the church-based minister, the brother who is 'on-line ordained', the professional officiant who does this as a living, and the justice of the peace, we have actually shot them all....well not literally, just with a canon. :-)

I don't think there is a best type. I can say that your officiant will make or break your ceremony and as such is an important decision. I have stood (yes, the photographers are almost always standing) through 95+ degree weather and heard the longest and most boring stories from some officiants to the most poignant and tearfully ceremonies that make it hard for me to hold my camera still.

So for my best input - here are some things that will help you determine which type of officiant is best for you and somethings to definently ask for.

1) In trying to determine which type of officiant, ask yourself, do you have anyone currently in your life you want to share such a sigificant moment with? This could be your current pastor, minister, priest, family member, doctor, lawyer, ect. If you do not, then you will want to consider a justice of the peace or a professional officiant. The justice of the peace will perform a ceremony only at the courthouse, so if that is not your venue of choice, a professional officiant will be the best way to go.

2) Choosing your officiant can only be done in person. In my opinion, email and even phone calls can show you only a small amount of information about a person. When you meet in person, you will see how they are dressed, how they present themselves, their manners, the care for which they speak. After all, you are hiring them to speak. If your officiant is cracking rude jokes the entire time you are meeting with them, reshuffle, redeal and move on.

So here, in my humble photographers opinion, is what is helpful in an officiant:

1. Ready to take over if needed, but willing to allow you to fully customize the ceremony to your specifications. There are so many neat 'meaning filled' things to do during a ceremony, that will have to be it's own separate blog entry.

2. Great communicator, both before being booked and after. A must-do is a planning meeting, held closer to the wedding to go over all the timing and the details. Some of this can be done over email and phone calls, but there is nothing that can replace that great face-to-face chat.

3. Attending the rehearsal, I cannot believe I have to type this. But yes, we have been to one wedding where the bride and groom didn't want to pay the officiant extra to attend the rehearsal. This is not requested, this should be mandatory. BTW - we as photographers attend rehearsals as well.

4. Make sure your officiant is working from something written down. You don't want your officiant trying to remember the vows (like a Chief Justice we all know) and messing them up on you very important day.

5. Finally make certain that your officiant has a plan for signing the wedding license. This can be a beautiful photo op and if done right can even make beautiful shots for your officiants album as well.

So that's it, the best information I can think of to help you find your best officiant. I can say this, I have two very close officiants, one is my sister and one is a very very good friend.

Always live life to it's fullest

Don’t let go of hope.
Hope gives you the strength to keep going
When you feel like giving up.
Don’t ever quit believing in yourself.
As long as you believe you can,

you will have a reason for trying.
Don’t let anyone hold your happiness in their hands;
hold it in yours, so it will always be within your reach.
Don’t measure success or failure by material wealth,
but by how you feel;

our feelings determine the richness of our lives.
Don’t let

bad

moments overcome you;
be patient, and they will pass.
Don’t hesitate to reach out for help;
we all need it from time to time.
Don’t run away from love but towards love,
because it is our deepest joy.
Don’t wait for what you want to come to you.
Go after it with all that you are,
knowing that life will meet you halfway.
Don’t feel like you’ve lost
when plans and dreams fall short of your hopes.
Anytime you learn something new
about yourself or about life,
you have progressed.
Don’t do anything that takes away
from your self-respect.
Feeling good about yourself
is essential to feeling good about life.
Don’t ever forget how to laugh
or be too proud to cry.
It is by doing both that we live life to it’s fullest.
- Author Unknown

Author Unknown

The story about the tiny frogs....

Life's lesson No. 1

Their once was a bunch of tiny frogs who arranged a running competition. The goal was to reach the top of a very high tower.
A big crowd had gathered around the tower to see the race and cheer on the contestants...The race began...

Honestly:
No one in crowd really believed that the tiny frogs would reach the top of the tower.
You heard statements such as: "Oh, WAY too difficult!!"
They will NEVER make it to the top." or: "Not a chance that they will succeed. The tower is too high!"
The tiny frogs began collapsing. One by one...
...Except for those who in a fresh tempo were climbing higher and higher...The crowd continued to yell "It is too difficult!!!
No one will make it!" More tiny frogs got tired and gave up...

...But ONE continued higher and higher and higher...
This one wouldn't give up! At the end everyone else had given up climbing the tower. Except for the one tiny frog who after a big effort was the only one who reached the top!

THEN
All of the other tiny frogs naturally wanted to know how this one frog managed to do it?
A contestant asked the tiny frog how the one who succeeded had found the strength to reach the goal?
It turned out...
That the winner was DEAF!!!!
The wisdom of this story is:
Never listen to other people's tendencies to be negative or pessimistic... ...cause they take your most wonderful dreams and wishes away from you. The ones you have in your heart!
Always think of the power words have. Because everything you hear and read will affect your actions! Therefore: ALWAYS be... POSITIVE!
And above all: Be DEAF when people tell YOU that YOU can not fulfill YOUR dreams!
Always think:
I can do this!

A very nice note from Stan and Lydia

"We just want to thank you again for being amazing to work with on our special day! The pictures are simply amazing!"

-Stan and Lydia

Why no one else can photograph during the formal sessions?

I have a rule, or a very strong request during the photography of the formal poses. No one can shoot, except me.

Very often at weddings while I am making formal portrait photographs of groups of people, their friends or family want to stand next to me to try and get the same photo I am taking. This is not allowed for several reasons.

First, I am usually on a tight schedule as these photos are often taken just before the wedding ceremony is scheduled to begin and it is hard to stop and explain why I do not want them around with their cameras.

Some people have told me they think it is because I am afraid of losing revenue from print sales or that I am feeling jealous. It is not that. However, I did study with masters to be able to pose the groups in a certain way and achieve a brandable look for our company. It would be considered stealing to photograph someone elses work of art and that is what I consider our formals to be.

We often also use studio lights for formals, other flashes will interfere with these lights.

However the number 1 reason is I want everyone in my photo to be looking in the same direction. I illustrate this below.

Latest Wedding

I have fallen woefully behind in my blogging. All I can say in my defense is that I am not falling behind in my photo production for all our weddings. We are on time in all our deliveries and cranking right along as promised!



Here are a few of my favorite shots from the last few weddings. One is from Ray's Boathouse in Seattle, and the other is from the Lakeside in Seattle. Both made for beautiful weddings. But, nothing beats the staff at Lakeside! Enjoy!

Wedding Albums

Some of you might know that we use Graphistudio exclusively for our coffee table type Albums. What you might not know is that they are from Italy.

After sampling so many albums in the US, we turned to an international supplier to offer us the quality and cost effectiveness that we were looking for.

To see all the options that graphistudio has to offer please check out this link: http://www.graphistudio.com/usa/products/Book/index.html

With our extra's packages you get:
And 8x10 coffee table ablum, with 20 pages
Plus 2 parents albums
The Perfect Package and Lifetime Package add additional pocket book copies.

You might notice that we only increase our prices marginally to add these wonderful books, when other photographers charge a lot for albums. We feel that these albums are an important part of a wedding package. It is my hope that more and more brides and grooms will opt for the album package with the knowledge that these books will last a lifetime.

ENJOY!

PS - Book delivery is a big deal for us here, with wine and cheese and lots of fun!