It’s important to be prepared. Wedding guests will judge your appearance, posture, voice fluctuation, how often you look up from the page you’re reading from, and in other ways.
Wedding Officiant Training
If you use the video training I’ve created and practice, you’ll do great! There’s video footage of all ceremony material and the “cheat sheets” I’ve made will help you to inflect your voice on the right words. The cheat sheets will also help you keep your place as you look up from the book you’re reading from during your ceremony.
The Most Important Kind of Communication
Nonverbal communication is perhaps the most important kind of communication. Studies have consistently shown that audience ratings of a lecture are more strongly influenced by delivery style, than by content.
I’d love to tell you that my ceremony material is all you need to do a great job, but that wouldn’t be true. I made the video training to help with this.
Fluctuating your voice by pitch (high or low), volume (loud or soft), tone (resonant or hollow), tempo (fast or slow), or rhythm (fluid or staccato) are all ways to improve your stage presence and overall success of your ceremony.
The Fast-Track to Wedding Pro
The “cheat sheets” that come with my video training have words underlined so you not only know where to inflect your voice in some way, but will also be able to keep your place as you look up and then back down at the page you’re reading from.
If you’ve got ceremony material from elsewhere I still recommend you do the same. While rehearsing, underline the words that sound best with emphasis. It will help you keep your place too, because…
… It’s important to look up and speak to the guests and the couple. Staring at your ceremony book and reading will come off as insincere and will seem like you don’t know what you’re doing. The goal is to speak to people in a conversational way, not read to them.
It’s important to remember that you’re also making an impression on the bride and groom’s families. So, smile at them and make sure they know that you’re happy for them.
The other wedding vendors will be watching you too. The DJ will notice if you aren’t holding the handheld microphone close enough to your face so everyone can hear you.
Allowing the microphone to drop away from one’s mouth is a classic newbie mistake. Using a lapel mic helps with this, but they’re notoriously unreliable and makes repeating vows and the ring exchange after you, much more redundant. You want to hold the microphone away from your mouth, so the guests only hear the couple saying their vows or ring exchange, not the officiant.
The photographer will notice if you don’t get out of the photo when the couple kisses, after you pronounce them husband and wife, or a married couple. Don’t be creepy and photo bomb their kiss! Step out and away.
The venue coordinator will often be watching to see if you’re easy to work with and if you know what you’re doing when signing their marriage license. If you’re unsure when you see the license, READ IT BEFORE WRITING ON IT!
There are plenty of newbie ordained minister mistakes, that I detailed in an article here. If this will be the first time you officiate a wedding, be sure to read that article. It will help you look more like a pro.
