The Third Most Important Person of the Day
Now that you have found the person you want to marry, you need someone to marry you!
If you belong to a church already, you just have to ask your pastor about officiating your wedding. Do this as soon as possible as your pastor may already be doing two other weddings that day. Also, your pastor may want you to attend marriage preparations classes and speak to a marriage mentor before agreeing to officiate your wedding.
If you don't belong to a church, you will need to find a Justice of the Peace/marriage commissioner to officiate your wedding. Marriage commissioners are appointed by the Government of Alberta under the Marriage Act to perform civil ceremonies. A list of the marriage commissioners can be found under the Service Alberta's website.
As you go through the list of marriage commissioners in the area that you want to get married, if they have a website, take the time to look through it. Read up on the commissioner's background, his/her rules, and any testimonials they may have. If you have shortlisted a couple of commissioners, call or send them an email asking about their availability on your wedding date. Be prepared to tell him/her the time of your wedding ceremony. Most commissioners do two or three weddings a day. It is crucial information to provide him/her this information. After the commissioner has gotten back to you with his/her availability, they will send you a copy of the booking contract. Read this over and then ask to set up a meeting to answer any other questions you might have. If after the meeting, you are comfortable having this commissioner officiate your wedding, you will then sign the contract.
When we were finding a marriage commissioner for Carisa and Richard, I nearly had a heart attack. In one morning, I had to go through six different marriage commissioners before finding one that was available. Mind you, I was pretty picky when selecting a marriage commisioner. I wanted a younger, female commissioner that appeared to be friendly, laid back, and able to officiate a fun and relaxed wedding ceremony. I felt this was important because on the wedding day, the bride and groom will be stressed out enough. Having the commmissioner put them at ease will make the ceremony memorable for the right reasons!!
Luckily, we did find a wonderful marriage commissioner, Jacqueline Hoare and they (the three of them) totally hit if off during a meeting. Jacqueline will also be working with Carisa and Richard in designing a personalized ceremony with joint vows and maybe some verses in Chinese! If you are a wedding guest, you better remember to bring kleenex with you. It will be a touching ceremony. (If you don't have kleenex, I always do!)
If you missed the first couple parts of the series, you can catch up here: Carisa and Richard's love story and wedding venue search.
~Monica
Owner and Lead Designer @Wishahmon
Photo Credits: Green Wedding Shoes
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