Important notice to Wedding Planners

Dear colleagues,

I have been practicing the fascinating profession of officiating secular ceremonies since 2009 and I wanted to post this article in order to share with you an observation that I cannot help but find worrying and regrettable.

I carry out this activity full-time and consider myself, at the risk of appearing pretentious, as a professional and experienced officiant with more than a hundred ceremonies to my credit in French and English.

I have noticed, over the last 3 years, that more and more of you are discovering a sudden passion for the profession of officiating.

Far be it from me to make an amalgamation and throw stones at all the WPs! I take great pleasure in working with some of you (you will recognize yourself) and congratulate those I do not know who prefer to direct their clients towards serious officiants rather than exercising a role that they do not master.

The WPs who pose a problem to me (and who will also be able to recognize themselves) are those who have “smelled the right thing” and invented a career as officiants of secular ceremonies overnight.

These people imagine that it is enough to find a standard script and sell it to the client as a personalized service and I fear that they are more motivated by the lure of profit than by passion for the profession and above all satisfaction. client.

I have great respect for the WP profession which I consider to be a profession in its own right. However, I regret that certain WPs do not grant my activity this reciprocal respect and endanger the still fragile credibility of the officiating profession by proclaiming themselves ceremonial officiants.

My comments are particularly aimed at WPs who are only ceremony officiants when it suits them, that is to say only when couples hire them to organize their wedding in which case the ceremony is offered to them at a ridiculous price just like the melon set offered if you buy the cookware at trade fairs!

In order to support my remarks, I took the liberty of doing a small “incognito” test during which several WPs offering their officiating services were contacted in order to obtain information & prices for the ceremony alone WITHOUT the organization and 9 out of 10 WPs didn't even bother to respond! Enough to doubt their real motivations, right?

I am perplexed when I see that WPs indicate on their website that they can organize the wedding, coordinate the D-Day AND officiate for the secular ceremony. There are no 50 ways to keep such a promise: Have a team managing the organization & a person responsible for the ceremony. During the preparation phase, it is completely impossible to manage the organization AND design of the ceremony if you are alone, unless you propose a standard ceremony and provide an almost non-existent personalization effort.

And on D-Day? Be serious ! I can't help but think that the officiant's credibility is somewhat damaged if the bride and groom and guests saw her an hour before the ceremony, in a tank top, jeans & sneakers, on all fours under the tables to control the length of the tablecloths or perched on a stepladder, busy attaching light garlands to the ceiling! Why not ask the bride to make her bun or serve the glasses and champagne with the reception! Treat yourself!

I am an officiant and the job of WP is not mine. Ladies and Gentlemen WP, it took several years for your activity to be recognized as real added value to marriage.

It would seem right to me to allow real officiants to do the same and couples to benefit from a tailor-made service offered by serious, experienced professionals who are sincerely passionate about this profession.