Why Dave should become an officiant

For our wedding over a year a half ago, we asked a close friend of ours to officiate at our wedding ceremony.  Neither of us belonged to a church, Dave wasn't really interested in the idea of a church ceremony, and I had been to enough to know that I was ok with forgoing what I considered to be the impersonal nature of most religious marriage ceremonies.

Dave suggested that we find someone close to us to do our ceremony, and a close friend of ours agreed.  In Pennsylvania, there are a number of ways to make a marriage legal, including the "self-uniting" marriage which is a marriage certificate that doesn't require an officiant at all, so it wasn't a problem to have someone who was "ordained" online to perform our ceremony. 

But it was definitely different.  After all, we had a non-religious woman marry us in a room that is typically used for meetings.   It was definitely a non-traditional and perhaps even somewhat controversial decision (although no one really said anything to our faces, at least.) 

But in more ways than one, it was perfect for us, and I wouldn't do it differently even if I could. 

We were able play an active role in writing the ceremony - we made it incredibly meaningful for us and there was definitely a lot of feeling and emotion put into it.  A lot of our guests had tears in their eyes during our ceremony, so I like to think that means that they found it touching as well.  Our officiant was someone that knew us really well, and who had been around since the very early days of our relationship.  When she spoke about us, she was speaking from extensive past knowledge of who we were, and not from a few brief meetings.  And even though the room we used was sort of drab, we were really able to spice it up with flowers and lighting and I think in the end it looked quite beautiful.

We were so happy to have someone that we knew do our ceremony.  But I know that there are a lot people out there who also don't want to have a religious ceremony but don't necessarily feel the need to have a close personal connection to their officiant.

Take this person, for example: http://citypaper.net/blogs/clog/2009/11/25/dept-of-personal-favors-i-need-your-help/.  Our dear friend and officiant (who currently lives in Philadelphia) was able to respond to this posting and will be officiating at their wedding this coming Sunday!  He's a prominent blogger, and may even be able to connect her with other couples who are looking for an officiant.

This is why I think that Dave should become a wedding officiant.  He's a tall, attractive man who looks great in a black suit (not that it's a requirement, but it helps, right?).  He's a public school teacher who teaches communication AND public speaking!  He's used to addressing a large group of people and he's good at it.  And we happen to know that there is a demand for non-denominational officiants in the Pittsburgh area.  Our florist - who knew our wedding wasn't in a church - mentioned that he had two other clients/brides having non-religious ceremonies who were looking for officiants, and asked if he could pass on the name of ours.  Unfortunately, she was making the trip to Pittsburgh specifically for our wedding, so that wouldn't really work out, but I realized then that officiating could be a really fun and meaningful side job!

Additionally, I have dreams of being his booking agent/manager and eventually offering out day-of-wedding coordinator services in conjunction with his officiating services! We could be the perfect husband and wife team! What do you think?!? Does it sound like a good business plan???