After you have selected your wedding ceremony location, the next step is to hire your ceremony officiate. You should arrange for a meeting fairly early in the process, because ceremony officiates get booked months sometimes years before an event. For many churchgoers it is only natural to that the clergy from their place of worship will officiate. If that is not the case, many ceremony managers can refer you to ministers they've used in the past. Your wedding planner is another great resource for selecting the ceremony officiant.

If you plan on a civil ceremony, you'll need to contact the municipal courthouse or local town hall for a judge or justices of the peace. Most ministers and clergy require at least one premarital counseling session with the bride and groom before they will conduct the ceremony. During your appointment with your officiate, be sure to discuss the type of ceremony you desire, your likes and dislikes, and what your plans are for music. It is your special day, so it is important that you feel comfortable with your officiant.

Couples who don't consider themselves religious may chose to have a friend or family member act as their ceremony officiate. Becoming ordained is easier than many think, and it has only become easier with the popularity of the Internet. Today, more quickly than every you can become ordained to perform weddings from just about anywhere.

The non-denominational Universal Life Church has enabled more than 20 million people since 1959; since 1995 the church has turned close to 700,000 men and women into ordained ministers to perform weddings.

Because fewer young couples are members of a church compared with previous generations they aren't comfortable saying, "I do" in front of traditional wedding ceremony officiants. In an effort to personalize your wedding you may find that a friend or family member may be more appropriate to officiate than other alternatives.