Back in 2008, when I was planning my wedding, I had a wedding binder (homemade), with binder tabs and typed labels. I had checklists. I had timetables. I had “questionnaires” that I typed up for use when I spoke to a vendor on the phone. I was, in short, an organized bride, with a capital “O.”

None of this, however, nor the time I spent reviewing the available options in Massachusetts, made me feel prepared for the search for a wedding officiant. Because let’s be honest: the person who performs your wedding ceremony is not the same as the person who puts together your bouquet, or applies your makeup, or rents you some tablecloths. Your wedding officiant is not a “vendor,” not a person whom you can “interview” and then “hire.”

My fiancé, Jamie, and I felt a lot of pressure to find just the right person, who would craft just the right ceremony, just for us. We wanted a completely personalized wedding ceremony, written and performed by a professional. How do you get that, though, unless you just happen to be best friends with someone who performs weddings for a living? We had no idea.

When we went to meet LisaAnn, we were nervous. It felt like a first date. Will she get us, we wondered. We will like her? Is she the one? Our own first date had lasted seven hours (a fact which we have always been proud of, and which LisaAnn managed to work into the Welcome of our wedding ceremony); we knew a good first date when we had one.  

I wish I could compare the conversations we had with LisaAnn to all the other wedding officiants we met with, but the truth is, after that first date with LisaAnn, we cancelled all the rest (just like we cancelled our own online dating profiles after that first epic date with each other).

She got us.

She started with a blank page, and over the months we spent working with her, she crafted just the right ceremony, just for us.

I couldn’t be more excited that LisaAnn has invited me to contribute to her blog, and to share with her readers some of my own experiences working with her to create my wedding ceremony. In my next blog, I’ll be sharing more about that special first date Jamie and I shared with LisaAnn, and how we knew she was “the one.” Please stay tuned!