Meeting With Potential Officiant #1

Last night, Patrick and I met with a potential wedding officiant for about an hour.

This guy seems genuine and said that he performs weddings because he feels there's a need for someone who would perform Catholic-focused weddings without the requirements the Phoenix Catholic diocese has put in place (9 months of premarital counseling to include 4 months of 'natural family planning,' and the ceremony has to be performed inside a church). He's definitely a talker, and he got off subject easily when asked questions, but we think he'd be good if he had a script to follow. He admitted he isn't the most organized person, but as long as he would have the details we give him for the ceremony, that should go smoothly. He's happy to give suggestions (we got a couple sample scripts), but he said he's more than open to changing the order/wording/details per our preferences.

The only thing that I'm not completely sold on is the fact that we don't really know him, and he doesn't really know us... I'd like whoever officiates our wedding to know us in some way, but how well can you really get to know someone after 1 (or 2) meetings? Patrick put it well in saying that a wedding ceremony is part show, and we need to make sure we find someone who can carry that out well.

We still haven't given up on the idea of finding a priest who will perform the ceremony at Aldea, but nothing has been figured out yet. Until we exhaust all the options, we're not rushing into a decision on the officiant. IF we can't find a priest, we're still planning on meeting with a priest to have our marriage "recognized" by the church, but that'll be some point after our ceremony on May 26th.

Our day is going to be a really special occasion, and I'm sure we'll find the person who will perform the ceremony of our dreams.

-Lisa