How far in advance did you book your officiant ??

I did it last month.

As soon as you have your date nailed down with your venue(s), book your officiant.

I usually get booked 6-9 months in advance, but sometimes it is more than a year and sometimes it is less than a week. And on a few occasions, it has been less than a day (when a non-pro backed out)!

We have two meetings with officiants Saturday and then we hope to book one soon after that!

I booked mine as soon as I booked my venue: 14.5 months out!

I booked mine back in march and then fired them last week because they didn't listen to anything we wanted. Good news is we found another one who seems to really get our vision. So I would say book early, but make sure you really listen to your gut with the person. I had a little uneasiness with our first officiant but tried to suppress it.

Bethany0821 - nope, we're winging it! :-)

I still don't have one! Ugh. It's more difficult to find one than I thought. I figured there were tons out there for us.

Oh, that's great Black Tie. Let us know how that works out.

For everyone else.....I'd do it as soon as you have a venue; good officiant book fast, especially if they've been around for a while and do a lot of word of mouth biz. I hate, hate, hate turning friends and family of my former couples away because they wait until too late.

I'm currently booking summer and fall of 2017 and into 2018. Many of farther out (timewise) couples are from venues that refer us or they were at a wedding of ours already.

Book a couple of meetings (we are doing 90% skype and face time; it's easy and representative of personality and delivery) and see how you click. Ask for sample ceremonies and don't be shy about your expectations.

But as great as content is, delivery is even more important. Next to that is how helpful they are about not only the ceremony but the other aspects you mention; processional, timing, etc. A well rounded and true pro is going to be happy to help you with everything!

I just booked mine on Sunday! 14 months from our wedding. I wanted it done so I wouldn't have to worry about it later on and it's one of the most important parts of the day.

I got mine set up about a month after we got engaged and got venue booked, so roughly 10 months before wedding.

I'm booking 2018 and I just booked one for a week from tonight!

DH asked our officiant the day after we set the date (we set the date before we were "officially" engaged). I knew that in MA, you can have a person made a justice of the peace for the day and I suggested that FIL could officiate the ceremony. (I wanted to include him as he raised DH after DH's parents divorced). FIL was so excited to be asked he researched the process and ended up getting ordained. It was great because I was able to write the ceremony exactly as I wanted it (he reviewed it to ensure I covered all the essentials). He did a great job and has since officiated for friends as well (using most of the ceremony I created).