How far in advance should you book your officiant?

You do not officially have a date unless you have the venue of the ceremony and the officiant obtained and contract signed.

Book ASAP. Why would you worry about it interfering with his work opportunities? You are offering him work opportunities.

I would book him as soon as you have a ceremony venue booked.

Svetlana, that was unhelpful. Natalie, it is not his profession. He is a friend of mine so would be performing the service as a gift to us.

Thanks @MJ

I agree with MJ. As soon as you have a definite venue and date, I would book the officiant as well. Really once you have the venue and date set I would start booking as many other vendors as possible, to make sure you are able to get the ones you really want.

According to your date, no later than Aug/Sept. Get on it. Get that venue as well. We got engaged last May 27th. By June I was booking left and right. FMIL said, "So soon?" Look lady, this isn't the 20th century anymore, you have to plan stat!

Hire a professional and you won't have to worry about your wedding interfering with their schedule.

If you have your venue contract signed I would book a professional officiant as soon as possible.

@MFB because he is legally able and we would be honored to have him.

Chivy, you say he is a friend, is he ordained by your state to do Wedding ceremonies? If he isn't I do believe he needs to be or your wedding is not recognized as legal.

You should definitely look into specifics of the state and, potentially county, of where you are getting married.

For example, Fairfax County in Virginia has some pretty strict rules about who can be an officiant (unless I'm completely misunderstanding the government page, which is TOTALLY likely). One time officiants have to be court approved, AND must be a resident of Fairfax County.

I know this isn't really relevant to your question, but it's definitely something for you to look into.

Hey guys, the legalities are irrelevant to my situation. This isn't his first rodeo.

I asked my pastor a year in advance and he is busy! I'm sad and don't want to look, but I need to!!

Hey Chivy - We don't know your specifics and we're just trying to be helpful. If it's not relevant, just move on.

I don't understand why you would wait if he gets busy. May as well firm it up with him as soon as possible.

But, in my specific instance, I didn't firm up my officiant until March 2017 for a June 2017 wedding. She wouldn't commit to anyone in June before that time.

I understand kitty, but it wasn't mentioned initially because it was a non issue. And I mentioned I don't want to ask him too soon in the event he has to turn away paid work to keep his commitment to us.

I'm sorry to hear that Rebecca. I hope y'all are able to find someone else that you like.

@kitty in the event that she was not available, did you have a backup lined up?

The legalities are irrelevant? Are you not getting legally married?

The legalities have EVERYTHING to do with your situation. What's the point of getting married if it's not legal?

Friend or not, you should pay him and have a contract.

I'll offer to pay him but idk if he'll take it. He actually asked to do it before we even got engaged.