Presentation Thinking ties the knot: How to officiate a wedding

“We do” believe that presentations are all around us—and Molly’s recent experience being an officiant for her brother’s wedding emphasized this.

From creating a throughline with the ceremony story, catering to the audience and keeping the delivery well-paced, the foundations of good presenting all came up throughout this process in helping two people get married. 

Ceremonies of matrimony have taken place as long as storytelling itself so it was interesting to dive into this idea of a wedding “presentation” and building it specifically to fit with the bride and groom’s story. 

Molly shares some tips that helped her, logistical recommendations and what went well (and wrong!).

What’s in the Spice Cabinet?? 

Unique/Non-traditional wedding ceremony ideas/starting points

• Emma Thurgood Weddings
• Laura Alpizar Photography
• “Write the perfect 10-part wedding ceremony” - Medium

Top tips

• Plan ahead: Collaborate ahead of time with the couple to capture the style, tone and stories they’d like shared. 
• Consider the audience + the setting: Think about the setting and speak to what and who is surrounding you to set the context and importance of the scene.
• Make the logistics easy: Print out your finalized ceremony flow to fit into a nice looking notebook or journal. Tape or glue it in so that you can write in the margins, make notes on where/when to pause, etc. 

Molly’s top wedding movies (RomComs)?

• How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (2003)
• She’s the Man (2006)
• Runaway Bride (1999)
• Mikey loves Wedding Crashers (2005) and Palm Springs (2020)

Walkout song? 

• The groom - Lost in the Dream by War on Drugs
• The bride - Holocene by Bon Iver 
• Molly - Make it Easy by Sylvan Esso (*Molly incorrectly calls this “It’s Playing Now”)
• Mikey - Flash Gordon by Queen OR The Ludlows from Legends of the Fall by James Horner