all right so you're scouring the internet trying to figure out how to officiate a wedding well look no further this is where you're gonna find out I'm mark Alyn grello I'm a full time booked solid professional wedding officiant here in Toronto Canada I have been in the exact same place as you are right now and now I help people officiate fantastic weddings so here we go are you ready here is how to write the perfect 10-part wedding ceremony let's get into it number one the ceremony kickoff got to start this thing off somehow and here is how I typically do it so first of all I walked to the front there's no change to the music I walk in a lot of the time with the groom with the groom's party and then I make a few announcements first I welcome everybody to the wedding get them warmed up a little bit I tell them two things first of all whether or not they're allowed to take photos and second I tell them to please turn off their devices so that nothing is ringing or going off might make a little joke with the groomsmen of the groom to make sure they have their phones turned off to then I just say we're gonna have a wonderful time with that let's begin and that brings us to number two two of ten the processional so when I say with that let's begin the music starts and this is when people come marching rather ceremonially down the aisle so the typical traditional order to this is that the bridesmaids walk out leading up to the maid of honor and then of course to the bride now there might be ring bears and juniors bridesmaids and things like that again sometimes they come out before the bridesmaids sometimes they come out after the maid of honor and before the bride bride comes down with dad or whoever's walking her down she arrives at the front the groom steps forward usually they stop at the front row groom steps forward takes her hand of course handshakes with that whoever's walking your hugs kisses exchange they step forward they stand in front of me you the officiant I like to have them hold hands the bride will often turn give her flowers to her maid of honor and then we are ready to begin and move into number three element number three for writing the perfect wedding ceremony is the efficient speech that's where you and I say a bunch of things now here's what I recommend you can do a whole bunch of things you can say a whole bunch of things we've all been to weddings where you know it's not the most exciting I think what makes a wedding so important and amazing is that we're all here to witness the commitment and the promise that these two people are making in front of us basically in community and so I'd like to talk about that here's a few things you can say you can share a story of the couple or the story of the couple I tell the story the couple in every single wedding I tell another thing you might do is read some reading some poems some things that are meaningful to them something of course about love marriage that kind of thing so if you are gonna focus on some theme I would say make some kind of deep philosophical statement about commitment and the meaning of faithfulness and of course here if you're presiding over a religious some more religious ceremony as I do sometimes you might want to include a blessing a prayer or something from this couples faith or religious tradition number four is the exchange of vows I like to say this is the heart of the ceremony this is the part of the day when these two people are going to make promises to each other that we of course traditionally call vows they're essentially promises never to leave each other now there's typically three ways to do vows the couple can write and read their own vows the couple can repeat after we efficients line by line by line or they can just stand there option number three while we read a big long question at them and they just say I do in turn which leads us next to number five number five is of course the exchange of rings so again in the ceremony I like to say these rings are a physical symbol of the promises that these two have just made to each other usually the best man has both rings and so each will take a turn putting them on starting with the groom they'll usually repeat a couple of words I like to have them say a couple things but I give you this ring as a sign of my commitment when they've each done that and the rings are on then we move on to the next element number six so after I've said a few I like to tell the story after the vows have been made after the Rings have been exchanged I typically say with nothing left to be said and by the authority given me by the province you might want to say that you may have to say some words there depending on your legal jurisdiction I now pronounce you husband and wife were married you may kiss the bride you may kiss the groom you may kiss each other I talked with a couple about what they want me to say there and they kiss everybody Cheers and that leads us into the next element element number seven is signing the legal documents now I don't know what this process is like where you are here in Ontario where I am we need to go to a signing table with two witnesses so five of us basically go there we sit down usually there's a fun song playing because after they've kissed and everybody's cheered it's a bit of a party mood so number seven we sign we take our time doing that usually lots of pictures guests are chatting then we come back to the centre and that leads to step number eight number eight is the closing remark so at this time I'll say something like the couples sign the papers they're totally legit and married and people cheer a lot of the time we'll tell them now I'll tell them a couple things I'll tell them what the couple is doing next but bride and groom are heading out briefly for photos just so that the guests aren't wondering where are they where did they go so they're gone for a little while in the meantime this is the second thing I tell them in the meantime you are invited to the terrace cocktail era has begun enjoy drinks and hors d'oeuvres and the reception will follow after that again I asked a couple exactly what they would like me to say there and so with that said I say thanks everyone for coming have a wonderful evening and now and this leads into step number 9 step number nine is the official presentation of the couple here is where the couple gets officially presented to everyone for the first time and so I will say something like it is my distinct honor and pleasure to present to you for the very first time mr. and mrs. last name or just first names as husband and wife or something like that again talked to the couple about how they want to be presented for the first time but there you go that leads into the last step we made at number 10 the recessional the recessional is nice and quick a couple of points here though the couple head Amy down the aisle and so I always tell the wedding parties let's wait until they get all the way down the aisle because we don't want some kind of crowding we don't want a traffic jam backed up so we let the couple do go all the way down the aisle maybe they're gonna cancer maybe they're gonna mug from the camera maybe they're gonna be high-fiving guests whatever let them go but then once the aisle is clear typically best man maid of honor two by two and then after that in pairs the the gentleman will step forward offer their arm the lady will take it and they will go this is pretty quick it's not like the processional where it's nice and slow the recessional is fast we got somewhere to go pictures to take drinks to have a party to get to that kind of thing the music is playing it's a party atmosphere and then of course I step over to the bride's parents congratulate them let them go down the aisle the groom's parents same thing and off and off we recess we're done that's the ten part wedding ceremony now of course there are a million ways to do weddings there's variations on this so this is not me saying this is the definitive ceremony however I will say I've been doing this for years here in Toronto a big urban center with millennial couples people love this this works so this might not fit you exactly adapt it use it but this works I can tell you that now if you have questions like yeah but what about all those little variations and details as I was talking what about this what about that I have a full major blog post on this please click the link down below and you'll get a lot of variations I also have a ceremony guide for free that you can grab the link is down below so grab that as well be sure to like this video subscribe if you want every week to be notified about a new video every week I'm putting up a new video about how to officiate a wedding thanks a lot see you next time