Making a good choice of your marriage officiant can be all the difference for your wedding ceremony. Here are some tips to ensure that you make a good choice for your marriage officiant.
The marriage officiant you choose must be authorized to celebrate marriages and experienced, at the risk of turning one of the most beautiful days of your life into a nightmare.
Check that your officiant is authorized to celebrate marriages or civil unions by the Registrar of Civil Status
It is important to check that your officiant is authorized to celebrate marriages. Image captured on May 22, 2018 – Website of the Québec Registrar of Civil Status.
In Québec, since January 1, 2018, it is the Registrar of Civil Status who is responsible for ensuring that the officiant is recognized by law and authorized to celebrate marriages. Retaining the services of an unauthorized officiant will void your civil marriage. You can always check your marriage officiant online to make sure that he/she is properly authorized to celebrate marriages. To check that your officiant is indeed an authorized officiant:
- Go to the Register of Officiants;
- Enter the surname and first name of your officiant and click Search;
- Enter the date of the marriage and select the name of the officiant;
- Click Next and find out if your officiant is an authorized officiant.
Make sure the officiant is available
As soon as you have chosen a date for your marriage, make sure that your officiant will be available on the date and time you have chosen for your marriage. The officiant must also be available to answer your questions.
Choosing an experienced officiant
It is important to choose an officiant with experience, who will be able to make your marriage ceremony the event you dreamed of. Choose an officiant with several years of experience, who celebrates several dozen weddings a month. This will let you have a ceremony performed by a true wedding professional. You can check how many weddings your officiant celebrates by the following steps:
- Got to the Register of publication of notices of marriage or civil union;
- Enter the name of your officiant in the search field;
- Click the Search button;
- Choose the administrative region.
Online publication of marriage notices lets you check if a marriage officiant is experienced, particularly by providing information on the number of marriages he actually celebrates. Image captured on May 22, 2018 – Website of the Québec Registrar of Civil Status.
You will see a list of marriages that will be celebrated in the next few weeks by the officiant whose name you have indicated.
It can be seen that in the weeks following May 21, 2018, Mtre Mona Salehi notary and wedding officiant will celebrate close to 30 civil marriages, making her a truly experienced marriage officiant.
Related services offered by the marriage officiant
By choosing a notary as an officiant, you can benefit from a legal consultation. This consultation will let you understand and choose your matrimonial regime and decide if you want to make a marriage contract.
Mtre Salehi offers you the possibility of celebrating your civil marriage in an elegant ceremonial room, which will be much more enjoyable than celebrating your wedding in an office or conference room.
