A lot of care should go into choosing the right wedding officiant. After all, they'll do most of the talking in one of the more important events in your life as a couple. In fact, all we'll get to say is "I do" the rest of the ceremony lays firmly on his or her shoulders.
Gitta gave us a great tip... She said we could choose our officiant instead of having the city randomly assign one to us.
We scoured the website and assessed each and every single accredited officer. We were looking for someone who could deliver the kind of flair and humor we hoped our wedding would have...
In comes Mr. Arie Donders...
Available 7 days a week and speaks a multitude of languages (handy for a bi-cultural wedding) including Zwolse (It's not a dialect - it's Dutch with a provincial accent.) John and I were cracking with laughter when we got to that line... It showed that he had a sense of humor and this was important to us.
Fast forward to yesterday evening...
Mr. Donders came as I was piling the last of the whipped cream into the piping bag. I never learn. I made profiteroles just in case Filipino hospitality triumphs and I can manage to offer him something to eat. After all these years, I have yet to learn that when the Dutch say they are coming for coffee... it is just coffee.
We started with confirming proper names and nicknames, names of the sponsors... procedure of the wedding. He asked us if we wanted a super formal ceremony or if we wanted something a bit more casual.
Mr. Donders was delighted to hear about the twin South African flower girls, and the half Belgian half Filipino ring bearer. Apparently, he's come across a lot of Filipinos in his many travels. :) He loved that we picked Pachelbel Canon in D.
After the details were all settled, he asked us the magic question. How did we meet?
How do you explain in an hour and a half - a love story 4 years and going? You simply can't.
I mean, how many stories start with "It was a dark and stormy night, in the middle of nowhere on an natural gas production platform..."
So needless to say, we went on overtime and he was a bit late for his 9 pm appointment. We could've probably spent the rest of the evening regaling him with stories.
John and I both think it was wonderful that we were able to learn a bit more about him as well. He's a discovery channel buff who loves to travel, he's quite a linguist and he's also has a son that lives overseas. Having retired early from a PR job, Mr. Donders officiates weddings for the sheer pleasure of being able to do so. It's understandable, people are often happiest at this time.
Certainly when the interview was over, John and I wished we had just a bit more time. We invited him and his wife to Carnivore Night XXXXV. Hopefully we'll see him again after the wedding, after all his name will be indelibly written in our marriage certificate. :)
