Officiant Obstacle

Normally how it works is that the pastor or priest of the congregation you belong to would be the officiant of the wedding. How easy! But Paul and I have a couple of factors that make this search a little difficult. I am a Catholic that was never confirmed. If I wanted to do a Catholic wedding, I would have to go to "school" or counseling in California and transfer the paperwork over for it to be approved in Hawaii. If I was considering a Catholic wedding, I would like it to be at St. Theresa, my elementary school. The priests I grew up with are no longer there, plus there will be renovations to the church around the time we plan to get married; so it was not meant to be.


St. Theresa Church Entrance

Honestly, I was kind of relieved. Traveling between 2 venues is difficult, Catholic weddings in my opinion are too long, and I wasn't looking forward to confirmation school. BUT I did want to include some of the traditions of a Filipino-Catholic wedding; so Paul and I decided to just make it a non-denominational Christian wedding, spiritual and symbolic. Since we were having it in Hawaii, I wanted to get someone local to officiate even though Paul had a Lutheran Paster and youth leader he grew up with who could officiate for us.

Honestly, I didn't know where to start. Paul actually gave me the key which eventually let us to the officiant we picked in the end. His boss, Reid, gave him the number to a Paster Nelson who we interviewed. It seemed that our wedding date was going to conflict with his birthday; so he gave us the number to Pastor Mack. In the meantime, we interviewed a Pastor Christoperson who had a more military feel, and not the local flair I was looking for. He did have a really nice view from his house on St. Louis Heights...

We found another officiant who had a 4 week waiting list to even schedule and appointment. I couldn't believe it...did everyone else have this problem?

Finally, we talked to Pastor Mack, and he was really wonderful. Not only does he have a congregation that he preaches to on a regular basis, he offered a little marriage counseling as well. He has done many weddings and is extremely organized. I think he will send us off with a good, meaningful message as well as conduct it smoothly and efficiently.

I was a little worried that we would have to settle with an officiant that we have never met, and it was important, at least for me, to at least have semi of a relationship with the person who was going to marry us. I am glad that Pastor Mack came along...I can't imagine conducting more interviews via web/phone.