Now You Have a Choice

Authored by: Annette Marchant

Did you know? That you and I make a staggering 35,000 choices every day!

As a couple about to say “I do”, no one needs to tell you about the thousands of choices you’ll make preparing for your wedding day…

But if you’re here and reading our little story about choices; we want to let you know that we’re so grateful—and it’s because of YOU! Why?

Because couples like you have made Enduring Promises THEIR CHOICE!

As a result, we’ve been awarded The Toronto’s Choice Award!

This award “recognizes the top 5% most highly rated special event industry professionals within each respective category across the entire EventSource.ca network year over year!”

For us, at Enduring Promises, we love what we do. Years of passion, integrity, and professionalism have made us your choice, and really, there is no telling what this means to us. How privileged we are to serve you—our couples in this way…

“We went to the Wedding Show and that’s where we found Enduring Promises. They gave a run-through of ‘how it works’ and from the start, we knew we wanted to use their services—with how easy everything looked.” —Michelle

With access to our online portal (including our library of wedding suggestions), you’re able to customize your wedding ceremony—telling your love story in a way that is easy for you, and unforgettable for everyone else.

“Working with Enduring Promises as a company was very easy, quick, and accommodating. We loved the online platform where we could build our own ceremony script, the suggestions were great, and [they] were so helpful with any questions we had. Grateful!!!—Anastasia

We have Officiants who speak English, French, German, Russian, Romanian and Spanish. They will happily accommodate your wedding ceremony in the language you love!

“Our ceremony was perfect and unforgettable.”—Christina

From Toronto to Ottawa and many points between—we are there for you. We’ll never miss a wedding that’s booked with us. We have on-call Officiants (we don’t always have control of the ups and downs of life). But, if something out of the ordinary gets in the way of your booked Officiant fulfilling their duties—we’ll still be there! Like an insurance policy—always good to have, but hopefully you never need to use it!

“Enduring Promises has absolutely blown all and any expectations way out of the water; beyond amazing!!”—Jennifer

Your choice got us here, and your choice for Enduring Promises (an Award-winning team of Wedding Officiants 😉) is a choice you won’t regret!

“[The] experience and professionalism really showed. Thank you so much for everything, would absolutely recommend this service to a friend.”—Micaela

Indeed, you do have a choice!

Thank you for choosing Enduring Promises!


About the Author: Annette Marchant

Annette Marchant is a copywriter and homebody from Calgary. She writes—and is a happy contributor to this blog. Her love of words is fueled by black tea and a great set of headphones. Her home is filled with boys and one of them is an Officiant with Enduring Promises.

A Wedding Rehearsal – Who Should be in Charge?

Who Should Be in Charge?

Wedding Rehearsals Without Overwhelm

Why online advice about wedding rehearsals is wrong.

Authored by: Annette Marchant

You can probably relate to what one of our couples said, “The lead-up, and day of our wedding was hectic and crazy.”

What this couple realized is that planning a wedding that is personal, intimate, special, celebratory or anything else in between is hectic and crazy—no matter how large or small your plans are. Simply, because you care.

Hectic and crazy—do you feel that with every fibre of your tired mind? What feels like thousands of decisions need to be made and followed through on—overwhelm is a genuine concern.

Most of us recognize when we are out of our depth…

If you don’t know how to change the oil in your car, you bring it to a professional. Or perhaps, you do know how to change the oil but it’s totally not worth the hassle, because the pros have the skill, tools, and ability to do what you could so much easier—safe oil disposal alone is worth the trip!

Btw, did you know that when it comes to oil changes you have to choose between regular or synthetic oil, and bio-degradeable, synthetic, or micro-glass oil filters? Oh, and is that the primary or secondary filter? It’s not just oil changes where we seek professional help, truth is, we hire all kinds of professionals to help us do the things we can’t.

Have you ever planned and performed a wedding ceremony before?

(It’s ok to admit you’re out of your depth.)

If you’re here and looking at hiring (or have hired) an Enduring Promises Officiant, it’s probably because you love the idea of having a personalized ceremony, one that you create. A ceremony so you, only you and your Officiant know all the details.

We’re not trying to be contrary but some venues and planners feel that they can run the rehearsal, we’ve even heard other suggestions that one of your friends (preferably a teacher—used to wrangling rowdy children) could run your rehearsal.

If only you and your Officiant know all the elements of your ceremony—do you really want your teacher friend running the rehearsal, or handing a copy of your ceremony to your wedding planner (who, btw, isn’t performing the ceremony) to run the rehearsal? Or worse, doing it yourself on top of everything else? *Deep breath* overwhelm—remember?

Over the years we’ve worked with so many couples and their families, wedding planners, venues, photographers, and DJs. You could say we’ve logged our hours, put in the time, and have become experts in the field—professionals who know how to work with other wedding professionals.

We don’t come to the rehearsal to step on toes, we come because we know your personalized ceremony, all the moving parts, and we come to support the feel of the day that you are wanting to create—oh, the memories you’ll cherish for the rest of your lives!

We come because we’re here to help, to remove the stress, because this is the reason you hire an Enduring Promises Officiant—we work together, you personalize and create and we take your vision to make it a reality.

“We did a rehearsal a couple of days before our wedding. It was our first time meeting our Officiant in person and we were so pleased with how friendly and funny he was. He got along great with everyone! During the rehearsal he really put our minds at ease and got us more excited about the big day! He made us feel more comfortable and gave us pointers to better our ceremony.”—Kim & Ronny on Wedding Wire

This is the difference between “diy” and relying on a professional.

“Our Officiant was extremely knowledgeable, helpful, and kind. She ran our rehearsal with polite control that kept things running on time and well. She was conscientious of photos during the ceremony and had tons of really useful tips. Couldn’t have asked for better. She even figured out how to cue our DJ during the ceremony when he wasn’t able to see her.”

—Michelle W. on Wedding Wire

“We couldn’t have asked for anyone better! Our Officiant was very helpful right from the initial meeting, at the rehearsal, and of course on the big day. His insight and humour were appreciated and helped calm both mine and my husband’s nerves.”—Amanda B. on Wedding Wire

We understand that it is well intentioned advice, but this is why the following advice [1] doesn’t work for an Enduring Promises Officiant…

“Before your rehearsal, be sure to sit down with your officiant…” At Enduring Promises, and well before the rehearsal, you have our time and attention any time you need us—we’re just an email or text away!

“…and discuss what elements you’d like to include in your ceremony…” Any elements you’d like to include will be added to the Ceremony by you through our one-of-a-kind Wedding Console. Your Officiant is notified of any and all changes you make in real time, so that your ceremony is completely you!

“…and what you don’t…” We don’t do things you don’t want to do—enough said.

“Be sure to ask what your options are and remember to stay true to who you are as a couple.” You have hundreds of options to choose from when you book a “Your Ceremony, Your Way” wedding package—making staying true to who you are as a couple easy, peasy!

Remember the hectic and crazy couple from the beginning? “We took on the additional work of hosting our wedding in our backyard, which only added to the stress. However, our Officiant, was absolutely incredible! Not only was he able to keep us level headed when we spoke with him, he offered us a few bits of advice and guidance making the overall experience much more enjoyable. Our guests absolutely loved him and how simple, yet personal, our backyard ceremony was.”—Robert S. on Wedding Wire

The Wedding Planners we work with also encourage a Rehearsal ….

I ALWAYS tell my couples that a rehearsal is a MUST. When I hear couples say, can we skip the rehearsal it is a huge NO for me. I even made a reel on Instagram about it. 

I always hear from my previous and current clients that they are happy that they did have the rehearsal, especially when their officiant is there. All the pressure and stress from family/ bridal party asking them questions goes away after the rehearsal and they can focus on enjoying their day…..  Which is very true!

Bar – Glorious Events

“As wedding planners we always encourage our clients to have a ceremony rehearsal with their bridal party and everyone else involved. It is important to also have an officiant there, who will be performing the ceremony. Rehearsals help the couple and their bridal party to visualize the flow of the ceremony, how to walk, where to stand, what to do, we usually practice all the moving parts of the ceremony at the rehearsal, such as the processional and recessional, signing of the registry, rings exchange. We do two rounds of the practice and at the end of the rehearsal everyone is usually very comfortable, because they know exactly what to expect on the wedding day.”                                                              

Fidan – Designed Dream

Remember the oil change illustration—ha! Enduring Promises Officiants have the time, tools, and skills that every couple needs. We say it all the time—our main goal is to reduce the stress of your day, and that the ceremony should be the one thing you don’t need to worry about.

We perform the ceremony, we know your personalized ceremony, we know the elements and moving parts, we love what we do and we’d love to rehearse with you.

“Nothing beats experience!” 

Annette Marchant

About the Author: Annette Marchant

Annette Marchant is a copywriter and homebody from Calgary. She writes—and is a happy contributor to this blog. Her love of words is fueled by black tea and a great set of headphones. Her home is filled with boys and one of them is an Officiant with Enduring Promises.

Kaelen & Scott

We chose Ron Shantz as our wedding officiant and was he ever incredible! He was not only so wonderful to work with leading up to the day with answering our questions, making sure we knew the flow of the ceremony but really wanted to make our ceremony special. He spoke so eloquently, had a very calming presence, and used humour. I can’t recommend him enough; he will truly make your wedding experience incredible and special. Thank you, Ron!

Kaelen & Scott
Married on September 23/2022

Christie & Martin

A big thank you to Tim for officiating our wedding! We couldn’t have asked for a better fit for a wedding officiant. The seriousness mixed with being laid back and a great sprinkle of sarcasm was exactly what we needed for our ceremony. Taking a fun shot at Martin about who was the annoying one after he was joking with me was perfect! Tim really made the ceremony feel like us, and that was all we ever wanted!

Christie & Martin
Married on September 17/2022

Dalila & Dani

Best day of our lives!

We went with Enduring promises because it was included in our wedding package. And we are SO happy that it was. Everything was so easy, and we chose to go with David Blow as our officiant. He was extremely quick to respond to any of our questions and he was easy to talk to and understood what our needs and wants were. He was also extremely flexible attending our rehearsal the day before. In the end our ceremony turned out to be everything that we could have ever wished for!

Dalila & Dani
Married on September 16/2022

Angela & Sean

Brianne Manuel was the officiant for our intimate wedding ceremony. She was amazing to deal with prior to the wedding and during the ceremony. She was exactly what we were looking for when thinking about an officiant. She was quick and responded to all my emails. Brianne made this process so easy for us and was an absolute pleasure to deal with.

Angela & Sean
Married on September 20/2022

Tania & Nathan

The perfect touch!

We were so honoured to have David Blow as our officiant for our wedding day. He is the sweetest soul and made our wedding ceremony so beyond perfect. David made the effort to also come to travel to us for a rehearsal, he was so organized and took a load of stress off our shoulders.

Enduring promises has a WONDERFUL platform that they provide you so that you can customize your entire wedding ceremony. I love this because you can create your special moment in any way you would prefer.

I would recommend enduring promises and David Blow over and over again!

Tania & Nathan
Married Aug 26/2022

Rachelle & Antonio

Melissa Welch-Paré was the officiant for our wedding, and she was nothing short of amazing! She was very prompt, attentive, and made the entire process easy and enjoyable! We would highly recommend both Melissa Welch-Paré and Enduring Promises for anyone looking for a unique option for their wedding.

Rachelle & Antonio
Married on September 10/2022

Samantha & Andrew

Angela was the best!! A+++

Our experience with enduring promises was amazing from start to finish. Angela exceeded our expectations and made our day an amazing success. She provided pointers and recommendations based on her experience, she led our rehearsal and took control of the ceremony which we absolutely appreciated! Angela was fast to respond from start to finish, and even after following the ceremony when we had some additional questions.

The online portal was a great tool as we were able to curate our customized ceremony just how we wanted it. It was incredibly easy to use and the prompts for each section of the ceremony were very helpful.

We would HIGHLY recommend Enduring Promises and Angela to be your officiant. We had a top notch experience every step of the way. Thank you, Angela, and team, for making our ceremony and day so special!

Samantha & Andrew
Married Aug 13/2022

Drew & Leeann

Melissa was super helpful and kind. She kept in contact with us after the first meeting just to remind us of deadlines and options with the ceremony. The templates are super easy to use and really helpful. It allows you to personalize and set the tone you want for your ceremony and your guests. Our officiant Melissa Welch-Pare was amazing, I would recommend her to anyone. She is super personable, kind, and professional.

Drew & Leeann
Married August 6/2022

Wendy & Trevor

Absolutely amazing experience!! THANK YOU!!

Our officiant Belma Vardy was absolutely amazing!! Often reviews are based on a 5⭐️scale, Belma deserves at least 20⭐️!!!! From start to finish we felt comfortable in placing our trust in Belma to guide the ceremony we had created!! The online development platform was fantastic! It gave us some ideas as a starting point, but also allowed us to create a ceremony that was custom to us, add to it, change it and tweak it to perfection! Belma was there throughout to make sure everything was in place and exactly as we wanted it! Her communication and calm nature put us (as well as our two teenage boys that were our wedding party) at absolute ease (throughout the planning process) and her expertise and guidance allowed all of us to enjoy every minute of our special day!! We can’t thank Belma enough for all that she did for us! We would definitely recommend Enduring Promises for your officiant(s) without hesitation!!

Wendy & Trevor
Married Jul 31/2022

Nicole & Christopher

My wife and I got married on July 22 with the help of Brad! We could not have asked for a better officiant as Brad took the time at our rehearsal dinner to go through what our wedding was going to look like and helped to reduce our anxieties. For the wedding day itself Brad helped my wife and I overcome our nerves with a joke that broke the tension and gave us a beautiful ceremony. I am so thankful that we picked Brad to be a part of our special day!

Nicole & Christopher
Married Jul 22/2022