Planning a Wedding? Pastor Casey is here to help.
Crafting your own wedding ceremony should be an enriching and fun experience—not a stressful one! Hiring an ordained minister to collaborate with you on designing your ceremony, lead your friends and family in a rehearsal, and officiate on the day of your wedding will allow you to celebrate your love and commitment uniquely and without worry. Here’s how it works:
Take a look at your calendar and then Schedule an Initial Consultation with Pastor Casey. This will be a 20-30-minute phone or Zoom conversation with you and/or your partner, to get to know each other and exchange logisitical information to begin to make sure she is the right officiant for you.
After that conversation, you will fill out two documents: a Ceremony Planning Worksheet, and an Information and Officiant Agreement, which you and your partner will sign and return to her via email, along with your deposit. Pastor Casey will review those, and if everything is in order, sign and return the agreement to you. It is at this point that she is formally booked for your wedding. Hooray!
Based on your location and preference, your Ceremony Planning Session(s) will be either virtual or in-person. You and Pastor Casey will work together for one or two one-hour sessions (depending on how DIY your ceremony is) before finalizing the content.
You and Pastor Casey will correspond, as needed, until your wedding. Email is preferred, but you will also have her cell phone number.
As applicable to the boxes you check on your Officiant Agreement, Pastor Casey will travel to your wedding! You will have applied for and received a marriage license in the county where you live, and will bring it (including an appropriate envelope) to the rehearsal or ceremony. Once it is completed and signed, Pastor Casey will mail it (she’ll cover the postage). Congratulations!
Answers to some questions you might have:
Pastor Casey officiates weddings and facilitates (pre)marital counseling for couples of all gender identies and sexual orientations.
Pastor Casey is ordained in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and lives and serves within the Pacifica Synod. She is able to legally officiate weddings in all US states and for couples of all religious identities.
Pastor Casey’s typical professional attire includes a clerical collar and stole; she has multiple stoles from which you may choose. She will otherwise dress according to your guest dress code.
Pastor Casey is not a licensed therapist, but will facilitate important premarital conversations with you—whether or not she is officiating your wedding ceremony. Learn more about that in the Premarital Counseling section below.
Pastor Casey is fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and expects that you and all of your wedding guests have been fully vaccinated, as well. If you are choosing not to verify the vaccination statuses of your guests, Pastor Casey will only preside at outdoor, socially-distanced events and may choose to wear a mask. If you and/or your attendants are not fully vaccinated against COVID-19, Pastor Casey is not the officiant for you.
Have a question not answered here? Email Pastor Casey and ask!
Premarital Counseling
Preparing for a wedding is a lot of work, and it is important to remember that you are also preparing for marriage. However long you have been a couple, marriage changes your relationship in ways large and small. Engaging in premarital counseling with Pastor Casey is a great way to begin—or continue—healthy conversations about yourselves and your life together. If Pastor Casey is officiating your wedding, and you are interested in counseling, she’ll explain the process to you as part of your initial conversations. If she is not officiating your wedding, she can still facilitate these conversations with you—whether you are dating, engaged, or already married! Here’s how it works:
Take a look at your calendar and Schedule an Initial Consultation with Pastor Casey. This will be a 20-30-minute phone or Zoom conversation with you and/or your partner, to get to know each other and exchange logisitical information, to begin to make sure it’s a good fit. (If she is officiating your wedding, you’ve already handled this step. Way to go!)
After that conversation, you will fill out the Counseling Agreement, which you and your partner will sign and return to her via email. Pastor Casey will review it, and if everything is in order, sign and return the agreement to you.
The framework for your sessions will be Prepare/Enrich, which is very customizable to who you are as a couple. Based on the choices you made in your Agreement, you will meet with Pastor Casey on Zoom or in person for your Counseling Sessions, as well as complete the “homework” between sessions.
If you are entering into counseling before your wedding, and would like one or more session to be scheduled for after your wedding, you may. Remember, your wedding is just the beginning!