1. Introduce key family members before the big day. You are making a public declaration of your love for each other and committing to become family. Your family members who will be sharing this special day with you should get to know each other beforehand. Arrange a dinner or an evening of bowling to introduce your families a few weeks before the big day.
2. Select a gay friendly officiant. Many officiants in the Seattle area are pleased to preside over a commitment ceremony, including I Do Marriage & Commitment Ceremonies, http://ido4u.homestead.com/home.html. If you are looking for something a bit more personal, feel free to ask a close friend or family member, but make sure he/she is comfortable in front of a crowd. You don’t want them to have stage fright on the big day!
3. Serve local and organic catering at your reception. Imprinting a “light footprint” is a great way to start off your life together. Ask your caterer to serve organic and local ingredients as much as possible. Stop by your local farmer’s market for ideas about what is in season in your area.
4. Personalize your ceremony with details that mean the most to you. When you decide to take this exciting step, sit down with your partner and discuss exactly what your commitment ceremony means to you. Focus on what is important to you as a couple – family, art, culture, gay rights – and create your ceremony around the ideas you discover during this talk.
5. Scope out the parking situation ahead of time. Many venues have worked out deals with parking lots and garages in close proximity. Make sure your guests know which ones to use so you aren’t dealing with parking tickets on your big day.
6. Protect your rights as a couple and register as a Domestic Partnership. Washington State recognizes same sex relationships as Domestic Partnerships. Once registered, same sex couples may apply for health insurance coverage under one partner’s plan. In addition, the registered couple may acquire property and inheritance rights. http://www.secstate.wa.gov/corps/domesticpartnerships/
7. Pre-schedule a final walk-through and meeting with your caterer and venue director. Many caterers and venue directors will require a meeting to finalize details, but some will not. If your vendors have not contacted you for this very important meeting, make sure you take the initiative to set one up.
8. Keep your budget on track and your stress to a minimum. Planning an event as important as your commitment ceremony is a daunting and time consuming job. A professional coordinator has the experience and connections to get you the best rates and to make sure that everything goes exactly as planned. Spend your day enjoying your partner, friends and family, not worrying about whether or not the flowers are being delivered on time!
