There are all kinds of obstacles that can prevent a couple from going ahead with a traditional wedding. No matter how much you’d love to be surrounded by your friends and family members in your home, a church, a secular assembly hall, or out in the great scenic landscape offered by nature, that goal may prove impossible or overly challenging.
Whether you need to follow social distancing requirements or your guests are just too far away for in-person attendance, a Zoom wedding is the perfect solution to let everyone share your special day. Let’s cover some things you need to know about planning a Zoom wedding and obtaining a legal marriage certificate.
What Is a Zoom Wedding?
A Zoom wedding is one that takes place as an online virtual event using the Zoom video conference platform. Zoom has made its mark on the business world as a convenient way for remote or home-based workers to see each other, confer, and give slide presentations from wherever they may be.
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A Zoom wedding uses these capabilities to bring wedding participants and attendees together. Your guests can watch and listen to the entire ceremony while also contributing their own readings, toasts, and other interactions.
How Do You Plan a Wedding on Zoom?
Much of the planning required for a Zoom wedding resembles the same steps you’d take to plan a traditional in-person wedding. You must still reserve the venue, decide on a theme, choose your photographer and videographer, and create a music playlist. You must take care of all the legal and administrative details that typically accompany marriages. You’ll still be sending out invitations, gifts, and the other goodies people expect from these occasions.
The main difference involves the extra technological needs. You must choose a venue that offers a reliable Internet connection, test your audio and video until you know everything’s working perfectly, and have someone who can supervise issues such as muting the guests’ microphones and helping them with technical problems.
Can You Host Your Zoom Wedding by Yourself?
You can — but you shouldn’t. The sheer number of details can easily prove overwhelming and distracting, especially in light of all the other things that will be running through your mind on the big day (you don’t need any more wedding-day kitters than you’ll already have!).
A Zoom wedding contains so many moving parts that must be attended to that you’ll benefit greatly from leaving all those details to a “one-stop solution” such as MarryFromHome. Our team can manage everything for you, from providing tech support and Zoom security issues to handling your marriage license, marriage certificate, and officiant needs.
Do You Need a Legal Officiant for a Zoom Wedding?
Any legal wedding — including any Zoom wedding — must be conducted by a legal officiant. Different states have their own definitions of what constitutes a legal officiant.
One great advantage of working with an online service such as MarryFromHome lies in the fact that we select an officiant who can legally perform the ceremony in a state that permits online marriage, removing any worries about the legitimacy of the ceremony so you can focus on the ceremony itself.
How Do You Obtain a Marriage License for a Zoom Wedding?
In the pre-pandemic era, obtaining a marriage license was generally an in-person affair. You and your prospective spouse would go to the clerk’s office in your town or county, present the necessary ID documentation, fill out the forms, and receive your license. The events of 2020 made that simple process impossible (or at least potentially hazardous). Thankfully, many states have responded by becoming more flexible about how they process marriage licenses.
You can now apply for a marriage license online, making the whole process easy and fast. Be ready to submit an ID document as part of the process (Passport, Driver’s License, or Government Issued ID), and your Social Security number if you’re a US citizen. Your officiant and two witnesses will also need to be present during a Zoom meeting as part of the application process (both witnesses will need to be at least 18 years of age, and provide their full names).
Can You Get a Legal Marriage Certificate After the Wedding?
You’re eligible to receive a marriage certificate as soon as you’ve completed your Zoom wedding ceremony. The application for your online marriage certificate should take place at the same time as your marriage license application (some parts of the U.S. let the marriage certificate serve as the equivalent of a marriage license).
You’ll want multiple copies of this document, in both hardcopy and digital formats, because you’ll find yourselves submitting them to various agencies and organizations, from your credit card lenders and banks to the IRS and Social Security, so they can update their data on you. You’ll receive the official, sealed court hardcopy documents in the mail.
Why Hire an Online Wedding Specialist to Manage Everything?
It makes just as much sense to hire an online wedding specialist to manage your Zoom wedding as it would to hire a traditional wedding planner for an in-person wedding. Yes, you could try to take care of a thousand details involving many different vendors yourself.
Before long, however, you’d get bogged down in a quagmire of stress and confusion. You’d also also find yourself worrying whether these various parties will work together smoothly enough to give you the experience you want. Hiring an ordinary wedding planner might solve some of the problems, but these planners lack experience in the additional technology challenges posed by Zoom weddings.
That’s why you should rely on MarryFromHome. We offer packages that cover all the essentials, from administrative and legal concerns to technical ones. We can make sure you have your officiant, marriage license, marriage certificate, and other critical pieces of the puzzle firmly in place, leaving you free to think about touches such as theme, decorations, and vows.
We’ll even stay online after you say “I do” so you and your guests can enjoy a virtual wedding reception. Whether you want a small, simple wedding or an online extravaganza, MarryFromHome has got you covered. Contact us today so we can Zoom forward with your virtual wedding plans!
