Officiants By States

Ozarks

Small Business Profiles

Published Tuesday, July 26, 2005

On line wedding service helps engaged couples find an officiant

Claudia Beasley
Springfield News-Leader

About the business:
Can-A-Lope Weddings is an on-line tool for couples in need of an officiant, wedding minister or wedding officiant to marry them. Forty ministers in 25 states are available to perform services.

The Web site informs customers of the services available, lists ministers by state and a provides a profile of the officials.

A deposit is taken once a customer chooses an officiant. The ministers don't pay to be included on the Web site but do require a fee for officiating.

Jeff DeBlase is a go-between for couples with no denominational affiliation. He has found a niche for people without ministers. DeBlase said there are churches that won't marry couples if they have previously been married and divorced or live together before marriage.

Meeting with the pastors who want to be included on his Web site requires a lot of travel for DeBlase. A check of their credentials and an interview is conducted before he will list them.

How business started: DeBlase attended school to become a pastor in the 1980s. He worked in Houston, Texas, as a minister but has shifted to preaching, teaching and outreach, concentrating on people struggling with addiction. He says Can-A-Lope developed from answers to prayers. After an initial success from one ad in a newspaper, DeBlase traveled to Tulsa, St. Louis, and Kansas City and placed ads there. He got a great response and found that soon he couldn't handle the business without some technical help.

Friends helped DeBlase build a Web site in January. He added cities, pastors and links to other Web sites.

Special training, preparation or experience: Before the ministry, DeBlase worked in marketing for a few large corporations. Instead of marketing a product, he is now marketing a service, a good one, he said, that meets the needs of customers. Challenges to opening the business: Developing the entire concept was a challenge, he said. He didn't know how to expand to other states, bring in quality people or develop a Web site, but it all came together and is gaining momentum, he said.

Five-year goal: Right now he handles around 10-25 weddings a week; he would like to make connections for 50 to 100 couples a week. Ultimately, he wants to support his family and his outreach ministry, which is his true passion.

Owners: Jeffrey and Cindy DeBlase.

Opening date: June of 2004

Location:www.canalopeweddings.com.
Springfield Wedding Ministers
St Louis Wedding Ministers
Kansas City Wedding Ministers
Tulsa Wedding Ministers
Oklahoma City Wedding Ministers
Houston Wedding Ministers
Atlanta Wedding Ministers
Chicago Wedding Ministers

St. Louis Post-Dispatch (MO)
August 14, 2005

WEDDING SERVICES OFFER SIMPLE "I DO'S"
More couples opt for quick, less costly nuptials, giving rise to growing niche for marriage officiants.

Author: GAIL APPLESON
Of the Post-Dispatch

Edition: Five Star Lift
Section: News
Page: A1

Index Terms:
MARRIAGE;OFFICIAL;WEDDING INDUSTRY;FAD;CLERGY

When pilot Larry Brown and his flight attendant wife decided to take early retirement a few years ago, they wanted to start a business they could run from their St. Charles home that wouldn't tie them down.

So they started a wedding business. Not the planning, invitations, catering or flowers kind. But the marrying kind.

"We were looking for an upbeat, positive situation," he said.

Both got quick ordinations from the Universal Life Church Web site, which takes application's in a matter of minutes. They also brought in a 25-year-old ordained associate. "If I have a couple that wants someone younger, that's an option," Brown said.

They started marrying couples about a year ago and average about four or five weddingceremonies a month. Brown said he's flexible on fees, but they run about $250 per ceremony plus $150 for a rehearsal.

The Browns are part of a growing niche of husband-wife teams, individuals and groups that sell t heir services as 24/7, nondenominational wedding officiants. While there are no statistics tracking the growth of these businesses, wedding industry experts say they have witnessed significant increases in the number of officiants promoting their services over the Internet, in newspapers and other publications.

"We have seen the number of wedding officiants almost quadruple since 2002," said Alan Berg, vice president of sales for the Knot regional wedding Web sites and magazines. "We had 63 in 2002 and now we have almost 250." The Knot is a leading wedding media and services company. Its Web site, www.theknot.com, is one of the most trafficked wedding destinations on line.

The wedding ceremony section of the Greater St. Louis Yellow Pages hosts ads for such businesses as All-Couples Married, Always Open Wedding and Marriage Service, Anyplace Wedding Services, Anywhere Wedding Ceremonies and Can-A-Lope Wedding Ceremonies.

"A growing niche"

"Officiants are ! definitely a growing niche," said Kara Corridan, executive editor of Modern Bride in New York City.

While Gallup polls measuring church and synagogue membership show no significant drop in the last five years, wedding industry experts say the officiant business is taking off because of interfaith couples and those who do not belong to a church or synagogue.

Robin Clark of Maryland Heights, who recently married Shane Butler, is an example.

"We're not members of a church," Clark said. "But I didn't want to go to a judge. I wanted a minister."

Donyel Lorick of University City, who recently married Jermaine Thomas, also said the couple did not belong to a church but looked for an officiant who was a trained minister. Both brides consulted the Yellow Pages and found the Rev. Darrell Faires of Anywhere Wedding Ceremonies.

Robert "Rev. Bob" Barker of All-Couples Married, a Richmond Heights officiant business, said many couples don't have time to belong to a congregation.

"Among almost all of our couples both ! work," he said. "These days no one has ttime for anything."

Second weddings

John Armengol Jr., president of operations at Andre's Banquet Facilities, said the area's large Catholic population leads couples to find officiants, particularly in the case of second weddings when a spouse-to-be is divorced. Some officiants say business also is getting a boost from military personnel who want to get married quickly before being sent to Iraq. Price and flexibility can also be factors.

In the St. Louis area, wedding officiants' fees tend to range from about $50 to $350, with additional costs for rehearsals and travel. Most will perform wedding ceremonies just about anywhere -- from their own backyards to Busch Stadium.

"You have an unlimited choice of locations wherever imagination leads for you to share this important moment," reads the Web site for All-Couples Married, made up of three semiretired weddingministers.

But the message continues: "Important Notice: The officiant will not jump from airplanes -- the bones don't work like they used to, besides it is sometimes hard to hear with a parachute flapping."

Barker, who actually performed a ceremony at Busch Stadium, said Internet advertising and word-of-mouth keep the three ministers booked, with each performing about 100-150 weddings a year.

"It is a growing business in every community," said the Rev. Christopher Tuttle, president of the National Association of Wedding Officiants. The organization was formed about five years ago as a way for officiants and clergy to post their services on the Internet. It has about 200 members listed on its Web site, nawoonline.com. Couples can review officiants' backgrounds on the Web site and comment about the services they receive.

Christine Isaak, director of sales and marketing at the Falls Reception and Conference Center, a popular wedding venue in Columbia, Ill., said she is receiving calls from officiants asking to be put on the center's referral list.

And Andre's Banquet Facilities, a 25-year-old St. Louis-area business providing five different banquet facilities and a range of wedding services, is seeing a rise in requests for the use of its two staff officiants, Armengol said. He said officiants have conducted 135 wedding ceremonies in the current fiscal year, compared with 85 the same period last year. The banquet facilities are in
Oakville, Fenton, Festus, Richmond Heights and Sunset Hills.

Officiants offer couples the means to fashion a customized ceremony, said Marlene Bricker, a Chesterfield independent Religious Science minister who has been performing weddings for more than five years.

She offers four different ceremonies, including one using a clear glass heart that she fills with yellow glass symbolizing friendship and red glass symbolizing passion. She said the clearness of the heart symbolizes the clarity of balance between the two.

Jeffrey DeBlase, a Minister in Sparta, MO., who a year ago began running the Can-A-Lope Web site, www.canalopeweddings.com, also stressed the ability of wedding officiants to serve couples who want something different. DeBlase, who said the Lord suggested the name Can-A-Lope to him while he was praying, has about 25 wedding ministers listed on his site.

He recalled one ceremony in which the bride and groom insisted that their dog be the ring bearer at a backyard wedding. DeBlase was worried, but the couple assured him there would be no problems.

But during the service, a canine guest got the ring bearer's attention.

"The dog had the rings tied on a ribbon around his neck, and he just took off," DeBlase said. "Yeah, he was trained all right."