According to the Washington Post (July 2, 2006) While clergy still perform most weddings, the ceremonies are straying ever farther from tradition, reflecting a do-it-yourself attitude toward religious nuptials

How true, how true.

When I first started officianting at weddings seven years ago, non-denominational weddings were starting to proliferate. Now they seem to be exploding. Why do you think that is? I have done my best to find information and statistics and all that dull kind of stuff on the internet and I come up with zip to none. But I have my opinions and ideas about why this is happening. Im going to share them with you and if you dont like what I say, thats o.k. Its just an opinion about a trend.

Idea #1 More and more people are defining themselves as spiritual and not religious and dont have a regular church in which to be married. Most of them want a wedding that includes God but some do not. They want more than a civil ceremony and they want their own spirituality reflected.

Idea #2 Couples are realizing that they dont have to do the Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today and make promises to love, honor and obey. More couples are wanting custom weddings and wanting to have a say in the structure and wording of the ceremony.

Idea #3 There are more interfaith marriages taking place and they need a neutral venue and a neutral ceremony that reflects their particular personal style as a couple.

Idea #4 There are more nondenominationaal officiants available who are creative, flexible, loving and spiritual. They are able and willing to think outside that proverbial box to help design a ceremony that is fresh and exciting to the couple. They also are generally willing to work with people with various religious and spiritual paths.

Idea #5 Weddings have become a business and officiants are advertising and letting couples know about their services.

Idea #6 The internet makes it possible for everyone who works with weddings to make their services know through websites, blogs, directories and ads. This allows people to realize they have many more options than simply a choice between a church and a civil ceremony.

Nondenominational is generally considered Christian oriented but not in a specific denomination such as Baptist, Catholic, Episcopal or Presbyterian. And many ministers who perform nondenominational weddings alse perform Interfaith weddings such as Catholic-Jewish or Budhist-Christian, generally trying to incorporate something from each belief system.

A wedding is a joyful celebration in which two people declalre their love for each other publicly. Nondenominational weddings allow a couple to have their ceremony their way.

Irene Conlan

Irene Conlan is an ordained, non-denominational minister who has officiated at weddings in Scottsdale, Arizona and the Phoenix metropolitan area since 1999. She loves working with couples to design a custom ceremony that is uniquely theirs at a venue of their choice. Over the years she has gleaned some information that she can pass along to couples, parents, attendants, photographers and others in the wedding party to help avoid any pitfalls in their ceremony. And she can share the humor.

Irene also has a masters degree in nursing and is a certified hypnotherapist at The PowerZone in Scottsdale Arizona. She was Administrator of Nursing Services at St. Luke's Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix and served as Assistant Director of the Arizona Department of Health Services. She was married to former U.S. Congressman John Conlan and has two sons, Christopher and Kevin and three grandsons. Irene has authored three books and is a regular contributor of articles to AZNetNews a holistic health newspaper.