• Walking down the aisle: close to guests, not able to distance
  • Options for where to stand when officiating
  • Driving to a long-distance wedding. Where to use a bathroom? Not wanting to be indoors.
  • Couples who say ‘no masks’
  • People who approach you after the ceremony
  • Ensure masks worn by witnesses
  • Leave the signature pen there or have sanitizer in car to clean
  • What to do when more guests are present than what the couple said would be there.
  • Couples who want you to hold multiple dates
  • Will you offer to do a free license signing if they postpone
  • Dealing with microphones
  • Ceremony payments when the wedding has been postponed
  • Virtual meetings
  • Being proactive to help your couples
  • Wording when addressing issues with vendors and venue coordinators
  • Addendum for changing the date/postponement
  • Addendum for safety of celebrant, couple and guests
  • Some couples may want to have a small wedding on the date of their original wedding. What is the difference between an elopement and a micro-wedding? How do you set the fees for each?

Wednesday, August 19 at 7pm ET

How to Join:

All Humanist Society Teleconferences are conducted via the Zoom meeting platform. Presentations will make use of visual elements like PowerPoints and screen sharing, so joining via computer, smartphone, or tablet is recommended. Participants may also join with audio only via cellphone or landline.

Smartphone, Mac, or PC: 
https://zoom.us/j/821519612

Or dial by your location
+1 929 436 2866 US (New York)
+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)

Meeting ID: 821 519 612

Donna Forsythe

Donna Forsythe

Donna Forsythe grew up in a Quaker family. As an adult, she identified as an ‘atheist Quaker’, later realizing this was the foundation for Humanism. Forsythe worked as an inner-city educator for 30 years, when she took a sabbatical in 2014 to earn her Masters in Leadership and Administration. That year, Marriage Equality passed in her state of Pennsylvania. Within days of the lifting of the same-sex marriage ban, she officiated her first wedding, marrying two men in their 70s, which prompted her to go through the Humanist Society to become endorsed as a Humanist Celebrant.

This would prove to be a life-changing event, leading Forsythe to retire from education in 2018 to pursue her Humanist Celebrant business full-time. Since becoming a celebrant, she has officiated over 250 ceremonies and built a full-time celebrant business, Lehigh Valley Celebrants, which includes a group of four other Humanist Celebrants who work with her. Her background in theater and her previous work as a teacher, as well as a librarian/storyteller, has provided a unique skill-set. Her goal is to craft meaningful, couple-centered ceremonies and to create an atmosphere where everyone feels like they’re part of the celebration. Most recently, she has collaborated with her local LGBTQ center to provide Transgender Namings to those in her community.

Read her TheHumanist.com article, “Love Wins: LGBT Wedding Expo Embraces Marriage Equality”.