84 Weddings, 13,587 Miles, And A Growing Officiant Network

Numbers don’t tell the whole story, but they make a great map. We just wrapped a year that stretched every muscle: 84 weddings booked from 98 quotes, 13,587 miles on the road, and a growing network of trusted officiants to keep quality high without burning out. What made it meaningful wasn’t the scale alone—it was the shift in how couples are designing ceremonies that feel like them, not just tradition on autopilot.

Across Pennsylvania, we saw fall fully eclipse summer as the new prime season, with September and October turning into joyful marathons. Couples experimented with structure: fewer formal bridal parties, clearer unplugged guidelines that guests actually respected, and rehearsals replaced by focused Zoom run-throughs. Vow volleys emerged as a favorite for personal promises without stage fright, while unity ceremonies leveled up—from warming hands over hot coffee on a freezing day to crystal blends, family paintings, a 3D-printed heart, and yes, an unforgettable sword exchange. The classics stayed strong, with handfasting leading the pack for depth and symbolism.

We share demographics that help shape tone and pacing, from first-time vows at 64 to blended families crafting rituals that include kids. We also dig into what makes venues a joy to return to—tight teams, clear timelines, and spaces that match a couple’s vision. Pricing and packages evolved to reflect that care: the most popular option balanced travel, custom scripting, and space for unity rituals without rushing the moment.

If you’re planning for 2026, this is your field guide: what trends actually worked, which logistics saved the day, and how to design a ceremony that’s honest, warm, and fully yours. Subscribe, share with a friend who’s planning, and leave a review to tell us your favorite unity idea or vow style—what should lead the way next year?

Transcript

What We’ll Cover Today

Why Wraps Matter Beyond Numbers

Total Weddings And Growth

Inquiries, Conversions, And Fit

Seasonality And Peak Months

Couples, Ages, And Remarriages

Referrals, Platforms, And Leads

Ceremony Styles And Vow Volleys

Miles Traveled And Favorite Venues

New Locations And Unique Spaces

Marriage Licenses And Counties

Trends: Parties, Kids, And Phones

Rehearsals And Zoom Alternatives

Unity Ceremonies: From Rare To Popular

Pricing, Packages, And Demand

Lessons From A Record Year

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Welcome to the wedding wear with officiating by Amanda. Welcome back to the wedding wear. Today we are going to be doing a 2025 year in review, and I'm so excited. Bear with me, got a little bit of a cold, but we're living with it. We're rocking with it. I love every year when I get like the Spotify wrapped and all of those other sorts of things. And about three years ago, I started doing urine reviews for the officiating business. Sort of really simple, like how many weddings, how many miles, fun facts about the couples. And it has definitely grown. I have two whole pages of notes here. So if you hear wrestling, that's just that, me looking through these pages as I try to sum up what was my biggest year so far. I wanted to almost say ever because there is no way I can keep running at the rate I was running. But I have said that before. And maybe I'll say it again, at least for the next few years, I don't want to be anywhere near the capacity of 80 weddings. Maybe if they're done through like the larger officiating by Amanda network, fine, cool, glorious. But as a single one-person independent, no, nope, nope. Don't know how I did it. I might need to seriously start capping at like 50 and done. But I say that every year. I really love doing these raps, not just because of the numbers, though I am a very numbers-based person and I do love it. But behind every statistic are the couples, are the stories, are the moments. And I look forward to sharing more details about each of those moments through this podcast with you guys. But you have to know the big smile that comes on my face when I throw out the name of a venue that is now the most popular of 2025. Because instantly in my head, I see the couples and I see the ceremonies and I see that. Oh my gosh, that's the story I'm going to tell when I talk about XYZ place. So I'm going to try to keep this pretty succinct and not go off the rails. But please know that I really, really could. Today we're going to talk the number of weddings and who they were and how they found me and where I've traveled to and trends I saw and unity ceremonies that are just so new, they've gotten added to my list of unique unities, milestones. And yeah, this entire script is fill in the blank right now, which I love because I have the answers for the blanks. So let's rewind and take a look at 2025, the wedding where everything happened and I was an insane woman. So we're going to start with the most basic of numbers. How many weddings did you do this year? 84. That does include four weddings that were done by other officiants in what I'm lovingly calling my network. So I either like booked the client and then was able to guide them to the officiant, or the officiant and I worked as a tag team. And then depending on what life was looking like two months out from the wedding, we were able to assess who was going to take that wedding. I'm really excited for those partnerships to continue into 2026 so that this job that I do, this brand I'm trying to make, can grow even more, but it doesn't have to be just me doing hours and hours and hours of work. So very excited. And that's a new record, and that's a new high. For context, last year, and I'm pulling up last year's wrapped stats, if you will. It's just absolutely crazy to know how much it has grown. And I'll pull up 2023 too, because I keep track of all this stuff. So 2023 was 30 weddings. 2024 was 58 weddings. And I thought I was crazy then. Nope, obviously 84 weddings. That's that's where I'm really drawing the line at crazy. That's it. That's the number. For a little context, though, I had 222 inquiries, so outreaches. And a lot of these come from the not wedding wire, Zola. Occasionally I get my phone, it rings in the middle of the night, and someone says, We want to get married. I did have a couple this year. They called and said, We just drove into town and we want to get married. I said, Great, I can meet you in four hours. Quickest I've ever booked a wedding in my entire life. And of those 222 inquiries and outreaches, 98 of them were able to schedule a console call with me and get issued a quote. So, industry average, that's that's pretty decent to have about a 50% rate from inquiry to consultation and quote. Or a lot of people who are really in immediate search for a vendor and can't wait an hour or two for a response back on some of these sites. So they will take whoever is the first to respond, they will take a flat quote rate, they won't do a consult or anything like that. And it's totally fine. So I don't see that number as discouraging at all. And I really love that the percentage between the quotes sent out to the ones that actually resulted in weddings is quite high. So you've got 98 quotes went out and 84 of those booked. I like that number. That's a very nice number. I actually never want it to be 100% like I must be doing something wrong if every single person would want to book with me. I don't vibe with everyone. The pricing isn't for everybody. The services needed shouldn't be what I offer for everyone. Like, I'm not going to be everybody's cup of tea. So that's all good there. Quietest month. Definitely the winter. So the first wedding we had in 2025 was February 1st. And the last wedding of the year was December 31st. But January was very quiet. February was quite quiet as well. July, June, July, August. I had some travels, took some breaks, so that was really, really needed to kind of keep momentum going. But those are oftentimes some quiet months just because the heat is so unbearable. And really, no one wants to be a June bride anymore. Fall is where it's at. Spring. But mostly in Northeast PA, the fall. Which brings us to our peak month. So a lot of months were really, really top-running this year. Like I did six weddings and five days in April. I did six weddings in 36 hours over Memorial Day weekend. October 10th and 11th had 25 inquiries about it. And I ran like a crazy person. I took off work on the 10th. It was National Mental Health Day. Thank you to my job for working to get that off. And I did rehearsals and weddings that entire weekend. I lived out of my car. But it doesn't take the cake to the highest month. So I'm going to go from fourth place up to the top place. So April's in fourth place with eight weddings. And yes, six of those were in a five-day sprint. I I really need to stop sprinting. Someone should make this podcast into a drinking game. The number of times that I say I should stop or oh gosh, that wasn't smart. Too funny. May had 13 weddings, which included that fun Memorial Day, six and 36 hours. October had 14 weddings, only to be beaten by September, which had 15 weddings this year. Thankfully, the way that the month laid out, there were enough. Yeah. There were enough weekends to kind of get it covered. But there was, I I did nine weddings in a 10-day block at the end of September. Oh yeah. Just sorry, my own numbers are like giving me pause, which is wild. So we talked about the weddings. The dates, I should say. Now let's talk about the people. So 84 couples. That's a lot of people. And this year I started tracking ages because a lot of it is listed on their marriage license. I don't normally, I wasn't, I wasn't previously tracking ages. And now I do because I find it interesting. So the youngest bride I married this year was 21. The oldest bride was 70, oh 67. Sorry, I almost made her 10 years older, but 67. And the average age across the 84 brides is 31. Now, again, I should come with a monocurve saying it's like spouse one and spouse two, because I have had some non-binary marriages this year. I've had some same sex marriages this year. But by and large, I go off of what's listed on the paperwork. Nine times out of ten, the bride is listed as the first spouse, and the groom is listed as the second spouse. So just trying to give some metrics, hopefully, no hurt feelings over just kind of misidentifying from this eagle-eye view, bird's eye view of these weddings. So for our groom's category, uh 20 years old was the average age. I'm sorry, I lied, 20 was the youngest. It sounded weird even as I said it. 20 was the youngest. 64 is the oldest groom married this year, and it was his very first wedding. He was very excited. And 33 is the average age of the grooms this year. And I did an episode previously with some stats about divorces, divorce rates, how many couples I've seen with second marriages. And so I've got kind of the year-end stats on that. Now, not every marriage license displays that information. Every county does keep track of it, but it's not always shown on the marriage license. So for the ones I know, I had 15 brides who were who sorry, there's that cult I was talking about. I had 15 brides who were previously married and represent 19 of the previous marriages. I had 15 grooms who were previously married and represent 17 previous marriages. So that's yeah, that's what 36 previous marriages figured out what worked, what didn't work. Some ended with divorce, some ended with death, unfortunately. So pretty, pretty interesting, especially, and again, in 84 couples, that's hey, that's not bad for the divorce, rate. Could have been a lot worse. Could have been a lot worse. So how did they find me? I already said that the most common is through the knot and wedding wire and Zola. Shout out to expos and the venues that keep referring to me. Or I had a fair amount this year. I had five that came from like previous weddings. So they were either guests or bridal party members at previous weddings, or better yet, their parent was. That was a great wedding. The mother of the bride and the father of the bride, the parents of the bride had been at a wedding that I did in 2025 for, get my ears mixed up here, in 2024, and absolutely loved it. They thought I was hysterical. They thought it was a great balance, and they went home and instantly recommended to their daughter, kind of sight unseen, use this person. So a lot of that really spoke to me that, you know, their parents would recommend me. That's that's a really great honor to have. I think I probably have to do some updating at my website, but I got 12 leads from there and I've got 12 leads through email. So there certainly isn't a bad place to be getting a lead and inquiring from. If we talk about the ceremonies and really think about how they looked, I mean, they're all over the place. There's there's no set trend right now on you have to write your own vows, you say your own vows. I did a lot of vow volleys this year, and I have a lot more scheduled for 26. I think that it's a really great way of blending the I want to write my own vows, but I don't want to talk too much, or I don't want nerves of watching how my face reacts to my significant other's vows when they say theirs. So definitely look back on that episode if you have no clue what I'm talking about. But stay tuned because I think 2026 is going to be the year of vow volleys. So let's talk a little bit about like the miles, the map, and marriage licenses, because I started keeping track of all of those things too. I'm gonna give you some miles. And first, I'm gonna give you what the previous two years' miles were, because I tracked them as well. And I think it's beneficial to know and really celebrate what my poor, poor sweetcar has been going through. Poor girl. In 2023, I traveled 2,990 miles. In 2024, I traveled 5,900 miles. And in 2025, I put 13,587 miles on my sweet, sweet Subaru named Savannah. Savvy, you are the real champ in all of this. I seriously could not get through it without my car. And I know that her days may be getting numbered, so hopefully she just puts up with me a little bit longer, just a little bit longer. And in traveling all of those miles, I got to go so many, many, many places. I could run through an entire list of the new locations that I've been to. But first, I'm going to start with some of my returning and like the most popular. So I did go back to a lot of correctional facilities this year, including two brand new ones being Pike County and Laurel Highlands. But Frackville, SCI Frackville, still number one in my heart. I think I'll be doing less of those given that I'm no longer in Schuylko County and the flat rate I would have to charge for a Tuesday mid-morning prison wedding has gone up. But I've ever enjoyed my time in the prison system. We'll put it that way. I went down to Drew Moore Estate in Peckway. Fantastic venue. I love it. It is going to definitely be a venue that I spotlight. And I always love when Marnie calls and says, Are you free? I've got a couple, or do you have this date available? I'd love to recommend you. It is the reason why I will keep driving down. I think that that was probably the farthest I went for a wedding this year was from where I am now in Milford, Pennsylvania. It's about three hours one way to go down to Lancaster County. But man oh man, it's a great venue. They run a great tight ship. The couples that are there know exactly what they are looking for, and they are not trying to get a best hunt bargain. You know, they want the quality, they want the value, they know the worth of it, and that's just amazing. I did several weddings at Carmen's Country Inn in Drums, Pennsylvania. It's a really gorgeous garden, and I've gotten to see it through a bunch of different seasons, some a little more where we were only inside because it's cold and everything's not functioning. But we did a few this year with some beautiful outside views. And I again, the staff there I work very well with and know them well and very happy to kind of get back in. I know when I show up what I can expect, and they know what they can expect. And that always really helps in the vendor world. Returned to Tapa Grove to do a wedding there. Again, beautiful, beautiful all-in-one kind of venue. And you get ready upstairs or in one of the side rooms downstairs. They've got everything really seamless. I've never had any issues. Gotta give a shout out to my capriotti friends. And now that they're on, I think their third venue location, I was at all three this year between Capriotti's catering in McAdoo, Graver's Barn, and Tree Farm in Tamaqua, and their newest one, which oh, don't let it Bellagio Fields in Sugarloaf. So excited to get to show up and see once again trusted vendors, friends, people I know who know what they're doing. Always makes me happy. A reason why I'm happy to go back time and time again. And lastly, I've done one wedding here before, before this year. And now that it's a little more my home turf, I'm elated, absolutely elated to get back into doing more weddings at the Stroudsmore Country Inn, which is located in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania. They have the venue layout you want for anything and everything. They have the woods, they have like the little chapel-y feel, they have indoor, they have outdoor food top-notch. The one couple invited me to stay for the rehearsal dinner. And oh my gosh, I ate my weight and food. It was delicious. It was the buffet, it was spot on. And it's just across the creek from where I grew up. So I've been there a lot and I'm excited to be there all the more. Love working with the staff and their like personal bride attendant. Oh, she is great. She's like a bouncer. She's like, what are you here to do? Like, no, no, not now, not the bride. Absolutely gorgeous. So let's let's talk some new locations. And I'm just gonna run these quick, and I probably am not gonna dig much more until I do like a venue overview, or maybe if there was a wedding there and something really key. But new venues this year. Gotta give a shout out to waterfalls. Anything outside with a waterfall, never done one before this year. Did many catch that episode? It's coming out soon. Barnett Shallow Creek, Barnet Villa Venenza, Bear Mill Estates, Bellagio Fields, Bluebird Gardens, Cabela's, yes, that's right, like the hunting store. Columbia Firehose, Fox Rose Farms, Green Ridge Club, Hideaway Hills, Hunt's Landing, Inn at Gym Thorpe, Kemford's Cottage, Kirby Park, Lock Ridge Park, Montdale Country Club, Mountain Valley Golf Course, Paradise Dreams, Pocono Palms. And that does not at all include the 14 weddings I did this year that were in people's homes and backyards. So that's all still very popular as well. But I loved getting to tour and visit some of these new places and look forward to going back. Oh, there's a few more. I'm forgetting. Because that only goes up to P. And alphabetically, I know, I know I have far more than that. Give me a quick sec. I won't feel complete unless I run it all through for everybody. I went back to the Abe Lincoln Hotel. There. Oh, there, my P. Then went to private residence, did a count, and stopped going from there. Let's see. Ridgewood Country Club, the River Commons in Wilkes Bear, Rusty Rail, Sandspring Lake, Stone Spring Farm, Tall Timbers Barn, Sweet Arrow Lake, The Farmhouse in Strasbourg. Yep, that's a restaurant. The Stegmire and Wilkes Bear, the View at Morgan Hill, Lil Burton number two, which is a coal mine. Literally a coal mine. That will be an episode. I gotta get there. Wolmelsdorf Park and Zachariah's Park. So lots of outdoors, lots of unique spaces and places as well. And gosh, I could go, I could go on a ramp forever on what I liked best and how many were the right fit, the right vibe, but that's that's not this episode. Can't dive in that deep. So let's talk marriage licenses. I have worked a lot this year, especially with the podcast and keeping track of some of my stats better, just so I can see how I'm doing. And one of that was definitely counties that have issued marriage licenses and then counties where I've been where I've performed the wedding. So I'm really excited that I've got most of like eastern Pennsylvania fully filled in, with the exception of, and I will put this ask out there if anybody is looking to get married and would be willing to get married with a Wayne County marriage license or a Susquehanna County marriage license, hit me up. I would love to have that conversation. Those are two counties where I have done weddings, but I do not have marriage licenses from those counties. And I'm really trying to, that would fill in my entire like eastern seaboard on my map here. Seaboard, ha ha ha, riverboard, I guess. So definitely hit me up. But for this year, we had one, two, three, four, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, six, seventeen, eighteen, ninety nine. We had 25 different issuing counties in Pennsylvania. And I don't know how many counties there are in Pennsylvania. Let's Google that. How many counties in Pennsylvania? There are 67. Okay. So I was aiming to be like halfway. I was not this year. I was not halfway this year with the number of different issuing counties, but maybe someday we'll get there. My map will be a little more filled in. Most of them were one-offs. Again, a couple lived there, got married somewhere else, but their license came from where they lived. All fine, all good, all well. I'm gonna give a shout out to the top three issuing counties. So number three, which was actually number one last year. So let's acknowledge how far the mighty have fallen, was Luzerne County, where they issued nine of the marriage licenses that I signed this year. Coming in at number two, was also number two last year. Schuoko County, which issued 14 of the licenses. And that one is not surprising to me given that I first six months of the year lived in Schuylko County, and that's where a lot of the business was booked to be done for this year. And in first place this year, kind of surprising, but then kind of not, is Berks County, Pennsylvania, with 17 marriage licenses. So given that I don't live in Berks County anymore, I found this a little surprising with the number of weddings that were there. But then I take into account that Berks County has a hundred percent online process for their marriage application. So you don't have to go into the courthouse, you don't have to physically be there. And that's very attractive for a lot of couples. So I can totally see why that has become the route that they have gone or that they wanted to do. So we talked about some locations and things like that. I I want to hit on trends that I noticed a little bit there. A lot more of weddings did not have bridal parties this year than I've seen in the past. So that was really cool. Kids still had a really great role within weddings, either kids of the couple or neighbors' kids or friends of the family. So certainly kids are not out. They might not be able to stay for the reception because that definitely is a trend, but kids are not out. A lot of weddings definitely did more conscious understanding about being unplugged or pictures only or pictures during a certain time. And I I know I risk saying it if I say it out loud, but I think guests are starting to get it. Like if you're told don't take pictures, it applies to you. Don't take pictures, but I'm gonna, I'm gonna knock on wood here and hope that that all equals out more, more standing, I felt. Now, certainly a lot of it's like backyard weddings or at waterfalls. There's really not a place to sit. But when I looked at it, there definitely were a lot more times where people were standing up and about, milling around. You just kind of keep working and keep doing the ceremony and work to get it done. I already talked about waterfalls. I'm gonna keep talking about waterfalls. There was a ton. And I had a lot more brides this year, couples, I should say, who decided not to do a formal rehearsal, either because timing just won't work out for all of their guests to get in or for the venue. For example, the Drew Moore during peak season, they have weddings Friday through Sunday. So all of the rehearsals happen on Thursday. And if you're that couple that's getting married on Saturday or Sunday, are you really seeking to have your bridal attendants come in like two days ahead? And sometimes they're like, yeah, it just doesn't, everyone knows what they're doing, or we're going very small, or we don't even have a bridal party. Why would we have a formal rehearsal? And they aim to do more of little get-togethers, welcome to town, smaller things. Totally fine by me. That's why I offer Zoom rehearsals. I will still meet with you so that you feel like you know what's going to be going on during the day. And that way we can stay on track and on course, but no reason for me to drive out. I'm there for it. Unity ceremonity ceremonies were alive and well in 2025. And I love that. I love Unity Ceremonies, did some at my own wedding. And they they're fun. They're a recess, they're a break in between, all of the talking, and they're really great visual representation. Well, sorry. They're really great visual representations of the love and the relationship. So I'm gonna run through. Yeah, I'm gonna run through the ones that only were done once this year, and then I'll hit on my top view. Coffee Unity came back. Love that. Nice coffee blending. It was freezing outside though. So the coffee was, once again, the warmest thing we held. A crystal blending ceremony. So instead of sand, they were a little larger and they were actual crystals, so like rose quartz and oh gosh, I'd have to look back at my notes, but there were like five or six different types of crystals, and the color and the crystal was all very symbolic for the couple. Did a 3D heart unity. So the couple had printed a 3D heart, like an inner and an outer, and they combined them together, and then there was like a little pin that they could push through that would then hold them together. That was really cool, very unique. We had one Unity painting. It's actually family unity painting, one planting, one stone stacking. They made like a cairn. Really cool. I will have to get them on the podcast to talk all about their beautiful, beautiful wedding. And we had first time ever, a sword exchange. And I know I will be bringing her onto the podcast to discuss. So our ones that were done a little more often, we had two ceremonies this year that were lock and key. Very fun. When they threw away the keys, I actually kept them because, well, that's just perfect. We had seven who did sand ceremonies. Some really interesting tie-ins and variations, putting down some rocks at the base to represent family that raised you up that you came from. We had four candle lighting ceremonies. Can't believe I did that out of order, but we had four who lit Unity candles and even a few that were family focused, which were really, really great. And drumroll please. We had 12 hand fasting ceremonies. And that was actually the most common inclusion I was asked to have on my end, was to be including the full provision for the unity ceremony. I will say, with one of our hand fastings, it was very uniquely done. And it was all about all around the Knobles ring that you get from the carousel. I'll have to work to get them on. That was a really fun story. Everything about their wedding was themed. Knobles, I might have to change that up in my stats post I'm working on for Facebook right now, because that was so unique. And yeah, we had packages all over the place.$100 was the minimum,$725 was the high, and packages averaged at$305. And again, deluxe wedding, about 20 to 30 minute runtime with a Unity, with some travel. That was the most popular is$500 a package. And we had 24 couples who went with that, which is really awesome. What did 2025 teach me? Well, it taught me that when in doubt, I can do anything. It taught me that without a normal nine to five for a little while, if I want to keep the fires burning, if I want to get that trip to Alaska taken care of, I have the means and the will and the gumption to do it. It continued to teach me that every couple is different. Everyone is unique. Weddings are never going to start on time. Perfection does not matter. Flexibility is everything. Love is resilient. Let's think what else 2025 taught me. And I love her to pieces. And there needs to be a special spot in Car Heaven for the places. I took Savannah this year. There were a few literal mountains we drove up. I didn't, I didn't think she was going to make it. I really didn't. And I'm very excited that she has, she's going to take a nice winter break. And hopefully she starts up for me in the spring. But yeah, from the officiating world, 2025 taught me a lot and I engaged with it a lot. And I'm so thankful to the couples who trusted me for their special days. I am so excited for what is in store in 2026 and for the wonderful partnerships I've got lined up for different vendors and venues and growing the officiating by Amanda network, growing this podcast. If you were tuning into this hoping it was going to be all podcast stats, well, that will be coming in this season. We are now in season two. I reset every January. So we're officially in season two. And the year in review for the podcast will be coming in later January at the official like one-year mark of the podcast. Thank you all so much for listening. Here's cheers to 2026 and whatever that can bring. If you want to see some of these stats, black and white, you want to read more details into what I high-level skimmed over, please follow me on Facebook, find me on the social media, Amanda the Administer. All the links are in the link tree. Yeah, I'm just, I love any engagement that you guys would bring. And thank you all so much for following along on this adventure. Next few weeks, I promise, some fun, fun episodes. I've really been working on them and I'm excited to get them out to you. So until next time, this has been Amanda. Thank you for listening to The Wedding Wear with Officiating by Amanda. I hope you enjoyed today's episode and found some inspiration or insight for your own special day. This podcast is hosted on Bus Frapp and can be found on all major platforms. If you haven't already, please subscribe, like, comment, and share to help us reach even more listeners who might laugh a little at the wedding wear. For the links referenced in the show, visit Linktree at OfficiatingByamanda. You can also follow the business on Facebook, WeddingWire, and the Knot to stay up to date on everything going on. If you have a question you'd like me to answer on the podcast, just send an email to theweddingwear podcast at gmail.com. And if you're ready to inquire about officiating services for your own big day, you can reach me at officiatingbyamanda at gmail.com. Thank you so much for tuning in. And until next time, this has been Amanda.