A WEDDING enthusiast claims she makes up to $300 an hour every weekend using an easy side hustle.
As a wedding officiant, Maria Romano – the founder of True Love Knots – said she can charge anywhere from $100 to $800 (£85 to £685) to perform a wedding.
In her role, Maria performs a legal marriage ceremony – and this means completing the marriage license with the couple and their witnesses.
For up to $800 every weekend, Maria guides couples through their vows, the all-important exchange of rings, and asks for their Declaration of Consent – known as the “I do”.
To become a wedding officiant, Maria told Side Hustle Nation she recommended following several important steps.
First of all, you will need to be ordained, and register with your local government to ensure you are working legally.
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The process can take up to nine months, so it's essential to plan ahead.
You can get ordained online – it is quick and affordable – and you don't need to join a church or a ministry.
There are options today to become a wedding officiant if the couple you are guiding is from different religions or are non-religious – but it is crucial you meet the requirements to be qualified to do so.
Depending on where you decide to set up business, you should look at registering your company. This will involve filling out a registration form, proving that you are ordained and paying a fee.
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So far, Maria has officiated more than 4,000 weddings and with couples paying anywhere up to $300 an hour, it's a lucrative business.
You can choose to officiate the occasional ceremony, or wed up to 12 couples a day.
You can also decide whether you want to be more involved, and guide the happy couple through the process of marriage – by offering rehearsals and even premarital counseling as part of your service.
As with many jobs, the more weddings you officiate, the more money you can earn.
Maria said successful wedding officiants are people who are comfortable speaking in public, can build rapport quickly, and are eager to take on the responsibility.
If you are wondering how to drum up business, Maris recommends networking with photographers, videographers, florists, caterers and DJs.
They will be able to recommend clients.
Secondly, Maria recommended reaching out to wedding venues near you. They will have a list of wedding officiants they usually work with, but might be enthusiastic about hiring you should one of their regular officiants fall sick.
No business can be done without a website, so Maria suggested uploading photos of you in action, along with your price list.
And if you have never officiated before, you could always ask your friends to help set up a "fake" wedding for you to officiate – it's great training and you'll get great photos for your website.
Once your website is up, don't forget about social media. Tag anyone you have worked with – wedding venues, florists, etc…
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If weddings aren't your thing, there are side hustle alternatives that you may want to consider.
You could look into flea market flipping, copywriting for Amazon, and even reselling unwanted industrial products such as pallets, crates and cardboard boxes.
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