Wedding planning is full of huge decisions for the couple about to be married, including the individuals that they'll want with them at the altar when they exchange their vows and say "I do." 

During a wedding, the bridesmaids and groomsmen typically stand with the couple during the ceremony. The officiant is responsible for conducting the ceremony from beginning to end. 

There are several different routes a couple could go when it comes to choosing an officiant. 

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They could choose a civil wedding officiant, such as a judge or justice of the peace, a religious officiant, such as a pastor or priest, or the couple could choose a professional officiant to lead their ceremony. 

A growing trend in the wedding industry is for couples to pick a close friend or family member to be the officiant at their wedding. 

For couples who choose this route, there are several steps the friend or family member needs to take in order to be able to take on this task. 

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Below are a few things to keep in mind when asked to officiate a wedding. 

Before anything else, it's important to check state requirements to officiate a wedding.

Registration requirements vary from state to state, so you'll want to properly conduct research on this far in advance so you don't run into any trouble down the line. 

To gather basic information on state requirements, you can do an online search. 

Reach out to the city clerk's or county clerk's office to find out more about the steps that are required of you. 

In order to officiate a wedding, you first must be ordained. 

In many states, the process of getting ordained is quite a simple one that requires just a few clicks online, a fee and a few days to process. 

Some states have one-day marriage officiant certification programs, ideal for family members and friends who wish to officiate a loved one's wedding, but don't plan on officiating others in the future. 

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To get ordained online, Universal Life Church and American Marriage Ministries are two popular places to check.

Being asked to officiate a wedding is a great honor. 

Make sure that you are giving the job the time and commitment it requires. 

As an officiant, you'll want to meet with the couple several times before their big day to get an idea of how they want their wedding ceremony to go. 

During the actual ceremony, the wedding officiant must speak for a fairly long period of time in front of a large group of people. 

Before the big day comes, make yourself as comfortable as possible by brushing up on your public speaking skills. 

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Run through the ceremony often, and take the opportunity to practice in front of others if you can. 

The officiant is traditionally responsible for making sure the marriage license gets filed. 

The time at which a marriage license is valid depends on the state. 

For example, in Tennessee, it's valid for 30 days from when it's issued. 

In Massachusetts, that magic number is 60 days, while it's 90 days in California.

As the wedding officiant, look into the timeline in the state in which the couple chooses to wed, and remind them that this is something they need to get done. 

A marriage license is a document signed by both spouses, the officiant and witnesses in certain states, and legally permits a couple to be married.

Typically, the officiant is responsible for ensuring that this document gets properly filed after the ceremony. 

One more person has died from mass shootings at two houses on the same street in a South African village over the weekend, bringing the death toll to 18, officials said Monday.

Police are still searching for the assailants who opened fire Saturday on people who had reportedly gathered for a family event in Lusikisiki village in Eastern Cape province.

The shootings, which took place in two separate houses on the same street, fueled outrage over a recent spate of mass shootings in the country.

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The motive for the killings remains unknown and police said on Monday that the investigation is continuing, and no arrests have been made.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa condemned the killings and promised that the government would deploy all needed resources in the investigation.

He said Monday that 38 people had been killed in previous mass shootings in the past two years and 25 suspects have been arrested.

"I feel deeply for all the families and members of the broader community affected by this attack, and on behalf of all of us as South Africans, I offer you our deepest sympathies," he said.

"While we are united in our grief, we are also united in our outrage and condemnation of this excessive criminal assault which will not go unpunished," he said.

The shootings follow a mass killing in KwaZulu-Natal province in April 2023. Ten members of the same family, including seven women and a 13-year-old boy, were killed at their home.

Sixteen people were fatally shot in a bar in the Johannesburg township of Soweto in 2022, the worst mass shooting in South Africa in decades before the latest killings in Lusikisiki.

South Africa has one of the highest homicide rates in the world. It recorded 12,734 homicides in the first six months of this year, according to police.