This is a religious ceremony. You understand that it holds no legal weight in regards to custody? That said, if you are not a practicing member of the LDS church, I don't understand why you would care?
A lot of people start with a joke. I generally wish they would not. I always jump straight in to my topic. The exception was when I spoke in stake conference. I started with telling everyone that I had been assigned my topic by the stake presidency. Then I jumped into my topic.