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A word of advice: be SURE this is legal in your state. It's not in mine, you have to be a Justice of the Peace or a religious minister. You would not want to find out like, a week before your wedding that you need to find a new officiant ASAP or you won't be legally married.
I really want to but I've got to wait to see if my mister decides to have him in his party or not. It's definitely legal in my state and I think it adds a nice personal touch to the ceremony since neither one of us is affiliated with a religion.
@johnsbride: Are you sure? I had two friends get married this summer by another friend.
We had my DH's brother marry us and it was great. I dont regret not having a "real" officiant at all. It is legal here, he just had to fill out some papers and go take a short class a month or so before the wedding.
We're having a legal wedding before our Canadian wedding in another country, so I've asked my friend to perform our wedding in my hometown. Here husband is a minister, but she does the music and youth ministry. She won't have another chance to officiate unless she becomes ordained, so I thought it might be a nice opportunity for her. She has a wealth of experience and wisdom when it comes to marriage, so it was important for me to include her in the ceremony.
We had my father perform our ceremony. We worked with him to create the ceremony, and I am soo glad we did it that way. The state of Vermont has a temporary/one-time officiant program, so all we had to do was send a application form to the state (along with a check). A couple weeks later we received the documentation that had to be filed with our marriage license after we got married.
I am not sure if any other states have done this, but it certainly worked well.
yeah, california is the same way. my uncle is going to marry us. we literally just have to pay a fee for him and he will be ordained legally for one day.
Our dear mutual friend is going to marry us, legally, and we're very excited about it.
One of my best friends from when we were little kids, was ordained through Universal Life Church as a "joke" during grad school. You get your certificate online and it's legal in Michigan.
MA has that one day officiant, too.
My best friend had me do her wedding (as a friend), and I loved it so much, I became a wedding celebrant full time. It was an amazing, personal, and beautiful wedding ceremony that they got tons of compliments on, and I put a lot of time and effort into it.
You do have to decide if you're going to write your ceremony, or let your friend write - that's a big piece as well (writing wedding ceremonies isn't as easy as it seems). If having a minister is very important to you, then having a friend solemnized for the day may not be for you - but only you and your fiance can really make the decision. My friend (and a lot of my couples, too) are interfaith or non-religious.
In AZ, it's just a simple course and a small fee of about $60. Our friend is certified to officiate. We had hired someone, but had a misunderstanding and are now back to the drawing board. At least if we don't find anyone else, our friend can do it! In some states, a lawyer can marry you.
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Is anyone else having a friend perform the ceremony? What needs to be done to get them "ordained", if you will, so the marriage is legal? Also, did you regret not having a minister?