Finding someone to marry us

You can hire an officiant that doesn’t necessarily have to be a judge/ court official. If you want someone special to be responsible for officiating your wedding, they can apply for the certificate. I believe it is Church of Life which is nondenominational.

View Quoted Comment Yea I’ve heard of that! Just want to make sure the paperwork is done by someone that knows it well you know? Don’t want the marriage certificate lost because we wanted one of our friends to do it lol do you know if judges will do it on Sundays or wednesdays if we don’t have someone get certified?

View Quoted Comment I believe you can go to your local municipality- town/city/county and get the marriage license/ certificate within a 60 day time frame.

View Quoted Comment My understanding is the marriage license is what you get before the ceremony like a week to 60 days prior saying you can get married and then the certificate is what the officiant hands into the court office after the wedding with the witnesses signatures. My biggest concern is finding someone to do it on an off day like a Sunday or Wednesday

License requirements vary by state and county, so check with the location where you're getting married.

That said, a court official can marry you, the mayor can marry you, a friend or family member can marry you - again, just check with your local county/state laws about what certifications they need. (Some states even allow you to marry yourself, without an officiant.)

Officiants are a thriving industry, and you can find them under "vendors", above, or search other sites, like the Knot, Offbeat Bride, and so on.

Hi Beca! I went through the same thing a couple of months ago. Obtaining a marriage license and obtaining an officiant to perform the marriage are two separate things. If you've already secured your license then congrats! That's hardest part during covid. If you still need a license, look into project cupid if you live in the city (I believe the courthouses are still closed in the city), which allows you to obtain your license virtually. However, last I checked, their wait list was a couple months long so the sooner you apply for a virtual appointment the better. If you live outside of NYC, try looking into your local town or village to see if they are offering marriage licenses now (some are and some aren't during covid). You can also look into nearby towns and villages. Some towns will only give a marriage license if you can prove that you live in that town, and some don't care where you live. Some towns are even offering outdoor ceremonies once per week.


Finding a (non-religious) officiant shouldn't be too difficult. Google elopement packages near you and you should find lots of options for both virtual officiants and in person officiants (they don't have to be a judge, and it's likely cheaper if they're not). This is the website I used and they were more reasonably priced than anything else I found: https://weddingsolution.org/They offer both virtual and in-person options. I did the virtual one and it was lovely. (We are also not religious.)
Just fyi, if you didn't know, in NY the governor passed a law early in the pandemic that couples in NY can now get married virtually, meaning the officiant and the witness (you only need one now not two) can both zoom in. They don't have to be in person, but they do have to be located in NY State. When we did this option, we also zoomed in our immediate family members as they live in other states.
That's a lot of info, but I hope it's helpful. Feel free to respond if you have more questions! Good luck and CONGRATULATIONS!!!

One more thing -- yes, you only have 60 days to get married after you obtain your license in NY. So, that can complicate things. But in terms of finding someone to marry you on a Wednesday or Sunday, shouldn't be a problem (actually it will probably be easier).

View Quoted Comment Thank you so much! Congratulations to you too!!

View Quoted Comment Great! Yea we will definitely keep an eye on whether there is a waiting list for applying for licenses or they aren’t being issued. We live in the Hudson valley in a small town in Ulster/Orange County so NYC rules don’t apply to us thank god!

View Quoted Comment Wonderful news!! Wishing you the best of luck! 💕