Literally can not find an officiant!!!

Does your state allow people ordained online to officiate ceremonies? If so, do you have a friend or relative who is a good public speaker? We aren't religious either and want a secular ceremony, so we had my husband's uncle officiate our wedding. He got ordained online for free.

It's generally not terribly difficult to become an legal wedding officiant, so you could always ask a friend or family member to fill that role. In some states you can apply online, pay a small fee, and that's it. Some states (Colorado) even allow you to self-ordain.

We had a friend become a Justice of the Peace in order to do our wedding ceremony. I actually asked a friend to be our officiant, but he wasn't eligible (in NH you have to be a registered voter for at least 3 years and apparently he doesn't believe in our political system), so his wife became our JP, he performed our ceremony, and she signed our papers.

You can also legally marry in a courthouse before your ceremony, so that anyone can perform the ceremony at your event without worrying about being "official" or not.

You may want to legally marry in the courthouse first.

What state are you in, or marrying in ? Half the states still have Justices of the Peace. But All have a court or Gov't body that approves notaries, clerks of the courts, town or city clerk, or magistrates. Knowing the state, one can get he right office, or someone here can tell you.

We didn't want a religious ceremony either so we looked up celebrants. I would recommend looking on here or The Knot. We found ours through here. Another option is if live in a state that will allow someone to be ordained online.

View Quoted Comment I haven’t looked into that but I remember seeing a post on here from a lawyer advising against doing that. Apparently a lot of times there’s a lot more that goes into it or something? I’m not sure I have no clue about this stuff.

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You'd have to check with the county you plan on getting married in.

View Quoted Comment I’m in Georgia!

View Quoted Comment You have to check with the rules for your state and even county. I'm in NJ and it's completely legal. I have actually been to more weddings with a person ordained online than ones with an actual religious figure. Some states and counties do not allow it.

We’re using a friend. Where we are getting married, you can fill out a form to get a “one day designation” so a friend/family member can legally officiate the ceremony. Maybe something to look into if you have someone in mind!

There are countless officiants who perform nonreligious ceremonies all the time. Meet with a few and see if you click with them. They know how to navigate the system to make everything legal that you may not get with a friend performing it.

I can’t speak for Georgia, but we are having a friend marry us in Tx and my FH has married our friends. I agree with Hannah, I’ve been to more weddings with an officiant who was ordained online. Legally, they have to ask/say certain things and you both have to respond, but there are scripts online, and they are pretty standard “do you take ...” phrases, really not that complicated (here at least!).

You could see if a close family or friend would take the online course and be your officiant. I don't know how long it takes but I hear its super easy.

Did you look up vendors here? How about Gigmasters?

We aren't religious either or go to church, and our good friend is getting ordained online and marrying us. I think he's going to use this site: https://getordained.org/

They have steps laid out on how to easily get ordained online, and I believe you can also search your state and county to see what their laws are as far as online ordination goes!

Hope this helps a little bit!

We're getting married in Georgia and we're more spiritual than religious as well. We found Minister Melinda Guess (Officiant ATL) who does secular, non-religious and non-traditional ceremonies. We found her on this website and The Knot. We LOVE HER. She's patient, kind, understanding and works with you the entire way to the alter. I recommend her. What area are you in?