I want my best friend to officiate my wedding....?

Question

Getting married in July 2009 in Michigan and I would like to have my best friend be the officiant. What must he do to get ordained for this?

Answer 1

He should call the local courthouse in your area and ask about the requirements to become licensed to perform weddings. Some states are easy - fill out a form, pay a small fee - and some do not allow it at all.

Answer 2

check with your marriage license clerk.  If there are no restrictions other than being ordained, go to Universal Life Church www.ulchq.com (or the ulc.net site or the ulc seminary... NOT the monastery they are no longer affiliated w/ ULC despite what they say), and he can become an ordained minister by applying on line.  Once it is recorded in their books and approved, they'll send his certificate.    .

Some jurisdictions (I know San Diego CA does this) will allow you to become an approved officiant for the one event... I forget what they call it but it takes a little time to process the paperwork.  

It's a really cool gesture.

Answer 3

Go to the website below and complete the form.  It is free, he will become an ordained minister and receive an ID Card.

Best wishes to you.

Answer 4

shoot its been a while but thats what we did for our wedding we had a friend marry us it just adds to the specialness in my opinion makes it more personal i want to say all she did was went down to the town hall and filled out paper work she then recieved permission to legally marry us on the one day they will need proper id obviously but  i belive you must also have a date set in order for them to apply for this i think it was only like 20 dollars and like i said it was only good for one day but its still very legall i would say call your town hall and talk to them if i can reach my friend i will try to get more specifics for you good luck and congratulations

Answer 5

He needs to go to the courthouse to find out what the requirements are to be an officiant.  With a few exceptions, most states do not require you to be an ordained minister to do so.

In my county (MN), all you have to do is register with the county as a wedding officiant, present ID and pay the registration fee.

Answer 6

Before you do anything, call the courthouse and make sure this is legal in your state. It is no longer legal in the state of PA, so be sure before you go through the steps to get him ordained. If it's okay, then google "Universal Life Church" and you'll find it.

Answer 7

Call the local courthouse.

There is a website and all you have to do is go to it and click a button, but I don't remember what the website is at the moment. If you email me I'll ask our clergy tonight and will get back to you on that.