Weddingbee Blog

Before I dive into my recaps, I wanted to share with you an absolutely wonderful experience that I had recently. My very close friend asked if I would officiate her wedding in September. Honored beyond words, of course I said yes! I have to say, if you are considering asking a friend officiate, and you are willing to work together on a ceremony, it can truly be an amazing experience! Here’s what you need to know if you or a friend would like to officiate a wedding (please keep in mind that there are slight variances from state to state, and even city to city, so please look up your city—mine will focus on NYC and New York State).

Step 1: Visit www.themonastery.org and follow the steps to become ordained to perform weddings.

Step 2: Research the laws pertaining to the city where the wedding will be taking place. I live in New York City, and know that there are special rules that exist here, so I will talk about my experience with that. The website actually has a NYC packet that they will send you with everything you need (for a relatively small fee), so I went ahead and did that.

Step 3: Once I received the packet, I took a little trip downtown to the city clerk and registered with New York City. A few dollars and a few minutes later, I had an official number and am forever legal to perform weddings in New York City.

Step 4: Work your little butt off on the perfect ceremony! My friends and I worked hard together on different parts of the ceremony. We used several resources like Weddingbee and several books that I mentioned here.

Step 4: Visit the local city hall with the couple when they pick up their marriage license to make sure all your ducks are in a row. I drove up to Ithaca early with my friends (where the wedding was taking place) and went to city hall with them. It turns out that I could have saved the trip to the NYC City Hall because they didn’t even need that! With my online ordination, I was all signs go!

Step 5: Officiate! You know, the big step - the ceremony.

Step 6: Make sure you have all the appropriate signatures on the marriage license and mail to the appropriate office.

Easy peasy lemon squeasy! For real, this was all it took!

Here I am officiating (well, technically in the second one I am watching my friend give her vows, but believe me, there’s plenty more a’comin!)

photos by Megan Schley

Stay tuned - next up, I’ll share a little bit more details about the ceremony itself and of course, the party! Oh and there may be a few more blog-celebs making an appearance!

Did you use a non-traditional officiant? Any advice to share with the hive?