What is a wedding officiant?

A wedding officiant is anyone who can legally officiate a marriage ceremony. “Wedding officiants are love storytellers who hold sacred space for couples as they begin a new chapter of their lives together,” says Dani Villa Ramos, love storyteller at Once Upon a Vow.  

This term includes religious leaders who officiate weddings. But typically a wedding officiant refers to a non-religious official who marries couples at the nuptials. This is especially helpful for couples who aren’t affiliated with a religion or who come from different religious backgrounds and want to incorporate different aspects of each into the ceremony.

What does a wedding officiant do?

“Officiating weddings is a lot more than writing ceremonies,” the Villa Ramos sisters explain. “It’s an energy exchange between us, as officiants, our couples, and their invited loved ones.” Officiants are also huge support systems for the couple, as they lead the actual marriage. Additionally, wedding officiants can be an extra-important source of support for couples who may not have the support of their families. 

Types of Wedding Officiants 

The type of ceremony you want will largely determine what type of officiant you have. For example, if you’re hoping to have a modern, nontraditional ceremony where you break mid-vows to perform a Beyoncé solo, a religious officiant in a house of worship might be off the table (although, not necessarily!).

Celebrant

A celebrant, in general, is someone who performs either religious or secular ceremonies for marriage (and other rites). A celebrant can be an ordained clergy member, professional secular officiant or legal official, such as a judge.

Religious Officiant

A priest, rabbi, minister or other religious officiant is the perfect option if you both belong to a particular church group or religious organization or would like to be married in a house of worship. A member of the clergy is a great option for couples seeking a more traditional ceremony, as most mainstream religious celebrants won’t deviate from traditional ceremonies.

However, it’s absolutely possible to find a clergy member who will perform more customized wedding ceremonies. A great resource for finding pastors, priests and rabbis who are open to performing interfaith ceremonies is your local college or university. Those studying to become clergy members often serve a diverse community and are used to working with clergy from various faiths. Another option is an officiant who’s retired and may be willing to perform a more lenient, flexible ceremony.

Secular Officiant

A certified, nonreligious celebrant has training and certification from an organization like the Celebrant USA Foundation & Institute or other secular humanist organizations such as the American Humanist Association or the American Ethical Union. They’re often unaffiliated with any religion and perform secular, same-sex and interfaith ceremonies. The more secular the officiant, the more creative license you’ll likely have over what is said, read, sung or played during the ceremony. 

Interfaith Ministers

An interfaith minister brings people of different religions together, and also works with same-sex and nonreligious couples. Many interfaith ministers define their work as being outside church walls by working in community service and spiritual counselling, and they’re all about creating a special and personalized wedding service for their clients.

Civil Officiant

A civil wedding officiant or civil servant’s primary role is to legalize the marriage—they are responsible for witnessing and validating the consent of marriage between you and your partner for the wedding license, and are legally registered with the local city clerk’s office. Hiring a civil officiant is most similar to hiring any of your other pros. They’ll give a price or quote that’s standard for their services, and they may even have prices listed on their website.

Friend or Family Member

You may not have considered it, but it’s relatively easy and inexpensive to get ordained online (lots of celebrities have done it!). If you’d love to be married to a close friend or family member, ask if they’ll undergo the official process and perform your ceremony. Having a loved one lead your vows is a wonderful way to personalize your nuptials. Just remember that ordination requirements differ from state to state, so do your research first to make sure you’re following local state or district rules.

How to Find a Wedding Officiant

Wondering how to find a wedding officiant? Here are a few effective ways to find the right person:

• Scroll through professional wedding officiants and couples’ reviews in your wedding location
• Ask recently married friends for referrals.
• Ask your other wedding vendors. Your photographer or wedding planner may know of reputable individuals whom they’ve heard of or worked with in the past.
• Contact your house of worship.
• If your ceremony site is not a house of worship, contact city, town or village halls and ask about judges or justices of the peace available for weddings.
• Ask a loved one to get ordained and officiate your wedding.

We highly encourage couples to spend their wedding budget thoughtfully. Hire businesses owned by people whose worldviews align with your own. Live out your values as a couple by working with BIPOC-owned, LGBTQIA+-owned, AAPI-owned or women-owned businesses in your area. You can also seek out someone who is closer to you, or who you feel more connected to. By asking someone in your circle to officiate a wedding, you may inspire them to continue to do so, which could push the industry forward.

How much does a wedding officiant cost?

It’s difficult to nail down an exact number, as wedding officiant rates differ so much. The cost of a wedding officiant will vary based on the location, the length of the ceremony and the level of personalization. A good starting point is to allot two percent of your overall wedding budget to your wedding officiant. Plan on using more if you’d like a personalized ceremony or if you have any special requests.

Understand that the services officiants offer are time-intensive and require a lot of energy, so it may cost more to bring on your chosen individual. However, investing your budget in an amazing wedding officiant is well worth it if you ask us.

Can anyone officiate a wedding?

Only people who are authorized by the state can perform a legal marriage. The requirements for each state vary, so you’ll need to make sure you’ve met all the requirements listed for the location of the wedding. Check online or call your county clerk to get all the information you need ahead of time. If you’d like to be able to officiate weddings anywhere in the U.S., we recommend finding an organization that’s recognized in all 50 states. Just make sure they’re officially ordained in time for the big day.

What does the officiant say at your wedding?

That is entirely up to you, as the couple getting married, and your ceremony officiant. We’re all familiar with the traditional vows, but you can choose to incorporate anything you want into the ceremony. Get creative and use any text that speaks to you as a couple, or incorporate stories from your time together.

If you want a personalized ceremony, it’s important to spend time getting to know your officiant. Most pros will ask you to fill out a questionnaire so they have a general idea about your relationship. However, if you want to go the extra mile, schedule a meeting or two so your officiant can fully understand the bond you two share.

Credit: TheKnot