Asking Godfather to officate my wedding..

As an officiant, I can't resist but to educate you on the idea that you are spending hundreds of dollars for a 25 minute ceremony. There is so much more involved, including making sure that the ceremony is indeed legal. Depending on your officiant, you can expect a custom written ceremony and massive insight that you can't get from other sources. Unless you live next door, your officiant will also need to travel to your location and time is money. Gardens within one venue can be in different municipalities and if you aren't careful you can find out you just had a very expensive party and you're still not married. It takes a seasoned professional to make sure every aspect is legal, runs smooth, and that they do indeed pull off your one special wedding day without an amateurish presentation. If you're ok with a friend doing all your flowers or a friend being your DJ, I guess a friend officiant would be ok. But as with anything, you get what you pay for. Good luck!

I'm with Marilyn; you'll spend 30 minutes on the phone with an officiant before you even decide to meet with them. I can't say it any better than she did. My average customized ceremony takes upwards of 10-12 hours including time on site.

Good luck.

Depending on your state, using an officiant ordained online could jeopardize the legal status of your marriage. See this link. When you're spending thousands of dollars for a wedding, do you really want to jeopardize all that to save a few hundred?

Aileen, We asked our friend to officiate ours and I'm happy we did. I think he'll do a great job. He hasn't stopped talking about it since, it makes me smile to know he's so excited to do it for us. Also it will make a special memory for us.

I agree with the ladies above that $500 is common and theres a lot of behind the scenes work that goes on. With that being said, it's still $500 I would prefer not to spend if I have someone special willing to do it for us.

I will add, we are going through that state of Mass rather then an online site to make sure it's legal.

http://www.mass.gov/governor/docs/one-day-marriage-designation.pdf

We are having my fiance's high school basketball coach marry us. He is already ordained and he did his friend's wedding in the past. It is much more sentimental when the person marrying you means something to you.

I think its a great idea & very special. In CA, you can get ordained for a day (to do one ceremony). You apply within the county the ceremony is going to be in. I have a few friends who have done it for others.

Good luck & keep us posted to his response.

That's a sweet idea My great uncle has been ordained forever and just married a cousin this year so I'm really looking forward to him doing our wedding too

Personally I'm not good at finding words beforehand, I'm kind of a "in the moment" speaker lol. So I would just see him at the Christmas party and just ask him, explain how honored you would be to have him preform your ceremony for you and your FH. Good luck!

Hi Aileen!

I hope the first few responses that you got back on this post haven't discouraged you from having a loved one who you feel is capable of accomplishing this extremely important job for you and your SO. DH and I had our friend officiate our wedding and it turned out great For us to "pay for nothing" we ended up getting a very personal and unique ceremony that suited us perfectly. He has even been asked to officiate at another friend's wedding next year.

I would (and did myself) take 2d bride's advice about researching the legality in both the state and city/town you will be marrying in to make sure everything is good to go when using an ordained minister.

And finally, to actually answer your question, I would do exactly what Ashley D. stated which is to simply ask him when you see him. You and your SO pull him aside, or if you want it done in front of everyone, then you can make a toast and ask him.

Good luck, lady!