Fake ceremony?

You can use an ordained minister in Florida. My FH was the ordained minister for his best friends wedding two years ago. All he had to do was go online and pay $15 and it took about 5 minutes. That being said, FH is a great public speaker. Not everyone has the gift of public speaking or the skill on how to run a ceremony. Lucky for FH they had planned for exactly what they wanted him to say and the ceremony is short and sweet. So this could definitely be an option for you if you have someone in mind.

A courthouse wedding is also not a fake wedding. You do have to be careful about planning it. My cousin did hers in Miami and they do have a waiting period. Luckily she got it waived as her husband is active military and being restationed. For hers, her and him and me and her parents went to the courthouse and had the ceremony. It was very intimate and very nice. They had a little room set up for the ceremony. They got it done on a weekday and then our family threw her a reception the following weekend at my parents house in the keys. It was a very informal family affair but beautiful. And they are still very happily married. It definitely was not a "fake wedding". It was the wedding that worked perfectly for them.

I wouldn't normally recommend it but under these circumstances try Gigmaster and Thumbtack. You are probably just going to have to drop some bucks if you want to be legally married at your ceremony.

Depending on state any hearing officer can do it. They like the extra cash...know any lawyers that know judges. Just make sure you print off any extra lovely stuff that maybe a professional officiant would natually do if you want that type of stuff.

So Jennifer is lying to her nearest and dearest!

Stop it Katherine. This comes up twice a week.

Ugh I know and I'm totally on board if they're just honest.

Yeah....I do get that. The whole construction of the OP made it hard to by sympathetic, including the language.... "Fake" is not all that endearing.

I still want to know what happened to the original officiant, and how they were vetted, because that's just plain wrong.

By fake, I meant having a friend "marry me" on the beach, even though I would have gotten legally married the day before. The ceremony on the beach is what I meant as "fake" seeing as no officiant would be needed. The original officiant had planned me for the day and her assistant had double booked. I decided to take my money elsewhere. The second officiant left due to needing back surgery. Also, I didn't come on here for sympathy. I came on here for advice, which many of you lovely ladies provided. So thank you to you girls.

I was also very honest with the guests, letting them know what my intentions were. Luckily, I was able to figure it out thanks to some of you ladies. So again, thank you.