Friend officiant?

I have a feeling you want everyone to say go for it so ok go for it . Just make sure there is a written contract for his services and you meet the deadlines for financial responsibility to pay for him.

"I know everyone here hates this idea, but what about if I do it?"...??.?.?.??

That said, I think it could be cute...as long as the legalities are in order. Unfortunately, it never really goes like you plan--and you're putting a lot of faith in this person to get this right. I'd be wary if I were you.

Has he performed a wedding ceremony before?

Uh uh. Get ready

You know most people here are going to tell you that your most important vendor shouldn't be a friend. It should be a professional.

So why in the ever loving hell would you ask for opinions?

Yes, most people here will tell you it's a bad idea. That said, I'm doing it. My officiants are very close family friends, a married couple. They do this professionally so they have plenty of experience, and are very exceptional public speakers. It was never a question for me that they would marry us. I need an officiant I can trust, not a stranger or aquaintance. I need that comfort to deal with something as intimate as marrying my FH in front of 70 people. I'd say go for it if you have complete faith that he will keep his shit together in front of what is basically an audience. Good luck!

We had my husband's uncle officiate our wedding. It was perfect. Check the marriage laws in your area and make sure his ordination is sufficient to legally marry though.

We are having one of my best friends do our ceremony. He has done weddings before and I wouldn't want anyone else up there with us. Honestly the only thing he could possibly screw up is not legally marrying us. We are not picky about vows or anything else in the ceremony. We are open to whatever. Just want to be married at the end. If you want your ceremony to be a certain way then maybe hire a professional.

It depends on him being ordained. Is he a pastor/officiant who does lots of weddings? Go for it. If he just got his certificate online, I wouldn't.

My uncle is doing the ceremony, however he has performed hundreds of weddings.

I'm having a long time friend of the family officiate my wedding. He's been a pastor for a long time, so he's ordained and he's officiated weddings before. He and my dad have known each other since they were 14. He's like an uncle to me, so it just seemed fitting that he marry me and my fiancé.

Has this person done a wedding before? I think if this person practices the ceremony with (and without you), makes time with you to actually talk about what they are going to say, gets verified by the county and goes through all the steps to be sure its legal , I think it's fine.

I REALLY considered doing this as my bestie is officiated as well, has done it before and I knew she would put ridiculous planning into making it super special for us. However, the more FH and I talked it over and the more threads I read on here made me change my mind and just have a paid officiant. I want her to enjoy the night and not be stressed.

We're actually having one of our best friends officiate our wedding. We really wanted someone who knew us and loved us to be apart of the biggest day of our lives. We've talked about the ceremony, and what we want and we are all very excited! He is very honored to be the person who marries us. I think it's up to you!

I'm asking my godfather. He is an ordained minister and has performed 100's of ceremonies (including marrying my parents). It's more for sentimental reasons than anything else.

My BIL is doing mine (gasp! Lol) he got ordained, and we have all the legalities looked into and planned. As far as he's not a professional or may'screw up' im not worried. We are having a small family wedding and would much rather have someone who knows us do it than a stranger (plus we are not religious) I welcome anything that happens if he stumbles i'll probably laugh haha. But that's how I want it, laid back and not a typical wedding feel.

Generally I would avoid any "friendors" - however our officiant is a friend of ours. I am not super close with him, FH is closer friends with him than me. He does actually officiate weddings, and we'll be the 4th or 5th wedding hes done just in our friend circle. He's an excellent speaker, and was the singer in FH's band for several years, so he's quite comfortable speaking in front of people.

If you know it's frowned upon, why on earth would you ask?

I wouldn't unless you lock him into a contract that provides a backup should he fail to make it to the ceremony.

Also, and this was just different for me, FH thought it would be "fun" to get one of his friends ordained and do our ceremony. We did not go with that option because we are moving out of the country and will need our marriage certificate delivered overseas. Our official officiant is responsible for filing our marriage certificate for us and has already made a plan to get our certificate mailed to us immediately. I cannot even imagine trying to plan out the logistics of that alone. Nor can I imagine a friend of ours being responsible for filing the marriage certificate even though "he could do that, it's easy."

It's an idea I've had for years now, and now I'm engaged and looking at logistics. We're doing an informal wedding so I don't need anything super fancy or crazy. I asked him what he thinks and he's already looking into what it takes for him to be able to legally marry FH and I in our current County so he can let me know if he's willing.

I'm glad to have opinions from both sides... gives me things to think about. Thanks everyone!

We are considering three possibilities for our officiant. Two are realtives and the other is a close friend. All are ordained ministers who have performed A LOT of weddings, both for family and for strangers. If this is the case with your friend, go for it. If they are ordained but have little to no experience, only do it if you're 100% ok with the possibility of things not going as planned.

We're having my FFIN officiant our wedding!