Having a friend officiate wedding ceremony in Massachusetts

Following! Also have a friend/mentor officiate and looking for advice.

My cousin was the officiant for our ceremony and he used Universal Life Church online.

This website should have more information:

https://www.ulc.org/wedding-laws/massachusetts

I would recommend hiring a professional. It is really hard to create a beautiful ceremony. Also, even if your friend is used to public speaking, officiating a wedding comes with additional stress and pressure. In addition, things do not go smoothly or perfectly during a wedding ceremony, and it often comes down to an experienced officiant to resolve issues that arise or to think on his/her feet when something unexpected / inappropriate happens.

Finally and most importantly, the ceremony is the only necessary (i.e. legal) part of the wedding. The rules for what is required for a legal ceremony differ from state to state and even county to county. Do you even know if your state/county allows someone to be ordained for a day or online? Or do you know what legal language has to be said at the ceremony? What if your friend gets something wrong or does not send in your legal papers on time or to the right place? Do you really want to risk your wedding not being legal?

My friend officiated our wedding and did a beautiful job. However, despite her public speaking background, she was very nervous and worried about messing up our wedding. She even declined to bring a date because she wanted to focus before and during the ceremony. I also ended up writing most of our ceremony, which was an additional stress and time suck I wish I did not have before the wedding. We did get a ton of compliments on our ceremony, but after my experience, I am always on team pro.