The Officiator

You can have a non religious ceremony with pretty much any officiant. Check the vendor tab

For starters, you're looking for an officiant. Googling "officiators" is probably not going to get you anything...

Check the vendor tab. Go to Celebrant USA (they are here) and search by state. Google "wedding ceremony my state".

Ask your venues and other vendors who they love. We refer other pros all the time.

(A disclaimer there; if your venue refers someone or they are in their 'book', ask if they pay to play or if they really like them...)

There are loads of non-religious officiants out there, and you're starting in plenty of time. Good luck!

I'm atheist and my FH is Jewish, but not very religious. We found a JP in our state using the vendor tab.

The Officiator. Sounds like a new super hero -- officiant by day/crime fighter by night, lol.

I would probably start by looking for an officiant. My buddy googled it to find an atheist officiant. Otherwise you can search for a JOP. We ended up going to a church and asking the pastor.

I'm going to ask my cousin and pay for him to get his officiant license online.

I strongly advise against it, Lauren (3/31/18). There is no good reason to solicit somebody who does not know what they are doing to be in charge of the most important part of your wedding day. Please hire a professional. Best wishes!

Lauren....bad idea. And while you don't have to pay to get him ordained, he may not be legal in your state. We'll just ignore the fact that he probably has no idea what he's doing so every single ceremony question you have will find its way here.

Not every state has JOP; NJ doesn't, and most of our mayors won't do weddings anymore.

OP, try everything I mentioned and add to it contacting your local Unitarian Society.

Signed,

The Officiator

^^^^LOL^^^^

We got a vendor to do it. They gave us sample ceremonies and I am editing some of it and saying what I want basically.

@Celia - May I call you the officiator from now on?

My first wedding was performed by a notary. My grandma worked with her and she had performed many weddings.

I found mine using the vendor tab.

Notaries cannot perform legal ceremonies in most states. I'm a notary and definitely cannot in IN.

Definitely check the vendors tab! Wedding Wire recommends vendors that are local for you which I have found very helpful!

Florida is one of 3 or 4 states that allow Notaries to officiate weddings.

Laurent, find out from your state's official website who is authorized to officiate weddings in your state.

Search for civil wedding officiants in your state (may be Justice of the Peace, Notary Public, Magistrate, Judge, Mayor, etc.).

I like "the officiator"! Hilarious! We are having my FMIL's cousin who is a judge

@Constance; only if you kiss my ring :-)

See, this is bad.....now I want a uniform. Something spandex-y and black (of course, this is NYC)....with a giant Swarovsky crystal "O" on the front. And a cape. Or a feather boa. And a jet pack. Definitely a jetpack.

Here I come to save the day!!!!

Okay. I clearly need wine.

I actually have a long time friend and her husband doing it. He's been a wedding DJ for years and she's been a performer for years as well. They've thought for a long time about getting ordained so my asking them pushed them to do it. I checked first with my county for what is accepted to make sure, they did the online ordination thing and we are set. We wrote the ceremony together to make it exactly what we want and they are all set. They know, from their online training and from my country clerk's office, exactly what the requirements are, we have all the paperwork for the marriage license, and I trust them (as friends and performers) to do a great job in a much more meaningful way because they REALLY know me. I'm so excited!! If you have a wedding coordinator, they will run the show in every other way so the officiates just need to conduct the ceremony. A trusted friend can be a great option.

My FH is atheist, but me, my family, and my FILs are all very Christian. We are having one of his friends officiate. No one other than our friends know that he is not religious, so we've given him guidelines to officiate us and give references to Christian faith, but when speaking focus mainly on the commitment that we are making to each other.