Those of you who are doing premarital counseling...

Even in a church, premarital counseling will cost. DH and I went on a pre-marital retreat (Catholic Engaged Encounter) and it cost about $270. The classes we could have done instead were $100. I don't think many pastors will work with you if you tell them not to pray. For most pastors, prayer and spiritual life is essential to marriage. You might be able to find a pastor that is willing to do pre-marital counseling, but I'd be surprised if you found one to marry you. Just being real.

You could also look into professionals such as social workers or doctors of psychology (unless you lump all that into "therapists") with independent practices for premarital counseling. A quick google search for "non-religious premarital counseling" returned quite a few hits as did Yelp. If you live in or near a major metropolitan area it shouldn't be too difficult. Worst case scenario you find a book and do a little self-study/reflection with your partner.

If you can't find an officiant in your area online and you dont want any religious aspects I would certainly not try to get a pastor. Look up your state laws on who can legally marry. Usually judges, magistrates, some political offices can also marry. I am assuming you live in a small town so that maybe you're best option.

if that doesnt work drive to a bigger town with more option or go to the court house. and just have a vow renewal at your ceremony.

Also, if you google premarital classes, they may have classes for free.. This would be cool expense wise and plus not all premarital class are religious related. I know they have these in my area. I agree with looking into your state laws to verify who can marry you. (Although I don't really agree with this) some really close family mbr or friend can take a class online so that they can marry you...

Umm, you've got 2 questions going on here. Your officiant doesn't necessarily have anything to do with your counseling.

Find an officiant. That's kind of the most important part of the whole shebang, lol. Use google. Look into JOPs in your area.

As for premarital counseling, you'll just have to look into all the options in your area. Some church programs do not include religion at all in their counseling, so you don't have to rule that out immediately.

We are doing pre-martial counseling but we happened to just really luck out with our officiant. He is one of my FH good friends, he used to be a priest, and still is very active in church. He also councils couples. We've asked him to be our officiant and we also have him and his wife over for dinner to discuss marriage and relationships. They give us homework and we do that and then meet for our next dinner. I have to say that so far it is amazing and I would recommend it to anyone. The insight they have shared with us is amazing. They share their own past struggles and know how to put things into words that we just haven't always been able to communicate.

Edited to add: He doesn't bring religion into our discussion, if anyone is concerned about it being religious, it doesn't always have to be that way.

I can't add a lot to the above, but what Kassy said about officiants- here, it's specifically listed with the government 'how to get married' info that officiants are not licensed to provide premarital counselling. Of course some are separately, and pastors notably do (but I highly suggest against that, from what I know of the ones who have done my cousins' weddings, because there's a huge emphasis on living like Jesus and such in those ones at least and you most likely won't enjoy it even if it's less severe), but don't expect it too much.

Well, you might be able to rule out my point, based on Rachel's. If you look into pastors (and certainly it can't hurt to ask if they'll do a non religious or negligibly religious ceremony), it would definitely be worth asking what their premarital counselling is.

I don't really know what constitutes as "premarital counseling", if it involves making sure you and your future spouse are on the same page as one other (in terms of kids, money issues/spending, practicing religion or not ...and the important aspects of marriage like being able to live your future spouse and talk through things when problems arise...) then I suppose we did have a short session with our Rabbi (no "extra" fees). So not really sure how much "non partisan premarital counseling" would cost...or even entail...

Our Rabbi basically just asked us those important questions to make sure we were on the same page and asked if there was anything needed to be discussed before marriage to discuss with either ourselves or if we needed a moderator he would help.

Check with your/FI's HR department to see if you have an Employee Assistance Program (EAP). If they do, call them to see if you are able to get premarital counseling sessions. We were able to get three free sessions through my EAP, then our counselor takes my health insurance so if we do additional sessions, I only pay my co-pay.