Wedding Officiant

Try Thumbtack or ask a friend or family member to officiate if that's legal in your state.

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I have tried thumbtack, but I didn't have any luck. My venue recommended not getting a friend or family member to do it. She said if turns out not to be legal then that way we don't have to find out the hard way that we actually aren't married.

What do you consider way too much? Could you save some money over the next 2 years or cut the budget from another part of the wedding?

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500 + dollars is too expensive. Yes, I could save money and we are, but out of everything; I would rather spend a lot of money on venue, DJ, caterer, and honeymoon then spend a lot of money on the officiant. Especially since neither of us are religious, so as long as we get to say I do to one another, we do not care who marries us as long as it is affordable.

In PA you can self unite. We self united our marriage but had my best friend "officiate" our wedding. It was much easier and personal this way. She knew us and made a really good wedding script. It only cost $50 for the wedding license and just tell them you are self uniting when you apply

View Quoted Comment What exactly is self uniting though?

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It's really just so it is legal. Say you didn't want to have anyone marry you, you and your fiancé just decided you would say your vows together without a 3rd party it allows you to do that. You fill out your marriage license and the date you married and send it back to the courts. Or in my situation, I wanted a small intimate wedding and my close friend to marry us and my marriage to be legal because shes not ordained or anything. With self uniting I can fill out my marriage license and everything so it is legal.

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Oh okay. I looked it up.. it is also only legal in certain counties in PA.

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You can go to any county to get your marriage license. It doesn't have to be the county you are marrying in.

You could easily call you Clerk of Court Record office and they will answer any questions you have about it. It's the cheapest way to get married legally in PA in you don't have a religious church you go to

View Quoted Comment Okay. I will have to think about it. We aren't even getting married in a church. We are getting married outside on a farm with our reception being inside a barn.

In MA you can have someone ordained for one day to marry you (like a family member or friend). Our state also has a limit on how much a Justice of the Peace is allowed to charge and I think lots of other states do too, although we found most upcharge for “custom ceremonies” we did find some JOPs who charged the state mandated minimum.