Where to find an officiant?

A friend of ours is officiating our wedding. He’s been a part of our lives for over 10 years. We both wanted to have someone who knew the both of us personally.

View Quoted Comment Thats awesome!! I definitely think it makes it even more special when you know the person. Maybe someone in the family could get ordained & help us out Lol


Are you going to be reading your own vows to each other at the altar or is there a plan in place already for what the officiant will say that can be reviewed by you beforehand?

View Quoted Comment Lol - I hope you can! Maybe a close friend or family member who’d be willing to do it. We’re going to read our own vows.

I'm not religious or spiritual, so I wanted someone secular. I'm getting married in Pennsylvania, and mayors there can marry people, so we asked the mayor of the city where we're getting married to marry us.

Hi Yarelis! You can search for officiants for hire right here on WeddingWire:

Find Local Officiants

We actually found someone here through WeddingWire. We read their reviews and had a phone interview with them. We thought they were amazing and asked all the right questions. In the end our ceremony was super personal. I recommended them to a friend and they even officiated their wedding.

We found our officiant by word of mouth. I am a non-practicing Catholic and my husband is not. While we could have probably gotten married at my church, we preferred not to have to go through the entire process. We were not opposed to having a semi-religious ceremony, however. My mother was talking to the owner of a local deli, whose family also belongs to their church, and she suggested the officiant who did her daughter’s wedding and gave the contact information. It was a perfect fit for us! The man was a pastor at a local Nazarene church near us. We met with him a few times before the ceremony for pre-marital counseling and to discuss the ceremony, but it was very laid back, non-judgemental, and made us both feel very comfortable! We were able to include some religious readings and a prayer along with non-religious components and were able to have the ceremony at our venue, as opposed to a church. Because we had met with him for the sessions before the wedding, it no longer felt like a stranger was officiating. Two years later, we still talk about Pastor Larry and are beyond thrilled when we see him!

View Quoted Comment Wow! This was so helpful and sounds like they were the perfect person. Could you possibly give me their information? Sounds exactly like something I would like. A mix with some religious components. My ceremony and reception will be outdoors at one venue.

View Quoted Comment I have actually started searching today on WeddingWire & saved a few options.. I also read reviews but it was hard to find reviews that weren't all the same or descriptive enough.
Do you know if most of them are willing to meet without commitment to them? Like for an interview? Who did you choose from WeddingWire?

Sorry about all the questions! Lol

We found ours at a wedding expo. We had met a few through other expos but felt a connection with this one. He was great in that he made it totally personal to us and offered to make it as religious or secular as we wanted it to be.

We considered for a minute having a friend as officiant because it is legal in our area but the logistics made us hesitate with that. Because you have to find someone who is comfortable with public speaking and who can make triple sure that everything is submitted correctly and on time to the marriage license office. We didn’t want to put that extra pressure and responsibility on any of our friends or family. Unfortunately, the other options in our area (major city, high cost of living area so this really surprised us) are either a chapel with limited guests allowed and no ceremony customization or a full service bare bones officiant who will do a customized ceremony starting at $750 going up to $1k+. Which we are leaning towards because we don’t belong to a house of worship and we are not going to pretend that we are to please others. While the ceremony is the most important part of the day and should not be an afterthought, that has been the biggest sticker shock. All other vendors in our major city high cost of living area have been on the budget side, though they are not popular vendors on every recommended list but their customer service has been better than any of the well known “must have” vendors.

So basically we looked all over the internet to see who is a licensed officiant in the area and met with those who we felt were a good fit to interview and narrow it from there. Do a search in your area for officiants on Instagram had the best results. Also Yelp and websites of magazines that list all local wedding vendors “(fill in the blank state or major city) Bride magazine” or similar. Also skip the vendor lists of WW and TheKnot because vendors pay for 5 star reviews and have genuine ones removed.

View Quoted Comment

I did the same thing. After 2 phone interviews with 'contestant #1" I crossed her off my list and went to #2. OMG, it was like talking to a long lost friend. She is super fun, has amazing reviews and just checked off all the boxes on my list. We will meet with her in person once the wedding gets closer, but I truly feel I made the perfect choice.