What’s a Wedding Officiant & What Duties Do They Have?

Photo: George V.

There’s a learning curve involved with wedding planning, and two of the many things you should educate yourself on are what vendors you need and their duties. Enter: an officiant. Arguably the most important person to your nuptials, this pro makes your union official. But what’s a wedding officiant? To get the answer to this question and learn about what types of officiants exist and their services, keep reading. According to internal data, 32% of recently married couples hired an officiant for their wedding, and now it’s time to find out why. 

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What’s a Wedding Officiant?

A wedding officiant is a person who legally marries people and leads the ceremony because they’re backed by religious or secular authorities to do so. However, that's only part of their job. Learn more about the wedding officiant services you can expect below. 

What Does a Wedding Officiant Do?

Here’s a quick guide to the typical wedding officiant duties. There are even some pros who’ll go above and beyond the following tasks. 

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• Get to know you as a couple: It’s best to hire your wedding officiant about a year out from the celebration so everyone has enough time to become acquainted with one another. This is the perfect opportunity for you to ask your officiant questions and for them to ask you questions. By building a strong bond with one another, your pro can offer you more accurate advice or suggestions, you and your partner will feel more comfortable with them and the ceremony won’t be awkward. 
• Provides premarital counseling: Since wedding officiants spend a lot of time with their to-be-weds, many of them offer premarital counseling. Some couples use this service to talk about prewedding jitters, how to navigate tense family dynamics and other marriage-related topics. Ask your potential officiant if they offer premarital counseling so you know they’re prepared to address all these issues and more. 
• Helps create wedding ceremony order and script: An officiant, whether secular or religious, works with the couple in the months before the wedding day to craft the ceremony. This may include guiding the couple on how to organize their ceremony order and write their vows, while also suggesting what readings and music to select. 
• Performs the ceremony: The officiant must be legally ordained to perform weddings in your state and understand your jurisdiction's laws as they pertain to the marriage license. This is one of the ways your union becomes official by law. 
• Handles legal paperwork: On your wedding day, your officiant will fill out and sign the marriage license (along with witnesses) and send it back to the county clerk's office for certification. This may sound like a minor detail, but without a marriage license, a couple isn’t considered legally married and they can’t change their last names. 

Types of Wedding Officiants You Should Know About

Now that you know the wedding officiant meaning, you need to decide the type of person you'd like to perform your ceremony before starting the search. Here's a rundown of the different wedding officiants, both religious and secular.

Religious Officiant 

Religious officiants serve as leaders within their particular area of faith and usually perform wedding ceremonies based at their place of worship. You may be familiar with common religious leader titles such as rabbi; priest; imam; pastor; revered or minister, all of whom can perform a wedding ceremony and sign your marriage certificate.

However, just because you’re working with a religious officiant doesn’t necessarily mean you’re obligated to wed in a church, mosque, temple or any place of worship. For example, many couples have their religious leader officiate a wedding ceremony at the beach, in their backyard or at their chosen venue. On the flip side, a Catholic priest might not be able to perform a marriage ceremony unless it’s held at the church. 

Keep in mind that the rules and regulations that come with this type of wedding officiant vary widely by each religious organization and denomination. It’s always best to have a conversation with any prospective officiant before finalizing the location and ceremony script. 

Civil Officiant

Civil officiants usually work for the government roles and have the ability to legally perform a marriage ceremony in accordance with their state laws. This type of secular officiant may have various titles, such as a justice of the peace; judge; mayor; city clerk; notary or magistrate, and often oversee ceremonies within the context of a government setting, like a courthouse or city hall.

Many couples choose a civil officiant for a straightforward, nonreligious ceremony with the added assurance that their marriage is official in the eyes of the law. In fact, some couples marrying abroad will need to conduct a legal, secular ceremony back home with the help of a civil officiant.

Professional Officiant 

In addition to civil and religious wedding officiants, professional officiants—also called celebrants—are licensed and experienced professionals hired to perform your marriage ceremony. Most celebrants are well-versed in secular, spiritual or interfaith ceremonies, but each celebrant likely has their area of specialty. 

In addition to performing your service on the wedding day, these types of officiants are often able to offer guidance as you write and practice your wedding vows. They also are more open to you customizing your ceremony with any rituals or readings you’d like to include.

Just like any other member of your wedding vendor team, you’ll want to take the time to meet with potential celebrants before hiring and to ask as many questions as possible. Luckily, most celebrants come with years of experience, so you can rest assured they’ll lead your ceremony with the utmost confidence and professionalism. 

Nondenominational Ordained Officiant

While we recommend hiring an experienced wedding officiant to conduct your ceremony, some couples want their loved one to officiate their ceremony. If the family member or friend you’d like to perform your ceremony isn’t currently ordained, they can do so through a nondimensional church, nonprofit organization or apply online. However, it’s important to note that some states don’t recognize online ordination, so brush up on your state’s marriage laws before your loved one completes the process.

Additional reporting by Stephanie Weers.