Getting Friend Licensed to Officiate Wedding in Orleans Parish

norwooddavis

Has anyone had to do this before? Although I know how to get our friend licensed through a religious organization (Universal Church), I'm finding conflicting information regarding what we need to do to get him licensed in Orleans Parish! Any tips and advice on what department we need to work with is much appreciated.

sfinnin

I acutally had a friend of mine get ordained for our wedding this past March. I would call to check to make sure nothing has changed, bute here's what our firned did. Once your friend gets the ordination certificate from the universal church have them send the certificate along with a copy of their state id/driver's licence and the notarized affidavit from the New Orleans vital records office website all into the vital records marriage office. Then call in a week or so to make sure that it was received that they are good to go. They most likely WILL NOT receive anything confirming that they are "official" from the marriage office. This is the same office you need to go to get a marriage license, so worst case if they don't answer the phone just stop by and see if they've processed your friends information. It's what we ended up doing!

Address to send the documents:

Vital Records

ATTN: Marriage Office

PO Box 60630

New Orleans, LA 70160

Phone number for Vital Records: 504-593-5116

Here's the link to the affidavit: http://new.dhh.louisiana.gov/assets/oph/Center-RS/vitalrec/MARRIAGEOFFICIANTREGISTRATIONAFFIDAVIT2.pdf

norwooddavis

Thank you!

hellerk2

Thanks for the info sfinnin.  I'm also considering this but worried about making sure it's "official".  I'm wondering, do you or anyone know if the person getting ordained and registered has to live in Louisiana?  The person that I want to officiate our wedding lives out of state.  Will this be a problem or will be it be okay as long as they register in Orleans parish?  Thank you!!