Can't find a Wedding Officiant!

Knottie49982257

I am having the hardest time finding a non denominational (NO mention of God) wedding officiant! For some reason my fiancé prefers a man, and the quotes I have received from Thumbtack have all been women. Where does a couple who are not religious, find an affordable ($200-260) person to marry us? The ceremony will be in Asbury Park, NJ and will be about 20 minutes long....

Cookie Pusher

I have no suggestions for you, but good luck. We didn't find any officiants for less than $400 and they offered a much shorter ceremony.

JoanE2012

Finding a non-denominational officiant is fairly easy.  I think your issues is going to be finding one in the low to mid $200 range.   Our officiant was $700.  Mitch the Minister is mentioned often here (performs non-denominational ceremonies) but a quick check of his website and it looks like he would probably be $600.  April Beer also seems to be highly recommended here, but, well, she's a woman.  Can you shift your budget around a bit?  

Jenn7778

I agree with @JoanE2012.  We are having a joint ceremony in my fiance's roman catholic church and our Cantor is $800 and then we have to give a $250 donation to the church plus the proest attends the rehearsal dinner and the reception.

We looked at non-denominational prior to deciding to do the joint religious ceremony and they ranged between $600-900 depending on ceremony length.

If you want non-denominational, can you have someone get ordained and perform the ceremony?  If it is a friend or family member it will be $25 which is the filing fee.  My sister got ordained and performed our brothers ceremony.

Knottie49982257

I got a few quotes of Thumbtack that were in my price range, but they were either women or whack jobs. I may just have to talk some sense into my fiance's gender bias. I just can't bring myself to pay that much for the minimal amount we need from them. I toyed with the idea of getting a close friend ordained, and if it comes down to it we may go that route...I'm just terrified of getting the giggles.

JoanE2012

Knottie49982257 said:

I got a few quotes of Thumbtack that were in my price range, but they were either women or whack jobs. I may just have to talk some sense into my fiance's gender bias. I just can't bring myself to pay that much for the minimal amount we need from them. I toyed with the idea of getting a close friend ordained, and if it comes down to it we may go that route...I'm just terrified of getting the giggles.

Yeah, I'd start here first.  I don't understand what the problem is with a woman performing the ceremony.  

DanielleRS528

Do you have any family or friends you could ask to do the ceromony? Might be good to ask someone you know so you can get exactly what you're looking for!