FI and I are looking into two main options for our officiant.
Ideally, we would self-actualize the wedding, but that is illegal in RI.
Our first option would be to have his father ordained to perform the wedding. His parents are Christian, mine are a-religious (but identify as Christian), I am a non-theist and FI is an atheist. Despite that fact that we are not Christian, it has had a very strong cultural impact on us. It would also mean a lot to us for his dad to perform the act (or mom) because it expresses the acceptance and support we've received from them despite our own beliefs. Does anybody know the approximate cost and legality for having FFIL ordained? Btw, he does not live in RI (neither do we).
Our second choice would be have a humanist officiant. We do not belong to any humanist societies, but we support most of its principles and I consider myself humanist. I learned that the concept of having a post-legal ceremony is controversial, but there is a small possibility that it will happen. In this case, we would have a humanist ceremony with friends and family, reducing some of the confusion that arrises when a JP made it legal already, but community makes it official (for us), as the humanist ceremony would be analogous to a Catholic ceremony after the legal wedding. I tried googling for humanist officiants in RI, but didn't find a 'list' or any websites that seemed like good sources. Does anyone have any experience with humanist ceremonies/officiants?
Also, does anybody know if a wedding officiant that does NOT get their authority to do so from status as an eligible government official must then be classified as 'clergy?' What I mean is, by getting ordained for this wedding, would somebody be clergy? I saw a few lines of RI law, but because they didnt address civilians being ordained explicitly, I couldn't tell if I was reading too much into the law.