Wedding Officiant

Kara85

Hi all -

I'm reposting this question on the NH board to see if anyone in our area has ideas too...

So my fiance and I are from two different religious backgrounds and neither of us are actually religious. Our ceremony will include aspects of both of our traditions but we don't want to be married by a religious person from either faith. We would love to have one of our mutual friends marry us - we were originally thinking he could become a JP in his home state of MA which would qualify him to marry us in NH - but it seems pretty complicated. 

Any thoughts or ideas? Has anyone done this or is planning on doing this?

I've heard of online "churches" that some folks use to get "ordained" but I don't know anything about those. We really want to have our friend marry us, but we don't want to impose on him or have to dive through tons of hoops on our end to make it work (a reasonable amount of hoops is expected...its a wedding afterall).

Thanks for any thoughts.

~Kara

Kfudge0714

I'm in the same boat as you!! I really want my grandpa to marry us but I don't want him to jump through hoops! The only advice I was given was for him to get ordained online... But that's it! I don't know If it costs, how complicated it is, what site to use, nothing! There are a bunch of sites but I don't know which ones are legit!

Kara85

Hi!

So a few people responded to my post under another heading. For online churches folks recommended "Universal Life Church" (but with the caveat to check with the state to see if they'll accept this type of ordination/maybe check to see if the state cares if the person is only getting ordained for a one time thing...). It looks OK - maybe some people who have used it will be able to comment more on how that went. 

versed

My friend became a JP pretty easily - it took a few months for it all to be processed, but it was easy for him. 

You fill out a few forms, get a couple signatures, write a $75 check and just wait. He's ecstatic that he now has the title "esquire" from the state of NH.

He chose not to go the ordained route because he is hoping to become an Episcopalian priest soon and doesn't want being ordained in a "fake church" to hinder that process.