need help...justice of peace

elovesb24

We are having a small ceremony/reception in september with family & friends, but we are looking to get married now.  We have applied for a marriage license and now are looking for a justice of peace to marry us.  i just dont know where to start to find one.  Do i call the court house and ask there?  WE live in montgomery cty and any help would be so appreciated.  Thanks girls!!!

LaRositaMonita

Do you want to get married at the courthouse or at home?  If you are looking for a non-denominational officiant to do a wedding somewhere other than at the courthouse, I would highly recommend anyone from Journeys of the Heart.  Fantastic and good for everything from a fully customized, personal ceremony planned months in advance to something quick, simple, and intimate at home or at any other location. 

[Deleted User]

If you are looking to get married now as in just getting the legal stuff out of the way I would say don't spend your money on something like  Journeys of the Heart at the moment.  Go to the court house get the paperwork done.

then in Sept do the spiritual side of things, unless I am misunderstanding you.  

I just found this on the PA site:

Marriage Ceremony: Marriage ceremonies may be performed by the following:
•  Judges•  Justices of Peace•  County Clerks or their Deputies within appointing county•  Persons appointed to perform the ceremony by a congregation having regular meetings in the state (i.e., ministers, pastors, priests, rabbis).So it seems like there would be people that would be at the courthouse to just do marriages, I'm not 100% sure, call Norristown.  If you do not yet have the licence you can  get the self uniting (Quaker) licence and then you don't need an officiant.  

Good luck!

elovesb24

Thanks girls for the info.  I do have my license already, but wish I would have known about the self uniting license ahead of time.

buzzy316

I just asked a friend of mine who did this years ago.  You call the district court in the county you wish to marry in and then you ask to schedule a time and they'll take care of that for you.  Simple as that!

laurak43

We had to do the JOP because I lost my job and needed to be on his health insurance.  I also live in Montco and all I did after getting the license was look up the district court (ours was Abington) called and scheduled the appt.  There they only did it on Wednesdays and Fridays so we got to schedule the friday exactly one year before our wedding date.  Not a bad way to spend your anniversary if you ask me.

I have to say, it was a very weird, non-romantic moment for us.  The court room was really a conference room and the "ceremony" includes all the God references that I wouldn't have wanted.  It really was getting the legal part out of the way and now I can't wait until the true ceremony when we exchange the vows we believe in and make the commitment for ourselves, not the state.