non-denominational officiants?

kyks17

i've been trying to find a non-denominational officiant that doesn't cost an arm and a leg, and am having no luck! my budget for the officiant is only $240 and i'm just wondering if anyone knew of any that would be in that price range? most i have seen are $450+ and i just can't do that. thanks!

NDAshley

We are using Rev Michael Ahern he is $300 and non denominational. My wedding is this Sat, so I can't tell you how he is officially yet, but so far I've found him very organized and put together. Plus, I watched a ceremony of his and he has a nice voice, will not intrude God on you if you don't want it and seems nice enough. Just google his name he has a website

meaganbrand

we had the same problem you did.. and ended up asking FI father to marry us instead and we will have him ordained. I just couldnt see paying several hundred dollars for a stranger to "tap into our relationship" to create a ceremony to last no more than an hour.

amanda_tyler

I know what you mean about the cost of an officiant and we had the same experience with having a budget amount that was less than what officiants are charging. At a friend's wedding, I was really impressed with their non-denominational officiant, Rich Cowley. They were overjoyed with their experience working with him. So, on their recommendation, we met with Rich and booked our wedding that day. While he was a little bit over our budget, we realized that the ceremony is the most important part of the wedding and spending a little more money is well worth it. Even though our wedding is a year away he has always been available to help us organize and contribute ideas for the ceremony. He's professional, personable, non-judgemental, open to all our ideas and has a great speaking voice and sense of humor. We feel at ease with him and he makes us feel that he cares about us as a couple. His fee includes writing our ceremony, all the meetings, phone calls and emails we need, any additions to the ceremony such as a candle-lighting or sand ceremony, and attending the rehearsal. Yeah we spent a little more than we budgeted, but we feel it's worth it because the ceremony and our vows are so important that we didn't want to settle on just anybody. Other officiants charged less, but we didn't get the same feeling of confindence as we did with Rich. To us he's not just some guy presiding over our ceremony; he's an awesome addition to our wedding party! Check out his website: www.wellsayIdo.com

kyks17

thanks for the recommendations, guys! we're kind of leaning towards having my fiance's brother officiate, turns out he's actually already ordained in oregon where he lives. does anyone know what u have to do to make sure the ordination counts in california or anything like that? i'd hate to have it end up not counting, but i think it would so cool to have him marry us.

lala90

We are having a friend marry us.  They can be ordained (sp?) online.  Neither one of us belongs to a church and it  would seems\ wierd to have a total stranger marry us.