Who can perform the ceremony in New Orleans?

BestbankBride

Does anyone have any idea who is allowed or not allowed to perform a wedding ceremony in New Orleans?  I'm looking for the official word, and having trouble figuring out where to look other than Google.  Anybody have suggestions or experience with this?  We were wanting a friend to marry us, rather than use an officiant we've never met or interacted with, if this were possible.  

Thank you!

sfinnin

We're having a friend marry us and the process seems pretty simple. Here's a link to a post on this board where someone posted how to get your friend licensed to marry you in Orleans. We haven't done it yet, but I did get the paperwork and called to verify the timeline, so it should work! If the link below doesn't work, just search "friend as officiant" on the New Orleans board. Good Luck!

http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_louisiana-new-orleans_friend-officiant?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local Wedding BoardsForum:84Discussion:3169a6ec-9dc6-4d0b-abf8-d770dfe2680cPost:35cbfd33-accd-420f-bcb9-c4d012670ee0

jeffandjazzgetmarried

I want to add to have your friend f/u with the Office. My friend sent in her form super early and when she heard nothing back she called them and they needed additional documentation (and she is a pastor already - just in another state).

She also mentioned that the office doesn't pick up the phone after 3 - maybe just her experience -lol

Bestbank Bride

I did follow that link to the post, but most of the links (there were multiple links all garbled together, but that may be my browser?) were invalid or came up with errors.  Basically, I found the officiant registration form, but I didn't see anything about a timeline.  Could you explain the timeline that you mentioned?  

Thanks!  Sorry, just trying to make sure we're doing it the right way.  

sfinnin

Sorry the link didn't work properly. I pulled the phone number for the office of vital records from the post, it's (504)593-5116. I actually called them (probably before 3 haha!!) to verify and basically they said that my friend just needed to fill out the form and bring it and her paperwork from the church to a notary, send all of that in and check back with them in a couple of weeks to make sure everything had been processed.
 
Definitely don't assume that hearing nothing means that everything is fine...kind of like with the second line permits, sometimes you just have to keep following up make sure it's done!