Officiant on a budget

Pburke2010

Hi all,
I'm a mixture of Catholic/Buddhist and my Fiance is an Atheist.  We are looking for an officiant in Northern NJ that won't break the budget.  Our ceremony is going to be short, so we can't rationalize spending $500+ on someone for less than an hour (plus rehersal- so maybe 1.5 hours) 

Anyone have any good suggestions?  I found a few for abour $400 but I wanted some feedback from my fellow Jersey Girls

Thanks!

oxlizxo

If you have anyone in mind and if your ceremony isn't going to be religious, you might want to consider having a close friend or relative get ordained online at Universal Life Church and have them perform your ceremony. That's what I'm doing and I'm really excited about it because he's a close friend of both me and my FI, so having him perform the ceremony will make it more personal, I think. Also, he's free!

christin228

Agree w previous poster about getting a friend or family member to do it for you. My FI was the officiant for his sisters wedding. It costed like $30 to be ordained online and she got to write her ceremony exactly as she wanted. But if you wanted to hire someone, we are using Mitch the Minister, and he was $450.

armygrl4

I'm using Mitch the Minister too! He's under $500 and he put together a great ceremony for us.

Pburke2010

Would I have to check with my county about the marriage being legal, or since they are ordained, it doesn't matter?  I'm totally new to all of this, though I am open to the option of having a close friend or family marry us. 

shoebie

NJ, any ordained person of any faith can preform a marriage they do not to be registered with the state.