officiant question

ansanna

Hello, my cousin recently became ordained and I would love for him to be our officiant, and he offered to do it before he became ordained. I'm assuming it's legal to have a relative officiate a wedding in Pennsylvania. Just thought I'd double check, but I don't know where to look for that info on the web. Thanks!

TomCat2012

Try this link:

http://marriage.about.com/cs/marriagelicenses/p/pennsylvania.htm

It should help!  It's always good to check with your County, as many have different rules regarding who can officiate.  Worst comes to worst, call your local city/county building and ask!

erbear84

Allegheny County has strict rules on officiants, like they must have a congregation or some other nonsense.  

cgyvhu

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_pennsylvania-pittsburgh_officiant-question?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:116Discussion:6dd969a1-0599-46d1-8731-c1968b7dff4ePost:2c8495b5-5965-47ef-b11d-1108c6223c23">Re: officiant question</a>:
[QUOTE]Allegheny County has strict rules on officiants, like they must have a congregation or some other nonsense.  
Posted by erbear84[/QUOTE]

The whole state has that congregation rule.  So your cousin cannot technically officiate the ceremony because he/she doesn't have a congregation.

SOLUTION: Apply for a self-uniting marriage license.  This requires a witness to sign the license, but allows you and FI to "self-unite" your marriage.  Which means if you want a cousin acting as an officiant, they can do that.  They just aren't legally an officiant in PA so you can't use the normal sort of marriage license.

a354663

My dad is marrying us in Washington County.  But he is an associate pastor at a church.  Is your cousin affiliated with a church?  It shouldn't matter at all that you are related but I believe that they must be affiliated with some type of church or congregation.

tjs83

I agree, the relationship is not the factor that plays a part.  They must be affiliated with a congregation.  We looked into all of this as our friend was going to marry us - now we are just getting married the day before by the magistrate and our friend will still perform our ceremony.

ansanna

he's very active at the church but I'm not sure if he does anything.. I'll have to ask him.. I'm so glad that I asked about this here, thank you!

ansanna

Apparently he is a youth leader teaches Bible study but not a pastor.. But Somerset county where we are getting married and Cambria county where we live both offer a selfuniting marriage.

ansanna

Apparently he already researched everything and he said that he does have a congregation at an online church.. I'm inquiring about what online church and then going to call someone and see what they say... Thank you guys so much!