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Alternative Officiant Questions

polkadot+princesspolkadot+princess
First Comment
in Washington
So I'm not terribly religious and my fiance is not churchy so we don't have a readily available clergy option to officiate our August 2012 wedding. I really don't want to worry about finding clergy or some one to perform a civil ceremony so my fiance and I thought we'd ask a friend or family member to do it. I have a couple questions about this.
  • Does anyone know if someone ordained by the Universal Life Church or whatever it is that does the ordination on the internet, can legally perform weddings in the state of Washington?
  • I read in a wedding book that some states or counties allow someone to be deputized to perform certain duties for a day, such as performing a wedding, does anyone know if this is something one can do in Washington or Pierce County?

My other thought (which I have yet to pitch to the fiance) was to have a quick and simple courthouse ceremony the Friday before our "real" wedding and just have a family ceremony the next day where everyone special in our lives could help to seal our commitment. Thoughts?
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Re: Alternative Officiant Questions

  • mrandmrsbristmrandmrsbrist member
    1000 Comments Second Anniversary
    edited December 2011
    Washington is a state that allows it. My grandpa just went through that this last month and he's the one officiating our wedding.

    As for the "real" vs. "fake" wedding, those are not generally well accepted here on TK. There are other options, such as the one you listed above, instead of that. Because people will not be coming to your wedding (because that happend on Friday) it would make invitations and everything else extremely difficult.

    Another option: google officiants. There are plenty of non-clergy officiants in the area. Tri-Cities, for example, has over twenty. Do some research. :)

    Hope this helps!
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  • firsttimersluckfirsttimersluck member
    2500 Comments Third Anniversary 25 Love Its Name Dropper
    edited December 2011

    One idea: get married a couple days before the actual day, so you can have anyone you want officiate it.
    My FIs best friend is an ordained minister in another state and we want her to marry us sooo badly but  decided that we will have her "marry" us to the worlds eyes, but get it down on paper a week before. :P We have a few different reasons for it, but it will definitely make it easier so she doesn't have to go thru the hassle of figuring out the wa state laws of it all and pay the fees for it.
    We're still counting our wedding day as our anniv (especially because it's actually our dating anniv anyway :) )

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  • Jerusha19Jerusha19 member
    10 Comments
    edited December 2011
    In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_washington_alternative-officiant-questions?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local Wedding BoardsForum:633Discussion:0c4f6b70-9756-4b71-b27b-1e2bb07ada07Post:040f90a4-82db-465a-ba67-184d8630e03e">Re: Alternative Officiant Questions</a>:
    [QUOTE]One idea: get married a couple days before the actual day, so you can have anyone you want officiate it. My FIs best friend is an ordained minister in another state and we want her to marry us sooo badly but  decided that we will have her "marry" us to the worlds eyes, but get it down on paper a week before. :P We have a few different reasons for it, but it will definitely make it easier so she doesn't have to go thru the hassle of figuring out the wa state laws of it all and pay the fees for it. We're still counting our wedding day as our anniv (especially because it's actually our dating anniv anyway :) )
    Posted by firsttimersluck[/QUOTE]

    I was just looking up officiant laws for WA and I don't think you'll have a problem, If your officiant is ordained anywhere they can do it, they don't have to regiser for WA or anything. (I might have been looking at just Pierce CO but I don't think so.)

    Also, for the original poster, if you want something a little off beat maybe look into The Reverend Colin. While he is an ordained minister his business card also says "Karaoke Host" and "Gun For Hire" and that he does weddings, private parties and strip poker tournaments. His e-mail is <a href="mailto:infranationalhouseofcolin@yahoo.com">infranationalhouseofcolin@yahoo.com</a> Phone number is 504-296-3026. Hope this helps and GL!!
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  • MrsDesChaneMrsDesChane
    10 Comments
    edited December 2011
    I agree with the idea to get legally married prior to the wedding. I don't think it will be difficult or "tricky" for the invitations as long as you are up front with your guests about it. We are getting married on Leap Day, but since Feb is notoriously crappy weather in WA and I am spending a small fortune on photography, I don't want to be stuck with indoor only shots. But, we still want a Leap Day anniversary. So we are getting "married" on Leap Day, no pomp, no circumstance, literally just signing the papers with our witnesses, and then having our wedding ceremony and reception in June 2012. We've told our family and they all say "Whatever you want to do! It's your wedding!" =]
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  • tlittle1tlittle1
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    If yous still looking I found a great lady in WA who is not religious and takes the hassel out of having to get some one ordained. Here is her website! Good Luck!

    http://sites.google.com/site/cindyjouper/home
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