New Orleans wedding officiants for the not-so-religiously-inclined?

July 20, 2009 8:41 AM

New Orleans wedding officiants for the not-so-religiously-inclined?

My fiancée and I are getting married in April of next year. Yay! We've got most of the planning done, but since we're planning from afar (the wedding is in New Orleans, and we're in Boston), there are some parts that we can't do very well. Notably, we're scratching our heads on finding an officiant that we'd both be happy with.

Our requirements are pretty simple, and I'd love to hear any recommendations that y'all might have for anyone in the greater NOLA area. We're going to be down there for a few days in two weeks, and can briefly interview any candidates then.

Our criteria:

• This will be an outdoor, Saturday-afternoon wedding in Jackson Square.
• She's a lapsed Catholic, and I'm an atheist who is willing to put up with some degree of spirituality in a wedding to make some interested parties happy. Any mentions of Jesus will make me unhappy, and a complete paucity of religious sentiment will probably upset these interested parties, and generally make her unhappy
• My first inclination is to split the difference and find a Unitarian officiant, but this is by no means requisite
• We've talked about writing our own vows, but that's not firm yet. Ideally, I'd love to find someone who has done some really beautiful ceremonies before, and who would be willing to talk with us to figure out what themes we'd like to have in our ceremony.

Does anyone here have any recommendations for us? Thanks in advance!

posted by Mayor West to grab bag (5 answers total)

Will New Orleans recognized a marriage performed by a Universal Life minister? If so, someone meaningful to you and your fiancee can be ordained and perform the ceremony.
posted by ocherdraco at 9:16 AM on July 20, 2009

I'm not sure how it works down there but, up here, a Justice of the Peace will recite darn near any marriage text you want, as long as whatever must-recite-legaleeze is included somewhere.

Have you considered a JP?
posted by Thorzdad at 10:10 AM on July 20, 2009

Will New Orleans recognized a marriage performed by a Universal Life minister? If so, someone meaningful to you and your fiancee can be ordained and perform the ceremony.

We had considered this (the ULC says it's recognized in all fifty states, though I'd do some research beforehand), but the weddings that I've seen with ULC-friends presiding have been... uneven. It's definitely a possibility, but if we could find someone who's done a large number of these, it would be great.

Have you considered a JP?

We have! That would probably be my top choice, in all honesty... I'm just trying to meet some people halfway on the officiant, because I suspect they feel much more strongly about the religious underpinnings than I do.
posted by Mayor West at 10:34 AM on July 20, 2009

Considering I'm an atheist, my wife's a twice-a-year Anglican, and we eloped to New Orleans nine years ago, this is one question I can answer from experience.

Consider Mary "KK" Norman. We heard of her through a TV show called "Best Places to Kiss" (which doesn't show up in a cursory Google search, but I did find this story). The Algiers courthouse has a nice balcony for photos, and our photographer followed us back to our French Quarter hotel so we got some nice shots on the ferry over the muddy Mississippi as well. The service threw in some Christian elements (typical reading from 1 Corinthians), but you can choose your level of religiosity.
posted by GhostintheMachine at 11:52 AM on July 20, 2009 [1 favorite]

i think voodoo priestess sally ann glassman has performed weddings. if nothing else, it would be different.
posted by msconduct at 12:14 PM on July 20, 2009