Goin' to the chapel won't work here...

March 24, 2008 12:13 PM

Recommendations for a licensed wedding officiant for Maryland in the DC area?

I will be getting married this October, and I need to find a wedding offciant that can marry me and my fiancee.

Neither of us is religious, but we also don't want anyone really eccentric, either. Cheap is always a plus, too. Any and all recommendations would be great!

posted by i less than three nsima to grab bag (7 comments total)

I know a couple of folks who have used someone from the Washington Ethical society. The services were completely non-religious, and so I'm surprised to see from the website that they describe themselves in religious terms.
posted by OmieWise at 12:31 PM on March 24

In MD a Justice of the Peace or any judge can do the job. In DC a judge can do it.
posted by Jack90 at 12:34 PM on March 24

If you have a good friend who's game, ask them to become a Universal Life Church minister. Free, no particular religious doctrinal requirements, and entirely legal. That's what mr. epersonae & I did, 8 years ago this month; my best friend signed all the paperwork, which was all that was needed. (In WA state, as far as paperwork goes; YMMV.)

She almost filled in the line for minister/rabbi/priest/judge/etc as "1st level cleric" and sometimes I wish I hadn't talked her & mr. epersonae out of it. That makes a weird (long) story even weirder.

We didn't have an actual wedding, so if you're doing that, you might want it to be a very good friend who can also say a few words.
posted by epersonae at 1:29 PM on March 24

We used Brian Vaughan and were pleased with the outcome. He was very good at helping put together a ceremony that worked for both us and the religious members of our families.

A++!! Would marry with again.
posted by EmptyK at 3:13 PM on March 24

Congratulations! Mr headnsouth and I were married in a nontraditional, not-very-weddingy wedding, by the lovely and open but definitely grounded and non-flaky Rev. Julia Jarvis.
posted by headnsouth at 3:19 PM on March 24

I live in MD and did what epersonae recommended for friends of mine.

My only oops was that I pronounced the happy couple "man and wife" instead of "husband and wife", completely forgetting the bride's explicit instructions to me. Thankfully, Bridezilla did not appear....
posted by Raymond Marble at 7:12 PM on March 24

Be aware that some states---or at least Pennsylvania, anyway---are showing their great respect for the Establishment Clause by saying that members of the Universal Life Church and similar groups that don't have 'regular, established' congregations aren't allowed to officiate weddings. (Someone in York, PA last year was able to get her marriage annulled by the state, rather than getting a divorce, by claiming that their ULC-ordained friend was not legally able to officiate the wedding, so the marriage never happened. See here, among others, for more.)
posted by FlyingMonkey at 11:27 AM on April 8