How and Where To Find Virtual Wedding Officiant [Ultimate Guide]

  • Virtual Wedding Officiant

The recent past has seen many couples go for virtual weddings. This kind of marriage ceremony continues to witness a steady rise in popularity. This is probably because of the lockdowns several countries have during the pandemic. It could also be because of their affordability compared to traditional weddings.

If you plan on hosting such a wedding, you may be excused if you’re unaccustomed to the proceedings, as the online wedding concept is somewhat new. For this reason, this article gives you five top means to get one of the most important characters for your wedding, a virtual officiant. Read below for details.

 

1. Ask For Services From Your Religious Leaders

If you want a religious ceremony, then you can get officiant services from your local religious leaders. You can contact your local minister or ask for referrals from your friends or family for someone trustworthy. You may then correspond with them and devise the necessary steps to plan and host a virtual wedding ceremony. These may include:

  • Deciding on a date and time of the event
  • Choosing a streaming video platform
  • Preparing your lighting and background conditions
  • Testing the audio and video states of your devices

Once you all amicably agree on these items, conducting your virtual wedding can be a lot smoother.

And if your local religious heads aren’t available, you can search online for other reputable clergy members. However, before appointing them as officiants, ensure that you vet them to minimize the prevalent scam risks by fake online ministers.

 

2. Visit Wedding Officiant Sites

Presently, there are many marriage officiant sites online you can choose from. They differ, depending on the service fees charged and the experience of their member ministers.

So, while researching, note down the varying charges from across the sites. Also, ensure that you select the credible ones whose ministers have good reviews on their profiles.

And if you want the officiant to give a personalized wedding speech, you and your partner should get acquainted with them beforehand. You can tell them about your love story, thereby helping them formulate the ideal speech to deliver.

And once you find a suitable officiant from a site, let them oversee your ceremony as you tie the knot with your partner.

 

3. Seek Justice Of The Peace (JP) Services

If you want a civil marriage, you should contact your county clerk’s office and request the list of local JPs available to perform your wedding ceremony. Additionally, inform them of your intent on conducting an online wedding.

However, note that virtual weddings are legal only in certain states. In other states, they’re illegal or are still not acknowledged. Therefore, if your state allows for such ceremonies, justice of the peace services can be handy for your online wedding.

Such services also simplify your process of obtaining a marriage license or certificate.

 

4. Ask A Friend Or Family Member

If you have a friend or family member appointed as an authorized minister, you can ask them to officiate your virtual wedding. And if none of them is ordained, you may ask them to do so for your wedding. Presently, getting an ordinance as a minister has become an easy task, especially since one can do so online.

Getting your online wedding officiated by a friend or relative could save you lots of money as they may not charge you for their services, more so since you’re doing it online.

 

5. Ask For Referrals From Wedding Vendors

Another method to get a virtual wedding officiant is by asking around from those whose lines of business revolve around the wedding sector. These may be wedding photographers, caterers, florists, stylists, among other wedding vendors.

And if they’re reputable, they’re likely to have interacted with credible officiants who offer virtual services. You may also want to hire virtual wedding planners who’ll do the research for you and find you a virtual minister for your wedding.

 

Conclusion

Getting married online means that you need a virtual minister to preside over the wedding ceremony. As such weddings are relatively new, getting a legitimate marriage commissioner may prove to be tricky. This article gives you a guide on how and where to find a credible officiant.

You may ask your local religious leader to conduct your wedding, find a trusted minister from a virtual officiant site, use online JP services, ask an ordained friend or relative to oversee your wedding, or ask for referrals from wedding vendors. Once you get an accredited officiant, you can proceed to tie the knot with your beloved online.

About the Author:

Theresa Gibson has been blogging about weddings since her college years. Wedding has always been her favorite topic to write about because she believes it is one of the most precious moments in our lives. Theresa's articles have been published on hundreds of reputable wedding-related blogs and publications across the world. Currently Theresa holds a position of a director of editorial content and editor-in-chief at Top10WeddingVendors.com, a leading go-to vendor guide for brides across North America.