Know the quote? You better. If not, Google it, then watch the movie pronto.
This post is about who will marry us. Since FI and I do not practice any religion, we decided that we wanted to be married by someone close to us, who would be able to tell their story of our relationship and who we are as individuals and as a couple. This is very important to me, because I want to be able to look back on our wedding day and know who our officiant was and remember why we chose them to be such an important part of our wedding day.
We came up with a few people who we wanted to consider asking, and sat on the decision for a while. Until, one day, FI came up to me and asked me why I hadn't put my grandfather on the list. I told him that it was because I wanted the officiant to be a special person to both of us. And he told me that my grandfather was very special to him. That made me so so happy!
FI lost his grandfather in 2008, and he was so close to him. It made me feel honored that FI was comfortable with asking my grandfather to step in and be our officiant.
My grandparents are typical New England Snowbirds, and live in Florida for half the year. They are actually flying back here to Rhody this week, so once we get the chance to see them, we are planning on asking my grandfather to be a part of our wedding. I am really hoping that he agrees to be such a big part of our day.
If he does agree, I have some work cut out for me. In Rhode Island, the requirements for officiants are that they must be ordained. The Universal Life Church has a process online that can be completed to become ordained. This process is free of charge and being ordained through this service is recognized by the state of Rhode Island. I am hoping that the process will be simple and easy for my grandfather to complete should he decide to agree to marry us.
Have any of you used the Universal Life Church to get a family member or friend ordained to officiate your wedding? What was the process like? Was it easy? Did your state recognize it?
Hi! I found your blog though a google search about ULC & Rhode Island weddings! We are getting married in a couple of weeks and my brother-in-law got ordained through ULC so he can marry us. But, I'm having a hard time finding any concrete information online that says this is okay - do you have any links to that info?
ReplyDeleteps - I knew the quote :-)
Hi Allison -
ReplyDeleteI found some information here about who can marry in Rhode Island: http://sos.ri.gov/documents/business/notarypublic/GeneralMarriageRhodeIsland.pdf
I also talked with a bunch of people who had more information about this process. If you have someone ordained through the church, the ceremony must be religious, and there is a separate part of the marriage certificate application that must be filled out for this. If you are looking to have a civil ceremony, you must propose a Solemnization of Marriage to the General Assembly and they have to pass the bill. You can only do this while the GA is in session - January-June.
I hope this information is helpful! Let me know if you need any additional information.