Credit: Devlin Photos

I’ve always been a huge fan of weddings where friends or family members of the bride & groom get ordained and perform the ceremony for them. Can you get any more personal? For our wedding, the vicar that married us was a family friend so I know exactly how extra special it feels to have someone you know and love marry you.

The Universal Life Church is a fantastic website where your chosen friend or family member can get ordained in order to perform your marriage ceremony for you. The company, who ordain over 500 people a day (!) believe strongly in marriage equality and unity across all religions (and non-religions) and believe in everyone’s right to have their wedding officiant by whomever they desire. This ethos is what their company is based on.

Credit: Becky Novacek

The best part? It’s 100% free to get ordained by them, they have an online tool to look up your ordination info (including date of ordination) and a customer service centre if you have any issues. They provide wallet credentials, ordination certificates and letters of good standing should your local government require them to perform the ceremony and they even have an online store for you to purchase any extras you might need (books, supplies etc).

They also have a super helpful list of wedding laws, categorised country (and States for the US) and even contact information for the offices of county clerks and other authorities. The site is basically a one-stop-shop for everything you might need to get yourself ordained.

Credit: Eric Petterson

I don’t know about you, but I think being married by one of your friends has got to be one of the most amazing wedding gifts someone can give you and I’d love to see your photographs if you’ve done the same thing!

Huge thank you to everyone at The Universal Life Church for taking part in this feature today.

Credit: Craig Prentis Photography

If you are a wedding vendor and would like to be considered for an Under the Spotlight feature, please drop me an email.