Becoming an ordained minister

TiB

hey all! Hoping I could get some legit advice.

So my younger cousin out in Kentucky is getting married soon and the pastor just called my Aunt to say he couldn't make it to perform the wedding. Now a joke about me taking his place has become a roaring flame in the mind of my Aunt.

I, personally, would get the biggest kick and honor out of doing this.

So, what is some advice on the simplest and hopefully less expensive way to become an ordained minister?

Noxy

Well it really depends on how seriously you want to take this. Also, laws vary in different states and counties but there are many options out there.

If you don't care about what type of minister you are, you could be ordained in Dudeism for free. Church of the Subgenius is $30 I believe.

There are more serious options but I don't know much about them.

Kakodaimonos

You can become an ordained minister from a variety of places, Universal Life Church would probably be the best bet.

http://www.themonastery.org/?destination=ordination-form

Though the other approach is to just get the marriage certificate from the county clerk, sign it and make it all legal and then have a separate ceremony.

And here's the Kentucky laws on marriage:

http://www.lrc.state.ky.us/KRS/402-00/050.PDF

Neaden

What does your cousin and future spouse think about all this? You only mention that your aunt likes the idea.

TiB

Oh, my cousin and her husband love the idea. I asked them first before even googling this. I would never want to go against the wishes of any couple on their wedding day.

I take their happiness very seriously in all this, all I am concerned about is making sure they have a nice legal marriage if I were to officiate. They don't care too much about having a serious man of God aat the front, so my responsibility is that it is a legal bind they won't have to have a headache about later with anything but the usual paperwork.

Really, I want to double check if the online registries are legit enough to work for us.


Other than that I would be so honored to do this. What a memory to share, eh?

Gaslight

Neaden wrote:

What does your cousin and future spouse think about all this? You only mention that your aunt likes the idea.

This is what's really important. If they'd get a kick out of it or don't care I guess go for it. The suggestion of just getting the marriage license and having a ceremony when it's convenient is also something to consider. Personally i've never really understood why people who aren't religious want to get married in a church by a 'minister,' but that's just me, I guess if its easier from a legal standpoint cool.. Find out what the couple wants and go with that, what your aunt or any other family member wants is secondary at best.

Edit: oops, TiB posted while I was typing.