I may only be 15 years old, but I have already thoughts of my future, and what it may be like. I do wish to get married someday, but I don’t want to just get married in a court.
How can I have a wedding without the religion? Are there other people who can marry me while still making “my day” special?
Posted: May 26th 2009
Eric_PK www
It’s possible for anyone to perform a marriage – they just need to go through a process to get certified. There are a number of internet sites that can help you out.
I’ve had friends where a close friend did this for them.
Posted: May 28th 2009
SmartLX www
Look at it this way. The legal, document-signing part is compulsory, but beyond that it’s entirely up to you what to do for a ceremony. That’s how people manage to have Star Wars weddings with Jedi readings, for example.
What you want is a marriage celebrant, someone who specialises in arranging and performing wedding ceremonies not run by a church, synagogue, etc. It doesn’t actually have to be a humanist celebrant; the job is secular by nature, so you can omit/exclude religion easily.
Posted: May 27th 2009
George Ricker www
Sure.
You can contact a Humanist celebrant to conduct the service for you.
You could arrange to have a justice of the peace or a notary public officiate over a service that you design yourself. (What you need by way of official sanction depends upon where you live. Different states here in the U.S.A. and different countries outside the U.S. have different rules.)
There are alternatives for those who don’t want to be married in a church or in a courtroom.
My wife, who was a notary public at the time, once married a couple just after sunrise on a beach. it was a nice ceremony with nothing religious about it.
Posted: May 27th 2009
brian thomson www
What you’re thinking of is usually called a Humanist ceremony. Assuming you’re in the USA, the Humanist Society has more details on their website. A Humanist Celebrant conducts weddings, and other “life-cycle ceremonies”, in a non-religious way. They also have details on what it takes to be a Humanist Celebrant, and how to become one.
This has even happened in popular culture e.g. in the sitcom Friends, Joey got licensed by “those internet people” and conducted the wedding of Chandler and Monica. They didn’t explicitly call it a Humanist ceremony, but there were no religious references, and he was wearing a World War I US Army uniform at the time. 8)
Posted: May 27th 2009