Traditionally, a wedding officiant, either secular or religious, says something along the lines of “By the power vested in me by the State of X, I now pronounce you…”
U.S. question: if the wedding officiant is registered in State X, do they also have authority to officiate in State Y? How about on Native American tribal territory, or a U.S. military base? I know a marriage valid in one state is valid in all, but is a Kansas officiant valid in New Jersey?
Unless New Jersey state law specifies that they recognize Kansas’ officiant licensing procedure, no, any wedding they perform would be invalid not just in New Jersey but in any state at all.
Has there ever been a wedding at the four corners monument?
In Missouri there is no official application to be able to officiate.
The statue says:
So, yeah, just about anybody. Certainly a NJ priest would be fine officiating a wedding in MO.
It should be noted that getting licensed to officiate a wedding is generally pretty easy, fast and can even be free. Some states allow a one-day officiant license. Of course, every state will probably be a little different so be sure to check with the state where the wedding is happening.
As an aside, can’t a ship captain marry people? Does the ship need to be in international waters though to allow this? (really asking)
There are several interfaith, nondenominational, or religious organizations that offer online ordinations, like the Universal Life Church and American Marriage Ministries. Marriage laws vary from state to state, so be sure to double-check the legal requirements with your county clerk’s office. In some cases, you may need to register specifically with a state’s officiant registry. There are also a number of forms to complete and deadlines to adhere to so that any marriage you conduct will be recognized by law.
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Some states (including New York, California, Massachusetts, Vermont, and Rhode Island) let you get a one-day officiant license to legally marry a couple. In New York City, anyone over 18 years old can get their one-day license for a fee of $25, and it is valid only for the specific couple you list on your application. SOURCE: How to Officiate a Wedding for the First Time
lol no
I got ordained via fax in 2000 and I can perform weddings in all 50 states.
Shirley at least one couple has chosen to do exactly that. Just for yuks.
If you have the authority to register a marriage legally in the State of Kansas according to the laws of the State of Kansas, then that will be recognized by other states, but it does not follow that you can file any relevant paperwork to marry people in, say, France. I have to ask, is the U.S. so religious that any minister of any religion can legally officiate a wedding in all 50 States?
A ship’s captain is just some random dude. [Even I know a little about sailing!] Where would he or she be filing the paperwork?
It does sound like a lot of U.S. states allow weddings to be officiated by random dudes, however.
Eh, I have heard of instances of weddings where one or both people were only present online. If the state says it is valid, it is valid.
My sister-in-law had her wedding officiated by the captain of a ship as it sat at the dock in San Francisco Bay. For the reception we went for a day cruise in the bay. No one left early.
This is a common trope in fiction, but AFAIK, has little basis in reality, and is not a general rule (see the last bullet point below for a notable exception).
https://searadar.com/article/can-ship-captains-perform-marriages
Yes and even people who aren’t ministers of any religion can marry people in all 50 states. I registered with the Universal Life Church so I guess I’m technically a minister but all you need to do is send them an email and you’re ordained.
You can get a one or two day permit to officiate in a wedding. Last time I was married it was done by a friend of both sides of the family. He didn’t have any ‘power vested in’ him by anything other than a one day permit, I think from the county. Sign the paperwork, file it with the county, and you are just as married as everyone else is.
Some states have common-law marriage. You do not even need a “dude” to officiate anything. Other states do not. It no longer exists anywhere in Europe, for example. (E.g., in France, you can get married in the town hall by the mayor (or deputy mayor). That’s it. Not by a ship’s captain, or your buddy, or the Pope.)
Only a few states still have common law marriage as a thing. A quick Google says:
Colorado
Iowa
Kansas
Montana
Oklahoma
Rhode Island
Texas
Utah
Washington, D.C.
If you think a bit about the situation …
Setting aside the increasingly rare common law marriages …
Most (all?) states require a marriage license. Usually a state-standardized form usually provided by the county clerk’s office. On it, the couple provide their info and signatures, and some witnesses sign it. As well as the officiant. And it gets turned back into the clerk’s office for registration. There may or may not be some hoops to jump through to get the license.
But what makes you legally married isn’t a ceremony. It isn’t some religious incantations. It isn’t “I now pronounce …”. It’s when the clerk’s office gets the signed form back and puts it in their records dating the marriage as of the date of the sigs.
As an example, here’s how that works in my current state: How Do I Apply For A Marriage License? - Florida Court Clerks. The four other states where I’ve been involved in a wedding were / are generally the same story.
Like @hajario, my late wife was a ULC minister. She got it more as a joke than anything. But several years later she did perform the ceremony for a couple who were long time friends of ours. The ceremony was in New York state where neither of the happy couple then lived but one had grown up there and still had family there. The ceremony was, well, for the ceremonial aspects of getting married. The money quote was the NY State form everybody signed.
~30 years later that couple is still happily together. So it must have worked. 
When I got married, the officiant was a friend of my wife and I. She was a notary, but that’s it.
Precisely. Our marriage was legally valid (it required a divorce to end it), but that happened when we filed the paperwork.
The reason why this myth evolved is because in the international law of the sea, the captain (formally called the “master of the vessel”) does have certain powers and responsibilities over the ship, especially while in international waters; he or she is conceptualised as the representative of the flag state (where the vessel is registered), which has exclusive jurisdiction over the ship while on the high seas. The power to officiate weddings is not among these powers, but the myth is so widespread that some cruise ship companies do register their captains as ministers in some jurisdictions to meet demand for high sea weddings.
This will vary by State or possibly by County. I’m pretty sure in all States a judge or a county/parish clerk can also marry you. In some States a notary can. As @LSLGuy said, whomever it is who officiates the wedding has to sign the form as well as a witness.
When I got my ULC ordination they sent me a booklet with a brief synopsis of each State’s law and if you had to register or whatever. I don’t have it anymore and it would potentially be 25 years out of date anyway.
I fixed a typo in the thread title.
Not by virtue of being allowed to marry people in state X, but the laws are similar enough that most of the actual people authorized to marry people in state X either are also authorized in state Y, or can become authorized without much effort.
A minister who passes muster in state X probably also passes muster in state Y. But a justice of the peace in state X may be authorized to conduct weddings in state X, but has no special status to do so in state Y. That being said, getting that status is easy in most states.
And in a few states you don’t need an officiant. I went to a Quaker wedding in Pennsylvania where the couple married themselves. This is different from a common law wedding, it requires the couple to get a license to perform their wedding. But it doesn’t require a separate person to officiate.