Just to reinforce the point, regardless of how easy or convenient it is to get licensed to officiate in state A, you still can’t officiate in state B.
The options are:
Officiate the wedding in the state where you’re licensed
If the wedding can’t be in that state, follow whatever (presumably easy) process is needed to get licensed in the intended state.
I’m not sure where the whole “ship’s captain” thing got started, presumably it was instituted someone came up pregnant out of wedlock on a long sea voyage. I’m not sure in modern times if a shipboard wedding is accepted anywhere except other than the captain’s ship, though as mentioned earlier it seems like some ship lines have arrangements with the country/state where they’re based.
Or, more likely, I think, in a country where their ships typically make a stop, so that the captain can conduct weddings while the ship is in that country’s waters.
“In good standing with any church or synagogue in this state.” Does that mean that in Missouri Hindus and Muslims, for example, can’t be married in their house of worship?
Given that a moment of googling tells me that there are mosques in Missouri which conduct weddings, it looks like the answer is “no.” I suspect that the wording of the Missouri law may be older, and not meant to intentionally exclude houses of worship for faiths which do not call their houses of worship “churches” or “synagogues.”
Who may and may not officiate civil marriages has been expanding across most states and jurisdictions, as noted. To a large degree out of the realization that if you want people to be married as a matter of policy, you need to make it easier/cheaper to do so in a lawful manner. (Face it, Vegas has become expensive)
Really, people… Unc be disappointed at ye (featuring one of those CRINGE old illustrations from Slugg)
But yeah, what kenobi_65 linked
For the vast majority of religions, as a norm yes. But part of the easing of authorization for celebrants may have been driven by an intent to avoid having to get into the sticky mess of wanting to determine who is a real minister of a real denomination, as “New Religious Groups” kept proliferating. No need to prove/disprove you ARE a priest of Cybele (ouch), just sign here and get this state authorization.
(Commentary:
But yeah, this was something that caused much confusion in the marriage equality debate – some denominations hold on as a matter of doctrine that sacramental matrimony is the “only true” marriage, so a large part of American laypeople grow up with the cultural understanding that the religious rite is the “original”-since-forever that civil authorities just must recognize. In reality as has been stated above, you have to have a valid marriage license issued by civil authorities, that once the marriage is officiated is then signed and filed; many congregations will just helpfully do a lot of that paperwork for you.
/commentary)
When I was deputized as a Clerk of the Court in California, I became authorized to perform wedding ceremonies with no further ado in the State of California. The authority was vested in me by the State of California. But as has been noted in the thread, it’s trivially easy for someone to be deputized for a day to perform a specific ceremony, and that’s what I did for my own wedding: Had a friend do it.
During the years I was authorized to do this, I performed marriage ceremonies for two couples I knew. I declined to perform one for a third couple because they hadn’t obtained the license to wed. I was uncomfortable with performing a “just kidding” ceremony.
As has been noted by @JRDelirious and @kenobi_65 above, the only thing that counts is that the paperwork is completed properly and then filed with the correct venue. If someone performs a ceremony, be they vested or otherwise, but then fails to file the paperwork, you ain’t married.
No, that would be covered by the last sentence of the statute: “any religious institution”.
And nothing in the law says anything about where you can have your wedding. Just who can sign the document that goes with the license application that says it has been solemnized.
You don’t need to be “licensed”. I don’t posses a license and I never filled out any paperwork. In 2000 or 2001 I sent a fax to the Universal Life Church. They sent me my ordination paperwork in the mail (now it’s just an email exchange). As of then I could perform legal weddings in all 50 States.
Still though, the ULC sites advise to familiarize yourself with the rules in each state as you may have to go through formalities to acknowledge your status.
Without a doubt but there is nothing legally stopping you from either just doing the marriage or a very simple formality at worst. I am obviously not versed in every State’s laws.
Here is the ULC’s page for what is required in every State.
Common law marriage got mentioned earlier, but most people even in the states don’t understand it and I’m sure even fewer elsewhere know about these ancient holdouts. Think of it as something like free use in U.S. copyright: it makes things legal and convenient but the specifics are so slippery that only a court can decide it.
While requirements vary by state, certain elements are widely recognized across the states that allow common law marriage.
1. Legal eligibility to marry - Both partners must be legally eligible to marry. This means neither person can be currently married to someone else, both must be of legal age, and the relationship cannot be one prohibited by law (such as close relatives).
2. Cohabitation - The couple must live together. While a specific duration is rarely mandated, cohabitation is a necessary condition. Courts want to see that the couple has established a shared domestic life.
3. Holding out as married - This is often the most critical requirement. The couple must present themselves publicly as married. Evidence of this includes using a spouse’s last name, introducing each other as husband or wife, listing each other as a spouse on insurance or tax forms, filing joint federal tax returns, and making joint financial commitments like shared bank accounts or a joint mortgage.
4. Mutual intent to be married - Both partners must genuinely intend to be married, not just to live together. Courts have been clear that you cannot accidentally enter into a common law marriage. There must be an actual agreement to be married, even if that agreement is demonstrated through conduct rather than written or spoken words.
My wife and I lived together for 26 years before making it official. New York doesn’t allow common law marriage but we wouldn’t have qualified even though we fulfilled every requirements except one: we never presented ourselves as married. Didn’t make any difference until health insurance became an issue.
15 years ago my wife’s cousin got married in a home ceremony. Montana. At least 60 guests. The 30ish woman who performed the ceremony said “By the power vested in me by the internet…” The crowd chuckled.
NOT that this matters in the least: They’d been a couple long before the wedding, still happily married.
I used to know a couple who were getting ready to get married. They asked a close friend to perform the ceremony. His first task was to become licensed to perform the ceremony.
I told him that he could do the wedding in six words:
“Do you?”
“Do you?”
“You are.”
I was doing some genealogy research recently, and came across the following for Harris County, Texas in the early 1970s. The key legal document was the marriage license, and it gave permission for the following personnel to officiate the marriage at that time:
So this county appeared to allow just about any licensed or ordained religious official that was authorized by their own organization to perform marriages to do so. Nothing about ship captains though…
IANAL, but I took it to mean simply that any of the above listed personal are authorized to perform the marriage. But I have no idea why they used the word “either” as opposed to “any” or similar phrasing.
Supposedly true account (which I doubt) but I like it anyway. The couple go into the judge’s office (or whatever official) and announce that they want the marriage “ceremony” to be as simple as possible. The judge asks them “Do you want to be married?”, they reply “Yes we do”, and he says “You are.”
