I am prompted to ask this question because a relative of my wife is getting married by a Wiccan priestess, in Kansas of all places. I suppose Dorothy missed a couple witches 
. Seriously, I’m curious about what is needed to make this wedding legal. How does the state of Kansas know who is an actual Wiccan priestess and who is not? And besides, if this wedidng is legal, what’s to stop me from starting my own religion and marrying anybody I want?
What’s stopping you, not much. You can get mail order ordinations and perform ceremonies in most states, I’m guessing.
http://www.ulc.org/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=27&products_id=42
http://www.spiritualhumanism.org/?source=Overture
Here’s an FAQ from one group talking about what you need to do to perform weddings. http://www.ficotw.org/faq.html
Judging by this link I’d say it’s on the up and up:
http://usmarriagelaws.com/search/united_states/kansas/index.shtml
Similar to here in wacky California, the basic procedure is get a marriage license and then have a ceremony presided over by (amongst options):
"The following are authorized to be officiating persons:
? Any currently ordained clergyman or religious authority of any religious denomination or society;
[snip]
Officiants: Any ordained clergyman of any religious denomination or society may perform marriages. Ministers are required to file credentials or ordination with the judge of a probate court before performing marriages. Minister must return the marriage license and a certificate of marriage to the probate judge who issued the marriage license within 10 days after the marriage."
I’m a minister in the Universal Life Churce (sent in a postcard many years ago) and have performed two weddings for four friends. All completely legal and proper.
Have fun at the wedding!
In some states, anyone can perform a legal wedding ceremony:
http://usmarriagelaws.com/search/united_states/license_to_perform_marriages/index.shtml
If she’s legally authorized by the state to perform marriages and they’ve got a valid license, and everything is signed and sent in on time, it’s legal. A wedding performed by your dog is legal if the above conditions are met, but I don’t know of any state that authorizes dogs to perform marriages.
In Pennsylvania, a couple can apply for a Quaker marriage license, which only needs to be witnessed. No officiant is needed at all.
Non-Quakers can take advantage of this license too. At the ceremony, you could have anybody you want conduct the service, then get the necessary witnesses to sign.
I have a pagan friend who can do legal weddings, though Louisiana being the weird place it is, she has to get authorized in different parishes separately. I think she’s only authorized in a few, but it’s not like she makes a living off of it anyway. She went the mail-order route. It’s perfectly legal.
In PA a wedding by anybody is legal, as long as they have gotten a license from the state to performs marriages. I would bet it is the same in your state.
It better be legal; otherwise, I’ve been living in sin for the past 17 years or so…