Marriage officiant

In the United States, Canada and several other countries around the world, a celebrant is a person who performs religious or secular celebrancy services for weddings, funerals, child namings, coming of age ceremonies, and other rituals.

Most celebrants are ordained clergy (such as a Christian pastor), while some are legal officials (usually (in some states) civil celebrants or judges). In Humanist weddings, a Humanist officiant presides.

Celebrants may perform alternative and nontraditional ceremonies in places, and under circumstances where mainstream religious clergy will not. Some celebrants perform same-sex weddings and commitment ceremonies. Celebrants, also called officiants, often perform ceremonies in parks, on beaches, on mountains, on boats, on hiking trails, in hotels, in banquet halls, in private homes, and many other places.

Laws in each state of the United States vary about who has the ability to perform wedding ceremonies, but celebrants or officiants are usually categorized as "clergy" and have the same rights and responsibilities as ordained clergy. There is some controversy over whether these laws promote religious privilege that is incompatible with the United States Constitution.[4]

In the United States, celebrants are professional ceremony officiants who believe in the power and effectiveness of ceremony and ritual to serve basic needs of society and the individual. They collaborate with their clients to create and perform personalised ceremonies that reflect the client’s beliefs, philosophy of life, and personality, not the celebrant’s.

In Scotland, since a June 2005 ruling by the Registrar General, humanist weddings are now legal, thanks to a campaign by the Humanist Society Scotland. Scotland is the only part of the United Kingdom where Humanist weddings are recognised as legal by the state and is only one of eight countries in the world where Humanist weddings are legally recognised, the others as of 2017 are: Australia, Canada, Iceland, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway and some states of the United States of America.

Celebrants differ from Chaplains in that Celebrants serve the unaffiliated public at large, while Chaplains are usually employed by an institution such as a hospital or other health care facility, the military, etc. However some celebrants of Humanist Society Scotland perform Chaplain duties at Scottish education establishments.[5]

In Australia, Celebrants have a slightly different role, as regulated by local and national laws.

In the Catholic Church, it is the bride and groom who perform the Sacrament of Matrimony (marriage), but a marriage can only be valid if the Church has a witness at the wedding ceremony whose function is to question the couple to ensure that they have no obstacle to marriage (such as an un-annulled previous marriage or certain undisclosed facts between the couple) and that they are freely choosing to wed each other.

All ordained clergy (i.e. a deacon, priest, or bishop) may witness the wedding ceremony itself, though usually the wedding ceremony occurs during a Mass, which deacons lack the authority or ability to celebrate; however, in weddings that take place inside Mass, the deacon may still serve as the witness to the wedding, provided that a priest or bishop celebrates the Mass; and in weddings that take place outside Mass (which usually occurs in a marriage between a Catholic and a non-Christian or, less often, non-Catholic), the ceremony is the same for deacons, priests, and bishops (with few or no changes).

Protestant weddings are conducted by a minister or pastor, depending on Christian denomination.

In Quaker weddings the couple marry each other with no third party officiating.

Islamic weddings are performed by Imams.

In Judaism, a Rabbi officiates Jewish weddings. However, the Rabbi's function is to ensure that the Jewish religious laws of the wedding ceremony are followed, particularly making sure that the Jewish witnesses are valid. The Rabbi traditionally recites the blessing for the ceremony on behalf of the groom, although in ancient times the groom would have recited this blessing.

Some organizations have limited or no requirements for ordination, like American Marriage Ministries and the Universal Life Church. Such organizations may be known as ordination mills, however in most cases, their ordinations provide the same legal standing as mainstream officiants, and marriage licenses signed such organizations are valid and recognized.[6]

Many non-religious people have their weddings in non-denominational churches, mosques, and synagogues.

A number of humanist organizations provide credentials to individuals who may solemnize marriages in whatever manner they choose; these are known as Humanist celebrants.