Can a Friend Officiate Your Colorado Wedding Ceremony?

You met the person you want to spend the rest of your life with, you got engaged, and now the time has come to prepare for the wedding. You probably have many questions about all the things you will need to do to get ready for your wedding day, including which venue to select for the big occasion. One question you may be asking is: Can a friend officiate your Colorado wedding ceremony? Keep reading this blog to find out.

Choosing an Officiant for Your Colorado Wedding

Can your friend or family member serve as the officiant at your Colorado wedding ceremony? The answer is: Yes. That’s because the law in Colorado allows for just about anyone to perform the actual wedding ceremony. You don’t need a priest, an ordained minister, a justice of the peace, or any other licensed marriage official to perform your marriage ceremony.

Here, it is important to note that the performance of the marriage ceremony is distinct from what is known as the “solemnizing” of the marriage. While anybody can serve as an officiant, recite the necessary words, and perform the ceremony, most state laws do place restrictions on exactly who can solemnize a marriage and make it official. But the good news is that the law in Colorado is pretty flexible on this: the married couple is able to sign the marriage license and self-solemnize. Once the couple has signed the marriage license, all that will be needed to make the marriage legal is to take the license to the county clerk’s office and have it filed.

Advantages of Having a Friend or Family Member Serve as Wedding Officiant

There are several advantages to using a close friend, sibling, cousin, or just about anyone you trust to be the officiant at your wedding:

  • It’s more personal. One of the major advantages of having a close friend or family member serve as the officiant and perform your wedding ceremony is that it will make the event that much more meaningful and personal. This is likely to be true not just for the couple, but also for those in attendance at the ceremony.
  • It will help you save money. Another big advantage to opting for your friend as the officiant, rather than hiring someone with a license to officiate, is that you will be able to cut costs and save some money. This will allow you to direct more resources toward other aspects of the wedding, such as the venue, the décor, the cuisine, etc. Although wedding officiants aren’t necessarily expensive, they still cost more than a friend who will probably be happy to perform your wedding for free.
  • More control over the ceremony. While a typical officiant is likely to follow a standard script – since they’ve “been there, done that” many times before – you may find that a friend or family member serving as officiant will be more willing to listen to your input and heed your suggestions. This can allow for a more inclusive feel to the ceremony, since the couple and the officiant will be working together to ensure that everything goes off without a hitch and that the ceremony is truly memorable.

How to Choose an Officiant for Your Colorado Wedding

Of course, there are certain considerations that should go into choosing a friend or relative as your wedding officiant. For one thing, you must confirm that the person you ask is willing to do it. While you might be inclined to take it as a given that your brother, uncle, or best friend will take on this task, you still need to make sure that their answer is “yes” before you start making plans to stage the wedding without a hired officiant. So, ask early, and ask nicely!

Another important consideration when choosing an officiant for your wedding is selecting a person who is good at public speaking. There can be a lot of pressure on the person who has to stand up there, in front of everyone, and perform the wedding ceremony. Remember, your friend might not have any experience doing this sort of thing – and they may get nervous. So, do your best to choose someone with public speaking experience, and make sure that they understand exactly what is expected of them at the ceremony. Let them know exactly how long the ceremony will be, what kind of tone you want them to set as the officiant, what kind of attire they should wear at the ceremony, whether you will be writing your own vows or using the standard script, etc. Then encourage your friend to practice, practice, practice before the ceremony!

Consider Booking Your Colorado Wedding Ceremony at The Establishment at Bradburn Village

Choosing the officiant for your wedding ceremony is a very important part of the wedding planning process. The most important part of the process, however, is probably the selection of a venue for the wedding. If you are looking for a venue to host your Colorado wedding ceremony and/or reception, The Establishment at Bradburn Village offers everything you could ask for: expansive ballrooms with breakout spaces for large gatherings, an outdoor terrace for smaller ceremonies, impressive décor that can be adapted to complement your wedding theme, and inclusions such as in-house audio-visual equipment, self-parking, and a venue event manager.

To view The Establishment, give us a call at 720-782-6004, fill out the online contact form, or schedule a tour of the venue today.