Who Can Legally Officiate a Wedding in Illinois

Marriage certificate: For your marriage to be legally binding, you must both apply for a marriage certificate. Without this document, you will not be formally married in the eyes of the law. In Illinois, you`ll need to contact the local clerk of the county where you`re getting married to get a valid license (we`ll discuss the process in more detail later). Once your marriage is consummated and your license signed and filed with the county official, you will receive a marriage certificate as proof of your marriage. For couples struggling to lock down a venue, Zola`s wedding venue search is a game changer. It makes it easy to search by location, capacity, availability, and type of venue, so you can find the perfect location within budget. After your officiant`s ceremony, you, your new spouse and the officiant complete and sign the marriage certificate. Illinois doesn`t need witnesses for weddings, so that`s one less thing you need to take care of on your special day. To learn more about preparing for the wedding ceremony, including writing a script for the wedding ceremony, visit the officiant training on the American Marriage Ministries website.

Read on to learn more about the official`s legal responsibilities regarding the marriage certificate. Proxy marriages take place when one or both parties to the marriage are not physically present at the marriage. Sometimes they are represented by other parties. The State of Illinois does not recognize proxy marriages. To perform a marriage in Illinois, the person must be at least 18 years old. When this requirement is met, a number of public servants are considered legally acceptable, including an active judge, a retired judge (unless removed from office), a mayor or civil servant, an employee of a county of at least 2 million people, the head of a Native American nation or tribe, or the head of a religious organization. Clergy ordained by Universal Life Church are considered religious leaders and are therefore legally qualified to marry a couple in Illinois. The State shall not discriminate on the basis of the sex, place of residence or personal beliefs of the official.

However, there is a provision that retired judges and mayors cannot charge a fee for holding the ceremony. Since Illinois marriage licenses have an expiration date, you need to schedule your wedding to take place after the waiting period, but before the license expires. Illinois licenses are valid for 60 days after they are issued, giving you at least two months to get married. If you miss your window, you will need to apply for a new licence. Ideally, you should get your license about a month before your wedding. At Universal Life Church, we receive several calls from wedding leaders in Illinois after obtaining their marriage license by ordering online and asking for advice on how to perform a wedding ceremony. Once the legal issues are settled, planning a wedding (although it can be a daunting task) can be a lot of fun. We suggest that new Illinois wedding ministers who are concerned about the ceremony read one of our helpful wedding guides.

The “Ministerial Training” section of our website should provide a useful reminder for more experienced clergy. It may surprise you, but Illinois wedding officials don`t need to register with a government office before or after wedding ceremonies. There are no laws in Illinois requiring officials to register with a government office, and there is no government office charged with such responsibility. Who can officiate at a wedding? Should they be ordained ministers? Do they have to be religious? What happens if the person celebrating the marriage is not qualified to do so? A wide range of officials, both civil and religious, are allowed to perform marriages under Illinois law. The basic requirement is that they must all be at least 18 years old. Civil servants include mayors, district officials if they serve more than two million inhabitants, and judges if they have not been removed from office. Retired mayors and judges can continue to marry, but cannot receive compensation. Recognized chiefs of an indigenous tribe may also officiate at a wedding. Getting Married: The part you`ve been waiting for. Celebrate your wedding your way – just make sure you have an official to perform the ceremony. After that, you, your new spouse (!) and your officiant can sign the marriage certificate.

Home to both the tallest building in the country and the flattest wetlands and agricultural areas, Illinois, on the other hand, is a study. While the prospect of getting a marriage license and hosting a wedding here can be daunting at first, it makes the process easier to manage step by step. The following guide can help you make sure you`ve met all the applicable requirements for your Illinois wedding to be legally binding. Congratulations! If you are on this site, it is likely that you are planning to get married or have been asked to perform a wedding ceremony in Illinois. Ordained ministers of the Church of Universal Life have successfully contracted thousands of legal marriages in Illinois. The following information will guide you through the steps to become a minister and perform a valid marriage ceremony in the state of Illinois. Illinois is unique in that it doesn`t regulate official qualifications, so if you want your best friend to officiate your wedding, you can do so without having to worry about legal issues. If you`re thinking about ordering online to celebrate weddings in Illinois, then you`ve come to the right place. The first thing you need to know is that it is 100% legal for you to be ordained online in Illinois to perform marriages. Read on to learn more about why online ordinations are legal in Illinois and how you can be ordained to perform marriages anywhere in the state. We hope this better explains the legal basis for which you absolutely have the right to hold wedding ceremonies in Illinois as an ordained minister online. As long as you are a member of a religious institution that gives you the authority to solemnize marriage, you can leave.

So what are you waiting for? But it`s not just about paperwork – we love linen patterns and floral arrangements just like the next person. At Zola, we strive to be your go-to venue for weddings. From sending your backup data to managing your RSVPs via our wedding guest list manager, Zola has all the tools to help you find your way to your beautiful wedding. Are you struggling to reconcile all the different dates and deadlines? At Zola, we firmly believe in being ready for your big day. That`s why we recommend using our free wedding checklist and calendar to keep track of everything that needs to be done when it needs to be done. The clerk will review the information on your application and issue your licence when everything is verified. Unless special circumstances justify an injunction taking effect immediately, it shall take effect on the day following that of its issuance. It will then remain valid for 60 days and is only valid in the county where you originally applied. If there is no marriage within 60 days, you must return the incomplete marriage certificate to the county clerk`s office. Otherwise, it must be returned within 10 days of the ceremony. This simple guide will help you navigate the ups and downs so you`re ready for your Illinois wedding.

Once issued, the certificate enters into force the following day and remains valid for a period of 60 days. If the wedding is to take place on the day of the exhibition, the couple will need a court-ordered exception. Once the ceremony is performed, the couple has 10 days to return the signed license to the issuing employee. If the marriage does not take place within 60 days, the licence must be submitted to the clerk before the expiry date. We will guide you through the process, both legally and ceremonially, of your role as a wedding official. Check out our How to Celebrate Weddings page to get started. Here we cover the important things you need to do as a public servant, such as the best way to prepare for a wedding ceremony and write the wedding ceremony. For more information, we recommend visiting the official website of American Marriage Ministries. Here you will find the most comprehensive official training material you can find online.

At some point on the wedding day, you must ask the couple to present their marriage certificate. As a rule, this happens immediately after the ceremony, while everyone is going to the reception. However, this does not necessarily have to be the case, as the marriage certificate can be completed at any time on the wedding day before or after the ceremony. For religious denomination, enter “non-denominational” unless you are celebrating the marriage according to a specific religious tradition. If so, enter it. Illinois does not require a special ceremony for weddings, so the minister and couple each have a high degree of autonomy in planning the special day. Currently, only DuPage County requires a wedding ceremony to include witnesses. In DuPage County, the law requires that marriage ceremonies require two witnesses who can understand what they are seeing.

Enter “religious” as the ceremonial type. It is important to understand that even if you performed a completely non-religious ceremony, you will still have to type “religious”. The reason is that the terms “religious” and “civil” mean something different from the Illinois government. Civil is a term for government officials. Everything else is considered religious, even if you don`t invoke religious references in your wedding ceremony.