Articles by Jessica Levey

First Time Officiants: Ask these five questions when you’re asked to officiate a friend’s wedding to ensure the ceremony is legally binding, fun, and exactly what the couple is hoping for! Here’s what to know after you get ordained online and before the wedding day to plan a great event.

A step-by-step guide to help you plan an unforgettable tropical wedding or elopement in Hawaii - including how to find a wedding officiant (marriage performer), choose the best wedding venue, plan your ceremony, and how to apply for and return your Hawaii marriage license. Get married in paradise!

Learn about current efforts in Michigan to raise the minimum age requirement to marry: House Bill 4293 would eliminate exceptions for the marriage of minors, banning all child marriages in the state. (MI HB4293 / Rep. Kara Hope)

New Hampshire Governor Sununu signed 'The Marital Freedom Act' on May 4th, 2023, codifying protections for interracial marriage in the state. Learn about the passage of this important legislation, and why other states have passed or introduced similar legislation this year to protect marriage equality at a state level. (NH House Bill 240 / HB240)

Join American Marriage Ministries for a day of wedding officiant education and networking on June 14th, 2023 in Chicago, Illinois! This seminar includes expert speakers and training on how to be an incredible wedding officiant and build a successful small business, networking and strategy, marketing, unity ceremonies, inclusivity and working with LGBTQ+ couples, and community building for officiants in the Chicago metro area and beyond. Tickets are available now on Eventbrite.

Lawmakers in the CT House of Representatives voted yes on HB 6569, which would raise the minimum age to marry in the state to 18 years old, and remove current exceptions for minors, including emancipated minors. Learn what's next, and read the proposed changes to the law. (2023 CT HB 6569 / An Act Concerning the Minimum Age to Be Eligible to Marry)

Add a dash of magic to your marriage ceremony, handfasting, or vow renewal with this simple introduction to common herbs and botanicals. Believed by many to hold magical and symbolic properties, these plants have been used on wedding altars and marriage blessings, and in other commitment ceremonies, witchcraft and spellcasting, and individual spiritual practices since ancient times.

Not sure what to say in a wedding card? Here are a few of our favorite ideas for wedding card wishes, including suggestions for wedding officiants! With simple, heartfelt, and funny examples for close friends and family, acquaintances, coworkers, and more. Personalize to suit your needs, or use them as is to tell the newlyweds how much they mean to as they celebrate their marriage.

Who holds onto the wedding rings during a marriage ceremony? Here's what to consider, and our advice how to choose a ring holder and ring bearer for your wedding ceremony and ring exchange. Common choices include the Wedding Officiant; a Person of Honor, Best Man, or another member of the wedding party; a parent or elder, or the couple themselves.

Learn inclusive, gender-neutral alternatives for common wedding terms for the couple and their wedding party, and help make the wedding industry more welcoming to LGBTQ+ couples and their friends and families! This list includes simple gender-free substitutes for commonly gendered terms like bridal, bride or groom, bridesmaid, best man, and more.

Add a unique and unexpected unity ceremony to your wedding ceremony, reception, or afterparty, with palm reading! Palm reading can be combined with traditional 'blessing of the hands' or handfasting rituals to create something new and authentically YOU. Learn common meanings and how to read the heart line, head line, life line, and marriage line on a couple's palms, plus the advice we'd give these newlyweds if we were the wedding officiant or friend performing this ritual!

Learn about legislative efforts in Rhode Island that would change the state's marriage license return period, and make it easier for a marriage officiant to return a completed license by mail -- such that a license mailed and postmarked within the return period would be considered on-time. (2023 House Bill 5443 / H5443 / Rep. Edith H. Ajello)