Creative alternatives to a flower girl, ring boy, or ring bearer for your non-traditional wedding ceremony! Get friends, relatives, and children involved in your marriage celebration with these unique ideas, including 'basket bearers' carrying decorative baskets of herbs and grain, gender neutral flower children, a flower man or flower dude, having your dog, cat, or other pets join in, asking a parent or grandparent to help, and more!

Learn how much it costs to become an ordained minister online in Arizona, whether you’ll pay more for minister registration to officiate a wedding, and how the cost of popular online ordination services compare, including free ordination through American Marriage Ministries.

Todo lo que necesita saber para añadir una ceremonia de "handfasting" a su boda o renovación de votos, incluyendo el simbolismo y el significado del ritual de handfasting, cómo hacer un bonito nudo con el cordón, cuándo incluirlo en la ceremonia (en qué orden) y cómo realizar una handfasting como oficiante, con ejemplos de lo que debe decir y hacer con enlaces a un guión de muestra.

A growing trend in wedding tourism: ticketed weddings for tourists. Join My Wedding is helping Indian couples sell tickets to tourists to attend their traditional Indian wedding ceremonies. Ticketed weddings might become popular in other countries and vacation destinations too, as a form of cultural tourism. So what do you think, would you be a wedding tourist?

Learn how much it costs to become an ordained minister online in Colorado, whether you’ll pay more for minister registration to officiate a wedding, and how the cost of popular online ordination services compare, including free ordination through American Marriage Ministries.

You must be 18 years old to get married in Michigan. This week, Gov Whitmer signed legislation to ban the marriage of minors in the state, without exception. Michigan becomes the 10th state to fully ban child marriage. Learn more about the updated law, and how this change may impact AMM Ministers and other wedding officiants in the state. ( HB4294 , HB4295 , HB4296 , SB0212 , SB0209 2023 / Act 121, Act 122, Act 123)

Award-winning filmmaker and one-of-a-kind wedding officiant Nico Raineau is in the business of telling love stories. His officiant business RomCom Weddings takes center stage this year, as he performs stunning, cinematic-style custom weddings. Read his take on theme weddings, the Writers Guild of America strike, his upcoming romantic comedy film about professional wedding officiants, and more!  

Planifique la ceremonia de boda perfecta evitando estos 5 arrepentimientos de boda comunes, con consejos para parejas y oficiantes de bodas sobre qué preguntarle a su oficiante, los beneficios de una ceremonia desconectada y libre de teléfonos, par de zapatos extra para zapatos incómodos, presupuestos y gastos excesivos, cómo calmar la ansiedad elevada, ¡y mucho más!

This marriage advice from 1880 offers an interesting glimpse into the past! The wedding reading, titled 'How to Perpetuate the Honeymoon,' has been reprinted and read at weddings by wedding officiants for decades, and was re-discovered over the weekend on Reddit, when a poster found it attached to a vintage marriage license from 1946.

Good news! Ex-county clerk Kim Davis has been ordered to pay $100,000 in damages for refusing to issue a marriage license to same-sex partners David Ermold and David Moore in Kentucky in 2015. Davis was previously found guilty of violating the couple's constitutional right to marry, following the Supreme Court's 2015 ruling in Obergefell v Hodges.

AMM interviews Celebrant Sara Williams to learn what a home funeral guide does, how Death Cafes change the conversation around death and dying, the role of a death doula, and how natural after-death care and green burial helps people reconnect with the natural cycle of life. Sara is an educator, consultant, and officiant of funerals and weddings, and owns Shrouding Sisters, near Raleigh, North Carolina.

Learn how much it costs to become an ordained minister online in Indiana, whether you’ll pay more for minister registration to officiate a wedding, and how the cost of popular online ordination services compare, including free ordination through American Marriage Ministries.

Can an AI Avatar or Chatbot Legally Officiate a Wedding Ceremony? Learn who (and what) can serve as a legal officiant for your marriage ceremony, including what to know about self-solemnizing weddings, virtual and remote online weddings, and how to include an AI avatar or chatbot as a co-officiant.

Learn about potential changes to marriage laws in your state in 2024, including proposed legislation in New York, New Jersey, Nebraska, Missouri, Virginia, Utah, West Virginia, California, and other states, and how these changes could affect AMM Ministers and other officiants who officiate weddings there.

Learn how conversational AI technology makes it possible to include deceased relatives and friends in your wedding ceremony, such as a virtual toast, speech, marriage advice, and more. With the help of platforms like StoryFile Life, HearAfter AI, and others, couples can now have new ways of honoring the dead on the wedding day.

Sweet ways to include a father, grandfather, step-dad or father-figure in your wedding ceremony, including suggestions to honor the memory of a deceased father or family patriarch: Ask your dad to officiate your wedding, walk you down the aisle, or join your unity ritual; wear an item of his under your dress or in a pocket, and other great ideas!

Plan an offbeat Easter wedding with a fun egg blessing ceremony! It’s a great way to include friends and relatives in your wedding, with an epic egg hunt afterwards for children. A seasonal twist on the Stone Blessing Ceremony, with links to how-to instructions and scripts for officiants.

Plan a unique Easter wedding ceremony with inspiration from traditional Polish Kashubian ‘Jastre’ Ceremonies! 5 ideas that are perfect for multicultural or Polish American weddings, or any wedding or vow renewal held on this colorful spring holiday. Including pussy willow Easter palms, treats for Kraśniaki house spirits, Easter eggs, wedding babka, and more!

American Marriage Ministries' Professional Officiant Certification Course offers comprehensive training for first time wedding officiants and industry veterans ready to take things to the next level. This course includes videos, worksheets, quizzes, real-world practice, checklists, and timelines that cover every aspect of performing a marriage ceremony.

AMM Minister and wedding officiant Sam Heath describes his work with engaged couples as a premarital and relationship coach in the weeks leading up to the ceremony. His ‘Duet Sessions’ prepare partners for a happy and loving marriage by discussing tips for good communication and ways to increase connection, trust, and understanding.

American Marriage Ministries welcomes ordained minister number 900,000! We’re committed to providing legal ordination online and minister credentials valid and recognized in every US state and territory, along with wedding officiant training tools, sample wedding ceremony scripts, and wedding planning articles.