Your first officiant option is a traditional, religious wedding officiated by a member of a specific religion, such as a priest, rabbi, or imam. Although there is some wiggle room for personalization, your ceremony will follow the structure and mandate of that religion. Although I am an interfaith minister and experienced performing many religious and cultural rituals, if your preference is a specific religious ceremony, such as a Catholic Nuptial Mass, Jewish Kiddushin, and Nissuin, or a Muslim Nikah Ceremony, I can refer you to some wonderful clerics, however, I am not the officiant to marry you.

The second type of wedding officiant is, well, anyone — literally anyone — who is an ordained minister, which can be accomplished quickly and easily online. That officiant could be your brother Bob, your sorority sister, your boss, your next-door neighbor, or a parent. If just getting hitched is more important than a customized, personalized, professional ceremony, and you want to save money, this may be a good choice.

Your third option for a wedding officiant is a professionally trained and certified LGBTQ-friendly, interfaith minister; a warm, funny, compassionate, open-minded, inclusive Life-Cycle Celebrant with decades of experience in classic ceremony structure and traditions, with masterful storytelling skills, a gift for public speaking, interpersonal communications expertise, and respect and insight for countless century-old rituals that may be unique to your specific wedding. If that’s the case, there’s a really good chance that officiant is me!