Event Planning and Design: Fuse Weddings and Events + Photo by Jessica Kettle Photography
Who can officiate a wedding in the state of Utah?
According to Utah Code Title 30, Marriages may be solemnized by the following persons only:
- Ministers, rabbis or priests of any religious denomination who are:
- in regular communion with any religious society
- 18 years of age or older
- Native American spiritual advisors
- The governor
- The lieutenant governor
- Mayors of municipalities or county executives
- A justice, judge, or commissioner of a court of record
- A judge of a court not of record of the state
- Judges or magistrates of the United States
- The county clerk of any county in the state
- The president of the Senate
- The speaker of the House of Representatives
- A judge or magistrate who holds office in Utah when retired, under rules set by the Supreme Court.
- A designee (This option can be utilized to have someone authorized by the County Clerk to officiate at a single marriage ceremony within the State of Utah. For information on a designee to perform your wedding ceremony, email mpclerk@slco.org or call 385-468-7300.)
If you’ve decided you’d like to have a friend or family member perform your wedding, the first step is to have them ordained on a site like themonastery.org or have them authorized by the County Clerk.
Then, it’s time for you and your partner to have a discussion with your chosen officiant about what you want from them on your wedding day. You can provide them with a sample text for the ceremony that’s either completely personal and tailored to you and your partner or you can look online for the generic wedding officiant script.
As far as the words were spoken during the ceremony, the only legal requirement is that both bride and groom assent or confirm—in the physical presence of the wedding officiant and at least two attending witnesses—that they take each other to be husband and wife, or husband and husband, or wife and wife.
