Solemnizing officer is a minister who will officiate your wedding. I mentioned those solemnizing officers who are allowed by law in the home page of this website. Solemnizing Officer can be religious leader, incumbent mayor, judge and in some circumstances ship captain or airplane chief are also allowed. But I would like to focus on the solemnizing officer we commonly see in different wedding venues like hotel, restaurant, garden, island, beach and other outdoor venues. Who are they? Are they judge, mayor or religious leaders? Most of them if not all are religious leaders especially Christian pastors and ministers. We should remember that by law religious leaders are advised to administer weddings inside their church/s. However, in some occasion couples or marriage applicants may request especial request that their wedding will be held at their desired venue.
I will take our wedding as an example. My wife and I decided that our wedding venue will at the function hall of the hotel. It will be very comfortable for us since we came from Manila and our wedding was scheduled in Ipil, Zamboanga Sibugay Mindanao. It was three in one venue; we checked in night before the wedding, the rite of wedding was held there and we also had our reception on that same hotel. But why did our solemnizing agree with our request? Of course we followed his advice. He told us to secure a notarized affidavit that our wedding will be held at the hotel we desired instead of having it in the Church building. The said affidavit will be for his protection and for his file also. As I said be law religious leaders are advised to have all the weddings done within his Church. The same is true with mayors and judges. For mayors, he/she is allowed to preside and wedding conducted at the city or municipal hall where his office is adjacent. For judges, the wedding ceremony must be held publicly within the chambers of the judge or in the open court.
So if you are looking for a solemnizing officer, it would be a best idea if you can speak with him first regarding your preferred venue and of course your desired flow of the program/rite. In some occasion a Solemnizing officer will require you to submit a letter of permission coming from the manager or the owner of the venue. Some SO will only ask you to submit a formal letter of invitation where in you stated the place and time of the wedding. Whichever is his preference better if you can discuss this with your solemnizing officer.
If you have some questions and suggestions you can contact me via email or thru my mobile number below.
Shalom;
Ron
Hi good day may i ask if the city mayor can solemnize marriage outside of his office like a resort or a restaurant? A notarized request for the marriage to be solemnized in the desired venue was secured. Thank u...
ReplyDeleteBy law, the mayor is required to officiate any wedding within his/her office or at least adjacent to said office.
DeleteGood day! Kahit po ba wedding officiant ang magkakasal pwede po bang may entourage pa din sa wedding ceremony? Thank you.
ReplyDeleteYes po pwede. Pero usually page mayor or judge nagkakasal wala na. Pero you may always request po.
DeleteCan a municipal mayor solemnize marriage even during holidays? When the couple are in good health and not suffering from anything which would put them under the danger of death?
ReplyDeletePwede naman po, however nasa pandemic pa tayo and the mayor might required some health documents to conduct the ceremony.
DeleteHi, can a pastor officiate a wedding for catholic couple?
ReplyDeleteI have the same question
DeletePwede po bang mag-officiate ng kasal ang mayor sa kahit na anong barangay ng kanyang municipyo?
ReplyDeleteask lang po kung sa ibang region po kami e kakasal invitation lang po ba need para magkakasal samin? then about po sa marriage license po need po ba dun kunin kung saan kami e kakasal?
ReplyDeleteWe answered your question thru podcast . Here is the link https://www.solemnizingmarriageph.com/podcast
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