How to Become Ordained to Officiate Weddings in New York

To become ordained to officiate weddings in New York, you get ordained through a religious organization, then take one more step that depends on where the wedding is: if it’s in any of the five boroughs of New York City, you must register with the City Clerk’s Office before the ceremony; if it’s anywhere else in the state, you simply write your credentials directly on the couple’s marriage license on the day. New York’s Domestic Relations Law authorizes “a clergyman or minister of any religion” to solemnize marriages, and that’s the category ordination puts you in.¹

Step One: Get Ordained

Ordination means a religious organization has formally recognized you as a minister or clergy member. The traditional paths run through seminaries, divinity schools, and denominations that ordain after study and training. If you’re seeking ordination specifically so you can marry a friend or family member, several organizations ordain online with minimal requirements. The Universal Life Church and American Marriage Ministries are two of the most widely used.

New York’s statute doesn’t define what counts as a legitimate ordination. The NYC Clerk’s Office accepts registrations from online-ordained ministers and processes them alongside traditionally ordained clergy. That said, the legal status of online ordinations in New York has been challenged. Some parties in divorce proceedings have argued that marriages performed by online-ordained ministers were invalid, and courts haven’t consistently answered the question. No blanket ruling or statute explicitly confirms or denies the validity of online ordinations statewide.

In practice, most online ordinations go through without issue when the officiant follows every other legal requirement. A few steps reduce your risk:

Stick with an established ordaining body with a track record of its ministers’ weddings being recognized in New York.
Get your ordination certificate, a letter of good standing, and any other documentation your ordaining body offers. You’ll need these for NYC registration.
Call the town or city clerk who issued the couple’s marriage license before the ceremony and confirm they’ll accept your credentials. Five minutes on the phone can prevent a wedding-day crisis.

Step Two, If the Wedding Is in New York City: Register With the City Clerk

Anyone who plans to officiate weddings within the five boroughs must register with the City Clerk’s Office before performing any ceremonies. The requirement comes from New York Domestic Relations Law § 11-b and applies regardless of how you were ordained. Skipping it means you’re not legally authorized to perform the ceremony in the city, even if your ordination is valid everywhere else in the state.²

What You Need to Submit

If your religious organization publishes a directory listing its clergy, the Clerk’s Office may accept that as proof. Otherwise, you’ll need to provide:

A copy of your ordination certificate, license to minister, or letter of appointment from your denomination.
A letter from your local congregation on official letterhead, addressed to the City Clerk at 141 Worth Street, New York, NY 10013, confirming your role and stating that the congregation consents to your registration.
Valid government-issued identification.
A completed Marriage Officiant Registration form, available on the City Clerk’s website.

The consent letter is the document most applicants stumble on. It has to name you specifically, state your title, identify your congregation, and explicitly consent to your registration. The City Clerk’s website posts a sample template that shows the expected format.²

How to Register

If you live in any of the five boroughs, you must register in person at the Manhattan office of the City Clerk at 141 Worth Street. If you live outside New York City, you can mail your application. Mail-in applicants submit a signed and notarized application, a photocopy of valid ID, and the $15 fee by money order payable to the City Clerk. Credit card payment is only accepted for in-person registrations. Mail applications go to the Office of the City Clerk, Marriage Officiant Registration Clerk, 141 Worth Street, New York, NY 10013. Allow at least 30 days for processing.²

Once approved, you’ll receive a Certificate of Registration with a registration identification number. The statute sets no expiration date, but if you change your address, you must register the updated address before performing any further ceremonies. The City Clerk can cancel a registration that turns out to be fraudulent or that belongs to someone no longer entitled to officiate.

Step Two, If the Wedding Is Outside New York City

Anywhere in New York State outside the five boroughs, there is no pre-registration requirement. You don’t file paperwork with a county or town clerk before the ceremony.³

Your credentials go directly onto the marriage license at the ceremony. You fill in your name, your title (such as “ordained minister”), and the name and address of your ordaining organization in the officiant section. That establishes your authority on the document itself. Contacting the issuing clerk in advance to confirm they’ll accept your credentials is still a smart move, especially if you were ordained online.

If You Only Want to Officiate One Wedding

You don’t have to get ordained at all if this is a one-time thing. New York offers a one-day marriage officiant license that lets anyone 18 or older perform one specific wedding ceremony. You don’t need to be a New York resident or even live in the United States.⁴

You apply at the same town or city clerk’s office where the couple obtained their marriage license. The license is tied to that specific couple and expires as soon as you complete the ceremony or when the couple’s marriage license expires, whichever comes first. The fee is $25, payable by money order for mail applications or credit card in person. You’ll need valid ID, and mailed applications require a notarized signature and a photocopy of your ID.⁵

One-day officiants are exempt from the NYC registration requirement, and the license authorizes you to perform the ceremony anywhere in New York State, not just the jurisdiction where you applied.

Once You’re Authorized: What the Job Actually Requires

Being authorized to officiate is only part of the responsibility. Before the ceremony, check the marriage license. Confirm the names match the couple in front of you, verify the license hasn’t expired (New York licenses are valid for 60 days from issue, or 180 for active military), and confirm the mandatory 24-hour waiting period after issuance has passed. A New York Supreme Court judge or justice can waive that waiting period, but the couple must give you the written judicial waiver before you proceed, and you must attach it when you return the license.⁶⁷ You also need to confirm both parties are marrying voluntarily.³

New York doesn’t prescribe specific words or a required format. What matters legally is that both parties declare their intent to marry each other and that you pronounce them married. After the ceremony, you, the couple, and two witnesses all sign the license. Complete the officiant section with your name, title, and your ordaining organization’s address.

Then return the completed license to the town or city clerk that issued it within five days. This is where officiants most often get themselves in trouble. Missing the five-day deadline is a misdemeanor. The penalty is a fine of $50 per offense, and your right to perform marriage ceremonies can be suspended for 90 days.⁸ Beyond your own exposure, a late-filed license creates problems for the couple, whose marriage won’t appear in official records until the license is processed.

Penalties for Officiating Without Authority

Performing a marriage ceremony when you know you’re not authorized is a Class A misdemeanor under New York’s Penal Law, which carries up to one year in jail. The same charge applies if you’re authorized but knowingly perform a ceremony when a legal barrier exists, such as one party already being married to someone else.⁹

For the couple, the fallout is less clear-cut. New York statute provides that a marriage between two adults isn’t automatically void just because a license wasn’t obtained, but there’s no equally explicit protection for a marriage performed by an unauthorized officiant. Courts have generally been reluctant to invalidate otherwise legitimate marriages over officiant technicalities, but no statute guarantees that outcome. If you have any doubt about your authority, particularly if you were ordained online and the wedding falls in a jurisdiction unfamiliar with your ordaining body, resolve it with the issuing clerk before the ceremony rather than after.

1
The Clerk of the City of New York. Officiant Law
2
NYC City Clerk. Marriage Officiant Registration
3
New York State Department of Health. Responsibilities of the Officiant Performing the Ceremony
4
City Clerk – NYC Marriage Bureau. One-Day Marriage Officiant License
5
Office of the City Clerk, The City of New York. Application for One-Day Marriage Officiant License
6
NY.gov. Information on Getting Married in New York State
7
City Clerk – NYC. Marriage License
8
New York State Senate. New York Domestic Relations Law DOM 13-B
9
New York State Senate. New York Penal Law 255.00 – Unlawfully Solemnizing a Marriage