Who Can Officiate a Wedding in Illinois: Rules and Online Ordination

In Illinois, a wedding can be performed by a judge (active or retired), a judge of the Court of Claims, the county clerk in a county with 2,000,000 or more residents, a mayor or village or town president, any public official whose office carries marriage authority, or a religious officiant in good standing with their denomination, Indian Nation, Tribe, or Native Group. Notaries public are not on that list. If you are trying to figure out who can officiate a wedding in Illinois, that statutory list under Section 209 of the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act is the whole universe of options.¹

The People Illinois Law Authorizes

Section 209 names several categories of people who can solemnize a marriage in Illinois:

Judges of a court of record, at any level of the Illinois court system.
Retired judges of a court of record, unless they were removed from the bench by the Judicial Inquiry Board. Retired judges cannot accept compensation from the state or any local government for performing a ceremony.
Judges of the Court of Claims.
County clerks in counties with 2,000,000 or more residents. In practice this is the Cook County Clerk’s office.
Public officials whose statutory powers expressly include solemnizing marriages.
Mayors and village or town presidents of any incorporated city, village, or town, so long as they hold office on the date of the ceremony.
Religious officiants acting according to the practices of any religious denomination, Indian Nation, Tribe, or Native Group. When those practices call for an officiant, that person must be in good standing with the religious body.¹

One omission matters. Unlike many other states, Illinois does not authorize notaries public to perform marriages. A notary commission alone, no matter how current, does not qualify someone to officiate here.²

Can a Friend Get Ordained Online and Marry You?

Yes, and this is the route most couples take when they want someone they know to officiate. Online ordinations through organizations like the Universal Life Church and American Marriage Ministries fit comfortably within Section 209’s language.

The statute authorizes marriages performed “in accordance with the prescriptions of any religious denomination” when the officiant is in good standing with that denomination.¹ It does not dictate how ordination must happen, what training is required, or how long the officiant must have held credentials. Illinois also does not require officiants to register with any government office before performing a ceremony, so there is no gatekeeping step at which an online ordination could be rejected.²

“Good standing” still has to be real, though. The person you ask should complete the ordination process fully, keep documentation of their credentials, and be able to show that the ordaining organization currently recognizes them. If you are asking a friend to get ordained for your wedding, have them finish the paperwork well before the ceremony day and save the confirmation.

Getting Married Without an Officiant

Illinois is one of the states that effectively allows self-solemnization. Section 209 recognizes marriages performed according to the practices of any religious denomination, Indian Nation, Tribe, or Native Group, and some traditions, including certain Quaker and Baha’i practices, call for the couple to declare their own marriage rather than have a third party pronounce it.¹ When no individual officiant is involved, both spouses complete and return the marriage certificate themselves.

No State Registration for Officiants

Some states require ministers to file their credentials with a county clerk before performing weddings. Illinois does not. Neither the state nor any county tracks officiant credentials or maintains an approved list.² That simplifies life for the officiant, but it shifts the entire responsibility onto the couple. If anyone is going to confirm that the person at the front of your ceremony actually qualifies under Section 209, it is you.

What Happens If Your Officiant Was Not Authorized

Couples often worry that a technical problem with the officiant will undo the whole marriage. Illinois law treats this more gently than most people expect.

Section 301 of the Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act lists the grounds for a declaration of invalidity: lack of capacity to consent (including consent obtained by force, fraud, drugs, or alcohol), inability to consummate the marriage without the other party’s knowledge, one party being 16 or 17 without proper consent, or a marriage otherwise prohibited by law.³ An unauthorized officiant is not on that list.

Illinois also protects people who married in good faith. Under Section 305, a “putative spouse” who went through a marriage ceremony and lived with their partner believing in good faith that the marriage was valid acquires the same rights as a legal spouse, including property rights and the right to maintenance, until the person learns the marriage is not valid.⁴

None of that is a reason to be casual about the choice. Even when a marriage survives an officiant problem, the irregularity can surface at inconvenient moments: when an insurer verifies spousal coverage, when a government agency reviews benefit eligibility, or when a surviving partner claims inheritance rights. Any of those reviewers can delay a decision while the paperwork gets sorted out. Picking an officiant who clearly fits one of the Section 209 categories avoids the problem entirely.

Checking Your Officiant Before the Ceremony

A short check before the wedding day prevents almost every officiant problem. Confirm which Section 209 category the person falls into. For a judge, confirm they are a judge of a court of record or the Court of Claims and, if retired, that they were not removed by the Judicial Inquiry Board. For a mayor or village or town president, confirm they will still be in office on the ceremony date. For a religious officiant, confirm they are in good standing with their denomination and, if they were ordained online, that the ordination is complete and documented. For the Cook County Clerk’s office, confirmation is a matter of scheduling through the clerk directly.

If none of those categories fits the person you had in mind, and you are not following a tradition that permits self-solemnization, the simplest fix is to have your chosen person get ordained online before the date. Illinois sets no waiting period for ordination to take effect and no registration step to complete afterward, so the path from “a friend” to “a lawful officiant” can be a short one.

1
Illinois General Assembly. 750 ILCS 5/209
2
McLean County, IL – Official Website. Information Relating to Marriage and Civil Union Officiants
3
Illinois General Assembly. 750 ILCS 5/301
4
Illinois General Assembly. 750 ILCS 5/305