Who Can Solemnize a Marriage in Tennessee: Judges and Clergy

Three groups of people can officiate a wedding in Tennessee: judges, certain elected officials, and ordained religious leaders whose credentials come from a genuine process within a faith community. The list sits in Tennessee Code 36-3-301, and it is narrower than in most states, so picking the wrong person can leave you with a ceremony that has no legal effect.¹

Judges and Magistrates

Current and retired judges across nearly every Tennessee and federal court can perform weddings. That includes the Tennessee Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, circuit courts, chancery courts, criminal courts, general sessions courts, and federal judges sitting in the state’s district courts. Magistrates qualify as well.¹

Retired judges keep the authority only if they left the bench honorably. A judge convicted of a felony or removed from office cannot officiate.¹

Elected Officials

The list of qualifying elected officials is broader than most couples expect. Municipal mayors, county mayors (sometimes called county executives), county clerks, and members of a county legislative body can all officiate.¹ Members of the Tennessee General Assembly can too, but only after filing a notice of their intention with the Office of Vital Records.²

These officials can perform ceremonies anywhere in Tennessee, not just in their own jurisdiction. None of them are required to say yes, so confirm willingness before you plan around a particular person.

Can an Elected Official Charge a Fee?

No. Tennessee law bars elected officials from charging a fee or demanding compensation for performing a wedding. They can accept a voluntary gratuity, and any gratuity they receive is theirs to keep as personal income rather than money that goes into a county or municipal treasury.¹ A Tennessee Attorney General opinion confirmed that soliciting or requesting a gratuity is lawful, but charging a set price is not.³ If an elected official quotes you a flat rate, that arrangement does not line up with state law.

Ordained Religious Leaders

Ministers, preachers, pastors, priests, rabbis, and other spiritual leaders can officiate if they are at least 18 years old and were ordained or designated through a “considered, deliberate, and responsible act” within their faith tradition.¹ That phrase is doing most of the work in the statute. Tennessee does not define ordination because religious bodies handle it differently. A Catholic priest completes years of seminary; a nondenominational pastor might be recognized through a congregational vote. Both can qualify.

The test is whether the officiant holds genuine standing within an actual religious community, not whether they completed a specific set of academic steps. The language was written to screen out credentials that exist only on paper, which leads to Tennessee’s most contested rule.

The Online Ordination Ban

Tennessee specifically bars people ordained online from performing weddings. The statute, added in 2019, states that “persons receiving online ordinations may not solemnize the rite of matrimony.”¹ The target was organizations like the Universal Life Church and American Marriage Ministries that credential anyone who fills out a web form.

The ban drew an immediate challenge. Before it took effect, the Universal Life Church and several of its ministers sued in federal court, arguing it violated their free exercise of religion and freedom of expression. Judge Waverly Crenshaw issued a preliminary injunction blocking the law and questioned whether it served any rational purpose.⁴ The Sixth Circuit later narrowed parts of the injunction on procedural grounds but left it in place against several officials and sent the case back for further proceedings.

Tennessee eventually settled. Under the consent order, state officials pledged never to prosecute a Universal Life Church minister for solemnizing a wedding and acknowledged that denying marriage licenses to couples married by a ULC minister could itself be unconstitutional. The statutory text banning online ordinations still sits in the code, but its enforceability against ULC ministers is effectively gone. If you choose an online-ordained officiant, understand the gray area: the words of the statute say one thing, and the settlement means the state has agreed not to act on those words with respect to ULC ministers. Whether the same protection extends to ministers credentialed through other online organizations is less clear. Talk to your county clerk before the ceremony if your officiant falls outside ULC.

Marriages Before July 1, 2019

Any marriage performed by a minister before July 1, 2019 cannot be invalidated just because that minister’s ordination would not meet current requirements.¹ If a friend ordained online in 2017 married you, your marriage stands.

Officiants From Other States

Tennessee Code 36-3-301 does not impose a separate residency requirement. A minister does not have to live in Tennessee. What the statute does require is that every officiant meet the same qualifications: judges must hold or have held a qualifying judicial office, and religious leaders must have been ordained through a considered, deliberate, and responsible act within their faith. An out-of-state pastor whose church ordained them through a genuine process satisfies the statute the same way a Tennessee pastor does.

Out-of-state officiants run into trouble when their credentials would not hold up under Tennessee’s stricter standard. A friend ordained online in a state that permits it still faces Tennessee’s online ordination ban, with the caveats above. The practical question is not residency but whether the ordination meets Tennessee’s definition.

How to Verify an Officiant’s Credentials

Tennessee does not keep a statewide registry of authorized officiants, so the burden sits with the couple. For judges and elected officials, verification is simple because their status is public record. For religious leaders, ask to see ordination documentation and confirm it came from an established religious body rather than a quick online transaction. County clerk offices answer these questions regularly and can tell you whether a particular person qualifies.

The worst time to find out there is a problem is after the ceremony. If you have any doubt, pick someone whose credentials are beyond question and give your preferred person a role like reading a passage or offering a toast.

What the Officiant Does After the Ceremony

Picking an authorized officiant is only half the job. After the wedding, the officiant must note the fact and time of the marriage on the license, sign it, and return it to the county clerk within three days. Skipping this step does not automatically void the marriage, but it creates real problems when you need to prove you are legally married for insurance, property, or a name change.

1
Justia. Tennessee Code 36-3-301 – Persons Who May Solemnize Marriages
2
Nashville.gov. Who Can Solemnize a Marriage?
3
Tennessee Attorney General. Opinion No. 11-18 – Legality of Compensation for Performing Marriages
4
Justia. Universal Life Church Monastery Storehouse v Nabors, No. 21-5100