Officiant

When I was still looking the prices varied from $375 andup. Our officiant I believe was closer to $500. One good thing is that you put down a deposit and then have about half left to pay by time wedding comes around

Maybe you can do a search on weddingwire? check google and contact a bunch of officiants!

A family member or friend can go online to get their officiant license. The cost itself is close to what you would be paying. I had searched around and we paid $350 being reasonable. Your quoted price is reasonable too and fair unlike courts and others wanting more than $400.

View quoted message In Ontario it is actually very difficult to become licensed to perform marriages. Friends and family cannot become licensed to officiate for a wedding, they actually need to be authorized through a recognized religion, or be a city clerk or judge. So we are somewhat limited in choice. Luckily, we don't have a set fee here so officiants can charge whatever they feel like/whatever people are willing to pay.

In my province the officiant is a set fee across the board, it might be like that in Ontario too.

If that is out of your budget you could always suggest a friend or family member be ordained and have them officiate the ceremony

Depending on where you are, that's fairly standard pricing. In the Waterloo and Toronto region, 300-500 is the norm. I usually advise spending decent money for a good officiant; my mother is an officiant and I've been to easily over 100 weddings with her; guests talk about the ceremony after! They are also the only required part of the wedding, as they have to help with the paperwork and sign your marriage documents so you want someone knowledgeable and experienced to get it all right! I've heard horror stories of officiants who didn't do paperwork properly and the couples were legally not married for years before they found out!!

I just did a search and I see what you mean. Ottawa officiants are spendy! The least expensive I found was for $325 lisacarterofficiant.com


One suggestion I have is to ask them about an elopement ceremony, or find an officiant who specializes in elopements. It means you would be giving up a lot of personalization, but it would bring the price down. And you can have that sort of ceremony regardless of how many people are present.
Ours was an elopement ceremony. It was maybe 15 minutes long, had one reading, our vows (which were specific to us), and seemed pretty similar to any other non-religious ceremony we've been to, but it was billed as an elopement ceremony. We met once and then communicated via email, so there weren't lots of in person meeting sessions. So that may be an option.

View quoted message Our venue does have recommendations but they’re are a bit pricey. That’s awesome! I wish but unfortunately we do not know anyone who is licensed

View quoted message Wow! That’s great! I’m located in Ottawa, getting married at Stonefields in Carlton Place

Does your venue have any recommendations? Sometimes some places have preferred partners (not that you have to go with them). Or you could do like what we’re doing where a friend of ours is licensed and is doing it for us. We liked that because she’s close to us and it personalizes our ceremony.

My officiant was $175. I'm in Hamilton. If you can provide a bit more information regarding your location we may be able to point you in the direction of some reasonably priced options.

We found ours at a wedding show. She had a deal for bride and grooms she met at the show. Could be something to look into !