Who Can Officiate a Wedding in Nevada?

In Nevada, the people who can legally perform your wedding are ministers and other religious officials, notaries public, judges and civil marriage commissioners, and regular people who register with a county clerk as marriage officiants. Most of them have to hold a certificate of permission to perform marriages, issued by a Nevada county clerk, before they stand up in front of you. Judges and civil marriage commissioners are the exception, authorized simply by holding that office. That certificate is the part couples miss. An ordination on its own, online or otherwise, does not authorize anybody to marry you in this state.

I’m McKenzie, the photographer behind McKenzie Stewart Weddings. I’ve photographed Las Vegas weddings every year since 2010, more than 300 of them, so I’ve stood a few feet away from every kind of Nevada officiant there is: chapel officiants, judges, and plenty of friends and relatives who filled out county paperwork so they could marry someone they love. If someone you know has offered to perform your ceremony, the answer is almost always yes, they can. Here is what they have to do first.

Who can legally perform a marriage in Nevada?

Nevada law names a short list of people who may join a couple in marriage. Here is the whole list, in plain terms.

• Ministers and other religious officials. A minister who has been licensed, ordained, or appointed, and who is still in good standing with a church or religious organization that is itself incorporated, organized, or established in Nevada. Other church officials count too, under that same condition, as long as their organization allows them to perform marriages.
• Notaries public. A notary appointed by the Nevada Secretary of State and in good standing with that office. Nevada is one of the few states where a notary is allowed to do this at all.
• Marriage officiants. Anyone else who applies to a county clerk for permission to perform marriages. Nevada created this category on purpose, so that a person with no church and no notary commission can still marry a couple. This is the category your best friend or your uncle falls into.
• Judges and justices of the peace. Sitting judges perform marriages as part of their office.
• Commissioners of civil marriages, their deputies, and mayors. In Clark County, the County Clerk also serves as the Commissioner of Civil Marriages and runs a county office that performs ceremonies.

The first three groups on that list all have to get the same county certificate before they can perform a ceremony. Nevada Revised Statutes 122.062 is the law that lists them and requires the certificate for each one. Judges and civil marriage commissioners do not apply for anything. NRS 122.080 gives them that authority simply by holding the office.

One more thing has to exist before any of these people can legally marry you, and that is your marriage license. Get the license first, then the ceremony. If you have not done that part yet, I wrote a walkthrough of how to get a marriage license in Las Vegas.

What is a certificate of permission to perform marriages?

The certificate of permission is the document that makes someone a legal officiant in Nevada. It comes from a county clerk, not from the state, and not from any church or ordination group. Ordination papers do not replace it, and neither does a notary stamp.

It comes in two forms, and the names are worth learning, because the fee and the timing are different for each one. A single ceremony authorization covers one named wedding, which would be yours. A five year certificate is standing permission to marry anybody in Nevada for the next five years.

Your friend does not have to live in Nevada to be your officiant. Nevada law sends a single ceremony application to the clerk of the county where the wedding is happening, so a brother flying in from Texas applies in Clark County exactly the way a Las Vegas local would. The five year certificate works differently, and it is not available to someone who lives outside Nevada. The law lets a county clerk issue that certificate only to an applicant who lives in that county, so a person with no Nevada address has no clerk who can grant one. Someone out of state still has two ways to marry you: apply for a single ceremony authorization for each wedding, up to five a year, or, if they are a minister, perform up to five marriages a year in Nevada without holding any Nevada certificate at all, under the same county clerk rules a Nevada officiant follows.

Everything below about fees, training, and timing is Clark County’s, because that is the county Las Vegas sits in. Each Nevada county clerk runs its own version of this process, so a wedding in Reno or at Lake Tahoe means dealing with that county’s clerk instead.

If somebody has offered to marry you and you want to confirm they are actually registered, you can look them up. The Nevada Secretary of State keeps a public search of marriage officiants that anyone can use.

Can a friend or family member officiate your wedding in Nevada?

Yes, and here is the part that surprises most couples: Clark County does not require your friend to be ordained at all. The county’s own officiant material says applicants do not need to be ordained, do not need to be affiliated with a church or religious organization, and do not need a notary commission. What they need is the county’s permission, which they apply for directly.

That matters because most of what you will find when you search this comes from companies that sell online ordinations. An ordination certificate from one of those groups is not, by itself, legal authorization to perform a wedding in Nevada. Your friend still has to go through the Clark County Clerk’s officiant process either way.

Which of the two your friend applies for changes the cost, the training, and how far ahead they have to start.

The single ceremony authorization

This is the track for a friend or a relative who is only ever going to do this once. It works the same whether they live in Henderson or in another state. It authorizes that person to perform one named wedding, so your names, your date, and where the ceremony is happening all go on the application.

Your marriage license is not part of that paperwork, so the two do not have to happen in a particular order. You get the license on your own, and you need it in hand for the ceremony itself, not for your friend’s application.

The total fee is $25. Before applying, your friend takes the county’s online Single Ceremony Marriage Officiant training course, which means creating an account and working through it whenever they have the time. There is no background check on this track and no class to attend, so nothing about it requires your friend to be in Las Vegas ahead of the wedding. The county does not spell out how the finished application has to reach the Clerk’s office. If your friend is flying in the day before, have them ask about that when they start the training.

Timing is the thing to plan around. The county sets a limit on how early your friend can apply, and it also needs time to process the application once it arrives. The county can take up to 30 days to process a single ceremony application, counted from the day the training and the paperwork are submitted, and it tells applicants not to apply more than three months before the wedding. So aim for somewhere between one and three months out, and send your friend the link as soon as your date and venue are settled. If your wedding is less than 30 days away, this track probably will not work in time. Book the Clark County Office of Civil Marriages instead, or hire an officiant who already holds a certificate.

The five year certificate

This is the track for someone who might perform a wedding again, like a family member who could end up marrying two or three relatives over the years. Once granted, this certificate lasts five years from the date it is issued, and during those five years that person can perform as many ceremonies as they want anywhere in Nevada.

The money comes in two separate charges. The application carries a non refundable $55 fee, paid by money order or cashier’s check made out to the County Clerk. The background check is a second, separate charge on top of that, paid by credit card, and the current amount is printed on the county’s marriage officiant application. That second charge is why this track costs more than the single ceremony one.

Three things have to happen before the ceremony, and they happen in sequence, not all at once. The county wants the application in at least 30 days before the ceremony, counting back from your wedding date. The background check has to be completed within 30 days of that application going in, or the county can deny it. The training on this track is a two hour class, held in person at the Clark County Government Center, and the county opens enrollment for it only after the background check clears, so your friend should budget more than the bare 30 day minimum. All of that takes more lead time than the single ceremony track, and it is more work than somebody doing this once needs to take on.

What your officiant does after the ceremony

Filing the marriage certificate is your officiant’s job, not yours. After the ceremony, the person who performed it completes the certificate and returns it to the county, and Nevada gives them 10 days to do it. Missing that deadline is a problem for the officiant, and it can hold up the certified copy you need later to change a name or update your records. If a friend is marrying you, tell them about this part when you send them the application, because it is the step people forget once the wedding is over.

Can a notary public perform a wedding in Nevada?

Yes. Nevada is one of the few states where a notary public can legally perform a marriage. The notary has to be appointed by the Nevada Secretary of State and in good standing with that office, and they have to get the same county certificate of permission that a minister or a marriage officiant needs. A notary stamp on its own does not cover it. Once the certificate is issued, it stays in effect until the notary’s commission expires.

Getting married by a Clark County civil marriage commissioner

If nobody you know can perform your ceremony, or nobody can get registered before your date, Clark County will marry you itself. The Office of Civil Marriages is a county office at 330 S. 3rd Street in Las Vegas where a civil marriage commissioner performs the ceremony for you.

The fee is $75, plus a $2.75 credit card processing fee, for a total of $77.75. They take credit and debit cards only, so do not plan on paying cash. Ceremonies are by appointment seven days a week. Friday and Saturday both run until 7:30 in the evening, and Saturday appointments do not start until 2:30 in the afternoon. Show up five minutes early, because late arrivals have to reschedule.

This office is not where you get your marriage license. That is the separate Marriage License Bureau, and you have to go there first. The ceremony here is short and follows the county’s own wording, so it is not the place for vows the two of you wrote.

Can you marry yourselves in Nevada?

No. Nevada does not let a couple marry themselves the way a state like Colorado does, so you cannot sign your own license and be finished. Nevada law makes two narrow exceptions: marriages among the Society of Friends, or Quakers, performed in the forms used in their meetings, and marriages between tribal members performed according to tribal custom. If neither of those is you, your wedding needs one of the people listed above.

What happens if the person who married you was not registered?

Your marriage almost certainly still stands. Nevada law says a marriage is not void just because the person who performed it turned out to lack authority, as long as you believed in good faith that you were being lawfully married.

The penalty falls on the person who performed it. Under Nevada law, anyone who joins others in marriage without lawful authority faces a civil penalty of up to $1,500, and Clark County repeats that warning in its own officiant material. So the good faith rule protects your marriage, not your friend. It is worth one text message to confirm the certificate came through before the wedding day.

Nevada officiant options compared

Route	Who it suits	What that person has to do	Cost	Lead time
Single ceremony authorization	A friend or relative performing one wedding	Complete the county’s online training, then apply naming your specific ceremony	$25	Apply about one to three months ahead; processing takes up to 30 days from the day the training and application go in
Five year certificate	Someone who may officiate again, or wants standing permission	Apply, pay for and pass a background check, attend a two hour class in person	$55 application, plus a separate background check fee charged by card	Apply at least 30 days before the ceremony; the class comes only after the background check clears, so allow longer
Hiring a certified officiant	Couples who want someone experienced running the ceremony	Nothing. They already hold a current certificate	Set by the officiant	Whenever you book them
Clark County civil marriage commissioner	Couples with nobody to perform the ceremony	Book an appointment at the Office of Civil Marriages	$77.75	Appointment only, seven days a week

Common questions about Nevada wedding officiants

Can someone from out of state officiate a wedding in Nevada?

Yes. Nevada does not require an officiant to live here. A friend or relative flying in for your wedding applies for the single ceremony authorization in Clark County the same way a local would, because that application goes to the county where the ceremony is happening. A minister who lives in another state and performs marriages in Nevada without holding a Nevada certificate is limited to five marriages in the state per calendar year.

Is an online ordination enough to officiate a wedding in Nevada?

No. Clark County does not require ordination, and it does not accept ordination in place of its own certificate of permission. Whether your friend is ordained through an online group or through a lifetime of ministry, they go through the same county application before they can legally marry you.

How long does it take to get registered as an officiant in Clark County?

Plan on at least a month, and longer for the five year track. A single ceremony authorization can take up to 30 days to process, counted from the day the online training and application are submitted. The five year certificate needs the application in at least 30 days before the ceremony, counting back from the wedding date, and the background check has to be finished within 30 days of that application going in. The in person class is scheduled only after the background check clears, which usually pushes the five year track past a month.

Can our officiant also be our witness?

No. Nevada requires at least one witness besides the person performing the ceremony, so those two jobs go to two different people. One witness is all the state asks for, and on any wedding I photograph I can be that person. You do not have to find anybody. I wrote more about that in do you need a witness to get married in Nevada.

Can an Elvis impersonator legally marry you in Las Vegas?

Only if he holds a certificate of permission from the county, same as anybody else. The costume has nothing to do with it. Whoever says the words that make you married has to hold that certificate, so when you book, ask who is performing the ceremony and confirm that person is registered with the county.

Still deciding who should marry you?

Most of the couples I photograph do one of two things. Some have someone they love perform the ceremony, and for them the county’s single ceremony track is short and simple, with starting too late as the only real risk. Others would rather hand the whole ceremony to somebody who does it for a living.

If that second one is you, our all inclusive Las Vegas elopement comes with an officiant already. It is $2,000, and it includes Michelle Brown, a licensed Nevada officiant who writes and performs your ceremony and files your marriage certificate with the county afterward, along with my photography for the day. You can read what comes with it on the all inclusive elopement page. If you want the ceremony somewhere other than a chapel, I put together ideas for a Las Vegas elopement without a chapel too.

And if you are still sorting out who is marrying you, tell me about your date anyway. I have watched a lot of Las Vegas weddings come together and I am happy to talk it through, whether or not you end up booking me. Send me a message and tell me what you are planning.