How to Get Ordained Online and Officiate a TOGE Wedding Legally

Someone you love has asked you the big question — “Will you marry us?” Saying yes places you at the heart of one of the most meaningful and powerful days of their lives. It is an honor, and it is also a responsibility: you will need the legal authority to make their marriage real. So, how do you officiate a wedding legally? Here is the good news, and the groovy news, on how to get ordained online.

What Does It Mean to Be Ordained by TOGE?

When you get ordained online through Temple of the Groovy Eye, you become clergy — the equal of any minister, priest, rabbi, or imam — ordained in our name and legally empowered to officiate marriages in all fifty states. We are not an online ordination mill for weddings or a novelty certificate. We don’t just hand you a wallet card and forget your name by morning; we welcome you into an Equality Union, an active grassroots community with one unshakable belief: all people are created equal. TOGE weddings are built upon this premise. They are beautiful and unforgettable. 

It is also helpful to note that ordination through TOGE is simple, immediate, and free, and it makes you a living example of that truth — clergy with a purpose.

How TOGE Weddings Are Different 

For most of history, marriage was a tool of the powerful — a contract of ownership, a vow to “obey.” We reject that outright. A TOGE marriage begins with our Declaration of Truth, spoken before any other vow: “You are my equal. And I am yours.” 

From this declaration, made between two equals choosing each other publicly and definitively, all else flows. Every promise that follows is rooted there. When equality comes first, love is finally free to be what it was always meant to be, and respect, dignity, and true partnership follow as its natural fruit. Thus, the world will be changed for the better, rebuilt upon the bedrock of equality. That is the magnificent ceremony you get to lead as a TOGE wedding officiant, and it is unlike any other.

How to Become a Wedding Officiant Through TOGE

If you’re looking to become TOGE clergy to office a wedding (or multiple weddings) legally, follow this basic step-by-step guide:

1. Get Ordained. Complete our very brief training module. You will affirm your belief in equality, confirm you are 18 or older, and use your legal name. The moment you finish, you are ordained.

2. Confirm With the County Clerk. Marriage law varies from state to state and county to county. Call the clerk’s office where the license will be issued and ask what tasks and registrations officiants must complete. Do this well in advance of the ceremony.

3. Lead the Ceremony. A TOGE wedding belongs anywhere two equals choose to stand: at an altar, a backyard, a mountaintop, a courthouse step. TOGE officiants may co-officiate with any other denomination, as long as the Declaration of Truth is spoken before the vows. TOGE has a marriage script you may use, or adapt to the couple’s desires, but the Declaration is mandatory, and all subsequent vows should comport with it.

4. Include What the Law Requires. A marriage ceremony must contain a few legally essential moments — the “I do” and the “I now pronounce you,” for example — spoken aloud to make the marriage binding. These are built into our wedding script. For more information, see the Keeping it Legal section of our website.

5. Sign and File. Verify the couple’s information on the marriage license, complete it accurately, and return it on time.

Step Up and Declare It

Becoming ordained through the Temple of the Groovy Eye is bigger than officiating a wedding. It is stepping forward as clergy in a historic movement that declares every person equal — one marriage, one relationship, at a time. Get ordained today and carry our truth into the world.

You are my equal. And I am yours.