Marriage officiant is a civil officer who performs acts of marriage , civil union or commitment Their primary responsibility is to obtain and witness the consent of the intended spouses and to make sure the legal formalities, and hence the validity of the marriage or civil union, are observed. In the Catholic Church , it is the bride and bridegroom who perform the Sacrament of Matrimony (marriage), but a marriage can only be valid if the Church has a witness at the wedding ceremony whose function is to question the couple to make certain that they have no obstacle to marriage (such as an un-annulled earlier marriage or certain undisclosed facts among the couple) and that they are freely picking to wed every other.

Anybody can be a witness offered they are over 18 years of age and they had been actually present at the ceremony and witnessed the bride … Read the rest >>>