Yes, The Provenance Center for Ordination (The PCO) is a fully legitimate and legally incorporated Nonprofit Religious Corporation. We are dedicated to providing a modern and inclusive approach to ordination and officiant preparation, ensuring that those we ordain are recognized as legal and quality officiants. Unlike other options that may feel constrained to specific traditions or seem to be oriented toward professional officiants, PCO empowers friends and family members of all backgrounds to lead ceremonies that are deeply personal, meaningful, and reflective of their own cultural heritage.
Yes, absolutely! As a legally recognized Nonprofit Religious Corporation (a legal church!), The Provenance Center has the authority to ordain ministers, granting them the legal right to officiate marriage ceremonies across most of the United States. This right is protected under the First Amendment’s clause on religious freedom. For more information on any additional legal requirements beyond your ordination, contact the county clerk’s office local to where the wedding ceremony will be held.
Yes - ordination through The Provenance Center is completely free! We are pleased to offer this service at no cost to our officiants. However, please be aware that some states may require additional registration steps beyond ordination. In those cases, you might need to obtain additional, specific materials, most of which you’ll find in your Provenance Portal.
The Provenance Center for Ordination (PCO) and Provenance.co are distinct legal entities with separate governance, but they share complementary missions. The PCO is a nonprofit religious organization focused on providing legal ordination and supportive services for friends and family members to officiate ceremonies, without generating profit for its own benefit. Its mission is purely focused on empowering individuals to lead meaningful ceremonies for all of life’s moments with authenticity and legal recognition. Provenance.co, on the other hand, is a for-profit corporation that offers a range of tools and resources to enhance the planning and personalization of these ceremonies. Together, they work in harmony to support and elevate life’s most significant moments, each serving unique but aligned purposes in a separate but mutually supportive way. While Provenance.co facilitates various digital services on behalf of The PCO and its members, no purchase to Provenance.co is required to get ordained.
As an ordained officiant of The Provenance Center, you will need to sign the couple's marriage license in order to make the marriage legal. We've put together a guide with everything that you need to know about obtaining, filling out, and submitting this license as one of our ministers: http://www.thepco.org/blog/post/how-to-obtain-fill-out-and-submit-a-marriage-license-a-guide-for-couples-and-officiants
The Provenance Center has successfully ordained ministers in all 50 states, including those previously considered difficult. With the exception of some counties in Virginia, ordinations should be valid in every State and US Territory. However, the laws regarding marriage and officiants vary from state to state and county to county; some states have additional registration requirements and the like. Therefore, it's critical to check with the local county clerk where the couple is getting married to ensure that a wedding ceremony performed by an officiant that gets ordained online is legally recognized. You can see our state-by-state guides on officiating and navigating these requirements at this link:
https://www.thepco.org/blog/post/which-states-allow-officiants-ordained-online-and-which-dont
