{"id":61397,"date":"2019-11-08T09:00:03","date_gmt":"2019-11-08T14:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eventsource.ca\/blog\/?p=61397"},"modified":"2025-12-11T06:21:44","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T11:21:44","slug":"choosing-your-marriage-certificate-witness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eventsource.ca\/blog\/choosing-your-marriage-certificate-witness","title":{"rendered":"How to Choose Your Marriage Certificate Witness"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Your wedding day is a celebration of you and your partner\u2019s relationship, but it is also a chance to celebrate everyone who helped you along the way. There are a lot of ways to honour people who have played a special role in your life &#8211; your bridal party, your MC and even standing witness to your marriage certificate. Traditionally, the Maid of Honour and Best Man would serve as witnesses, however in recent years more and more couples are opting for someone different to sign their marriage certificate.<\/p> <p>Why is this the case? Some couples are opting to not have bridal parties at all or have multiple MOH&#8217;s\/Best Men. Other couples are looking to honour someone special to them that didn\u2019t fit into another role in the wedding. At the end of the day, you no longer need to stick with tradition and have your Maid of Honour or Best Man sign your marriage certificate. So, who can sign as a witness on your marriage license?<\/p> <p><strong>1. Your best friend<\/strong>: If you and your partner are opting to forgo the bridal party all together, but still want to honour your best friends in some way, have them be your witnesses. This allows them to sit where they would like and not be \u2018on\u2019 for the whole day but honours your friendship in a meaningful way.<\/p> <p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eventsource.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Jenn-Kavanagh.jpg\"class=\"link-image link-image_wide\" rel=\"gallery\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"full-size-image alignnone wp-image-61824 size-full\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciIHZpZXdCb3g9IjAgMCA5MDAgNTk5IiB3aWR0aD0iOTAwIiBoZWlnaHQ9IjU5OSIgZGF0YS11PSJodHRwcyUzQSUyRiUyRnd3dy5ldmVudHNvdXJjZS5jYSUyRmJsb2clMkZ3cC1jb250ZW50JTJGdXBsb2FkcyUyRjIwMTklMkYxMCUyRkplbm4tS2F2YW5hZ2guanBnIiBkYXRhLXc9IjkwMCIgZGF0YS1oPSI1OTkiIGRhdGEtYmlwPSIiPjwvc3ZnPg==\" data-spai=\"1\" alt=\"Marriage Certificate\" width=\"900\" height=\"599\"  \/><\/a><span class=\"caption\">Photo Courtesy of <a class=\"listing-mentionable listing-mentionable-disabled listing-mentionable-disabled\" href=\"#\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-listing=\"10102\">Jenn Kavanagh Photography<\/a><\/span><\/p> <p><strong>2. The moms<\/strong>: Since traditionally, the bride\u2019s father walks her down the aisle, some couples are opting to have the moms sign the marriage certificate so that they also get to play an important role in the ceremony.<\/p> <p><strong>3. Your grandma, grandpa or other senior relative<\/strong>: If you\u2019re looking for a way to involve your senior relatives that will create memories and give you a special keepsake from your wedding day, consider having them sign your marriage certificate. They will be thrilled to be involved and when they are no longer with us, you will have a wonderful memory of them always.<\/p> <p><h3 class=\"related-posts-title toc_show\">You May Also Be Interested In<\/h3><ul class=\"display-posts-listing\"><li class=\"listing-item\"><a class=\"image\" href=\"https:\/\/www.eventsource.ca\/blog\/wedding-captions-for-instagram\"><img alt=\"ultimate last minute wedding planning checklist, 1\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciIHZpZXdCb3g9IjAgMCA0MjUgNDI1IiB3aWR0aD0iNDI1IiBoZWlnaHQ9IjQyNSIgZGF0YS11PSJodHRwcyUzQSUyRiUyRnd3dy5ldmVudHNvdXJjZS5jYSUyRmJsb2clMkZ3cC1jb250ZW50JTJGdXBsb2FkcyUyRjIwMjYlMkYwMiUyRkVTLUhlYWRlcnMtV2VkZGluZy1DYXB0aW9ucy1mb3ItSW5zdGFncmFtLWNvbXAtNDI1eDQyNS5qcGciIGRhdGEtdz0iNDI1IiBkYXRhLWg9IjQyNSIgZGF0YS1iaXA9IiI+PC9zdmc+\" data-spai=\"1\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image\" srcset=\" \" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 768px) 642px, (min-width: 576px) 510px, calc(100vw - 30px)\" decoding=\"async\" \/><\/a> <a class=\"title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.eventsource.ca\/blog\/wedding-captions-for-instagram\">Wedding Captions for Instagram: 150+ Ideas Organized by Photo Type<\/a><\/li><li class=\"listing-item\"><a class=\"image\" href=\"https:\/\/www.eventsource.ca\/blog\/how-to-choose-your-bridal-party\"><img alt=\"ultimate last minute wedding planning checklist, 2\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciIHZpZXdCb3g9IjAgMCA0MjUgNDI1IiB3aWR0aD0iNDI1IiBoZWlnaHQ9IjQyNSIgZGF0YS11PSJodHRwcyUzQSUyRiUyRnd3dy5ldmVudHNvdXJjZS5jYSUyRmJsb2clMkZ3cC1jb250ZW50JTJGdXBsb2FkcyUyRjIwMjYlMkYwMSUyRkVTLUhlYWRlcnMtQnJpZGFsLVBhcnR5LTQyNXg0MjUucG5nIiBkYXRhLXc9IjQyNSIgZGF0YS1oPSI0MjUiIGRhdGEtYmlwPSIiPjwvc3ZnPg==\" data-spai=\"1\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image\" srcset=\" \" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 768px) 642px, (min-width: 576px) 510px, calc(100vw - 30px)\" decoding=\"async\" \/><\/a> <a class=\"title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.eventsource.ca\/blog\/how-to-choose-your-bridal-party\">How to Choose Your Bridal Party: A Wedding Planning Guide<\/a><\/li><li class=\"listing-item\"><a class=\"image\" href=\"https:\/\/www.eventsource.ca\/blog\/ultimate-last-minute-wedding-planning-checklist\"><img alt=\"ultimate last minute wedding planning checklist, 3\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciIHZpZXdCb3g9IjAgMCA0MjUgNDI1IiB3aWR0aD0iNDI1IiBoZWlnaHQ9IjQyNSIgZGF0YS11PSJodHRwcyUzQSUyRiUyRnd3dy5ldmVudHNvdXJjZS5jYSUyRmJsb2clMkZ3cC1jb250ZW50JTJGdXBsb2FkcyUyRjIwMjUlMkYxMSUyRkVTLUFydGljbGUtSGVhZGVycy13ZWRkaW5nLWNoZWNrbGlzdC00MjV4NDI1LnBuZyIgZGF0YS13PSI0MjUiIGRhdGEtaD0iNDI1IiBkYXRhLWJpcD0iIj48L3N2Zz4=\" data-spai=\"1\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image\" srcset=\" \" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 768px) 642px, (min-width: 576px) 510px, calc(100vw - 30px)\" decoding=\"async\" \/><\/a> <a class=\"title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.eventsource.ca\/blog\/ultimate-last-minute-wedding-planning-checklist\">The Ultimate Last-Minute Wedding Planning Checklist<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/p> <p>At the end of the day, who you pick to witness your marriage certificate should be meaningful and someone who\u2019s signature you won\u2019t mind seeing every time you look at it! If you\u2019re not picky, going the traditional route of Maid of Honour\/Best Man is always a good idea\u2013 but if you\u2019d like to up the sentimentality, consider having a close family member sign instead!<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Your wedding day is a celebration of you and your partner\u2019s relationship, but it is also a chance to celebrate everyone who helped you along the way. There are a lot of ways to honour people who have played a special role in your life &#8211; your bridal party, your MC and even standing witness [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":72,"featured_media":61826,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[136],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-61397","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tips-tricks"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\r\n<title>How to Choose Your Marriage Certificate Witness<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Traditionally, the MOH\/Best Man would serve as witnesses, but in recent years more couples are opting for someone else to sign the marriage certificate.\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to Choose Your Marriage Certificate Witness\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Traditionally, the MOH\/Best Man would serve as witnesses, but in recent years more couples are opting for someone else to sign the marriage certificate.\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.eventsource.ca\/blog\/choosing-your-marriage-certificate-witness\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Toronto &amp; GTA Weddings &amp; Special Events Blog\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/eventsource.ca\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-11-08T14:00:03+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-12-11T11:21:44+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.eventsource.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Jessilynn-Wong-1.jpg\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"900\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sonia Reynolds\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\r\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How to Choose Your Marriage Certificate Witness","description":"Traditionally, the MOH\/Best Man would serve as witnesses, but in recent years more couples are opting for someone else to sign the marriage certificate.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How to Choose Your Marriage Certificate Witness","og_description":"Traditionally, the MOH\/Best Man would serve as witnesses, but in recent years more couples are opting for someone else to sign the marriage certificate.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.eventsource.ca\/blog\/choosing-your-marriage-certificate-witness","og_site_name":"Toronto &amp; GTA Weddings &amp; Special Events Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/eventsource.ca","article_published_time":"2019-11-08T14:00:03+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-12-11T11:21:44+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1920,"height":900,"url":"https:\/\/cdn.shortpixel.ai\/spai\/q_lossless+ret_img+to_webp\/www.eventsource.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Jessilynn-Wong-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Sonia Reynolds","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.eventsource.ca\/blog\/choosing-your-marriage-certificate-witness#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.eventsource.ca\/blog\/choosing-your-marriage-certificate-witness"},"author":{"name":"Sonia Reynolds","@id":"https:\/\/www.eventsource.ca\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/27fad9b0542e36ce630b47d758cf8ed3"},"headline":"How to Choose Your Marriage Certificate Witness","datePublished":"2019-11-08T14:00:03+00:00","dateModified":"2025-12-11T11:21:44+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.eventsource.ca\/blog\/choosing-your-marriage-certificate-witness"},"wordCount":435,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.eventsource.ca\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.eventsource.ca\/blog\/choosing-your-marriage-certificate-witness#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cdn.shortpixel.ai\/spai\/q_lossless+ret_img+to_webp\/www.eventsource.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Jessilynn-Wong-1.jpg","articleSection":["Tips &amp; Tricks"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.eventsource.ca\/blog\/choosing-your-marriage-certificate-witness#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.eventsource.ca\/blog\/choosing-your-marriage-certificate-witness","url":"https:\/\/www.eventsource.ca\/blog\/choosing-your-marriage-certificate-witness","name":"How to Choose Your Marriage Certificate Witness","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.eventsource.ca\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.eventsource.ca\/blog\/choosing-your-marriage-certificate-witness#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.eventsource.ca\/blog\/choosing-your-marriage-certificate-witness#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cdn.shortpixel.ai\/spai\/q_lossless+ret_img+to_webp\/www.eventsource.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Jessilynn-Wong-1.jpg","datePublished":"2019-11-08T14:00:03+00:00","dateModified":"2025-12-11T11:21:44+00:00","description":"Traditionally, the MOH\/Best Man would serve as witnesses, but in recent years more couples are opting for someone else to sign the marriage certificate.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.eventsource.ca\/blog\/choosing-your-marriage-certificate-witness#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.eventsource.ca\/blog\/choosing-your-marriage-certificate-witness"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.eventsource.ca\/blog\/choosing-your-marriage-certificate-witness#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/cdn.shortpixel.ai\/spai\/q_lossless+ret_img+to_webp\/www.eventsource.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Jessilynn-Wong-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cdn.shortpixel.ai\/spai\/q_lossless+ret_img+to_webp\/www.eventsource.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Jessilynn-Wong-1.jpg","width":"1920","height":"900","caption":"Photo Credit: Jessilynn Wong Photography"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.eventsource.ca\/blog\/choosing-your-marriage-certificate-witness#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.eventsource.ca\/blog"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"How to Choose Your Marriage Certificate Witness"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.eventsource.ca\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.eventsource.ca\/blog\/","name":"Toronto &amp; GTA Weddings &amp; Special Events Blog","description":"EventSource.ca","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.eventsource.ca\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.eventsource.ca\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.eventsource.ca\/blog\/#organization","name":"EventSource.ca","url":"https:\/\/www.eventsource.ca\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.eventsource.ca\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/cdn.shortpixel.ai\/spai\/q_lossless+ret_img+to_webp\/www.eventsource.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/gmail-avatar.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cdn.shortpixel.ai\/spai\/q_lossless+ret_img+to_webp\/www.eventsource.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/gmail-avatar.png","width":500,"height":500,"caption":"EventSource.ca"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.eventsource.ca\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/eventsource.ca"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.eventsource.ca\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/27fad9b0542e36ce630b47d758cf8ed3","name":"Sonia Reynolds","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cdn.shortpixel.ai\/spai\/q_lossless+ret_img+to_webp\/www.eventsource.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Sonia-300x300-1-150x150.jpg","url":"https:\/\/cdn.shortpixel.ai\/spai\/q_lossless+ret_img+to_webp\/www.eventsource.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Sonia-300x300-1-150x150.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cdn.shortpixel.ai\/spai\/q_lossless+ret_img+to_webp\/www.eventsource.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Sonia-300x300-1-150x150.jpg","caption":"Sonia Reynolds"},"url":"https:\/\/www.eventsource.ca\/blog\/author\/sonia"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eventsource.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eventsource.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eventsource.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eventsource.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/72"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eventsource.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61397"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.eventsource.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61397\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eventsource.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eventsource.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eventsource.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eventsource.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}