I called the Secretary of State's office in West Virginia to see what needed to be done about my paperwork. I had been worried that I wouldn't be able to file the paperwork in time to be approved as a licensed and registered minister in West Virginia.
As it turned out, I needn't have worried: an affable fellow named Josh reassured me that his office receives requests all the time from desperate people who say they're performing a wedding the next day but aren't registered. According to Josh, if I'm ordained (which I am), I can legally perform the wedding and sign the marriage license (which Sean and Jeff are taking care of) even before the paperwork has officially processed through.
Josh then transferred me to the cashier's office so that I could verbally give my payment information instead of sending it via email or in an attached file. All I need to do, then—and I began working on this yesterday—is finish up the paperwork, email it to Josh, and request that the cashier's office take out the amount I need to pay for me to be licensed and registered.
Josh also noted that his office is the only one I need to work with: I had thought I'd also need to contact the local county clerk's office, but apparently that's not necessary. Hey, I'm not going to complain about that.
So today, I'm finishing up the licensing/registration paperwork, emailing it to West Virginia, then concentrating on working on the future spouses' wedding program: Sean told me that he and Jeff would like me to fill the program out with content (ritual words, etc.) and make it more liturgical or substantive. Et voilà.
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Government seems to work best at the local level. It's nice to encounter a "can do" attitude for a change.
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