Blake Shelton will play a dual role at Kelly Clarkson’s upcoming nuptials—wedding singer and wedding officiant. From Hugh Hefner to Jason Segel, and Emma Stone, see more stars who double as ordained ministers.
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Kelly Clarkson recently announced that country-music star Blake Shelton will be officiating her wedding ceremony. Clarkson’s soon-to-be husband, Brandon Blackstock, is Shelton’s manager, and the Voice judge has taken credit for the engagement, saying he told Blackstock, “Man, you need to grow up and figure out that you need to marry this girl.”
A divorcé and former drug and sex addict might be an unusual choice for a minister, but for one couple, Russell Brand was the perfect man to lead their wedding. During a stand-up routine, Brand volunteered to marry the couple using his own unconventional wedding vows.
Kathy Griffin is one of many celebrities ordained by the Universal Life Church. A vocal proponent of same-sex marriage, Griffin hosted a vow renewal for two audience members on the season finale of her talk show Kathy.
Griffin isn’t the only talk-show host to officiate at an on-air wedding. Conan O’Brien married costume designer Scott Cronick and his partner, David Gorshein, at the Beacon Theater in New York back in 2011.
Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, who at the age of 86 recently married former Playmate Crystal Harris, 26, is also ordained through the Universal Life Church.
Jeff Probst’s experience presiding over alliances on Survivor came in handy when he officiated The Office star Jenna Fischer’s nuptials in 2010. Fischer’s wedding wasn’t his first ceremony—Probst has been ordained and performing marriages since the 1990s.
Lady Gaga is no stranger to religious controversy—she’s in love with Judas, after all. But that didn’t stop her from officiating at her yoga teacher’s wedding ceremony.
While George Harrison was known as “the spiritual Beatle,” all of the Beatles—John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and Ringo Starr as well—were “children of the same universe” as ordained ministers.
One way to get Jason Segel to perform your wedding ceremony—put up fliers and hang out around his favorite bar. Luckily, Segel took the job in stride and agreed to marry some “partners in crime” on The Tonight Show.
Victor Garber was the officiant and only guest at his Alias daughter Jennifer Garner’s tropical wedding to Ben Affleck back in 2005. The three have remained close, with Garber crediting the couple for his role in the Oscar winner Argo, which Affleck directed.
For Reverend Tori Spelling, performing a marriage ceremony can be quite nerve-racking. “I was beyond nervous ... I’ve done live theater and presented at the Emmys, and this by far was my scariest moment simply because they had bestowed such an honor upon me and I didn’t want to let them down,” she wrote on her blog of officiating on her reality show Tori and Dean: Inn Love.
John Waters is not sure how many couples he has married, but he told Details magazine that “only one’s been divorced, so that’s better than average.” The cult filmmaker also joked that he should “do a mass wedding like the Reverend Moon.”
A matchmaker turned minister, actress Emma Stone led the wedding festivities of her publicist Holly Shakoor and her Gangster Squad director Ruben Fleischer last fall.
Rapper MC Hammer is a devoutly religious man, making it no surprise that he is ordained as a messenger of God. He officiated at Corey Feldman’s wedding on The Surreal Life—making him too legit to quit.
Sir Ian McKellen is getting ready to preside over the upcoming nuptials of his X-Men costar Patrick Stewart and fiancée Sunny Ozell. McKellen is an experienced officiant who has some advice for his fellow wedding ministers: don’t upstage the bride.
