Quelle surprise:
A Canadian couple who spontaneously got married in a doughnut shop, getting a
friend ordained in the Universal Life Church to officiate and using doughnuts
as wedding rings, have found out that
they are not legally married.
The government of Ontario, it seems, discriminates in favour of organised
religions, and as such does not recognise the Universal Life
Church (which allows anyone to be ordained over the web) as a legitimate
religion, or for that matter doughnut shops as places of worship.
It's not a question of whether the marriage was performed by someone who is ordained, but whether that person is licenced to perform marriage in Ontario (given the spontaneous nature of the "ceremony", I suspect not.)
I know of at least two ULC ministers in Ontario who do perform marriages-I'm currently waited to here from them about their experiences in getting licenced