In the Peterborough couple’s own words, the newlyweds are “sort of” spouses.
“Un-frickin-believable,” said Casey, 33, when discussing the events that led to their marital limbo.
“To be honest, it feels surreal, like — did this actually happen? What the hell?”
What happened is this: In the rush to organize an outdoor wedding in August, they took to Kijiji to hire an officiator named George T. Casselman to oversee their ceremony and legally confirm their nuptials.
That resulted in what Casey calls a “trainwreck” at the altar. As portrayed in a video of the ceremony, Casselman stumbled over his words and seemed to utter incoherent sentences. He briefly misplaced the wedding rings, then dropped them to the grass at his feet. At one point he lost his place in his notes, prompting Jessica to mutter, “Couldn’t you just make it up?”
That was hard enough, Jessica recalled. But then, on Monday, the couple says they received a call from Service Ontario telling them Casselman was not authorized to marry people in the province. The O’Donnells say they now have to go to family court and apply for an “order of validity” to finally make their marriage official, an ordeal Casey expects to cost “about $500.”
They have since put out a call of their own on Kijiji, warning others who may have been married by Casselman that their wedding might not be entirely official.
“It was all pretty horrible, and I had kind of swept it under the rug,” said Jessica, 27. “This is just reopening the wound.”
The situation isn’t unprecedented in the province. Last year, the Ministry of Government Services revealed that more than 830 weddings between 1990 and March 2013 had been officiated by people not authorized to oversee marriages.
Cynthia Vukets, spokesperson for Service Ontario, declined to speak specifically about the Casselman-O’Donnell case, citing privacy rules.
She did say that the agency routinely checks its records and reaches out to couples when they find evidence of an unauthorized marriage officiator. These couples are still considered legally married, Vukets said, but they must apply to the courts to “determine that the marriage is valid” before the province can recognize the union.
In cases where the officiator believed they had marriage authorization, Service Ontario tells them how to get registered through a “recognized” religious institution, Vukets said.
It is a crime in Ontario, however, to knowingly “solemnize” a marriage without the authority to do so. In August, a Dorchester, Ont., woman plead guilty to six counts of knowingly marrying people without authorization and was sentenced to 12 months probation, the Woodstock Sentinel-Review reported.
For privacy reasons, Vukets declined to discuss whether Casselman knew he wasn’t authorized to marry people. But she added there are websites in Ontario that aren’t recognized by Service Ontario that claim to “ordain” marriage officiators in the province.
In a text message to Casey late Friday — which he forwarded to the Star — Casselman says he was certified by the “United National Church of Canada,” which has a websitethat will “ordain” people to perform marriages for $139.99.
The organization is not authorized to certify marriage officiants in Ontario, Vukets said. The United National Church was unavailable for comment Saturday.
A man named George Thomas Casselman also registered a “ceremonial officiant” business in July called “Enduring Moments.” The listed address on the business document is a low-income apartment building in Peterborough.
After dating for a decade, Casey and Jessica got engaged in February. Two months later they took to the Internet to hire an officiator. They found Casselman’s post “The Wedding Officiant,” in which he says he is a “family man” available to oversee weddings and funerals to help create “your perfect ceremony.”
“We went to his place to meet him,” said Jessica. “He seemed like a pretty reasonable guy, down to earth . . . a little eccentric.”
The couple says they decided to book him and handed over a $75 deposit on a total fee of $250.
Everything seemed fine, said Casey, until they contacted him about a ceremony rehearsal. According to Jessica, Casselman “insisted that wasn’t necessary, that we’re a young couple and we don’t need to spend the extra money” hiring him for a dry run. Jessica said Casselman assured them it would be fine, so they had the rehearsal without him.
In retrospect, that was the first “red flag,” Casey said.
Then came their wedding day, with the ceremony Jessica calls “mortifying.” Casselman, who arrived at the wedding with a woman Casey described as “scantily-clad” in “six-inch heels,” is seen in the YouTube video reading from a book, flanked by the couple at an altar in their friend’s backyard. After bungling the delivery of his notes and drawing sporadic laughter from the crowd Casselman concludes: “Ladies and gentlemen, I give you great honour and great joy and privilege to announce to you, Mr. and Mrs. Jessica O’Donnell.”
Casey is then seen shrugging his shoulders. “I’m taking her name,” he says.
“He just dropped the ball completely,” Casey told the Star. “It seemed like (it took) an eternity.”
After the wedding, Casey and Jessica said they repeatedly tried to contact Casselman. They said he responded three days later with a text message, which Casey sent to the Star. Casselman explained he now realizes he should have done a rehearsal. He also refers to “my heart diabetes,” saying he had a “mild heart attack” after the ceremony, and that he is “truly sorry about that day.”
The couple refused to pay Casselman his entire fee after the ceremony, and Casey said they demanded their $75 deposit back, but didn’t receive the cash.
“It’s a little easier pill for me to swallow,” said Casey. “For Jess, she’s dreamed about (her wedding) her whole life, and for him to make a mockery of it . . . I’m still kind of in shock about it.”
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