--- title: Pastafarian Marriage Celebrant Gets Approved in New Zealand description: A member of New Zealand's Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster has been approved as a marriage celebrant. canonical: https://time.com/4239219/pastafarian-marriage-celebrant-approved-new-zealand-flying-spaghetti-monster/ author: Megan McCluskey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-02-26T20:03:08.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:30:31.926Z og:title: First Pastafarian Marriage Celebrant Gets Approved in New Zealand og:description: There's even a "Ministeroni" og:url: https://time.com/4239219/pastafarian-marriage-celebrant-approved-new-zealand-flying-spaghetti-monster/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: First Pastafarian Marriage Celebrant Gets Approved in New Zealand twitter:description: There's even a "Ministeroni" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # First Pastafarian Marriage Celebrant Gets Approved in New Zealand > Sponsored content. 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There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=5f65a1ac-35f5-4ca6-adf7-31067f87f6a4&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1)  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Feb 26, 2016 8:03 PM UTC  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Feb 26, 2016 8:03 PM UTC A member of New Zealand’s [Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster](http://www.venganza.org/about/) has been approved as a [marriage](http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2032116,00.html) celebrant by the country’s Department of Internal Affairs. This is the first Pastafarian to be legally authorized to perform the [ceremony](http://time.com/4238476/terminally-ill-teenager-marries-high-school-sweetheart/) since officials granted the group the right to officiate [weddings](http://time.com/3986644/happy-marriage-secrets/) in December. The Church recently announced the news in a [Facebook post](https://www.facebook.com/FSM.Kiwis/posts/1090676767617246). “Births, Deaths and Marriages team at DIA has been FANTASTIC at processing and communicating with our Top Ramen during a busy time,” they wrote. **Read More:** [Woman Wins Right to Wear Colander on Her Head in Driver’s License Photo](http://time.com/4114369/pastafarian-colander-license-photo/) However, the new “Ministeroni” has yet to be able to act in her new capacity — the first couple who she was set to wed ended up getting cold feet. “Our happy couple made the Wise Decision (after traveling together for several weeks) to NOT tie the noodley knot,” the group wrote. “‘Tis always better to be alone, wishing you were knotted, than to be knotted and wishing you weren’t.’ R’Amen!” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4239219/pastafarian-marriage-celebrant-approved-new-zealand-flying-spaghetti-monster/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4239219/pastafarian-marriage-celebrant-approved-new-zealand-flying-spaghetti-monster/"},"headline":"First Pastafarian Marriage Celebrant Gets Approved in New Zealand","datePublished":"2016-02-26T20:03:08.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:30:31.926Z","description":"There's even a \"Ministeroni\"","url":"https://time.com/4239219/pastafarian-marriage-celebrant-approved-new-zealand-flying-spaghetti-monster/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Marriage","Religion"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan McCluskey","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4239219/pastafarian-marriage-celebrant-approved-new-zealand-flying-spaghetti-monster/","name":"First Pastafarian Marriage Celebrant Gets Approved in New Zealand"}}]}] ```