How to Get a Marriage License in the US: Documents, Waiting Periods, Expiry and Witnesses

A marriage license is the permission to marry, and the ceremony is what actually marries you. San Diego County’s clerk puts it in two lines: get a marriage license before the ceremony, then have a ceremony performed by someone authorized to marry you. The rules around that license are written by each state and applied by the clerk where you apply, so the details below come from five real clerk’s offices.

Read them as a sample of how far the rules stretch, then open the website of the clerk in the county where you will marry. Fees change, forms move online, and some counties add steps of their own, such as appointments that fill weeks ahead.

Who issues a marriage license

In all five examples it is a local office. New York City has its own Office of the City Clerk, which works by appointment only, either in person at a borough office or by video through its Project Cupid system. Texas couples go to the county clerk, Florida couples to the Clerk of Courts, Californians to the county clerk (in San Diego, one office covers the assessor, the recorder and the clerk), and couples marrying in Las Vegas to the Clark County Clerk.

Book early wherever appointments are required. San Diego County opens them up to seven weeks ahead and warns that they fill quickly. New York City takes no walk-ins at all, and its online application expires after 21 days if you don’t complete it in person.

What to bring to the clerk

• Valid, unexpired government-issued photo ID for each of you. A driver’s license, a state ID, a passport or a military ID appear on every list we read; New York City also accepts a passport from any country and IDNYC, and refuses expired documents.
• Your Social Security number, if you have one. New York City’s application asks for it, Clark County requires it from US citizens who have one, and Orange County, Florida, asks US residents for it.
• Your marriage history. If either of you was married before, you need the date the last marriage ended; San Diego asks for a copy of the final judgment if the divorce became final in the past 90 days, and won’t issue a license while a divorce is still pending.
• Your parents’ names. Clark County, for one, wants each parent’s full legal name at birth, not a married name.
• In Florida, a signed statement that you have read the state’s Family Law Handbook, and the certificate from a premarital course if you took one.

Bring ID that shows your full name exactly as you want it on the record. Clark County issues the license and the marriage certificate in the name shown on the ID you present: an ID with a middle initial gives you a certificate with a middle initial.

Waiting periods and fees, state by state

The waiting period is the minimum time between getting the license and holding the ceremony. Get the license too late and the wait swallows your date; get it too early and it expires first.

The exceptions take paperwork of their own. In New York City, a judge can grant a Judicial Waiver of the 24 hours; you ask the County Clerk in the borough where you got the license, and it costs nothing. In Texas, the three days don’t apply to active-duty military, to Department of Defense employees and contractors, to couples who completed a premarital education course and bring the certificate, or to anyone with a written waiver from a judge. In Florida, a couple claiming hardship can ask a judge to waive the three days.

How long the license lasts

• New York: usually 60 days, and 180 days for active military personnel. The ceremony can be held anywhere in New York State.
• Florida: 60 days from the date of issue, and the license can be used in any Florida county.
• California: 90 days with no extensions, for a ceremony anywhere in California.
• Texas: the license expires if it hasn’t been used before the 90th day after it was issued; Travis County describes it as valid for 89 days.

Past that date, you start again and pay again: Travis County says a new license must be bought, and San Diego says plainly that fees are non-refundable. Put the issue date and the expiry date in your wedding planning timeline the day you get the license.

Public or confidential: California’s choice

California offers two licenses. The public license is the common one: at least one witness must be present at the ceremony, and no more than two sign the license. San Diego sets no minimum age for a witness, only that they understand they are witnessing a marriage and can sign their own name without help.

The confidential license needs no witness at all. In exchange, you must already be living together as spouses and sign a statement under penalty of perjury saying so, and the record stays private: anyone other than the two of you needs a court order to get a copy. If your best man or maid of honor is meant to sign, check that they know it, and add it to who does what in the wedding party.

Choosing your married name on the application

Some states let you choose your name on the license itself. New York City’s application lists surname options on the back and asks you to state your choice; the change takes legal effect at the end of the ceremony, and changing it later through the City Clerk means marrying again. In California, the Name Equality Act of 2007 lets each of you list on the license the name you will use after the wedding.

Decide before the appointment. The name you write on that form is the one on your marriage certificate, and the certificate is the document you will show when you change your name with other offices.

After the ceremony: getting the license recorded

A signed license still has to go back to the clerk to be recorded. In New York City the officiant returns it within five business days, and the Certificate of Marriage Registration arrives by mail in about 20 days, or the same day if you married at the City Clerk’s office. Travis County wants the completed license back within 30 days of the ceremony, and Orange County, Florida, within 10 days.

San Diego warns that registration can take up to ten business days, and that no copy of the marriage certificate is mailed to you: you order and pay for it separately once the license is registered.

A timeline that works in all five examples

1. Three to four months beforeFind the clerk’s page for the county where you will marry. Note the fee, the ID list, the waiting period and how long the license lasts.
2. Six to seven weeks beforeBook the appointment if your county requires one, and fill in any online application the clerk offers.
3. Two to four weeks beforeGo to the clerk together with your IDs, your divorce papers if one of you was married before, and the course certificate if you took one.
4. On the dayHand the license to your officiant before the ceremony, and make sure your witnesses know they will sign it.
5. The week afterCheck that the officiant has returned it, then order certified copies of the marriage certificate.

The rest of the planning, from the venue to the invitations, follows its own order: plan your wedding in ten steps lays it out, and the license fits between booking the officiant and sending the final schedule to your guests.