To get a marriage license, both applicants go together to the county clerk’s office in the state where they plan to marry, bring photo ID and the other required documents, pay a fee that ranges from about $20 to $115, and then hold the ceremony within the license’s validity window. That’s the whole process in one sentence. The details below are the ones that actually trip people up: documents that don’t match, waiting periods, expiration dates, and the filing step that makes the marriage official.
Who Is Eligible
You must be legally free to marry. If either applicant is still married to someone else, the clerk will deny the license — bigamy is a crime in all 50 states, and a pending divorce doesn’t count. The prior marriage has to be fully dissolved by divorce decree or death.
Age matters too. Most states set the minimum at 18 without parental or judicial consent. Nebraska requires 19, and Mississippi requires 21. Some states still allow 16- or 17-year-olds to marry with parental consent or a judge’s approval, while others have eliminated minor exceptions entirely. If you’re below your state’s age of majority, call the clerk before you apply.
Every state also prohibits marriage between close blood relatives. Sibling and parent-child marriages are banned everywhere. Cousin marriage rules vary significantly by state, so check locally if that applies to you.
What to Bring
Showing up without the right paperwork is the fastest way to waste a trip. Both applicants should bring:
- A government-issued photo ID — driver’s license, state ID, or passport.
- Proof of age, usually a birth certificate or passport. Some offices accept the photo ID for this.
- Your Social Security number.
- If either of you was previously married, the original or a certified copy of the divorce decree or the prior spouse’s death certificate.
Make sure every name on your documents matches exactly. A middle name on your birth certificate that doesn’t appear on your driver’s license, or a suffix on one document but not another, can stall the application. Reconciling mismatches sometimes requires a court order or additional paperwork, so catch the problem before your appointment, not during it.
One requirement you can mostly set aside: premarital blood tests. Virtually no state still mandates one. A few states ask applicants to read a pamphlet about inherited and sexually transmitted diseases, and that’s the extent of it.
Applying at the Clerk’s Office
Most counties require both applicants to appear together, in person, at the clerk’s office. The clerk needs to confirm identity and verify that both people are entering the marriage voluntarily. Some jurisdictions let you fill out the application online in advance, which shortens the appointment but doesn’t replace it.
A small number of counties have started offering video appointments where the couple appears before a clerk remotely. These come with strict rules — a clear webcam feed, no filters or virtual backgrounds, and both applicants visible the entire time. Don’t assume your county offers it. Call first.
When One Applicant Can’t Appear
If one person physically can’t be present because of military deployment or a medical emergency, some states let the other apply using a notarized affidavit from the absent party plus proof of their identity. A few states, Montana most notably, allow double-proxy marriages where neither party appears, though that option is generally limited to active-duty military stationed overseas.
The Fee
License fees run from about $20 in some counties to over $100 in others. The fee is typically non-refundable and due at the appointment. Most offices take credit or debit cards; some smaller counties still require cash, check, or money order. A few jurisdictions discount the fee if you complete a premarital counseling course, so it’s worth asking.
Waiting Periods and Expiration Dates
About a third of states impose a mandatory waiting period between issuance and ceremony — usually 24 hours to three days. The purpose is to deter impulsive marriages, and courts can waive it in emergencies like imminent deployment or serious illness. If your state has no waiting period, you can marry as soon as you leave the clerk’s office with the license in hand.
Every license also has an expiration date, and this is where people get caught. Validity windows range from 30 days in some states to a full year in others, with 60 days the most common. A few states set no expiration. If the license expires before the ceremony, it’s void and you’ll have to reapply and pay again. Before you lock in a venue or vendors, confirm your ceremony date falls inside the license window.
Who Can Perform the Ceremony
The license gives you permission to marry; you still need someone authorized to solemnize the marriage and sign the license. Authorized officiants vary by state but generally include judges, magistrates, justices of the peace, clergy, and in some states, notaries public.
Online ordination has made it common for a friend or family member to officiate. Organizations like the Universal Life Church and American Marriage Ministries ordain anyone in minutes, and marriages performed by online-ordained ministers are recognized in most states. Some counties are stricter than others about what counts as a legitimate ordination, so have your officiant contact the issuing clerk’s office in advance to confirm they’ll be accepted.
About ten states and the District of Columbia allow self-solemnization, where the couple marries without any officiant. Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, and Pennsylvania allow this for any couple. Others limit it to members of specific religious groups, such as Quakers.
Filing the License After the Ceremony
The ceremony alone doesn’t make the marriage legal. Filing the signed license does. After the ceremony, the officiant and any required witnesses sign the license, and the officiant returns it to the clerk’s office that issued it. Most jurisdictions give the officiant between 10 and 30 days to file, though the exact deadline depends on where you are.
This step falls through the cracks more often than you’d expect, especially with casual or destination weddings. If the officiant forgets to file, the marriage may not appear in government records. The ceremony is usually still legally valid — you were married the moment it was performed — but proving it later becomes much harder without a recorded certificate. If weeks pass and you haven’t received confirmation that the license was recorded, follow up with both your officiant and the clerk’s office. Some states have procedures for retroactively establishing the marriage using witness affidavits, but a quick phone call avoids the trouble.
Getting Certified Copies
Once the clerk records the signed license, it becomes your official marriage certificate — the document you’ll use for name changes, insurance updates, immigration filings, and more. The clerk typically mails a copy automatically, but order several certified copies while you’re at it. They generally cost $10 to $35 each, and you’ll use them more than you expect.