Using the word “legally” can bring about questions for those planning formal weddings, standing in front of a judge at a courthouse, having an Elvis impersonator perform the ceremony in Las Vegas, asking a friend or family member to be deputized to carry out the duty or finding a local professional officiant to do the job.
As a local officiant of all types of marriages, Alan Katz wrote recently on Facebook about the process.
I asked Alan if I could reprint his advice/expert opinion on the matter, and he graciously agreed.
Here are his words, with a little editing on our part!
You need to get a marriage license first.
So the big day is coming. Everything is set. The venue, the caterer, the DJ and the flowers. You have chosen a great officiant to perform your ceremony, but if you don’t have your marriage license you ain’t getting hitched.
A lot of misinformation on how to get a marriage license and how to get the certified copies afterwards is circulating out there, so let’s set it straight right now. A marriage license is your permission from the State and County to get married.
Without this permission, you cannot legally get married. You can obtain a marriage license in two ways: from the county clerk’s office, or from a specialized notary appointed by the clerk’s office.
The county can issue either public or a confidential marriage license. A special notary can issue the confidential only. The license is valid for 90 days, so the wedding has to occur within that time frame. (Note: No blood tests are required. That was 20 years ago.)
Once the wedding takes place, the officiant must return the license to the county clerk’s office from where it was issued so it can be recorded.
So you ask, so how do I get a copy of the recorded license?
There are two main ways: in person at the county clerk’s office or by mail. Each county has its own procedure for how to do so. A couple can go in person to the county clerk’s office in the county where they obtained their license to purchase copies. LA County can take six weeks for it to be ready; other local counties take about four weeks.
If you want to get it by mail, there are a couple of ways, which vary by county. In LA County, couples can pre-order the certificates when they obtain the license.
If you utilize a specialized county notary service, they can prepare the documents for you. In other counties, if the copies are requested by mail, a notary is required to verify, identity and notarize the forms before they are sent in. Any licensed notary can do this. These forms can be mailed in with the marriage license.
Once the County receives the license, it records the license in their system, and if a request form accompanies it, they will send it out to the couple. LA County can take six to eight weeks, and the other counties can take about four weeks.
If no request form has submitted, no copies will be sent out.
Here are links to each county’s request forms:
LA County Public http://bit.ly/LAPublicCopies
Confidential http://bit.ly/LAConfidentialCopies
Orange County http://bit.ly/occopies
Riverside http://bit.ly/riversidecopies
San Bernardino http://bit.ly/SanBernCopies
Ventura http://bit.ly/VenturaCopies
The most important thing to do when you are dealing with legal issues is to do your research and ask questions.
So, now that you have your license, you can get married and smoosh cake in each other’s face and live happily ever after!we hope.
I offer a big thank-you to Alan for providing us with the above information.
Alan can be reached at (855) WedVows, (562) 435-4000 or info@greatofficiants.com .
