Are you planning to get married soon? Or are you already making preparations for your wedding? A big congrats to you if you are. Finding a soul mate is blissful and delightful, but there’s more to the feeling. You’ll need to make your marriage legal through marriage license and certificate because obtaining one is necessary for a legal marriage.
While sharing your joy with family and friends is the most exciting part, the most important part, however, is your marriage license and certificate. Wedding is a ceremonial joy that lasts for a day or a few hours on average, but these documents will be essential in your marriage; which is the life you live together as a couple. With that being said, how do you go about it? In this article, you’ll get to understand everything you need to know about marriage licenses and certificates, and how to obtain them.
What are marriage licenses and certificates?
As part of the preparation and planning that has been made ahead of your wedding day, you must have heard about marriage licenses and certificates, but what exactly are they? How important are the two? And what is the difference between these two documents?
A Marriage license is an approval or a document that legalizes and permits you and your partner to get married officially. It is a government document you can rather see as an application for marriage under your county or municipal. You are expected to fill it and turn it back to the county in expectation for the next step: marriage certificate.
A Marriage certificate in simple terms is a proof of marriage. It is a government public record that recognizes you and your partner as a couple. In a marriage certificate, some of the things that are stated are the names of people between whom the wedding took place, the officiant that performed the marriage between the couple, when and where the joining together occurred.
The difference between the two, needless to say, is that a marriage license permits you to get married while a marriage certificate proves your marriage. After your wedding, your marriage license is sent back to the clerk’s office for recording, after which a marriage certificate is mailed to you. Basically, a marriage license is a requisite for getting a marriage certificate.
Your marriage certificate, on the other hand, is forever precious and can forever be useful. It should, therefore, be kept safe. You should order more than one copy of your marriage certificate from your county clerk.
How to get a marriage license and certificate
Having understood what these two documents are, how do you obtain them? Obtaining these two documents is sequential: meaning that you have to obtain your marriage license before your certificate. Here’s how to go about it…
- Pick a date and venue for your wedding
The first thing you’ll need to do before making a formal application to any county for a marriage license is to pick a date and your desired location for the wedding to take place. This is because your marriage license will be issued to you in the county you are getting married.
- Visit your chosen county clerk’s office
After picking your date and venue, you can then visit your county clerk’s office. Depending on your state and county, you’ll be required to pay between $35 and $150, mostly $60 to obtain your license. And have in mind that you must go with your partner, as both of you would be required to provide some necessary details.
- Get necessary signatures
Having provided necessary information at the county office, you would be granted a marriage license, either immediately or as a mail. With that, you are ready to get married! And after the wedding, or preferably before, signatures of you and your partner, officiant, and one or two witnesses will be required to seal your license, which will then be submitted by your officiant.
- Get your marriage certificate
The last thing is to get your marriage certificate. It typically takes 2 – 4 weeks for it to be ready and delivered to your mail. With this, you and your partner are a certified couple.
Your marriage certificate will be needed to change your name on your important documents after you get married, like the name registered with your bank account, your certificates, insurance papers and more. For more information, be sure to visit www.usmarriagelaws.com for more information
