What is the difference between a marriage license and a certificate?
The license comes before the wedding and permits it; the certificate comes after and records it. Every agency wants the certificate.
If your name changed by marriage, this trips up more people than any other part of the process, and it is worth two minutes now rather than a wasted trip later.
- The marriage license is issued before the wedding. It is the permission to marry, and it is often what the couple leaves the county office with.
- The marriage certificate is issued afterward, once the signed license has been returned and recorded. It is the record that the marriage took place.
Agencies want the certificate, certified, with a raised seal or a colored stamp. A photocopy is refused, and so is the decorative certificate handed out at the ceremony. A small number of states name the license in their own document list, and where that is true it is noted on that state’s page.
If the license is all you have so far
That is completely normal in the weeks after a wedding, and it does not stop you here. The certificate is ordered from the office that holds the record where the license was issued, and your kit puts that at the top of your checklist with the office named and linked. Everything else in the kit is ready for the day it lands.
Other questions people ask
When you’re ready to do it
Two questions about your situation first, because there is one answer that means we can’t help — and we would rather tell you that before you pay than after.
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