Just Imagine Love: Weddings & Ceremonies Blog

There are essentially three aspects of a wedding ceremony:

Love & Commitment: in front of and supported by your community

Spiritual: invoking the Divine’s support and guidance in your marriage

Legal: the stepping stone to acquiring certain legal rights, depending on your state and country. This blog post navigates this paperwork and process for the Legal bit, essentially: obtaining a marriage license for your San Diego wedding.

All the information for acquiring and filing your marriage license can be found on the Web site for the San Diego County Clerk’s office.

I just wanted to break down some of the nuances for you, since it can be confusing and brand-new territory:

WHERE: County Clerk’s Office – there are 4 locations throughout San Diego County. Phone numbers & addresses on the site:
https://arcc.sdcounty.ca.gov/Pages/marriage-licenses.aspx

HOW: You must call to make an appointment to apply for your license. (Except during the summer when they hold “walk-in Wednesdays.”)

TIMING: Once you acquire the license at your appointment, it is valid for 90 days. So count backward 90 days from your wedding and that is the first date you can obtain the license.

You can get your license the day before your wedding, but I don’t recommend it.
Leave plenty of time, just in case there is an issue of any kind. And also, because the week before your wedding you want to have everything completed so you can play host to your friends and family!

WHAT HAPPENS AT THE APPOINTMENT:
~you must both be present at the appointment with valid ID (driver license, passport, etc.)
~cost is $70 (if you file for a ‘confidential’* license it is $89)
~take your checkbook because they charge a fee for debit/credit card
~if you have been married before, you will need to bring proof that you are divorced

HERE IS WHAT YOU GET:
You will walk away from that appointment with a big packet of information.
Your officiant needs the following items (it is great to bring this to rehearsal to give to your officiant so it is not forgotten on the wedding day):
~the actual license (which you already signed at the County Clerk’s Office)
~the giant yellow return envelope
~in the packet will also be a handy form called “Wedding Officiant Instructions”. Thank you for that, but if your officiant has performed enough weddings, we won’t need it.

THE WEDDING CEREMONY:
After the wedding ceremony, your officiant will sign the license, verifying that the ceremony has been performed. Your witnesses will also sign right after the ceremony. You need at least one witness, but there are spaces for two (eg. your Best Man and Maid of Honor).

WITNESS:
You must have at least one witness for your ceremony. Elopement couples want it to be “just us two” but unless you have acquired a ‘confidential’* license, you still need a witness (your officiant doesn’t count). If you are having a photographer for the ceremony, you can ask them if they will serve as witness.

WHEN WILL WE GET OUR MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE?:
The signed license must be returned to the County Clerk’s office within 10 days of your wedding date. It’s a nice service if your wedding officiant mails it in for you (I do that the first business day after your ceremony) so you don’t have to worry about it when getting ready for your honeymoon.

~Once the County Clerk receives your license signed by the officiant and witnesses, it takes about 2 weeks to process.
~If your are local, you simply go back in to pick it up
~If you are not local, there is a form in the big packet they give you that you can mail in, requesting that the CC mails your marriage certificate to you. That request form MUST be notarized. The CC can provide a list of notaries.
~A great resource for changing your name: http://www.missnowmrs.com/

*What is a Confidential License?: This simply means that nobody but you two can have access to the license and certificate information (eg. it’s probably a good idea if you’re a tv personality or rockstar)