Practical Tips

The Marriage License

1) As soon as you decide you are going to get married, call the most convenient county office. (The license you get at any North Carolina courthouse is valid anywhere in North Carolina.) Ask about any of the following that you don't know already:

a) How far in advance can you obtain a license? (In NC, 60 days) Can you apply on-line? (In a few counties, you fill out the application on-line, then go to the courthouse just to pay and to sign. In other counties, you can print out an application and fill it out at home and take it with you to the courthouse.)

b) How much does it cost? (In NC, $50)

c) What form of payment is allowed? (Cash? Check? Credit card?)

d) What information/documentation is required? (Birth certificate? What else?)

e) How soon after the wedding must the signed license be filed? (In NC, 10 days)

The answers in other states will likely be different.

2) Well before the wedding -- preferably about a month before -- go to get the license (actually they'll give you two copies of it, both of which need to be signed after the ceremony and returned). By going that far in advance, if you have missed something, you'll have plenty of time to go again and get it right. (If you have been married before, you will need to know the place and date of your divorce, but in North Carolina you are not required to submit proof unless the divorce was within the past 90 days.)

3) A day or two before the wedding, give the two copies of the license to a reliable person -- perhaps the best man or maid of honor, someone you can count on not to forget it. You might want to trust this same person to hold on to the rings and the check to give to the minister at the rehearsal or at the time the license is signed (see below). The minister may ask for the license at the rehearsal and hold it until after the ceremony.

4) Right after the wedding -- usually while the bride and groom are having pictures taken -- the minister and two witnesses (any two you choose) need to sign the two copies of the license. (If you have obtained a gilt-edged marriage certificate -- suitable for framing but not legally valid -- this would be signed at the same time. Some courthouses give these out as a courtesy; some do not.) (Depending on the arrangements you have made with the minister, your reliable person would give a check to the minister at this time.)

5) Legally the minister is responsible for getting the license back to the courthouse where it was issued. Usually this means mailing it. Some ministers will photocopy the license before mailing it just so there is another copy if it gets lost in the mail.

Certified Copies

To the bride: Are you going to change your name? If so, there are problems. Actually, just one problem: Every office where you are on record will require proof that the name change is legal. And that means that you will need certified copies of your marriage license to convince them -- your employer's personnel office, the Social Security office, the Driver's License people, your health insurance carrier, your bank, and who knows who else -- that you are "legal." So the handiest way to deal with this is to order, at the same time the copies of the license are mailed back, at least two certified copies of the marriage license (at a cost in NC of $10 each). Usually when you get the license, you will also receive a small order form for certified copies. (Some courthouses do not provide this simple form, so we have created one in the computer, to print out and submit as needed.) If this order form (with check) is sent in at the same time as the signed marriage license, you should have your certified copies within a week or two. Most offices that require this certified marriage certificate will just look at it and hand it right back to you, but Social Security might take weeks or months to do so, so it's best to have one copy to send to Social Security and one copy to show everywhere else.