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Marriage License

    • 1 posts
    April 27, 2017 9:43 PM PDT

    Hi All, I have a question from a newbie officiant. I find dealing with the marriage license cumbersome after the ceremony(I officiated one so far...;). How do you handle the marriage license? If I attend rehearsal the day before can we all just sign it then?
    TIA!

    • 1 posts
    June 12, 2017 2:42 PM PDT

    Hi Laura,

    Just a point of concern with your question. Pre-signing the witnessness can be an issue in the event of a no-show. Albiet a rare occurance, if you pre-sign your are stuck with an invalid license. State to State laws differ but many charge for corrections to the document.

    Just a thought -

    • 37 posts
    June 13, 2017 3:25 AM PDT

    [blockquote]Laura Schulz said:

    Hi All, I have a question from a newbie officiant. I find dealing with the marriage license cumbersome after the ceremony(I officiated one so far...;). How do you handle the marriage license? If I attend rehearsal the day before can we all just sign it then?
    TIA!

    [/blockquote]

     

    Hi Laura,

     

    Sign right after the kiss or before the ceremony. After is better as it is officially done. After the parties must know that we sign. 

     

    Joseph

    • 3 posts
    July 1, 2017 12:21 AM PDT

    I haven't officiated a wedding yet, but here in Kentucky many counties say the license must be signed AFTER the ceremony. It can be done right after or some time in the future as long as it is signed and registered before the deadline. Always check local as well as state laws to see what you can or can't do. Here most officiants choose to make signing the marriage license part of the scheduled events, like the scheduled photos or the cutting of the cake. This way it becomes part of the nuptuals instead of a bit of business that interferes with the festivities.

  • November 4, 2017 2:24 PM PDT
    In Ontario, it MUST be signed after the ceremony, and I have 48 hours for it to be in the mail. Because I live in the same city as the office, I can squeeze an extra day because of hand delivery. Most provinces are the same up here.