California makes this easier than most states. There is no waiting period, so you can marry the same day you collect the license. There is no blood test. There is no residency requirement, and you do not have to be a citizen. What there is, is a clock.
The license is valid for 90 days
From the day it is issued you have 90 days to hold the ceremony. If the wedding falls outside that window the license is dead and you buy another one. This is the single most common thing couples get wrong, and it is always the same mistake: applying early because it felt organised.
Count backwards from your wedding date and apply somewhere between two weeks and two months out. That leaves room for a rescheduled appointment without leaving room for the license to expire.
Both of you have to be there
You apply together, in person, at the same appointment. There is no version of this where one partner collects the license alone and the other signs later. Both people bring valid government photo identification, and the name on that identification is the name that goes on the license.
If either of you has been married before, know the date the previous marriage ended and how it ended. The county asks and you will be filling in the answer at the counter.
Public or confidential
California offers two kinds of marriage license and couples are rarely told the difference before they arrive.
Public license
This becomes a public record, which means anyone can request a copy. It requires one witness at the ceremony, who signs the license alongside the two of you and the officiant. You can have a second witness sign if the license has a line for it, but one is the requirement.
Confidential license
This is not a public record. Only the two of you can request copies. No witness is required at the ceremony, which suits elopements and courthouse weddings. The condition is that you must already be living together, and you state that on the application.
Neither one is more legally married than the other. Pick the confidential license if privacy matters or if there will be nobody there to witness. Pick the public license if you want family in the record of it.
What to bring
- Valid government photo identification for both of you, current and not expired.
- The date a previous marriage ended, if either of you has been married before.
- Your full legal names as they appear on your identification.
- Payment, in a form the county accepts on the day.
- Your appointment confirmation.
Three mistakes that cause real problems
Applying more than 90 days out
The license expires quietly and nobody tells you. Couples find out when the officiant asks for it on the wedding day. Apply inside the window.
One partner going alone
The appointment ends there. Both of you appear, together, with identification, or there is no license.
Forgetting the witness on a public license
This one is fixable in the moment and still causes twenty minutes of panic. If you hold a public license, name your witness before the day and tell them they are signing a legal document. A guest counts. A photographer counts. Nobody remembering counts against you.
After the ceremony
The officiant completes the license, signs it, and returns it to the county within the time the state requires. That filing is what makes the marriage official. You are married from the moment of the ceremony, but the record follows the filing.
The document you actually need afterwards is a certified copy of the marriage certificate, and it is ordered separately once the license is filed. That is the one a bank, the Social Security office and the DMV will ask for during a name change. Order two while you are at it, because one always ends up somewhere else.
We handle the officiant portion, complete and file the license after your ceremony, and walk you through the rest of it well before the day so nothing about the paperwork is a surprise.
Written by Matt Perry, wedding officiant and Lead Pastor of Love Church San Diego.