Getting married isn’t only standing up in front of your family and friends pronouncing your love to one another. Don’t get me wrong – that is the best part! But don’t forget about the legal side of being married. You need a license!

A marriage license allows you to get married. It doesn’t mean that you’re married when you get the license. The officiant of your wedding ceremony signs it afterwards and makes it official. For some states, there is a waiting period after your marriage license application before you are considered married.

Each state has different requirements for obtaining a marriage license. Each state also has a different time frame for applying for a marriage license. When I got married, my fiancé lived in Kansas, and that’s where we lived once we were wed, but the wedding was in Tennessee. So, even though we lived in a different state than the wedding, we had to go to the county clerk’s office in Tennessee since that is where we were married.

There are fees associated with a marriage license. And you also need to know what sort of documents to bring when you apply for your marriage license. Some states even require a blood test!

I can’t stress this enough: go to the county clerk’s website in the county in which you are getting married. Find out what documents you both need to bring, what fees are due, the time-frame for obtaining the license, and any other questions you may have. This is something that you do not want to mess up!

Destination weddings are a whole different ball game, so do your homework well in advance!

Resources:

Marriage License Requirements Listing: http://family.findlaw.com/marriage/marriage-license-requirements.html

About Style: http://weddings.about.com/od/getorganized/a/MarriageLicense.htm