Wedding License
Obtaining a Wedding License:
To be married in California, you do not need to be a resident of the State of California or even be a citizen of the United States. You do not need to have any blood Tests or any other kind of tests.
All you need is a government-issued photo I.D., your local State’s driver’s license, or your Country’s driver’s license, Passport, Green Card or Visa, will work. And if you have been married before, you will need the dates of dissolution of the previous marriage. You do not need any divorce papers from your former marriage (unless it has been in the last 90 days), only the date of the dissolution.
There are two kinds of Marriage Licenses:
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The Regular Marriage License is $61.50 and is good for 90 days. You can be married anywhere in the State of California.
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The Confidential Marriage License is $71.50. You must be married in the County that issues the License. With a Confidential License, there is no public record of the license. It is generally used by high-profile couples, law enforcement, private detectives, or any one who wants complete privacy. The marriage license contains a lot of personal information.
If you are going to be married in Orange County, out-of-towners must be in California for at least one day of the week, Monday through Friday, from 8:00 – 4:00PM and go to any of the three locations in Orange County ( link below) that issue Marriage Licenses and then you can be married any day (seven days a week) and any time (24 hours a day).
After the marriage ceremony, the Officiant will take the Marriage License, sign it and mail it to the Court. You can go to the Recorders office and pick up a copy or through the mail Orange County takes 3-4 weeks to get out their Certified Copies and Los Angeles County takes 4-6 weeks.
The Certified Copy is what the new Bride uses to change her name on all important legal papers.