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Marriage Services
Planning a Wedding?
Looking for a great place to have your wedding? The Clerk-Recorder Department offers wedding facilities at our offices in Santa Ana, Laguna Hills and Fullerton. Larger parties can be accommodated in Santa Ana. For maps and directions, click the "Locations" link on the right.
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Marriage Licenses 
Marriage licenses are issued to applicants on the spot. A marriage license is valid for 90 days. There are no citizenship or residency requirements, nor are blood tests required. Applicants must be over 18 years old. Couples can begin the process for submitting an application for a marriage license online. (See Online Services.)
For your convenience, appointments are accepted but not required. Online applicants are given priority.
Walk in applicants are taken on a first-come, first-served basis. Afternoons and Fridays are the busiest times.
Payment can be made by cash, personal check, cashier's check, money order, Discover, American Express, MasterCard/Visa Credit and Debit.
To complete the application for a marriage license, a couple must:
Appear together in person.
Each present one form of a valid non-expired photo identification (driver's license, passport).
If divorced within the last 90 days, provide proof of divorce decree or dissolution/termination. If spouse is deceased within the previous 90 days, please provide copy of death certificate.
- Select the name each wishes to use after marriage, to be listed on the marriage license. Couples are not required to change their names nor are they required to take the same name. However, if a name change is desired, it must be correctly reflected before the marriage license is signed. Once the license is signed, names can only be changed by a court order.
Public Marriage License
A public marriage license is a public record, and anyone can request a copy or information from the record. This license can be used anywhere in the state of California.
Confidential Marriage License
A confidential marriage license becomes a confidential record, and the only people able to obtain information about it are the couple, except under certain circumstances. The requirements to obtain this type of license are:
United States Armed Forces Stationed Overseas
A member of the Armed Forces of the United States who is stationed overseas serving in a conflict or a war and is unable to appear for the issuance of a license and solemnization of the marriage may enter into the marriage by the appearance of an attorney-in-fact, commissioned and empowered in writing for that purpose through a power of attorney.
The attorney-in-fact must personally appear at the Clerk-Recorder Department with the party who is not stationed overseas, and present the original power of attorney, duly signed by the party stationed overseas and acknowledged by a notary or witnessed by two officers of the United States Armed Forces.
The power of attorney shall state the true legal names of the parties to be married, and that the power of attorney is solely for the purpose of authorizing the attorney-in-fact to obtain a marriage license on the person's behalf and to participate in the solemnization of the marriage. The original power of attorney shall be a part of the marriage certificate upon registration.
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