Keeping Marriage Certificates

The habit of keeping marriage records came around 1850s, a little earlier than birth and death records, which began in the 1900s. In some countries, marriage records were originally kept in churches; and anyone who does not belong or married under the church were not issued certificates.  

Marriage certificates are usually issued shortly after wedding ceremonies. The information contained in marriage certificates vary but always include the couple’s names, the wedding date, and the location where the event happened. Marriage certificates often have elaborate designs, since they are intended to be framed or displayed.   

In many jurisdictions today, marriage certificates serve as the official proof of marriage between two persons. In other places though, marriage licenses are enough to serve both as permission to marry and as proof of marriage, in lieu of marriage certificates.

The government often requires marriages to be registered first before issuing marriage certificates. Sometimes, the official who performed the ceremony is also the one who issues marriage certificates.

Old marriage certificates are probably the hardest vital record to locate especially if you’re just browsing through official county registries since vital records offices rarely kept copies of marriage certificates in their archives and repositories. Many records were kept in churches or were destroyed due to fires and other disasters.

The truth is that you are more likely to find the marriage certificates of your ancestors among old family records, bibles, and legal documents than at official registries.

Marriage certificates are issued mainly for the benefit of the couple and not the government, and are usually kept within the family. Marriage licenses and marriage registers contain more information than marriage certificates and the data is usually enough to support the legality of the union.

Obtaining Marriage Certificates

While old marriage certificates were normally not kept in government vital records offices, marriages that took place after 1950 have better chances of having their marriage certificates on file in some state or county registries. These relatively new records of marriage certificates are often protected by privacy laws and can only be obtained by eligible parties.

Aside from the bride and/or the groom, the state court and/or any person with a judicial or other proper purpose are eligible to obtain copies of marriage certificates. One valid judicial or proper purpose for obtaining copies of marriage certificates is claiming benefits, provided however that an official letter from the agency verifies the need for the certificate to process the claim.

Applications for copies of marriage certificates should be accompanied by identification documents. You can use any one valid photo ID such as driver’s license, passport, any non-driver photo ID, and other government-issued photo ID as your identification document. Otherwise, you can submit any two household bills that contain your name and address, and/or any letter from government agencies (dated not later than six months) to serve as your identification documents.

Requests for copies of marriage certificates that are done through the internet, fax, or telephone often get priority handling and can be processed within one week. Those sent through mail may take a couple of weeks longer upon receipt of the order and the payment although you can expedite the process by paying additional fees. Nevertheless, the fees for marriage certificates are minimal and generally affordable. 

Visit RecordsSiteReviews’ Marriage Records section to know how to get a copy of your marriage certificate the quick and convenient way.