Getting Married in California
Tuesday, October 18, 2005 7:46Did you know, that in California, you can have a friend of family member commissioned as a Deputy Commissioner of Marriages for the day of your wedding? It costs $35-$50 and takes a couple of weeks to process and get all the paperwork back.. but then that person can legally marry you. Check the website for the county clerk’s office for your county. If you can’t find it, call them and they can give you the info.
Also, California recognizes the ordainations of the Universal Life Church. Some states don’t. California does. That means that your friend or relative can go be ordained online for free - and perform your marriage. The newly ordained minister does not need to register with California to perform the marriage. Here is more information on California and marraige laws.
And just so you know… once you turn the completed license in, it takes ten days for them to enter that into their computer system. Then you have to actually go in person and pay an additional $13 to get the certificate that you need to prove to everyone that you are married. In case.. you know.. you were counting on that for anything.
It might also be useful to know that if the person officiating the wedding accidently writes the zip code in the wrong place, crosses it out and initials it and writes it in the correct place, the license will not be accepted and you have to get a duplicate license signed by everyone to submit with it. Then you will have to get your husband/fiance person (because you are really married.. but not really.. but really you are) to take care of it or you will strangle the poor girl at the county clerk’s office because really, you have too much to do what with all the name changing on the insurance, bank accounts, drivers licenses, pay checks, etc etc and all the adding your new fiance/husband to all of these accounts and the coordinating announcements and websites and actually working in between it all - and all of that hinges on this piece of paper that you now won’t have for at least another 15 days if you can get the officiator’s signature again - who lives in Oregon. Just in case that happens to you.
