Florida Marriage License Records: Waiting Period, Ceremony, and Certificates

A Florida marriage license is issued by any County Clerk of Court office in the state, and both parties must appear together in person to apply. The license costs $86, becomes effective after a three-day waiting period for Florida residents, and stays valid for 60 days from issue. The certified marriage certificate you may need later for name changes, immigration, or benefits is a separate document that comes from the Florida Department of Health’s Bureau of Vital Statistics after the ceremony is recorded.

How to Apply

Go together to any County Clerk of Court office. The county does not have to match where you live or where you plan to marry; a license issued anywhere in Florida is valid for a ceremony anywhere in the state, though the signed license must be returned to the issuing county afterward.¹

Each of you needs to bring:

A valid photo ID: driver’s license, state ID card, or passport.
Your Social Security number if you are a U.S. citizen. You do not need the physical card. Non-citizens may provide an alien registration number or passport number instead.²
Confirmation that you have read Florida’s handbook on the rights and responsibilities of marriage. The clerk will not issue the license without this acknowledgment from both parties.²
Information about any previous marriages: the date each one ended and how (divorce, death, or annulment).

The fee is $86. If both of you complete a state-registered premarital preparation course before applying, the fee drops to $61 and the three-day waiting period is waived.³ Once issued, the license is good for 60 days. Miss that window and you have to apply and pay again.¹

Age Rules

Both parties must generally be at least 18. A 17-year-old may marry only with written, notarized consent from a parent or legal guardian, and only if the older party is no more than two years older. No one under 17 may marry in Florida under any circumstances.²

The Three-Day Waiting Period

Florida residents must wait three days between applying for the license and the ceremony. The four-hour premarital preparation course from a state-registered provider, taken within the year before applying, waives this wait entirely and knocks $25 off the fee.⁴

Non-Florida residents are exempt from the waiting period. Residents who can show hardship may ask the clerk for an exception, and a county court judge can waive the delay for good cause.⁴

Who Can Perform the Ceremony

Florida authorizes a wide list of officiants: ordained ministers, elders in communion with a church, other ordained clergy, all judicial officers (including retired judges), clerks of the circuit court, and Florida notaries public.⁵ The notary option surprises many couples: any Florida notary can legally marry you, which makes a simple non-religious ceremony easy to arrange.

What Happens After the Wedding

The officiant signs the license and returns it to the Clerk of Court that issued it within 10 days.⁶ That is their job, not yours, but confirm they do it. A license that never comes back to the clerk may leave your marriage unrecorded.

Once the clerk records the license, it is forwarded to the Florida Department of Health’s Bureau of Vital Statistics for permanent filing. That transfer takes about 60 days.⁷ If you need proof of marriage before the state record is ready, contact the County Clerk that recorded the license.

Ordering a Certified Marriage Certificate

The certified marriage certificate is the official legal proof of your marriage, and only the Bureau of Vital Statistics issues it. Access is restricted: only the two people named on the certificate and their legal representatives can request a certified copy.⁷

The application asks for each spouse’s full name as it appeared before the marriage, the date of the marriage, and the county where the license was issued, along with your own name, mailing address, and signature.⁸

You can order by mail or online through VitalChek, which is the only online vendor the Department of Health has approved.⁷ By mail, the first certified copy is $5 (which includes a nonrefundable search fee), each additional copy ordered at the same time is $4, and a $10 rush fee gets priority processing if you also mark the envelope “RUSH.” Pay by check or money order made out to “Vital Statistics.” Do not send cash.⁸

Online orders through VitalChek include priority processing automatically, so the state fee for the first certificate is $15 ($5 base plus the $10 rush). VitalChek adds its own service fee on top of that.⁷ Standard mail-in processing for records from 1970 forward takes three to five business days, plus shipping.⁸

Free County Index Searches

Many Florida counties offer free online access to marriage license indexes through their Clerk of Court websites. You can look up names and recording dates there, which is useful for genealogy or confirming a marriage was recorded. These results are not official proof. For any legal purpose, you need the certified certificate from the Bureau of Vital Statistics.

1
Gulf County Clerk of Court and Comptroller. Marriage Licenses and Records at Gulf County Clerk of Court
2
Justia Law. Florida Code 741 – Issuance of Marriage License
3
Florida Court Clerks and Comptrollers. How Do I Apply For A Marriage License
4
Florida Senate. 2024 Florida Statutes 741.04 – Issuance of Marriage License
5
Online Sunshine. 2025 Florida Statutes 741.07 – Persons Authorized to Solemnize Matrimony
6
Online Sunshine. 2025 Florida Statutes 741.08 – Marriage Not to Be Solemnized Without a License
7
Florida Department of Health. Marriage Certificates
8
Florida Department of Health. Application for Florida Marriage Certificate