How to Get Married in San Antonio: License, Wait, and Ceremony

To get married in San Antonio, both partners apply in person for a marriage license at the Bexar County Clerk’s office in the Paul Elizondo Tower, pay the $80 fee, wait 72 hours, and hold a ceremony within 90 days with an authorized officiant who then returns the signed license to the clerk for recording.¹

Who Qualifies to Marry

Both partners must be at least 18 to apply on their own. Anyone under 18 needs a court order removing the disabilities of minority; parental consent by itself is not enough, and the order has to be presented with the application.²

Both partners must also be currently unmarried. Bigamy in Texas is a third-degree felony punishable by two to ten years in prison.³ If either partner is divorced, you cannot apply for a new license until the 31st day after the divorce was decreed, unless the decree specifically waives that waiting period or you are remarrying the same former spouse.⁴

Residency is not required. Couples from out of state or out of the country can apply at the Bexar County Clerk’s office, and the license is good for a ceremony held anywhere in Texas.¹

What to Bring

Each applicant brings two kinds of documentation: one proving age, one proving identity. The age document must be government-issued and show your name and date of birth. A birth certificate or passport is the usual choice, but military IDs, school records, and documents from the Bureau of Indian Affairs also qualify.²

The identity document must carry your name and photo. A driver’s license or state ID from any U.S. state or Canadian province works if it is current or expired no more than two years. A U.S. passport, military ID, current foreign passport, permanent resident card, or Texas DPS handgun license also qualifies.²

You will also need to provide each applicant’s Social Security number, though the physical card isn’t required because the clerk can verify it other ways. If either partner was divorced within the last 31 days and the decree waives the remarriage wait, bring a certified copy.⁵

Applying at the Clerk’s Office

You can start the application through the Bexar County Clerk’s online portal, which asks for full legal names, addresses, dates of birth, parental birthplaces, and your relationship to each other so the clerk can confirm you are not within prohibited degrees of kinship. Check the spellings carefully; errors on the license cause real friction later when you try to change your name on a driver’s license or update insurance.

Both partners then have to appear in person at the Marriage License Office, Paul Elizondo Tower, 101 W. Nueva, Suite 120, San Antonio, TX 78205.⁶ A deputy clerk reviews your documents, administers an oath confirming the information is accurate, and prints the physical license.

The fee is $80, paid by cash or credit card. American Express and tap payments are not accepted. Couples who finish the Twogether in Texas premarital course get a $60 discount, dropping the cost to $20.⁵ That course runs a minimum of eight hours, must be completed no more than one year before you apply, and also waives the 72-hour waiting period described below.⁷

The 72-Hour Wait and the 90-Day Window

Once the clerk issues your license, you must wait 72 hours before the ceremony. The wait does not apply if any of the following is true:²

You completed the Twogether in Texas course and submitted the certificate.
You are an active-duty member of the armed forces.
You are a civilian employee or contractor of the U.S. Department of Defense.
A judge, justice of the peace, or associate judge has signed a written waiver for good cause.

The license then stays valid for 90 days.¹ If no ceremony happens inside that window, the license is void and you have to reapply and pay again.⁸

If One Partner Cannot Come to the Clerk

Under Texas Family Code § 2.006, any adult, including the other partner, can submit the application on behalf of someone who cannot appear. You bring the absent partner’s age and identity documents plus a notarized Affidavit of Absent Applicant, signed in black or blue ink.²

The absent partner still has to attend the ceremony itself, with one narrow exception: active-duty military members stationed overseas in support of combat or military operations may appoint an adult proxy to stand in. If both partners are absent, the clerk can only issue the license when both are active-duty military serving overseas.

Picking an Officiant and Booking a Ceremony

Texas authorizes a wide group of people to perform marriages: ordained or licensed Christian ministers and priests, Jewish rabbis, authorized officers of any religious organization, and a long list of judicial officers running from justices of the peace and municipal court judges up through the Texas Supreme Court and federal judges sitting in Texas.² Ministers ordained online sit in a gray zone; Texas courts have not ruled definitively on them, though the statute is broad enough that online-ordained ministers routinely perform weddings without challenge. If you want zero doubt, go with a justice of the peace or traditionally ordained clergy.

For a civil ceremony, all Bexar County justices of the peace perform marriages by appointment.⁹ Contact the precinct directly to schedule and ask about the ceremony fee, which is separate from the license cost. Some will travel to your venue; others only officiate at their office. Note that the Bexar County Clerk’s office itself does not perform ceremonies, only paperwork, so line up your officiant before applying.

After the Ceremony

The officiant records the date and location on the license, signs it, and returns the signed license to the Bexar County Clerk for recording. The clerk then mails the recorded original back to you as your permanent proof of marriage.

Order certified copies while you are at it. Bexar County charges $8 per certified copy,¹ and if either partner plans a name change you will run through them fast. Get at least two.

Changing Your Name After the Wedding

A marriage license does not change anyone’s name on its own. Start with the Social Security Administration, which requires Form SS-5 along with your certified marriage certificate and proof of identity such as a driver’s license, U.S. passport, or state-issued ID. The SSA accepts only originals or certified copies, not photocopies, and returns the documents after processing.¹⁰

Do the SSA first. The Texas Department of Public Safety, banks, and the passport office will generally expect your Social Security record to already show the new name before they update theirs, so working out of order means repeating steps.

If You Skip the License: Informal Marriage

Texas is one of the few states that recognizes informal, or common-law, marriage. Both partners must be at least 18, agree to be married, live together in Texas as spouses, and hold themselves out to others as married.² You can formalize the record by filing a Declaration of Informal Marriage with the county clerk; in Bexar County the fee is $45.¹ The declaration isn’t required for the marriage to be valid, but proving it later without one is much harder. One deadline worth knowing: if you separate and no legal proceeding is filed within two years, Texas presumes no marriage agreement ever existed.

1
Bexar County, TX – Official Website. Marriage Licenses
2
State of Texas. Texas Family Code Chapter 2 – The Marriage Relationship
3
State of Texas. Texas Penal Code – Bigamy
4
State of Texas. Texas Family Code Section 6.801 – Remarriage
5
Bexar County, Texas. Bexar County – Frequently Asked Questions
6
Bexar County, TX – Official Website. Staff Directory – Marriage License Office
7
Texas State Law Library. Premarital Education
8
Texas State Law Library. Marriage in Texas – Conducting the Ceremony
9
Bexar County, TX – Official Website. Marriages
10
Social Security Administration. Application for Social Security Card