Wedding legal paperwork: license, certificate, name change

The ceremony makes you married in front of your guests. The paperwork makes you married in law, and it's the part couples most often leave late: a license that expires the week before the wedding, a certificate nobody ordered, a name change that stalls because the passport office wants a document you don't have yet. None of it is hard. It just has an order, and each step needs the one before it.

This guide walks through that order, from checking the rules to storing the certificate, then covers the US and Canada, with a section on Ontario. The rules are set where you marry, by a state, county, province or territory, so treat this as the map and the official pages linked below as the source.

The nine steps, in order

The free wedding checklist keeps these nine tasks in its Legal Checklist group and dates each one from your wedding day:

1. Check marriage requirements, about three months before. Find out who issues the license where the wedding takes place, how long it's valid, any waiting period, what ID each of you needs, the fee, and whether you need witnesses.
2. Gather necessary documents, about two months before. Usually photo ID for each of you, sometimes a birth certificate, and proof that any earlier marriage ended: a divorce certificate or decree, or a death certificate.
3. Apply for marriage license, about a month before. Close enough that it won't expire before the wedding, early enough to fix a problem. Some places need you both there in person.
4. Bring license to wedding, on the day. Give it to one person to hand to the officiant before the ceremony. If your witnesses come from the wedding party, our guide to wedding party duties has the rest of their jobs.
5. Sign license after ceremony, on the day. You two, the officiant and any witnesses sign. Check the names and dates before everyone leaves.
6. Officiant submits license, within days of the wedding. The officiant returns it to the office that registers marriages, by the deadline your jurisdiction sets. Ask them when they'll send it.
7. Order marriage certificates, about a month after. The registration has to finish first. Order two or three certified copies: you'll need them for name changes, benefits, insurance and immigration.
8. Update your name, about two months after, if either of you is changing it. The order matters; see below.
9. Store marriage certificate, about two months after. Keep the certified copies with your passports and birth certificates, and note where.

Each step needs the one before it, so in Linenfold the tasks are chained: a task stays locked until the one it needs is done. You can't tick "Order marriage certificates" while the license is still with the officiant.

License or certificate: what's the difference?

The marriage license is permission to marry. You apply for it before the wedding, it's valid for a set time, and it's signed at the ceremony. The marriage certificate is the record that you're married. It's issued after the signed license is registered, and it's what banks, passport offices and employers ask to see. A keepsake certificate from the officiant or a church is lovely, but it usually isn't the official one.

In the United States

Each state sets its own rules, and you usually apply through the county or local government where the wedding will take place, not where you live. Licenses are valid for anything from 30 days to a year depending on the state, and some states have a waiting period of a day or more before you can marry. Fees, ID and whether you need witnesses vary too, so look up the county clerk's page for the place you're marrying.

After the wedding, certified copies of the marriage certificate come from the county or the state vital records office. The CDC keeps a list of where to write for vital records in every state, and USAGov explains how to get a copy of a marriage certificate.

For a name change, USAGov's name change guide gives the order. Start with the Social Security Administration, because other agencies check your name against its records. Then your driver's license at the state motor vehicle office, then your passport, then the IRS, your voter registration and the post office. After those come your employer, banks, insurance and doctors.

In Canada

Marriage licences are issued by each province and territory, with their own fees, validity and ID rules, so start with the official page of the province or territory where you'll marry. Ontario's steps are below.

A name change after marriage touches federal documents too:

• Passport. To change your last name after marriage, you apply for a new passport with ID in your new name and your marriage certificate, and the usual fees apply. Change your name on your passport has the details.
• Social Insurance Number. You must update your SIN record when your legal name changes. See Update your SIN record.

In Quebec, spouses keep their birth names for life. Taking your spouse's name there means applying for a change of name, which is only authorized in exceptional situations; the Directeur de l'état civil explains it.

In Ontario

Checked against ontario.ca on 23 October 2026. Ontario's page on getting married is the source; this is what it says, in short.

Who can marry. Both of you must be 18 or older, or 16 or 17 with written consent from your parents, and neither of you can already be married.

The licence. You apply to your municipality, or online through ServiceOntario where your municipality offers it (see apply for a marriage licence online and the list of municipalities). Online, each of you needs two pieces of government ID, one with a photo; health cards aren't accepted. One of you then picks up the licence in person with photo ID and pays.

• The licence is valid for 3 months from the day it's issued.
• At least one business day has to pass between the application and the wedding.
• The provincial fee is $75, and municipalities add their own, so the total varies. The fee can be waived for some First Nations couples marrying on a reserve or Crown land.
• In limited cases, a religious ceremony can use the publication of banns instead of a licence.
• If either of you divorced in Canada, bring the certificate of divorce. A divorce outside Canada has to be reviewed by the Marriage Office first, which can take up to 4 weeks, so start early.

The ceremony. A registered religious or Indigenous officiant, or a civil officiant such as a municipal clerk, judge or justice of the peace, can marry you. You two, two witnesses and the officiant sign the licence, and the officiant sends it to ServiceOntario to register. The Marriage Act sets the rules.

The certificate. Registration can take up to 8 weeks. Nothing is mailed to you automatically, and the Record of Solemnization the officiant gives you isn't a marriage certificate. You order it from ServiceOntario: get a copy of an Ontario marriage certificate. Regular service is $15 for a certificate or $22 for a certified copy, delivered in about 15 business days; premium service is $45 or $52 in about 5 business days.

Your name. Ontario lets you assume your spouse's last name on your health card, driver's licence or Photo Card at ServiceOntario with your marriage certificate, at no charge; new cards take 6 to 8 weeks. Taking part of a hyphenated name, or a new name altogether, needs a legal name change. Change your last name covers both. Your passport and SIN follow the federal steps above.

Changing your name, in general

Not everyone changes their name, and either of you can. If you do, a few things save time:

• Wait for the certificate. Almost every office asks for a certified copy, so order enough copies to send two applications at once.
• Go in order. The national ID records first (Social Security in the US, the SIN in Canada), then driver's licence or license and health card, then passport.
• Book travel in the name on your passport. If the honeymoon is soon after the wedding, book it in your current name and change the passport after.
• Make a list of everything else. Employer and payroll, banks and cards, insurance, doctors, utilities, phone, memberships and loyalty programs. Tick them off as they confirm.

Keep the paperwork in Linenfold

In Linenfold, the Legal Checklist group is part of your task list on every plan, including Free. Each of the nine tasks is dated from your wedding day and chained to the one before it, so the next step is always the one that's unlocked. Add your county's or province's details to the task notes, assign each step to one of you, and the dashboard shows what's due next.

The legal steps sit beside the rest of the plan by month: the 1 month before checklist has the license application next to the final dress fitting, and the after the wedding checklist has the certificates and name changes. Start with the free wedding checklist to date every task from your wedding, and when you're ready to share the list, create a free account.

This guide is general information, not legal advice. Rules change, so check the official page for where you're marrying before you apply.