Marriage - DOCUMENT Frequently Asked Questions

A marriage license is the document that demonstrates there is no legal barrier to your marriage and creates the record that will later be finalized by your officiant following your wedding ceremony. This finalized document is your wedding certificate which is proof of your married status.

In Utah, the license and certificate are usually on the same document. Older documents are simply titled “Marriage License.” Since 2020, Utah County documents have both “Marriage License” and “Certificate of Marriage” printed on the document.

The original document stays in the files of the County Clerk, but we provide you with “certified copies” of your certificate which are acceptable for legal purposes.

Many couples also receive a ceremonial certificate from their officiant and/or wedding venue. While these are important keepsakes, only the document issued and certified by the county is recognized for legal purposes.

Your original marriage license document stays in the files of the County Clerk, but we issue “certified copies” of them. A certified copy will have the embossed county seal and the signature of a deputy clerk in blue ink on the back of the document. A certified copy of your marriage license/certificate is legal proof of marriage for all purposes inside the United States of America.

One certified copy is included with your marriage license fee and is sent the address you indicated in your application. Additional certified copies can be ordered from our website or in person.

Since 2020, Utah County has also been issuing digital marriage licenses/certificates certified through the blockchain. Rather than a traditional paper seal, a PDF of your marriage certificate can be verified at the Titan Seal website (TitalSeal.com). Changing a single bit in the document would change its digital "fingerprint" meaning it can’t be verified. If you were married after 2020, you should have already received a digital copy in your email. A digital certified copy is included with the order of a paper certified copy.

An Apostille (AH-po-stil) is an authentication that allows a legal document created in one country to be recognized in another country. If you want your marriage to be registered and/or recognized in a country outside of the United States, you will probably need this.

The Apostille is issued by the Authentications Office of the Lt. Governor of the State of Utah. The Lt. Governor in the State of Utah is equivalent to the “Secretary of State” in other states. Our office does not issue the actual Apostille, but we will facilitate a request for one on your behalf.

Digital versions or PDFs of Apostilles are not currently offered by the Utah Authentications Office.

Apostille FAQ at Utah Authentications Office

ABC's of Apostilles from the Hague Conference.

Being married through a remote ceremony is still very new. Our office has prepared a form letter describing remote appearance ceremonies and their justification under Utah marriage law. This is a PDF document formatted on County letter head.

Some countries outside of the United States require applicants for marriage licenses to prove that they are single before granting a marriage license. Our office can provide residents of Utah County with a signed and certified statement that there are no marriage records on file in Utah County. We will need to verify your identity with a government issued ID. Contact our office at marriage@utahcounty.gov or 801-851-8109.

If you need proof of marriage inside the United States of America, the certified copy on its own is usually sufficient, and you don’t need to include your application. If you are requesting the license as part of a family history project, the application has additional information you may want.

Many countries need more information than what it represented on your marriage license. Sometimes this is called the “long form” license. If the other country wants your date of birth, information about your parents or prior marriages, then you should request a copy of your application to be included.

Countries that are not part of the Hague Convention of 5 October 1961 won’t want an Apostille but may still want additional authentication of your marriage license. Use the "Apostille Request" order form and the Authentications office of the Lt. Governor will ensure that you get the appropriate documents for the country you request. The document will say "Certificate" instead of "Apostille".

If edits to your marriage license need to be made because of incorrect information or typographical errors, you can order an error correction. This is only for licenses that have already been finalized by the officiant and within TWO MONTHS of finalization.

If your license has not yet been finalized, we can make changes to your application free of charge. If your license was finalized more than two months ago, you may need to apply for an amendment. Either way, please contact us at marriage@utahcounty.gov or 801-851-8109 and we can help you with these processes.

Yes. You are still welcome to come to our office to get a certified copy of your marriage license. Bring your ID for verification and we will print your certificate while you wait. You do not need to make an appointment with our office. Once you are called up to the counter, it should take about ten to fifteen minutes.

The time to get your document depends on two factors: The type of document and where and how it is being shipped. Because the Apostille Request requires us to send a piece of paper to another government office, it is the most complex process. Expect about TWO WEEKS from the time you place your order to the time your documents are finally ready for shipping.

Most other document requests can be completely handled by our office and are ready to ship by the end of the next business day.

Once the document is shipped by our office or the Lt. Governor’s office, shipping time depends on your location and shipping option.

The Apostille request is the most complex order we process, and it involves a separate government office.

One part of the process asks you to verify the information on your documents. We don’t want to waste time or money shipping incorrect documents, so the time spent having you verify the information following the order is worth it. We then print and certify your documents and prepare a mailing label and envelope. This could take three to five business days.

We then ship your materials as part of a larger batch of requests from our office in Provo to the Lt. Governor’s office in Salt Lake City. This could also take a few business days including security protocols for handling mail at the Lt. Governor’s office. The authentications office then takes three to five business days to complete the apostille process and is then able to ship it in the envelope we provide. The time from order placed to shipping is typically TWO WEEKS.

It will then take the required shipping time from Salt Lake City to your location. If your ordered FedEx shipping, you will only see action on the shipping label once it leaves Salt Lake City.

Shipping to addresses within the United States (excluding territories) can be sent through United States Postal Service (USPS) first class mail with no tracking number for no additional charge.

For faster shipping or to have a tracking number, documents can be shipped via FedEx for an additional charge. For shipping to addresses outside of the United States (including U.S. territories) all orders will be shipped via FedEx. Costs vary based on our costs to ship to that area of the world.

FedEx can only deliver to residential addresses and can not deliver to APO, FPO, DPO, or PO boxes. If you need to ship to that type of address, you will need to have your documents shipped by USPS.

Depending on the speed of the mail, most documents shipped via USPS could take up to a week to reach destinations in the Western United States. It could take more than a week to reach addresses on the East Coast.

When a document is shipped via FedEx, you should get an estimated arrival time once the package is in transit. If it is shipped directly from our office, it will be scanned at the FedEx facility in Orem, UT (a city next to Provo). If it is for an Apostille, then you will not have an accurate estimated arrival time until it is shipped by the Lt. Governor’s office. That is usually TWO WEEKS after the label was created. The estimated arrival time is not accurate until it has been scanned by FedEx facilities in West Valley City (a city next to Salt Lake City).

Orders are marked as “shipped” as soon as they are ready for shipping. They may wait in the office until they are picked up by FedEx on weekday afternoons.

If you ordered an Apostille to be shipped via FedEx, it will not show any action until your individual parcel is shipped from the Lt. Governor’s office. Even though the FedEx shipping label has been created, that envelope was shipped to the Lt. Governor’s office inside of a larger box containing all the apostille requests from that batch. Only when it leaves the Lt. Governor’s office and is scanned in the FedEx facilities in West Valley City (a city next to Salt Lake City) will you see movement and an estimated arrival date for that tracking number.

If you are ordering an Apostille Request or an Error Correction you will need to verify the information on your marriage certificate before we process the documents. We don’t want to spend time or money on shipping incorrect documents. You will receive an email from our office your order is ready for verification.

Otherwise, you can just use the portal to track the status of your order.

After placing an order, you will see the various steps your order will need to go through before it is shipped to you. The steps vary by type of document or service being ordered, but always start with “Order Placed” and end with "Shipped".

After placing your order, you will receive a confirmation email with a link to your specific order. Clicking on the link will show the current step for your order. The link will also take you to customer verification screen when you are at that step of an apostille or error correction order.

Your order has been placed and paid for. It is waiting for our staff to begin processing it. We will start working on your order before the end of the next business day.

Our staff has verified your identification and legal access to the ordered documents. If you are ordering an apostille or an error correction, the next step is for you confirm the accuracy of the details or to suggest the necessary changes. You will receive an email asking you to do this.

Our staff has verified your identification and legal access to the ordered documents. If you are ordering an apostille or an error correction, the next step is for you confirm the accuracy of the details or to suggest the necessary changes. You will receive an email asking you to do this.

Our office has printed a marriage certificate, shipping envelope, and Document Authentication Request Form for your order; they are ready to ship to the Lt. Governor’s Office. Although a FedEx tracking number is generated during this step, your shipping label is inside a larger box of requests that are sent together. It will not be scanned by FedEx until it leaves the Lt. Governor’s Office, which may take up to two weeks.

We have prepared your documents and Apostille request; those documents have now left our office and are on their way to the State Authentications Office. If you ordered FedEx shipping, that shipping label is inside a larger box of requests that were sent together and has not been scanned. You will not see any action on your FedEx tracking number until it leaves the Lt. Governor’s Office.

It usually takes two to three business days for it to arrive there. Once the documents have left our office, we are dependent on the Authentications Office to complete the Apostille Request process.

Once the documents have left our offices, no other corrections can be made. If further changes need to be made, you will need to place another order.

Your documents and shipping envelope have been received at the Lt. Governor’s office and they are working on your authentications. This step typically takes three to five business days.

Your documents are all prepared and have been placed in the appropriate shipping envelope. They are awaiting pickup (weekday late afternoons) or have already been sent from either our office or the Lt. Governor’s office. If the documents are shipped via FedEx, you can use the tracking number to monitor the location of your documents on the way to you.

In addition to showing your current step, you can also use the "message" feature to communicate with our office. It isn’t an instant chat, but we will respond by the end of the next business day.

Every county in Utah keeps its own records and our office only has access to marriage licenses issued by Utah County. Marriage licenses from any county are good throughout the state so even though you may have married in Utah County, your license may have been issued by a different county.

If you are looking for information about older marriage records, you may be able to find them in the Western States Marriage Records Index

Each order is specific to one marriage license, but you can order as many different documents and copies of documents as you would like. If they are going to the same address, they will be in shipped in same envelope and you will only need to pay the shipping costs once.

If you need to order documents for more than one marriage license, each license will need to part of a separate order.

You will be asked to enter an address for each document you order. You can request multiple documents, each to a different address, as part of the same order. You will be charged the shipping fees associated with each address.

For online payments, our system accepts VISA, MasterCard, and Discover debit and credit cards. We do not accept American Express or e-checks. There will be a processing fee of 2.5% ($1.50 minimum) charged to each order. International cards may have higher fees.

Marriage documents are classified as vital records and can only be released to the subject of the record (the individuals listed on the marriage certificate), or those with a direct, tangible, and legitimate interest including immediate family members (such as parents or children) or a designated legal representative.

Marriage records older than 75 years are considered public records.

Laws regulating vital records are found in Utah Code 26-2-22.

You will be asked to upload images of your ID and a Selfie; they will be manually verified by our staff when processing your order. If you are ordering you own marriage documents, these are the only images you will need to upload.

If you are ordering a marriage document for someone other than yourself, you will need to demonstrate a direct, tangible, and legitimate interest in the document. You will need to provide evidence of a family relationship (such as parent or child) or proof you are a designated legal representative. Contact us at marriage@utahcounty.gov or 801-851-8109 to determine what additional document you will need to upload.