When did you sign your Marriage License

mimiphin

Just wondering when you ladies sign the Marriage License. Being from Canada the only time I have ever seen it happen is during the ceremony, and thus if it is a PPD it's pretty damn noticeable.

doeydo

Canadian here and I have only ever been to weddings where the license was signed during the ceremony.  We are having an outdoor ceremony and the venue has these rock things set up by the pergola specifically for that purpose.  

AddieCake

We had to sign ours at the courthouse when we applied for it. Then the officiant and witnesses had to sign it the day of the ceremony. 

daria24

We had a self-uniting wedding, so we and our two witnesses signed it during the ceremony.

But in a dozen+ weddings I've attended, I've never seen the license signed during the ceremony. But most of the weddings have been in PA, and I'm not sure if that is one of the states where only the officiant signs it.

misshart00

We signed ours directly after our ceremony before the reception. So did the minister and witnesses.

lyndausvi

We and the witnesses signed everything after the rehearsal.   The officiant signed it the day off and filed it with the court.  

When my sister got married  we (I was a witness) signed it in the back of the church after the ceremony.

wrigleyville

We got married in Vegas. We signed it immediately after the ceremony, as the guests were on their way to cocktail hour. 

We incorporated it into the WP photos since we only had a BM and MOH. Our photographer got some great shots of all of us signing it. H and I sat together while we each signed it, and then our BM and MOH sat together to sign it. Then we all held it up and did a silly group thumbs-up shot.

emmyg65

We also had a self-uniting ceremony (yay, PA!). During the ceremony, we actually signed a Quaker marriage certificate, and we didn't realize till about halfway through the reception that we forgot to sign the legally binding license. We meant to do it right after the ceremony, but got caught up in emotion and the momentum of the day.

WinstonsGirl

Team Canada here, but we got married in Hawaii.  We did all the license stuff before, but I think it all got signed after the ceremony too.  At least I remember signing something, as did our officiant and MOH/GM

SBmini

We're signing ours right after the ceremony.

lovesclimbing

I put B&G didn't sign it, I live somewhere weird (although I probably should have said signed it before the wedding).  I live in Alaska. Here, the B&G sign the license when they apply for it, so we signed it at the vital statistics office. 

However, that doesn't make them married. You have to have a ceremony by an officiant and then the officiant and two witnesses have to sign it before you're actually married. Our witnesses and our officiant signed it immediately following the receiving line (we had our ceremony and reception in the same church) and H and I fake signed it for the pictures.

HisGirlFriday13

Team PA here. We signed when we picked up the licence at the courthouse (which must be done at least three days but not more than 60 days before the wedding), then the priest signed the licence after the ceremony -- DH and I didn't sign it, and we didn't need witnesses to sign it, either.

[Deleted User]

I live in the states (Ohio to be specific) and we had to to do our signing part at the courthouse when we picked up our license, but we weren't married until the ceremony itself had been performed & the officiant signed the document along with two witnesses. The officiant and the witnesses signed the license after the ceremony.

KatWAG

We signed our at the rehearsal. Which is what our Pastor requested. He signed his portion after the ceremony.

Maggie0829

I live somewhere weird!!  Actually I live in MD and H and I didn't have to sign our license.  Only our officiant had to sign.  And he did so after we got back from our HM because we forgot the license on our wedding day and didn't really think about it until after we got back.

mysticl

We signed the application for the license when we applied.  The minister who performed the ceremony signed the license two days after the wedding.  His was the only signature needed on the license.  

HobokensFury

In NJ the bride and groom don't sign the license.

netskyblue2

In my first wedding, we signed right after the ceremony.  As in, walked back down the aisle to the back of the church where it was laying on a table, and signed.

My sister & her H signed during the ceremony, kind of as a "unity" thing. 

My now FI and I are signing just before the ceremony, because that's what our officiant says he prefers. 

wrigleyville

Schatzi13 said:

In the state where we married, the couple signs the license when they pick it up at the County Clerk's Office. The officiant and witness(es) sign it on the day. When I learned this, I was bummed that we wouldn't have photos of the two of us signing our license on the day like I'd seen in person or in albums of friends and family who had married in other states.

Are you already married? If not, you could stage a couple of shots. Just have your photographer snap a picture of you holding a pen at the very end of your signature, like you just finished signing it. 

We did something similar with our "getting ready" shots. I didn't really want to pay for extra time, and I didn't want yet another person in the room, so I skipped that. My photographer suggested doing some fakes so I'd have a few for the album. 

Examples: He had me touch the end of the lipstick to my mouth while looking in the mirror, my MOH put her hands on my headpiece like she was helping me attach it, and my mom put her hand on my zipper as if she'd just zipped it up. (These were all separate shots.) It took about a minute, and you can't tell they aren't "real" photos.

jenna8984

@wrigleyville That's a really good idea!! My mom is not the lovey dovey mushy type so she has no interest in getting ready with me and she just wants to show up when it's her turn to be in pics. I wanted one with her "helping" me get ready and I hadn't thought of doing a quickie fake shot lol thanks!! 

grumbledore

Question: why stage the fake shots at all? They are not photos of actual experiences... Idk why you would want them. Not judging, just legitimately don't understand the point.

Astrabacus

I'm a Brit living in Sweden, and in Britain you sign the marriage certificate (our version of a marriage license) directly after the ceremony, but sometimes guests stay to watch you sign it, generally, but you can actually sign it whenever you like after the ceremony and in the presence of your officiant.

In Sweden, it is part of the ceremony, and comes right at the very end, though I have heard of it being signed at other times.

JennyColada

I know that we have to pick up the license prior to the wedding no earlier than 90 days prior to the wedding, and same day service is available (but the clerk's office is only open M-F). I'm not sure about signing anything though. If we have to sign anything, we'll probably do it during our pre-ceremony cocktail hour with our officiant. I think we've decided that our moms will be our witnesses (but I'm going to ask my parents if my dad would rather do it, and give them the option).

countrygirl061513

I live in Texas and the B&G only sign the application for the license. The person conducting the ceremony is the only person that signs the license. No need for a witness or anything like that. I have never seen a ceremony where the license signing was included, but I haven't attended many weddings and the ones I have were here in Texas. It sounds like a neat addition to the ceremony though.