Marriage Certificate

You need to check with the area you're getting married in as it changes by state and each city will have different rules about where and when you apply and pick up the marriage lisence.

Usually its within 60ish days of the wedding, but like the previous poster said, it varies by state. Dont save it til the day before tho because it could take a couple days for it to be ready

In my state I can do it six months in advance or 48 hours before the ceremony. It's by state and county I believe.

Google "marriage certificate city, state." I found out all kinds of info I would not have thought about and timelines. We are getting married in one county but I am technically from a neighboring county but because I do not physically live there I have to get it from the county the ceremony is happening in. I also have to apply and wait 10 days to go pick it up. All counties vary though.

We're getting married in New York in August and per the state laws, the marriage license is only valid for 60 days. We're going to get ours on July 5th.

This varies by state. Where I live, in Virginia, you need to return it within 60 days.

In PA it’s 60 days before the wedding.

In New Jersey, it's only good for 30 days after you pick it up, but you need to give them at least 72 hours after you drop off the application and pay the fee. But the application is good for a year in my town. It's all unnecessarily complicated. You also have to bring a witness with you when you do the application. And if you go separately to sign the paper, the witness has to go with each of you.

My point is: call or go to the municipal building/town hall where you are getting married to get the specifics for you location. There are a lot of variables town to town.

Well, the certificate is the thing that comes after the wedding. You need a license. As PPs have stated, this varies by state. You need to know 2 things : how long the licenses in your state are good for , and if your state has a mandatory waiting period, and then you need to apply within that range. For us in MA, licenses are good for 60 days, but there is a 3 day waiting period between when you apply for the license and when you can pick it up. So, it is was essential we went in more than 3 days before the wedding! We ended up going about a month before the wedding as we had a random weekday available then. But every state is different— in some the licenses are only valid for 30 days, in some its as long as 180. In some there is no waiting period so you could even go in just a day or two before the wedding ! (Though I’d not recommend this if possible in case any issues come up !). The city or county clerk is who will have this information for you.

Depending on your state there are different rules. Some say no earlier than 60 days others say no earlier than 30 Days and some might even be more or less than that. So just check on your states rules to see!

I'm getting married in Hawaii and the state website states the license is only good for 30 days. Check the states website for an idea of when to get it

You need to check with your state or county clerks office. Here in MD you can get yours starting at the 30 day mark.