Signing the marriage license

First check if you even need to sign it. In the state of Texas you don't sign it after the ceremony, you sign when you pick it up at your county clerk office and that's it.

It's typically done after the kiss. You go over to a little table off to the side with your witnesses and do the signing. Dress the table with nice linens and lay your bouquet on it. It's nice to play a piece of music while this is happening and is a great opportunity for guests to take photos (without disturbing a speaking portion of the ceremony). Then you go back to the front so your officiant can "present" you formally as Mr. & Mrs. ______

Had NO idea this wasn't done everywhere???? I've never seen a wedding without it!

Oh man, I had no idea this wasn't done everywhere either! Crazy. But yah, CanadianBride said it all.

So it's after the kiss? We were thinking of putting it between the vows and rings or do you think that messes up the flow of the ceremony too much? I've never seen it done

Never saw it at a wedding ever... until last year. Maybe you Canadians are just ahead of the rest of us! lol... Not sure if we're doing it, still to be decided.

Signing is big part of a civil ceremony in some European countries. I think I really like the idea of it, it would represent my culture. I wonder if Virginia is one of the states that doesn't require a signature.

I'm from NY. I've never been to a wedding where people have done this. I've always thought that you picked up the license ahead of time and signed it at the county clerk's office. Hmm.

Http://www.cityclerk.nyc.gov/html/marriage/domestic_partnership_reg.shtml

Ooops. Wrong link.

http://www.cityclerk.nyc.gov/html/marriage/license.shtml

It's different in some states.

So I'm confused, if you sign the marriage license, are you automatically married then?

In Indiana you can't sign it until after they pronounce you husband and wife. We wanted to do it, but it would have been very confusing for our guests at that point, because everyone expects you to kiss and come back down the aisle. It just didn't feel like it flowed.

As far as I know, in California you can either signed it at the county clerk but that will be like a wedding and there are additional fees associated with that.

Or you can sign it during the actual ceremony and in our case it will be signed by our priest but don't exactly know when this is signed.

We had to sign at the clerk's office... only the pastor and our witnesses signed AFTER our ceremony.

In Florida, you obtain at the courthouse one sheet of paper that is basically 3 things in 1. Top portion is application for marriage license (B&G sign). Middle portion is license to marry (clerk of court signs). Bottom portion is marriage certificate (officiant signs AFTER the ceremony because it says that s/he married the couple).

You could have the pronouncement and kiss; you could pretend to sign the form (in Fla.); witnesses could sign, and officiant could sign; then have officiant introduce you as Mr. & Mrs.; then do recessional.

Wow! I never thought of putting that in the ceremony. I really like that idea. I am going to check it out and see if we can do that.

In ohio we have the official marriage license that we sign with the officiant and has to be sent back into the state and they send us our official license 2-3 weeks later. We also get a SOUVENIR copy that is very ornate which is what we would sign during the ceremony.

____

The thought was to have the pastor talk about the difference between a contract and a covenant and the type of covenant you are making to each other by signing the marriage license and then having us and our two witnesses sign

@Anren, thanks for that link! I already knew most of the information, but I didn't realize that all I had to do to change my last name was to put it on the marriage license. Oh, NY state, you are so helpful!