Courthouse Checklist (2027)

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Requirements vary — check your local courthouse, register office, or municipal clerk’s official requirements and write down the deadlines that apply to you: license validity, appointment rules, witness rules, fees, and ID. Every later item on this checklist hangs off these facts. Save screenshots so the rules are re-checkable offline.

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Choose your building and hold two or three date options — weekday mornings are usually easiest to book and best for photos. If you are marrying away from home, confirm the license must come from that same jurisdiction. Keep your celebration venue options in mind when choosing the ceremony time.

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Apply together with the required ID and documents, timed so your ceremony falls inside the license’s valid period — factoring in any waiting period your jurisdiction applies, which is usually zero to a few days where one exists. Keep the receipt and any reference numbers in your wedding folder from this moment on.

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Book your ceremony slot and save the confirmation email or letter in two places. Note the check-in time, room or floor, and any instructions about arriving early. If your office offers a choice of rooms or officiants, ask what differs — some rooms are far prettier than others.

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Write down every fee: license, ceremony, and later certified copies — usually modest totals, but exact amounts and accepted payment methods vary by office. Some counters are cash or money-order only. Put the right payment method in your wedding folder this week, not on the morning.

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Ask your witnesses — usually two adults — and name a backup. Tell them the date, arrival time, dress level, and that they must bring photo ID. If your office can supply witnesses for couples marrying alone, note that option too, but chosen witnesses make the signing a moment rather than a formality.

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Get the room’s exact guest capacity from your office and finalize your list inside it — remembering that witnesses, and sometimes the photographer, may count toward the total. Communicate plans to everyone else early, paired with celebration or later-party news. A firm, kind, early message prevents every version of this awkwardness.

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Reserve the celebration as soon as the ceremony is booked: restaurant, café, rooftop, or park plan, with food pre-ordered where possible and a cake arranged. Confirm the venue can receive your group at the realistic time — ceremony plus photos, not ceremony time itself. Share the venue’s address and parking notes with guests.

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Buy or order both outfits and book alterations immediately — wedding-season tailors fill fast. Include shoes in the fitting plan and start breaking them in at home. If either outfit is rented or vintage, add cleaning and pickup dates to the calendar now.

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Confirm your photographer (one to two hours is typical) or recruit and brief two phone shooters. Share the shot list, the building’s photo rules, and the timeline either way. Agree delivery times and a fast preview image for your announcement.

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Place the florist order (compact bouquet, boutonniere, optional witness posies) or write the DIY plan: which market, which flowers, which day to buy and condition them. Decide who holds the bouquet during the ceremony and where it waits — usually with a witness or on the signing table if the officiant agrees.

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If you are exchanging personal vows around the official ceremony, draft them now, read them aloud once for timing, and print or write two copies on cards. Keep them to about a minute each. Tell your photographer where and when the exchange happens so it is captured, not missed.

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Build the folder that runs the day: license paperwork, both photo IDs, appointment confirmation, payment method, and a printed timeline and contact list. Add phone photos of everything as backup. From now on, the folder lives in one known place at home and travels in one named person’s hands.

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Decide who carries the rings, when they hand them over, and where the box waits during the ceremony. Witnesses usually take this role. Take a photo of the rings for the detail shots and insure or at least record their details if they are valuable.

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Pack tissues, mints, blotting papers, lipstick, powder, safety pins, fashion tape, plasters, pain relief, and a phone charger into one pouch carried by a witness. Add spare flats in the car. Tick this off early so the morning never involves a pharmacy run.

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Send a short confirmation to every booked party three to five days out: celebration venue, photographer, florist, transport, and any hotel. Restate times and addresses. Written confirmations catch the misunderstandings that phone calls hide, and they take ten minutes total.

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Send one clear message to everyone attending: meeting point and time, ceremony address and parking, dress guidance, the celebration venue, and the request to hold social posts until you share first. Name the group-photo caller. This single message is the difference between a calm steps scene and a scattered one.

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The day before, lay out complete outfits with shoes, jewelry, and accessories; steam or press everything; and photograph the layout as a final completeness check. Pack the car with the folder, kit, and spare shoes. This is the check that turns the wedding morning into pure getting-ready pleasure.

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Wedding morning checks: real breakfast, water, outfits on, folder and rings in hand, and departure at the planned buffer time — not the latest possible time. Traffic, parking, and security lines all exist; early arrival converts them from threats into photo opportunities in an empty building.

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At the building: folder out, IDs ready, phones silenced except your shooters’. Follow staff directions for waiting and ceremony order, and keep the rings, bouquet, and kit with their assigned people. If anything is unclear, ask staff — they solve small problems all day long.

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Execute the photo plan while everyone is together and fresh: certificate portrait, steps portraits, exit moment, group photos largest-first, then your couple’s walk to one landmark. Keep the whole sequence to about 45 minutes so the celebration starts on time and guests stay cheerful.

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At the celebration, do the rituals properly: cut the cake together for the photos, raise sparkling cider or your zero-proof signature drink, and let witnesses and parents say their words. These ten minutes are what make a meal into a wedding reception, whatever its size.

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Before the day ends, create a shared album and have every guest add their photos and clips. Guest candids — waiting-room laughter, the exit from a different angle — round out the professional gallery beautifully. Collecting tonight, while phones are full and people are together, gets you files that ‘send them later’ never does.

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Within the first week, order multiple certified copies of your marriage certificate through your local office’s process — you will typically need them for name changes, banking, insurance, passports, and benefits. Store originals safely and keep scans backed up. Note that the signed license must be filed first; confirm filing happened if copies seem delayed.

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Close the checklist the way the wedding deserves: thank-you notes to witnesses, guests, and helpers within two weeks, and at least one framed print plus a small album ordered within the month. Your courthouse gallery is compact and coherent — it makes a beautiful little book with almost no editing decisions.