Guides · October 11, 2026

Who can officiate your wedding, and do you need witnesses? Fourteen states

The license gets all the attention, but three other rules decide whether the marriage is recorded: who performs it, who witnesses it, and who returns the paper afterwards. They differ from state to state more than couples expect. This is general information from official pages, not legal advice.

Couple holding hands in front of an officiant

Witnesses and the deadline to return the license

Checked in October 2026 on state statutes and official clerk pages. Where no official page states a rule, the table says so.

State	Witnesses at the ceremony	Signed license goes back
California	One, on a public license; none on a confidential license	By the officiant, within 10 days
Colorado	None	Within 63 days; late returns are fined
Florida	None, according to a county clerk page	By the officiant, within 10 days
Georgia	None	To the probate court, within 30 days
Hawaii	Not stated on the pages we read: ask	The performer reports within three business days
Illinois	None	Within 10 days
Massachusetts	None	By the officiant, to the clerk who issued it
Nevada	At least one	By the officiant, within 10 days
New Jersey	Two, according to a municipal registrar page	By the officiant, to the registrar where the ceremony took place
New York	At least one	By the officiant, within 5 days
North Carolina	At least two	By the officiant, within 10 days
Pennsylvania	Two for a self-uniting license	Within 10 days
Texas	None appears in the statute: ask the clerk	By the officiant, within 30 days
Washington	At least two	By the officiant, within 30 days

Can a friend or relative marry you?

In some states there is an official one-time route. In others there is none, and a friend would need to be ordained or hold an office that qualifies.

State	What the official pages offer
California	Deputy Commissioner for a Day, run by county clerks and not available in every county. Los Angeles County charges $75 and asks for the application two months ahead.
Colorado	You can solemnize your own marriage. That does not let a friend sign as the officiant.
Florida	A Florida notary public may officiate.
Hawaii	Anyone 18 or older can get a civil license to perform marriages from the Department of Health. Register at least two weeks before.
Massachusetts	One-Day Designation from the Secretary of the Commonwealth: $20 online, applied for between six months and one week before.
Nevada	The county clerk can authorize one person for one specific ceremony, for a $25 fee. Clark County wants the application at least 30 days ahead.
New York	One-day marriage officiant license, $25, from the same town or city clerk that issues your marriage license.
Pennsylvania	A self-uniting license lets you marry without an officiant, with two witnesses. A friend may preside only unofficially.
Georgia, Illinois, New Jersey, North Carolina, Texas, Washington	No one-time designation found on the official pages we read.

Online ordination

Most official pages say nothing about it, and several say they do not check an officiant's credentials at all. That is not the same as saying it is valid.

New Jersey's Department of Health is the only state page we found that addresses it directly: it says ministers ordained through an online ministry can perform the ceremony, and suggests confirming with that ministry.
California's Department of Public Health says officiants do not file credentials with anyone, and that verification is up to the couple.
Illinois and Georgia clerk pages say they keep no record of officiants' credentials.
Philadelphia's marriage license office warns that if you are married by someone who is not qualified under state law, you are responsible for proving the marriage is legal.
Texas law makes it an offense to knowingly conduct a ceremony without authorization.

What this means for your plan

Choose the officiant before you choose the readings. Ask them directly whether they are authorized in the state where you will marry.
If a friend will officiate, start the paperwork early: the one-time routes take from a week to two months.
Decide who your witnesses are and tell them, where the state requires them.
Agree who returns the license and by when. The deadline is as short as three business days.
A few weeks after the wedding, check with the clerk that it was recorded. You cannot order certified copies until it is.

Questions for the clerk

Who is authorized to perform a marriage here?
Is there a one-day or single-ceremony authorization, what does it cost and how long does it take?
How many witnesses must sign, and is there a minimum age?
Who returns the signed license, where, and by what date?
How and when can we order certified copies?

Sources:

General information for planning, not legal or financial advice. My Wedding Plan is independent and not affiliated with the sources cited.