Marriage License Bureau

Look at this beautiful frame with the Full name and date of service. They are there to remember/memories. I really appreciate all they labor.

Vicky here on my husband's account. We had to call this office today for some verification of a marriage license from almost 30 years ago. The ladies at this office were awesome!! We called twice. They were professional, kind, patient and very helpful. Very happy and thankful to give a 5 star review for the employees here!

I got denied a message license because they thought New Mexico was a foreign country. I was dumbfounded by this and asked for a supervisor, they agreed that New Mexico wasn't a real state! Then after doing some research I learned that this isn't even the first time they have done this!

Getting a marriage license here was extremely simple, quick, and pleasant. We wanted to do an elopement, and the process is seamless: go into the office, get a marriage license, leave the courthouse premises (per DC law), sign the paper, and take the signed paper back. You can get the license and get married anywhere in the District, although we just went across the street.

Much more straightforward than a trip to the DMV which is always a nice surprise. Just skip doing anything online because it's not worth the effort. Plan to spend about 2 hours here and taking a walk to Starbucks to self officiate. Staff was very helpful and easy to work with. 10 out of 10 would get married again (but hopefully not 🤭)

I wanted to give some info after going last week in-person to get our marriage license and certificate. We went at 3pm on a Friday and waited about 30-40 minutes to be seen. The reviews on here were helpful to find the office. Go through security, go down the elevator to JM level, make a right and go to the end of the hall. Everyone was very helpful and friendly.
Steps: You fill check in on a waitlist, fill out a form for the license, get called back, they sign it and copy both your ID's, you go pay for the license at a different office (in the same hallway) and come back with your receipt. A note, they charge a 4.5% credit card fee.
To then obtain the certificate, you have two choices, either you can "self-officiate" which can be done same day with just you and your spouse or you can schedule a hearing at the courthouse (and must bring a witness). They were booking about 2 weeks out for the courthouse hearing, so we chose to self-officiate. To do this, you are given an official form to take out of the courthouse (can't be signed onsite) and are supposed to be further than 2 blocks away from the courthouse. You sign it and then bring it back, wait your turn again and then they file it away. You can walk out with a Certified copy of your official certificate that day (and either pay for more copies same day or pay to have them mailed to you).
Something to remember since this whole process can take anywhere from 2-3 hours, they stop processing certificate forms at 4:15pm every day. So I would recommend getting there no later than 2pm if you are hoping to walk out with a certificate that day. If you don't get it in by 4:15pm, you will have to bring it back another day for processing (within 10 business days).
It's alot of steps but overall they have it organized and we had a great experience. I would recommend people doing this over the online option which took about 1-2 months to get a response back.

Go in person - both for the license and certificate.
Like others have said, after waiting until 2 weeks before our wedding we had to go into the office to get the license. Its now been almost 60 days since filling out their online form for a certified copy of the license with no emails. They can't expediate anything on the phone - not worth calling. BUT when I did go in person for the license everyone there was very nice and pleasant to work with.. But living outside of DC and taking time off work to go into the courthouse isn't fun. Find public parking garage, find the building and go downstairs.