We are now performing Wedding Ceremonies!

This is not an endeavor I take lightly & neither should you. I have spent many years contemplating this decision & I am finally ready, myself!

Getting married is a decision that should be made with careful thought & consideration as such I will require a meeting between the two parties at least 1 week before the Ceremony.  If there are children from a previous marriage or relationship it would be prudent to include them as well.

My "Goal" is not to just make a quick buck, file a form & be done with you, it is my hope that when times get hard as they most certainly will that you would consider me an ally, a friend & a confidant. I want you to be successful,

I have also made the decision that I will not perform weddings for those underage even with parental permission. If you were previously married I will need to see a divorce decree, which you can get when you file for your marriage license at the courthouse... You would be totally flabbergasted at how many people think they are divorced that are not. So please remember to bring your marriage license, 2 marriage certificates, 2 pieces of ID & a divorce decree if it applies. I have included all the laws governing marriage in this state so that you are aware of them as well as the laws pertaining to my authority to perform your blessed union.  There are also instructions on all the paperwork needed as well in case you need it.

At this point I only know of a good photographer, the caterer, the seamstresses, the Bridal store, the Tux shops, the florist we will work on finding for future use, & if you know of any of these folks with a good standing with the Better Business bureau please by all means let us know & we can list them here & refer them to prospective clients. We don't have a brick & mortar building at this point so I will be doing weddings at halls & private homes

PLEASE NOTE: Remember mercy, if you would like me to perform your wedding in a hot air balloon 10K feet up in the air you might want to have a video camera on hand to send to America's Funniest Home Videos for a segment of when the Minister faints or throws up you might just win. If you want to get married up on Mt Rainier, we can do that as long as I have solid ground under my feet!

So let's get started on this great adventure! (And I expect pictures of future & current children occasionally!)

 

When and Where The Marriage License Can Be Used To Get Married

Washington State marriage licenses become valid for use on the third day following application and are then valid for 60 days. For example, if an application is made on Wednesday, the first day the marriage license can be used is Saturday and the last day it can be used is 60 days later.

The wedding ceremony must take place within this period; if not, the couple will need to apply for a new marriage license.

Under no circumstances can the three-day waiting period be waived.

A marriage license purchased from any county in Washington State can be used to get married anywhere in Washington State. The permanent record of the marriage certificate will be recorded with the county from which the marriage license was purchased.


Who Can Officiate (Perform) The Wedding Ceremony?

Judges, Justices and Commissioners

Justices of the Washington State Supreme Court


Judges of the Washington State Court of Appeals

Judges of the superior courts and superior court commissioners in Washington State.

Judges of courts of limited jurisdiction (district courts or municipal courts) in Washington State.

Only Washington State judges can perform weddings in Washington State.

A pro-tem Washington State judge cannot perform a wedding ceremony in Washington State

Religious Affiliates

Any regularly licensed or ordained minister or any priest of any church or religious denomination.


A minister from a church in another state can perform a wedding ceremony in Washington State and is not required to register with the State in order to do so.

Washington State does not license persons to perform weddings. In this sense, the word, 'license', is not an official governmental function of issuing a license or permission to perform weddings, but more a function of recognition by the religious affiliation. If the minister or priest is recognized as ordained or granted the power by the religious organization to officiate wedding ceremonies, that person is 'licensed' to do so in Washington State.

Preparing and Completing the Marriage License Forms

Directions for completing marriage license forms and filing them after the ceremony can be found at Preparing and distributing the marriage license forms.

Within 30 days of the wedding ceremony, the officiant must return the completed Washington State Department of Health Certificate

The Wedding Ceremony

Proxy Weddings

Proxy weddings (where someone stands in for the other party) are not recognized. The two parties must be physically present before the two witnesses and the officiant in order for the ceremony to be performed.

Format

A wedding ceremony must take place; simply applying for and obtaining a marriage license does not make you married.

A minimum of five persons must be present at the wedding ceremony: officiant, the couple, and two witnesses.
The parties must assent or declare, in the physical presence of the officiant solemnizing the marriage and at least two attending witnesses, that they take each other to be husband and wife.

Witnesses

Two persons are required to witness the exchange of vows.

The officiant can not serve as a witness.

State law does not specify the age of witnesses; however, the persons are witnessing a civil contract. As such, a witness is deemed competent for this purpose usually at the age of 18. If applicants wish to have persons under the age of 18 witness the ceremony, we recommend they have two other witnesses who are over 18 also observe the exchange of vows and sign the marriage certificates. More than two witnesses may sign the certificates.

Signing the Marriage License Forms

All forms must be signed with current name, the one with which the party applied.

 Chapter 26.04 RCW Marriage


Certificates for out-of-state marriage license requirements: RCW 70.58.380.

The department shall prescribe by rule a schedule of fees for providing certificates necessary to meet marriage license requirements of other states. The fees shall be predicated on the costs of conducting premarital blood screening tests and issuing certificates.

26.04.010 Marriage contract — Void marriages.
(1) Marriage is a civil contract between a male and a female who have each attained the age of eighteen years, and who are otherwise capable.
     (2) Every marriage entered into in which either the husband or the wife has not attained the age of seventeen years is void except where this section has been waived by a superior court judge of the county in which one of the parties resides on a showing of necessity.

26.04.020 Prohibited marriages.
(1) Marriages in the following cases are prohibited:
     (a) When either party thereto has a wife or husband living at the time of such marriage;
     (b) When the husband and wife are nearer of kin to each other than second cousins, whether of the whole or half blood computing by the rules of the civil law; or
     (c) When the parties are persons other than a male and a female.
     (2) It is unlawful for any man to marry his father's sister, mother's sister, daughter, sister, son's daughter, daughter's daughter, brother's daughter or sister's daughter; it is unlawful for any woman to marry her father's brother, mother's brother, son, brother, son's son, daughter's son, brother's son or sister's son.
     (3) A marriage between two persons that is recognized as valid in another jurisdiction is valid in this state only if the marriage is not prohibited or made unlawful under subsection (1)(a), (1)(c), or (2) of this section.
Bigamy: RCW 9A.64.010.
Incest -- Penalties: RCW 9A.64.020.

26.04.050 Who may solemnize.
The following named officers and persons, active or retired, are hereby authorized to solemnize marriages, to wit: Justices of the supreme court, judges of the court of appeals, judges of the superior courts, supreme court commissioners, court of appeals commissioners, superior court commissioners, any regularly licensed or ordained minister or any priest of any church or religious denomination, and judges of courts of limited jurisdiction as defined in RCW 3.02.010.

26.04.060 Marriage before unauthorized cleric — Effect.
A marriage solemnized before any person professing to be a minister or a priest of any religious denomination in this state or professing to be an authorized officer thereof, is not void, nor shall the validity thereof be in any way affected on account of any want of power or authority in such person, if such marriage be consummated with a belief on the part of the persons so married, or either of them, that they have been lawfully joined in marriage.

26.04.070 Form of solemnization.
In the solemnization of marriage no particular form is required, except that the parties thereto shall assent or declare in the presence of the minister, priest, or judicial officer solemnizing the same, and in the presence of at least two attending witnesses, that they take each other to be husband and wife.

26.04.080 Marriage certificate — Contents.
The person solemnizing a marriage shall give to each of the parties thereto, if required, a certificate thereof, specifying therein the names and residence of the parties, and of at least two witnesses present, the time and place of such marriage, and the date of the license thereof, and by whom issued.

26.04.090 Certificate for files of county auditor and state registrar of vital statistics — Forms.
A person solemnizing a marriage shall, within thirty days thereafter, make and deliver to the county auditor of the county wherein the license was issued a certificate for the files of the county auditor, and a certificate for the files of the state registrar of vital statistics.

26.04.100 Filing and recording — County auditor.
The county auditor shall file said certificates and record them or bind them into numbered volumes, and note on the original index to the license issued the volume and page wherein such certificate is recorded or bound. He or she shall enter the date of filing and his or her name on the certificates for the files of the state registrar of vital statistics, and transmit, by the tenth day of each month, all such certificates filed with him or her during the preceding month.

26.04.105 Preservation of copies of applications and licenses — County auditor.
The county auditor may preserve copies of marriage license applications submitted and marriage licenses issued under this chapter in the same manner as authorized for the recording of instruments under RCW 65.04.040.

26.04.110 Penalty for failure to deliver certificates.
Any person solemnizing a marriage, who shall wilfully refuse or neglect to make and deliver to the county auditor for record, the certificates mentioned in RCW 26.04.090, within the time in such section specified, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction shall pay for such refusal, or neglect, a fine of not less than twenty-five nor more than three hundred dollars.

26.04.120 Marriage according to religious ritual.
All marriages to which there are no legal impediments, solemnized before or in any religious organization or congregation, according to the established ritual or form commonly practiced therein, are valid, and a certificate containing the particulars specified in RCW 26.04.080 and 26.04.090, shall be made and filed for record by the person or persons presiding or officiating in or recording the proceedings of such religious organization or congregation, in the manner and with like effect as in ordinary cases.

26.04.130 Voidable marriages.
When either party to a marriage shall be incapable of consenting thereto, for want of legal age or a sufficient understanding, or when the consent of either party shall be obtained by force or fraud, such marriage is voidable, but only at the suit of the party laboring under the disability, or upon whom the force or fraud is imposed.

26.04.140 Marriage license.
Before any persons can be joined in marriage, they shall procure a license from a county auditor, as provided in RCW 26.04.150 through 26.04.190.

26.04.150 Application for license — May be secured by mail — Execution and acknowledgment.
Any person may secure by mail from the county auditor of the county in the state of Washington where he or she intends to be married, an application, and execute and acknowledge said application before a notary public.

26.04.160 Application for license — Contents — Oath.
(1) Application for a marriage license must be made and filed with the appropriate county auditor upon blanks to be provided by the county auditor for that purpose, which application shall be under the oath of each of the applicants, and each application shall state the name, address at the time of execution of application, age, social security number, birthplace, whether single, widowed or divorced, and whether under control of a guardian, residence during the past six months: PROVIDED, That each county may require such other and further information on said application as it shall deem necessary.
     (2) The county legislative authority may impose an additional fee up to fifteen dollars on a marriage license for the purpose of funding family services such as family support centers.

26.04.165 Additional marriage certificate form.
In addition to the application provided for in RCW 26.04.160, the county auditor for the county wherein the license is issued shall submit to each applicant at the time for application for a license the Washington state department of health marriage certificate form prescribed by *RCW 70.58.200 to be completed by the applicants and returned to the county auditor for the files of the state registrar of vital statistics. After the execution of the application for, and the issuance of a license, no county shall require the persons authorized to solemnize marriages to obtain any further information from the persons to be married except the names and county of residence of the persons to be married.

26.04.170 Inspection of applications.
Any such application shall be open to public inspection as a part of the records of the office of such county auditor.

26.04.175 When disclosure of marriage applications and records prohibited.
If a program participant under chapter 40.24 RCW notifies the appropriate county auditor as required under rules adopted by the secretary of state, the county auditor shall not make available for inspection or copying the name and address of a program participant contained in marriage applications and records filed under chapter 26.04 RCW, except under the following circumstances:
     (1) If requested by a law enforcement agency, to the law enforcement agency; and
     (2) If directed by a court order, to a person identified in the order.


26.04.180 License — Time limitations as to issuance and use — Notification.
The county auditor may issue the marriage license at the time of application, but shall issue such license no later than the third full day following the date of the application. A marriage license issued pursuant to the provisions of this chapter may not be used until three days after the date of application and shall become void if the marriage is not solemnized within sixty days of the date of the issuance of the license, and the county auditor shall notify the applicant in writing of this requirement at the time of issuance of the license.

26.04.190 Refusal of license — Appeal.
Any county auditor is hereby authorized to refuse to issue a license to marry if, in his or her discretion, the applications executed by the parties or information coming to his or her knowledge as a result of the execution of said applications, justifies said refusal: PROVIDED, HOWEVER, The denied parties may appeal to the superior court of said county for an order to show cause, directed to said county auditor to appear before said court to show why said court should not grant an order to issue a license to said denied parties and, after due hearing, or if the auditor fails to appear, said court may in its discretion, issue an order to said auditor directing him or her to issue said license; any hearings held by a superior court under RCW 26.04.140 through 26.04.200 may, in the discretion of said court, be held in chambers.

26.04.200 Penalty for violations — 1939 c 204.
Any person intentionally violating any provision of RCW 26.04.140 through 26.04.190 shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

26.04.210 Affidavits required for issuance of license — Penalties.
(1) The county auditor, before a marriage license is issued, upon the payment of a license fee as fixed in RCW 36.18.010 shall require each applicant therefor to make and file in the auditor's office upon blanks to be provided by the county for that purpose, an affidavit showing that if an applicant is afflicted with any contagious sexually transmitted disease, the condition is known to both applicants, and that the applicants are the age of eighteen years or over. If the consent in writing is obtained of the father, mother, or legal guardian of the person for whom the license is required, the license may be granted in cases where the female has attained the age of seventeen years or the male has attained the age of seventeen years. Such affidavit may be subscribed and sworn to before any person authorized to administer oaths.
     (2) Anyone knowingly swearing falsely to any of the statements contained in the affidavits mentioned in this section is guilty of perjury under chapter 9A.72 RCW.
     (3) The affidavit form shall be designed to require a statement that no contagious sexually transmitted disease is present or that the condition is known to both applicants, without requiring the applicants to state whether or not either or both of them are afflicted by such disease.
     (4) Any person knowingly violating this section is guilty of a class C felony and shall be punished by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars, or by imprisonment in a state correctional facility for a period of not more than three years, or by both such fine and imprisonment.

26.04.220 Retention of license by person solemnizing — Auditor's record.
The person solemnizing the marriage is authorized to retain in his or her possession the license, but the county auditor who issues the same, before delivering it, shall enter in his or her marriage record a memorandum of the names of the parties, the consent of the parents or guardian, if any, and the name of the affiant and the substance of the affidavit upon which said license issued, and the date of such license.

26.04.240 Penalty for unlawful solemnization — Code 1881.
Any person who shall undertake to join others in marriage knowing that he or she is not lawfully authorized so to do, or any person authorized to solemnize marriage, who shall join persons in marriage contrary to the provisions of *this chapter, shall, upon conviction thereof, be punished by a fine of not more than five hundred, nor less than one hundred dollars.

26.04.250 Penalty for unlawful solemnization — 1909 c 249.
Every person who shall solemnize a marriage when either party thereto is known to him or her to be under the age of legal consent or a marriage to which, within his or her knowledge, any legal impediment exists, shall be guilty of a gross misdemeanor. Notes: Punishment of gross misdemeanor when not fixed by statute: RCW 9.92.020.

Businesses we can endorse through personal knowledge

1) Photographer: Angela Mulberg, at Silivirinwolf Studio's it is her artwork that is featured on our front page, the picture of my Schnauzer Soffia. She has done a bit of or photography for our rescues as well & she can bring out the beauty of our most pitiful little dogs so the world can see the true beauty inside of them.


Alternative's to marriage ceremonies I have been to a few weddings to learn & here is my list so far of people who had a very beautiful ceremony.

1) Judge Timothy O'Dell (at Everett Municipal Court) it was a very heartfelt ceremony, & I would say I had a very personal stake in this wedding since he is the one who married my son & my new daughter-in-law, both of whom I love very much. I was very impressed with everything overall. (Oh & you get a discount if you go on the weekdays!)

 
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