How to Get Married in KY

Step by Step Guide to Get Married in KY

1. Decide to get married!

2. Decide the details of your wedding - your location, your officiant, your  witnesses, any services such as religious ceremony, reception, catering, entertainment, etc.

3. Both you and your partner should present yourself to your county clerk, request a marriage license, provide legal identification, and pay any associated fees.

4. After receiving your marriage license, you have 30 days to become married. If you are not married within 30 days, you'll need to go and request a new license.

5. At a time and place of your choosing somewhere within Kentucky, you and your partner, a qualified officiant, and at least two competent witnesses will solemnize your wedding.

6. The solemnization will be recorded, signed and witnessed by the persons, officiant and witnesses upon the marriage license. (No notarization is needed.)

7. The newly married couple will return their marriage license to their county clerk, and will thus be recorded as married.

8. The married persons will receive their legal marriage certificate by mail from the county clerk. 

Marriage is generally classified two ways; legal (secular) marriage and religious (traditional) marriage. 

Legal marriage is a contractual, legally defined unity between two persons. It is recognized by law by both the Commonwealth of Kentucky and The United States of America, and may entail certain rights, privileges, or responsibilities to the enjoined parties, such as the ability to file taxes jointly, or to own property jointly. 

Religious, spiritual or cultural-traditional marriage is found in most major religions, spiritualities, and world cultural traditions, and is generally considered a symbolic unification between persons. It does not necesarily entail legal recognition by a governmental authority. Most persons getting married choose to become legally married and religiously married in one singular ceremony. 

However, some choose to only become legally married, and some choose to only become religiously married! As an ordained minister, I am both qualified to enjoin you and your partner in legal marriage, and to celebrate religious or traditional marriage ceremonies. 

View the 2021 Kentucky Marriage Law Guide for County Clerks Below;