Marriage license fees, waiting periods, and application procedures are set at the state and county level, and they change — fees get adjusted, offices switch from walk-in to appointment-only, online pre-application systems get added or retired. A guide that was correct a year ago can be wrong today. Here is exactly how we try to keep that from happening.

1. We start at the official source

Every county guide is built from the official county clerk, county court, or state vital records website for that jurisdiction — never from a third-party blog, a wedding vendor’s site, or a forum post. When a county’s official fee schedule or requirements page is unclear or contradictory, we note that in the guide rather than filling the gap with a guess.

2. We link to the source and date our work

Every guide ends with a source box naming the exact office and page we verified the information against, and the month we last checked it. If you find a fee or requirement that no longer matches the official source, that date tells you how stale it might be — and it tells us where to check first.

3. We separate state law from county practice

Some things are set by state law and apply the same way across every county in that state — the minimum marriage age, whether blood tests are required (as of 2026, no state requires one for all applicants), and in some states, a mandatory waiting period. Other things are set office by office — the fee, whether you need an appointment, hours, and whether cash, card, or exact change is required. We research both layers separately so a change in one doesn’t make us miss a change in the other.

4. We re-check published guides on a schedule

Newly published guides are prioritized by how many marriages happen in that county each year — the more weddings, the more often we revisit it. As our library grows, every published county guide gets re-checked against its official source on a recurring basis, not just once at publication. If you’re reading a guide and the “last verified” date looks old, treat the fee as a starting point and confirm it directly with the county before you show up to apply.

5. Corrections get fixed fast

If a reader reports an error — a fee that changed, an office that moved, a link that broke — we verify it against the official source and update the guide, usually within a few days. Use the Contact page to send a correction.