How to Get a Marriage Certificate from Years or Decades Ago
Marriage records are permanent — a certificate from 1968 is just as accessible as one from last year. But locating it, knowing which office holds it, and navigating pre-digital archives requires a different approach than a recent request.
Why Old Marriage Records Are Different to Request
Marriage licenses in the US are issued at the county level. The county clerk in the county where the license was applied for holds the record — and that office, that address, those files, and those staff members may have changed significantly over the decades since your marriage.
The key challenges with older records are: (1) knowing which county the license was in, (2) knowing whether that county's records have been digitized, (3) knowing whether older records were transferred to a separate archive, and (4) finding the correct office when county jurisdictions have been reorganized.
Step 1: Identify the County
The license was issued by the county where you applied — typically the county where one or both parties lived at the time, or a county you chose for convenience. If you don't remember which county:
- Contact the state vital records office — most states maintain a statewide marriage index and can tell you the county of filing even if they don't hold the full record themselves
- Search FamilySearch.org — for marriages before roughly 1995, many state marriage indexes have been digitized and are searchable for free
- Check old paperwork — any correspondence, invitation, or document from around the wedding may reference the county
- Contact the officiant's church or organization — religious institutions often kept their own marriage records that include the license county
Step 2: Contact the County Clerk's Office
Once you have the county, search for "[county name] [state] county clerk" or "[county name] register of deeds" depending on the state. Call or email them before submitting anything. Ask specifically:
- Do you hold marriage records from [year]?
- Are those records digitized or in physical archives?
- What is your current process for requesting a certified copy?
- What is the current fee?
County clerk offices are generally helpful for these inquiries. They handle historical record requests regularly.
When Records Aren't Digitized
Pre-1980 (and in some counties pre-1990) records may exist only on microfilm, in ledger books, or in storage facilities. These are still accessible — it just takes longer. The county clerk will tell you their process for physical archive requests. Expect:
- Longer processing times — 2–8 weeks rather than same-day or next-day
- Possible fees for archive research in addition to the copy fee
- Copies may come as photocopies of the original ledger entry rather than a digital reprint
A photocopy of the original ledger entry, certified by the county clerk, is fully legally valid. It may look different from a modern computer-generated certificate but is accepted by government agencies and courts.
When the County or Office Has Changed
Counties are occasionally divided, merged, or renamed. Courts are reorganized. If the county you're looking for doesn't seem to exist, or the office has a different name than expected:
- Search "[former county name] [state] records" to find where historical records were transferred
- The state vital records office or state archives can typically direct you to the correct current custodian of records from reorganized jurisdictions
- The State Archives is the fallback for very old records that county offices have transferred out of active storage
Marriage Records from the 1800s and Early 1900s
For marriages before approximately 1920, records are often most accessible through genealogical databases rather than through direct government requests. FamilySearch has indexed and digitized marriage records for many states going back to the 1800s. If you need a certified copy rather than just the information, the state archives or county historical society can guide you to the current record custodian.
Frequently Asked Questions
Call the state vital records office for the state where you got married and ask them to search their marriage index. Most states can search by name and year. They'll tell you the county of registration even if they don't issue certified copies themselves. This is typically a free phone inquiry.
Yes. Both parties to the marriage have the right to a certified copy regardless of whether the marriage is still intact. In many states, older marriage records are treated as public and available to anyone. The request process is the same — contact the county clerk in the county where the license was issued.
First, try different name spellings and a range of years — search errors are common with older records. If the county truly has no record, it's possible the license was issued in an adjacent county, or that records from that period were transferred to the state archives or a records center. Ask the clerk specifically whether records from that year were moved to another location. The state vital records office may also have a copy of what the county reported to them.