Hawaii Marriage License Information
To be legally married in Hawaii, you need a marriage license issued directly to you from the State of Hawaii. You can apply and pay for it on-line anytime before your wedding, but you must have your identities verified by the marriage license office in-person, here in Hawaii after which, you will be issued your marriage license which is good for 30 days. Bring your license to the ceremony and give to the officiate/minister.
FYI: Other than us providing you information and how to do it (below), we can't do more. This is something only you can do, just like getting a drivers license or passport.
FYI: You do not need a marriage license if you are already married legally somewhere else.
NOTICE
All information herein is provided to the best of our knowledge and is subject to change without notice. Please confirm all information directly with the State of Hawaii Marriage License Office.
ON-LINE WEBSITE APPLICATION
The State of Hawaii has a on-line web-based application system allowing you to apply for and pay for your marriage license (see link below). You can apply for your on-line license any time. IMPORTANT: This is not your marriage license, it is only the application.
FYI: We highly recommend this. It will shorten your time spent at the marriage license office and will enable you to download a legal temporary license after your wedding while you wait for your official license to be mailed to you from the State which takes anywhere from 30 to 120 days.
Important: Save your on-line marriage license application receipt from the marriage license office. Print it out and bring it with you. It has your personal document locator number for your account. You cannot access your account to download your marriage license from the State website without this number. It's not printed on the license and neither the minister nor AHW has access to this number, only you do. If you loose it, you'll have to wait until your license is mailed to you.
Note: The application asks for the name of the officiate/minister. This is not a legal requirement and the form is incorrect. Clients have told us that the form will not process without a name. The marriage license office says to put in any name on their list and correct it at your ID verification meeting. If you want to apply for your license before we confirm your officiate, use the method proscribed above by the marriage license office.
FYI: We will email you the name of your confirmed officiate/minister for your event about 1 week before the beginning of the month of your event.
VERIFY YOUR IDENTITIES AND PICK-UP YOUR MARRIAGE LICENSE
Both of you (bride & groom) must appear in person at the State Health Dept. Marriage license office to verify your identities and have your marriage license issued. Bring your on-line application paperwork and a government issued photo ID (drivers license for domestic and passport for international). Once your license is certified, it will must be used within 30 days.
The license office is open Monday to Friday from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm except on US and Hawaii state holidays. We suggest you get there before 3:30 pm. Check the official website to confirm all open dates and times.
Licenses can also be issued on evenings, weekends, and other closure dates by appointment only with one of the marriage offices designated agents. We can give you names of agents that we know of or you can get this from the marriage license office. Do not wait till the last minute to do this!
You can also do this at the Sheraton Waikiki Hotel, lobby level, Mon–Fri, except State holidays, 9:00 – 5:00. You make an appointment by calling (808) 931-8349. Note: For the Sheraton Waikiki office, you must have first applied and paid for your license online—they do not accept paper applications.
BRING YOUR MARRIAGE LICENSE TO CEREMONY ON WEDDING DAY
Bring your marriage license to the ceremony site and give it to the officiate/minister before services begin.
If you forget it in the hotel room, do not turn around to get it! This could cause you to be late and we may not be able to perform your ceremony as planned or not at all. Additional arrangements and fees will apply to have the officiate certify it, but it's better than us not doing your ceremony at all!
AFTER THE CEREMONY AND WEDDING
Your marriage license will be submitted electronically by the officiate/minister to the State Health Dept (only if you did a on-line application). Most do it within a day or two, but we allow our officiates up to 5 days because, it takes about 15 minutes per wedding to fill everything out on-line for submittal. We cannot ask our vendors to spend another hour or two in the evening and after doing weddings all day to also do submittals.
Note: If you absolutely must have your license submitted that night or by the next day, ask the officiate after the wedding and pay his small fee or just give him a really good tip... before you ask :)
AFTER SUBMITTAL
Within 48 hours of submittal by the officiate/minister, you will be able to download a copy of your temporary license from the State of Hawaii website. Your official marriage license will be mailed to you directly from the State of Hawaii usually within 30-120 days.
Apostille for Foreign Countries
A certified copy of a marriage certificate issued by the State of Hawaii may need to be officially authenticated in order that it be recognized and accepted by some foreign countries.
For those countries who are nations that have joined the 1961 Hague Convention (see below), the authentication process requires a certificate called an "Apostille" to accompany the marriage certificate.
When you go to the Health Dept. marriage license office, make sure you notify them that you will need an Apostille. They will give you the proper forms and give your instructions. Not to worry, it's as simple as filling out the form.
If you cannot wait for the license office to mail you your Apostille, we understand that they can usually have it for you within a day after your license is submitted by the officiate. You will need to have the officiate/minister do a same day submittal as described above and go back to the Health Dept. Ask the officiate that day for additional instruction. There is an additional fee for this service.
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