| The following are the requirements to be issued a Los Angeles County Confidential Marriage License at Cherished Vows Chapel:
1. You must be at least 18 years of age.
2. You must possess a valid driver's license or State issued ID card, or Passport, or Military ID -- with picture and signature. A birth certificate alone is not valid identification. These ID's must be valid, and NOT expired.
3. You must get married within the next 90 days. If you don't get married in that time period, the license will expire and you must purchase another license.
4. There is NO blood test or waiting period.
5. Ceremony must be performed in Los Angeles County. California is a "ceremonial state" which means that just getting the licenses does not mean you are married -- you must have a third person to perform the ceremony --ordained clergy person, judge, retired judge or deputy commissioner of marriage.
6. Two persons of the same sex cannot be issued a license in Los Angeles County.
7. If either of you has been divorced in the last two (2) years, you must bring along a copy of your divorce papers.
8. If either of you has been widowed in the last (2) years, bring along a copy of the death certificate.
9. Minors 17 years old and younger, must contact the County Recorder's office for the rules of issuance of a license to a minor. We cannot issue the license, however we can marry you in our chapel. Call us after you receive your license from the recorders office.
What is a Confidential Marriage License?
In California, there are two types of licenses - the regular public license which requires a witness, and the Confidential which requires no witnesses.
Originally the Confidential was designed (in 1970) so that people living together didn't have to take the dreaded blood test. Now California requires no blood test, but both kinds are still being issued. The Confidential is the only license they allow notaries to issue - and the only kind you can obtain off site of a County Office. I am open 7 days a week by appointment, weekend and evening hours unlike the county offices. At a County Office you can purchase one or the other. But, they are only open weekdays, from 8:30 to 4:30 - no holidays. . So if you get your license from us, it will be the Confidential one that requires no witnesses, and is recorded in private, so that only the bride and groom can get a copy. Some couples dislike it because they can't send mom to get a copy for them at the Recorder's office, others don't like that fact that it states you "have been living together as husband and wife" - so I put this information here for you to choose which type of license suits you. Remember you are just as married with either license.
Go to Marriage License Application tab to fill out the application
before your appointment or you can fill it out in our office.
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