How to Get a Hawaii Marriage License

The state sets every fee here except your officiant’s.

That is the whole bill for the paperwork. Hawaii has no blood test, no residency requirement and no waiting period to pay for or wait on.

You must be 18 or older, according to the Department of Health. Beyond that, the list is short:

• No residency or citizenship rule. You don’t have to live in Hawaii or be a U.S. citizen.
• No blood test. Hawaii doesn’t require one.
• Photo ID for both of you. A passport, driver’s license or state ID, brought to the agent appointment.
• Proof of age at 18. If either of you is 18, bring a certified copy of your birth certificate as well.
• Recently divorced or widowed? If the divorce or death was within 30 days of your license pickup, bring the original divorce decree or the death certificate.

Same-sex couples follow exactly the same process: Hawaii law permits marriage “between two individuals without regard to gender” (HRS 572-1).

Every license starts on the state’s online marriage license system. You fill in the application, pick marriage or civil union, and pay the $65. Pick carefully: the state issues no refund to couples who choose the wrong option and pay.

When you finish, write down or print the Authorization Code (also called the Locator ID) on your receipt. The agent needs it, and it is what you type into the state’s license search, with either of your last names, to check your application’s status.

Apply before you contact an agent. Every agent on the state’s list asks you to finish the online application first.

The online application is not the license. To get it, both of you appear together, in person, before a state marriage license agent. Proxies are not allowed. The meeting can be no sooner than 30 days before your ceremony. The agent reviews your application, checks both photo IDs and any other documents, and issues the license.

Oahu has more than a dozen agents, not just one government counter. The state’s list warns that most have limited evening and weekend availability, so book early.

Staying in Waikiki? The Department of Health office and the Honolulu private agents are the closest. At Ko Olina, start with the Kapolei agents. Still choosing a base? Our guides to where to stay on Oahu and the best Waikiki hotels can help.

Thirty days from the day the agent issues it. If the ceremony doesn’t happen within those 30 days, the license is void and you start over.

There is no waiting period, so you can marry the day you pick it up. The license is good on every Hawaiian island, so an Oahu license works for a ceremony on Maui or Kauai. It is not good anywhere outside Hawaii.

For a destination wedding, that means the agent meeting happens after you land, in the days before the ceremony, not on an earlier trip.

Every officiant who performs a marriage in Hawaii must hold a license from the State of Hawaii. There are three kinds:

• Religious officiants: ministers, priests and clergy authorized by their faith.
• Judges: active or retired justices, judges and magistrates of a state or federal court in Hawaii.
• Civil officiants: anyone 18 or older can get a civil license to perform marriages and civil unions.

Before you book anyone, including an officiant your hotel or planner supplies, search their name in the state’s directory of licensed performers. It lists the officiants who can complete your license electronically after the ceremony.

Want a friend or relative to marry you? They can register with the state for a 60-day license ($35) or a one-year license ($110). Approval can take up to two weeks, so the state asks them to register at least two weeks before the wedding, and an emailed receipt is not an approval.

Still looking for the place itself? Our Oahu wedding venues guide covers ranches, gardens, Waikiki hotels and chapels, with published prices.

No. No courthouse or Department of Health office in Hawaii performs weddings. The Department of Health tells couples to arrange the ceremony with a licensed performer before the license expires.

If you want a simple civil (non-religious) wedding, book a licensed civil officiant, or a judge who is registered to perform marriages. You still get the license the same way, from an agent, and the officiant still files it afterward.

You don’t file anything yourself. Your officiant must report the marriage to the state within three business days of the ceremony.

• The temporary certificate. Once your officiant files electronically, you can get your electronic temporary marriage certificate through the state’s marriage system.
• Certified copies online. Order from the Department of Health’s vital records site with a government ID and a debit or credit card. The first copy is $17.50; extra copies of the same record are $4 each.
• By mail or in person. Send the request form with a cashier’s check, certified check or money order to the State Department of Health, Office of Health Status Monitoring, P.O. Box 3378, Honolulu, HI 96801. In person, go to 1250 Punchbowl St., Room 103.
• How long it takes. The Department of Health says processing usually takes up to 4 to 6 weeks.

Changing your name? Agencies such as Social Security and the DMV generally want a certified copy, not the temporary certificate, so order one as soon as the marriage is filed. See the Department of Health certificate page for the current forms.

Once the paperwork is filed, celebrate on the water. The sail below is a two-hour sunset cocktail cruise off Waikiki on the Moana catamaran, and it has more than 2,400 reviews.

Planning the rest of the trip around the wedding? Start with our things to do in Oahu guide.