Kane County Marriage License Requirements and Essentials - What you Need to Know to Get Married in Kane County, IL
Kane County Marriage License
There are so many things to think about and consider for your wedding, but one of the most important in our opinion is the marriage license! The marriage license is one of the most forgotten elements that we see as a Chicago wedding coordinator that has worked over 150 weddings. If you are having your wedding ceremony in the Kane County area in Illinois, this is the best place to find all of the information you need to know for before, during, and after your wedding to make sure your wedding is actually valid. Make sure that you bookmark this blog post if you’re planning your wedding so you can refer to it every step of the wedding planning journey and nothing gets forgotten!
Photo: Kayleen Nyshell photography
#1
Before Getting your Marriage License
One thing that couples often don’t realize is that the marriage license needs to be issued from the county that your wedding ceremony is, not necessarily where you live. If you aren’t sure which county your wedding venue is in, here is a website to help you find out.
There are not appointments posted which means this is a first come, first serve basis and you should plan on at least dedicating a half-day off of work to ensure you have enough time to get through any lines.
To get your marriage license in Kane County, you have to go to one of the 3 Kane County Clerk’s offices in Geneva (719 S. Batavia Ave, Bldg. B, Geneva, IL 60134), Aurora (5 E. Downer Place, Unit F, Aurora, IL 60505), or Elgin (2170 Point Blvd, Suite 600, Elgin, IL 60123) between 8:30am-4pm on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, or on Wednesday between 8:00am-7:30pm. Make sure you are planning for both of you to come, because you will both need to be present in person and sign paperwork to obtain your marriage license. You’ll need to fill out and sign one marriage application (which you need to do more than an hour before the appointment ideally and within 2 weeks maximum of when you plan on coming to the office), bring a valid ID with proof of your age, and pay a $32 fee in cash only.
If you are planning on having a courthouse wedding in Kane County, make sure to look at this website for applications and that process, as it differs from getting a marriage license for an offsite wedding ceremony.
PHoto: J. Cate Photography
#2
Getting your Kane County Marriage License
When you go to the office, you should bring a printout or a screenshot of the confirmation email you receive when you finalize the application in person.
You will need to get the marriage license within 60 days of the wedding date, but not sooner, because the license itself is only active and valid for 60 days. You’ll also want to do this probably about a week before the wedding the latest, and in an absolute emergency you can get this the day before the wedding, but it is not valid until the day after it is issued so you cannot get it the same day of the wedding.
Photo: Krystal richmond Photography
#3
What to Do at the Wedding
The wedding ceremony should be performed by a person of the clergy or a judge, so if you want to have a judge perform the ceremony outside the court system, you need to make special arrangements in advance. You can contact the clerk’s office for a list of retired judges, hire an officiant that is qualified for that county, or call 630-232-5950 to verify what steps need to be taken for a family member or friend to officiate your wedding ceremony.
Photo: Krystal Richmond Photography
#4
What to Do After the Wedding
After the wedding ceremony is completed, you must mail or deliver the license within 10 days of the wedding (not any later) for it to be processed and validated. If you plan to mail it, you can address it to Kane County Clerk, 719 S. Batavia Ave., Bldg. B, Geneva, IL 60134. We typically recommend that you bring it in person so that you can exchange it for your marriage certificate right there (and better safe than sorry if it gets lost in the mail - thankfully this has never been a problem we have actually had that before), but that depends on if you’re planning to take a honeymoon immediately after the wedding. If you are taking an immediate honeymoon, we recommend bringing an addressed (use the address from above) and stamped envelope that you can give to your officiant or a trusted individual to mail for you after the wedding.
Photo: Nikki Kate Photography
#5
Getting your Marriage Certificate
After you have sent the license, you can get your marriage certificate online. There is an additional fee to obtain a copy or two, which we actually recommend you grab at least two copies stored in two different locations in your home because the additional copies cost less than the first copy. You can also obtain a marriage certificate by going back to the county clerk’s office, which would be $16 for the first marriage certificate and $6 for each additional copy. The third option is to request the marriage certificate in the mail - you can send the request to Kane County, John A. Cunningham, 719 S. Batavia Ave., Bldg. B, Geneva, IL 60134 with a marriage certificate request form, a photocopy of your valid photo ID, and a check or money order to Kane County Clerk.
Photo: Tori Phillips Photography
That should be everything you need to know about the Kane County marriage license!
This is definitely an important piece of the wedding planning puzzle that you’ll need to take care of, so it’s important to get as much information as possible prior to getting to the wedding day. We know it’s tough to manage all of the details as a wedding coordinator, so it’s our goal to make it as possible! If you have any questions, you can call them at 630-232-5950.
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