Marriage Ceremony Formalities in Wyoming
At a glance
| Who may solemnize | District/circuit judges, district court commissioners, supreme court justices, magistrates, clergy, and qualified religious-rite persons (§ 20-1-106(a)). |
|---|---|
| Appointment or registration route | § 20-1-106(a) names authorized categories; it states no temporary appointment or registration route. |
| License and ceremony timing | Obtain Wyoming county-clerk license before ceremony; it expires after one year if no marriage is solemnized (§ 20-1-103(a), (d)). |
| Required declaration or form | No set form; parties solemnly declare before officiant and two witnesses that they take each other as husband and wife (§ 20-1-106(b)). |
| Attending witnesses | At least two attend the declaration and sign the certificate (§§ 20-1-106(b), -107(a)). |
| Religious or self-uniting route | Religious society or assembly may use its rites; its clerk/keeper, or presiding person if none, transmits certificate (§ 20-1-110). |
| Proxy or remote presence | § 20-1-106(b) requires the parties' declaration in the officiant's and two witnesses' presence; no separate proxy or remote route stated. |
| Who signs the certificate | Officiant signs and gives a certificate to a party; attending witnesses sign; certificate names at least two witnesses (§ 20-1-107(a)). |
| Return recipient and deadline | Officiant files record with license-issuing officer within ten days; religious-society record transmitter named separately (§§ 35-1-422(b), 20-1-110). |
Requirements one by one
Who may solemnize
Wyoming names district and circuit judges, district court commissioners, supreme court justices, magistrates, specified clergy, and other qualified people acting under religious traditions or rites (Wyo. Stat. § 20-1-106(a)). A religious society or assembly may conduct its ceremony according to its own rites and customs (§ 20-1-110).
License and declaration
A Wyoming county clerk's license must be obtained before solemnization. It expires one year after issuance if no marriage has been solemnized (§ 20-1-103(a), (d)). No particular ceremony form is required, but the parties must solemnly declare before the person performing it and at least two attending witnesses that they take each other as husband and wife (§ 20-1-106(b)).
Certificate signatures
The officiant signs and gives a certificate to one party. The attending witnesses sign it, and it records the parties' names, ages and residences, at least two witnesses' names and residences, and the ceremony's time and place (§ 20-1-107(a)). The license issuer prepares the vital-record form from the parties' information and signatures (§ 35-1-422(a)).
What trips people up
The person who performs the marriage must certify it and file the record with the officer who issued the license within ten days after the ceremony (§ 35-1-422(b)). The county clerk has a separate one-month period after receipt to record the return (§ 20-1-107(b)); the license office then forwards the preceding month's certificates to the state registrar by the tenth day of the next month (§ 35-1-422(b)). For a religious-society ceremony, its clerk or keeper of records, or otherwise its moderator or presiding person, prepares and transmits the certificate to the county clerk (§ 20-1-110).
Common questions
Do witnesses only attend, or also sign? They do both. Section 20-1-106(b) requires at least two at the declaration, and § 20-1-107(a) requires witness signatures on the certificate.
Does the couple return the marriage record? Section 35-1-422(b) assigns filing to the person who performs the marriage; § 20-1-110 names the transmitter for a religious society's ceremony.
Does a Wyoming marriage license last indefinitely? No. An unsolemnized license expires after one year under § 20-1-103(d).
Statutes and sources
- Wyo. Stat. §§ 20-1-103, -106, -107, -110 and 35-1-422. The source fields above provide verbatim excerpts, official PDF section locations and access dates.
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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