Process for Obtaining Florida Marriage Records

There was a time when if you were looking for any marriage record in the State of Florida, you had to be sure exactly where the wedding had taken place.

Was it in a church? If so, you had to locate the church and the parish. Was it in a court or a registry office? If so, you had to locate the county, town or the registrar. At times, finding Florida marriage records was not easy.

Sometimes, you had a lot of shoe leather to wear out or miles to travel. Often you had a lot of ink and paper and postage to pay for. There were times when you would also have to approach a court or city authority to petition for these marriage records. You also had to have a lot of hope that once found, the termites had not ruined the records you were looking for. This process was decidedly not much fun!

Luckily for you, since those old times, the marriage records have been much better kept. In fact, ever since the 6th of June, 1927, every marriage in the State of Florida has been duly recorded and kept by the state’s Bureau of Vital Statistics. Just in case you ever need to search for them, this office also holds birth and death records from 1917 to the present.

Incidentally, if someone were to tell you that all such Florida records should be available from 1899, he or she would be technically correct. That was when such recordkeeping was legally mandated. But times were different, communication was not easy, and records were still poorly kept.

Since 1927, Florida marriage records have been properly maintained and kept updated. The good news is it has also become much easier and quicker to access these records from the database the state has to maintain. Now with the Internet available, you could say accessing these marriage records has become as easy as it is possible--and quick, too!

You Can Obtain Records without Legal or Bureaucratic Hassles

You may ask: just because they have been maintained for over 80 years, does it necessarily mean that just anyone can gain access to them? Do you need to go through some kind of legal process to access them? If you remember your rights--you do not!

Florida marriage records, like those in every other state, have to be properly maintained and kept updated by the state government precisely because they are considered public domain. If you are a U.S. citizen, you have the legal right to look at the record and possess a copy you want.

Why You May Want Marriage Records

Florida is a state with a lot of people moving in and out for as long as it has been known as the sunshine state for all of America. Thousands come to Florida as tourists, fall in love, and get married.

Retirees from far and near come to settle and find spouses for their twilight years. Immigrants to the U.S. also settle down and marry here. College campuses, of which Florida has many, are also great breeding grounds for romance and marriage.

The marriage records are therefore pretty substantial and mounting all the time, as are requests for copies of them. There could be any number of reasons why people may want to look at them.

You may simply be looking to replace a lost copy of your own marriage certificate. Or you may want to check out the marital background of a prospective spouse, for yourself or a child, sibling or client eager to be married.

You may also be one of the thousands of people over the decades who have lost track of their genealogy, and want to trace their family tree back through its branches. Perhaps you want to track some long-lost forefather, or a sibling or cousin of your dad’s that you know was married in the state.

The information you want need not be limited to personal data about the wedded couple. Your marriage record search could tell you about the witnesses, the parents (including the mother’s maiden name and residence), and the parson, judge or registrar officiating at the wedding.

Finding the Records is Quite Easy

Florida marriage records are not only consolidated and updated, they are accessible online. There are no forms to fill out and submit, no waiting for hard copies to be processed, verified and posted, and no queuing up at some crowded counter. You need not even write to the State’s Department of Health in Jacksonville, Florida.

This very ease of access may explain why these marriage records are sought more often than ever before!  All you have to do is know how and where to access the information and place your application for the Florida marriage records. Once done, you can surely get your marriage record copy easily and quickly.